S3 (8P) - Ready for new tyres - which ones?

[warren_S5]

Ready for a set of new rubber on the front, and have been purusing the options on hand.

Final choices are:

Goodyear Eagle Asymmetric (New, but winning all the reviews)
Michelin Pilot Sport 2 (Good dry summer tyre)
Conti Sport Contact 3 (Good allrounder)
Goodyear GSD3's (solid old faithfuls)

I had Conti Sport Contact 3's on the car from new and they have been reasonably good. Unexceptional in the dry, but very confident in the wet.

I saw at Castle Combe some of the other S3's had Michelin Pilot Sports on them - can any of the owners here shed any light - do they work well on the car in the wet?

For anyone who may have already changed from the OE rubber to something else, any feedback would be gratefully accepted. I'm happy to pay for premium tyres if they are worth it. I always used to run Toyo T1-R's but they had a short life and weren't the best for wet cornering.

It's been an expensive month, car insurance, first service, front tyres, and tax due end of Feb

Any feedback gratefully received?

 

[JohnS3]

There's a similar thread running on tyresmoke at the moment.

 

[warren_S5]

It's looking like the Goodyear Assymetrical are the winners!

 

[markwiggy]

After the Good Years myself, my fronts are nearly on the wear limiter.Have you had any prices yet or checked availability. There does appear to be a shortage of them at the moment though, best price I have had is £102 fitted and balanced.

Mark

 

[marriedblonde]

The good year F1's where in limited supply about 2 months back. They were on back order from G/Y but it looks like supply has started up again.

J.

 

[markwiggy]

The good year F1's where in limited supply about 2 months back. They where on back order from G/Y but it looks like supply has started up again.J.

Maybe they have not filterd through yet, my local tyre place could not get any from the distributor only from another tyre retailer which put the price up, will try again next week.

Mark

 

[Matt]

Either of the Goodyears

 

[newbiecrg]

yokohamas? anyone?

Pedro

 

[phantom]

Ive just changed the fronts to Mitchelin pilot sport ps2 , TBH not done meny miles in them yet , they feel great tho!

The Contis that came off the car had lost 5mil of rubber in less than 7k , which is not really good wear for day to day driving.

I had the pilots on my old Cliosport 182 and they were fantastic, much better grip than the Pirelli p zero Rosso i had on my Leon Cupra mk2!

p

 

[Von Maximo]

The Missus just pocked her nose over my shoulder to make sure i wasn't looking at porn. Came out with a cracking idea! . . . . . Put a different tyre on each wheel. . . . Genius! lol

 

[mikep]

I went from Michelins to F1 GSD3s and they are much better in the wet and about the same in the dry. Wear seems about the same.

 

[Garth_S3]

I went from Michelins to F1 GSD3s and they are much better in the wet and about the same in the dry. Wear seems about the same.

That's bizzare. I did the same swap and found the goodyears wear rate MUCH faster and didn't think they were as grippy in either wet or dry

 

[warren_S5]

I suppose wear rate comes down to the roads you drive on (motorway vs. country roads), driving styles (aggressive vs. consistent), and in some cases whether you run the tyre in winter or summer (wet vs. dryish).

I read somewhere recently we have 190+ damp days a year in Britain, so wet / aquaplaning is fairly important although the Haldex will take care of most of that.

Markwiggy, where di you get £102 fitted?????? Cheapest quote I have seen for a fitted Goodyear Asymmetric is £134 each.

Cheers for all the insight posted so far.

 

[baz1985]

I have had 4* 235/40/18 95Y Goodyear Eagle F1 Assymetric fitted to my 3.2 about 500 miles ago. I paid £540 all-inclusive. Still need to be worn in though.

 

[NOLOGY]

For something cheap what do you reccomend? I have bought now 4 new alloys and i want to go for cheap tires beacuse i am short of money.

They told me that Falken are good. Anyone can tell me his / her opinion?

 

[mattandrew]

For something cheap what do you reccomend? I have bought now 4 new alloys and i want to go for cheap tires beacuse i am short of money.

They told me that Falken are good. Anyone can tell me his / her opinion?

So many people talk about wanting cheap tyres.

Just sit back for a minute and have a think what is the one thing which connects you and the road

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RUBBER
So why cut back on cheap tyres when they are the four points of contact with the road, ok two if your on a bike.

 

[adcooper]

I have just had a set of Michelin Pilot Sport 2 and am very impressed in all conditions£600 for the set thou

 

[coupe-se]

I replaced my factory fitted Conti's (worn out at 10k) with Michelin PS2's.

The PS's are quieter, give better grip and have lasted 50% longer than the Conti's and still 2mm off the wear markers (done 16k on them).

I also paid £600 for a set but think they were well worth it, as I would have forked out on 2x £480 sets of Conti's in the same time and the 2nd set would be 50% worn by now.

 

[PNH80]

yokohamas? anyone?

Pedro

Yeah Yoko's seem to have been overlooked. The Parada's, AVS's, S-Drives and especially the ADVAN's etc are all rated as really good tyres.
No experience of them myself though...

Paul.

 

[newbiecrg]

Mine is going to need tires soon and it is going to be either Michelin PS2, Bridgestone Potenza RE (cant remember the number but is the replacement for the S03) or If I am adventurous Yokos...

Pedro

 

[L60N]

Ive had Falken GRB Fk 452 on my past cars and couldnt find anything to complain about. Grippy in wet and dry. Near silent road noise.

Found them on Black circles for £85 per corner.... FITTED. Just choose your tyre, then enter your postal code, they will tell you the nearest fitting centre! BC will ship your tyre to the nearest fitting centre (Mine is a harrogate vauxhall dealership) and away you go

www.blackcircles.com

By using these you also earn points off your next set too, its typicially around £5 per tyre purchased. Cant be bad.