My car has 4 completely different tyres. (I don’t normally do this, but I’m skint) One of them is a Federal tyre and I think it’s giving me no end of grief.

On the front near side I have been getting a strange noise which is worst at 70mph after about 5-10 mins of driving. Now I thought it was the wheel bearing starting to go but trusted by better judgment that it might be the tyre creating terrible road noise.

Today I fitted my spare to the front and hey presto the noise has gone.

Has anyone else had this kind of experience with a Federal tyre?

Another bizarre thing is the car has been shaking a bit more than I like as if the wheels are not balanced (they have just been balanced) but this also went away when I put the spare on.

I don’t know if it’s a duff tyre or what, be a shame if it is as it has about 7mm tread on it.

My car has 4 completely different tyres. (I don’t normally do this, but I’m skint) One of them is a Federal tyre and I think it’s giving me no end of grief.

On the front near side I have been getting a strange noise which is worst at 70mph after about 5-10 mins of driving. Now I thought it was the wheel bearing starting to go but trusted by better judgment that it might be the tyre creating terrible road noise.

Today I fitted my spare to the front and hey presto the noise has gone.

Has anyone else had this kind of experience with a Federal tyre?

Another bizarre thing is the car has been shaking a bit more than I like as if the wheels are not balanced (they have just been balanced) but this also went away when I put the spare on.

I don’t know if it’s a duff tyre or what, be a shame if it is as it has about 7mm tread on it.

Federal used to be a budget own label brand by ATS. I've had them in the past and they were good. I have a similar problem with my Passat, whatever leading brand I have fitted I always get rumbling noises when on over run. Usually this comes in when half worn, so far I've had the same problem with Michelin, continental and now pirelli, you may guess that I do a lot of miles.

My car has 4 completely different tyres. (I don’t normally do this, but I’m skint) One of them is a Federal tyre and I think it’s giving me no end of grief.

On the front near side I have been getting a strange noise which is worst at 70mph after about 5-10 mins of driving. Now I thought it was the wheel bearing starting to go but trusted by better judgment that it might be the tyre creating terrible road noise.

Today I fitted my spare to the front and hey presto the noise has gone.

Has anyone else had this kind of experience with a Federal tyre?

Another bizarre thing is the car has been shaking a bit more than I like as if the wheels are not balanced (they have just been balanced) but this also went away when I put the spare on.

I don’t know if it’s a duff tyre or what, be a shame if it is as it has about 7mm tread on it.

There was a user on here who had the same thing, dealer couldn't nail it, but I suspected the tyre, many different tyre's do it as well, iirc he had a Michelin on that side at the time, myself I had some Wanli's on mine and they made the car sound awful, bear in mind Feds are a budget brand, so it's really a case of get what you pay for, I think the only true solution is to run a soft compound tyre, I think the Superbs weight and sloppy suspension causes the tyres to wear sightly odd and that's when the noises appear, if it helps the best two I found were a Pirelli P6000 or a Firestone Fuel Saver, don't bother with Bridgestones, they only do 8000 miles on the front and 20000 rear, avoid the Wanli ones, and also Nexen/Roadstone 2000's, although if you want ggod miles from a tyre and don't mind the noise the Wanli is the one. hth.

Thanks for replies. Would seem to explain it.

I did previously run Michelin pilot primacys on the front and wanli's on the back which seemed to work ok, but this was a different set of rims. The wanlis never seemed to loose any tread ever!

I do approx 2k miles a month so I guess ill let the tyre bed in a bit and see if it goes away

Apart from the strange noise, the cocktail of Federal, Pirelli, Bridgestone and Dunlop ive got on my car gives suprisingly very good grip

Oh dear, I've just put 4x Nexens on the Superb from Black Circles. So far, so good, but I'll keep an eye on them.

Hahaha! Federals are hands down the worst tyres I've ever had the displeasure of experiencing!

Even worse than Pirelli P6000s!

I've used Federal Super Steel 595's on a 200bhp astra coupe, and was quite pleased with them for the price.

By no means were they the best tyre i've had, but the car had Maxxis tyres on the rear and they were appauling in the wet. Fatal (to the cars health in the ice).

I've never noticed much of a difference in the dry weather between the midrange tyres. And it was marginal in the wet.

Then i saw the light and bought Vredsteins they have a considerable amount of grip to any other tyre i've used.

I had to laugh when a garage told me that Avon ZZ3's were a budget tyre though.

I put a set of Accelero's on the front of the Omega, so i could sell it on, and damn they squealed for a cheap tyre. And that wasn't pushing the car.

Edited 12 April, 201016 yr by Browny_37

On the Wanli tyre comments, I saw a test in AE that stated that in the wet, if you were on the best in the test then and had a car following you on wanli, then when you stopped and they hit you, they would still be doing 30mph at the point of impact even if you braked at the same time, because they are that much worse.

On the Wanli tyre comments, I saw a test in AE that stated that in the wet, if you were on the best in the test then and had a car following you on wanli, then when you stopped and they hit you, they would still be doing 30mph at the point of impact even if you braked at the same time, because they are that much worse.

I've also heard similar - and that their quality is inconsistent, which can dramatically unbalance a car even if all 4 tyres are 'the same'.

What are they? Chinese?

'nuff said...

Dealer put one of these Federals on my sons Fabia vrs last year when he bought it and it was totally crap. Noisy no grip and very poor handling, nothing like when he tested it. The tyre wall was bulging out over as if the car was too heavy for the tyre. Googled it and found loads of references and bad experiences of poor performance of these tyres. Changed it to an Eagle the same as the other front wheel and car was transformed, I,d rather run on the rim than put one of those on again. You get what you pay for and I'm afraid this Chinese tyre is absolute sh*te

Im glad its not just me being paranoid about this tyre then. I cant believe how much WORSE it makes the car. Noisy crap and extra vibration through out the cabin, even though the wheel is balanced.

Guess ill have to live with it for now though, dont fancy forking out 120 quid a a wheel for Michelins again :S

If it it becomes unbearable I have a Michelin with about 3mm tread on I may put on instead.

Guess ill have to live with it for now though, dont fancy forking out 120 quid a a wheel for Michelins again :S

If it it becomes unbearable I have a Michelin with about 3mm tread on I may put on instead.

try Kumho - half the price of a Michelin, from Blackcircles.com

Edited 13 April, 201016 yr by sidewaze samm

Kuhmo's are good, as are Falken's

Yes, I had Kumhos from BlackCircles but I went with Nexens this time. Can't remember why.

Will have a look at Kumhos, any particular type of Kumho to look for?

KU31's and KU11's I've had with good experience

Don't forget the new Kumho KH31's, had these on the rear of my old Octavia.

I would recommend any of the Kumho range, I've run alot of sets of various models over the years and find them really good value for money and perform really well and offer good life expectancy

Edited 13 April, 201016 yr by matt@theforce

I had the falkens on my cupra..

Had them on the ring and i cant complain for the coin i paid.. 200 for all fitted

Will have a look at Kumhos, any particular type of Kumho to look for?

I was looking at KH31 and KU31.

KU31 have directional tread and supposedly better dry grip (and look better ), KH31 are supposedly quieter.

At the time I needed a set, Blackcircles.com only had the KU31 listed so that's what I got - and they're just as quiet as the Michelin Premacy Pilots they replaced.

cheers

[don't know your size - mine's 225/45x17]

Edited 13 April, 201016 yr by sidewaze samm

I was looking at KH31 and KU31.KU31 have directional tread and supposedly better dry grip (and look better ), KH31 are supposedly quieter.At the time I needed a set, Blackcircles.com only had the KU31 listed so that's what I got - and they're just as quiet as the Michelin Premacy Pilots they replaced.cheers[don't know your size - mine's 225/45x17]

Ive got the same size, had a quick look at prices, around the 75 quid mark fitted seems reasonable. Will have to wait and see how much I get paid at the end of the month

Ive had Kumho's Falken and Conti's on my Superb but I found Federal 595's wore better and had better grip in the dry once they warmed up and were also quieter, but they were average in the wet and ****e in the snow.

My Falken 452's were quite good in the snow. All depends on the driver, I suppose...

My Falken 452's were quite good in the snow. All depends on the driver, I suppose...

With two Falkens on the front mine was ok in the snow for the most part. That hill in Penwortham at 3am sub-zero temperatures was not fun though. Think the compacted snow had frozen to ice and I didn't even bother turning left to go to Riversway. Carried straight on and took the long way around as by that point I was just sliding ... and sweating ever-so-slightly.