After much deliberation (much more than I spent when buying vRS!) I decided to go for a set of Rainsports - phoned a Uniroyal stockist (and also tyre wholesaler) who said that due to a problem at the manufacturer they're out of stock everywhere in 205/45/16 :'( .

He did offer me Hankooks at £70 a corner fully fitted but as an animal lover I don't feel comfortable shoeing my car with tyres made in a country where they think 'One Man and His Dog' is a cookery programme (copyright J. Clarkson).

Its not going to make you feel any better but Kumho Ecsta KU31's are great tyres for the money (IIRC £60). One of the best tyres I've used, and the cheapest tyres I've ever bought!

Its not going to make you feel any better but Kumho Ecsta KU31's are great tyres for the money (IIRC £60). One of the best tyres I've used, and the cheapest tyres I've ever bought!

I'm actually considering those as well - heard good reports - sometimes your principles have to out the window .

My vRS wheels have the Kumho's on and my new wheels came with Falken 912's. I heard good reports about the Falkens and thought they would be ok due to being in a similar price bracket. In comparison they are useless, screech on the surface of my work car park like nobodies business, go haywire on roundabouts in the wet, do not buy!

Looking forward to winter when I get the Kumho's back!

I won't be buying rainsports again :( one tyre popped after about 2 months (sidewall gave way doing about 50 mph, don't think i hit anything), getting a replacement took 3 days... road noise has increased over t1r's too. The grip is pretty epic though

I was also debating the kuhmo's, wish i'd of bought them now and saved £20 per corner! Will be buying 2 of them soon and putting the rainsports on the back

Edited 7 June, 201016 yr by Confused_Cheese

Ive had rainsports on for a year.. no problems and excellent in the dry and feckin wonderful in the wet.

A month ago i went back to the same garage who fitted them last year to be told they could not get them in 205/45/r16 W rated as uniroyal have no stock.. must be because they are now so popular.

Was told by garage that they could get V rated and they would be ok for my fabia vrs.. no that's wrong they are not, so i rang around other local tyres centres.

Still couldn't get any.....

Last week i rang around again and of all places kwik fit could get them in from another branch.

They quoted me £109 per tyre, i told them i could get them for £76 per tyre (price last year), after a bit he said he could only price match at £78 per tyre so i went with it.

So try kwik fit (not something i usually say lol)

I got two new Rainsport 2's fitted to the front of mine the other week (205/40/17s) I had to ring around loads of places to trya nd find them. Everyone said they were out of stock.

Martini tyres in Wolverhampton (can't recommend them enough btw ) managed to get me two but said they were the last ones they could find anywhere. One of the guys that worked there said he was hoping that I wouldn't turn up as he wanted them.

Seem v good tyres so far. I have always used Toyos T1-R since the original Bridgestones came off but I don't think I will be going back. Not had any proper rain yet either so looking forward to giving them a test in the wet. Hopefully they will be as good as everyone says - I never fully trusted the Toyos in the wet.

Edited 7 June, 201016 yr by KLM

Its not going to make you feel any better but Kumho Ecsta KU31's are great tyres for the money (IIRC £60). One of the best tyres I've used, and the cheapest tyres I've ever bought!

I can totally agree with that statement mate. I have them fitted to my vRS at the moment, good in all conditions and are lasting very well. I will buy them again.

Phoned a Kumho stockist - £70 a corner (fully fitted) for the KU17, which he says is the new one. Was all set to go for these when I spotted someone on another thread saying that he aquaplaned on Kumhos - it's all too confusing for me - who says you can't have too much choice! When I had the Lupo it was Dunlops or Toyos as only these companies do 205/45/15 - simples!

My chums have the Ku17's on their vehicles, an ST Connect and a Golf Mk4 GT TDI. No complaints from either of them and one is on their second set of Kumho's.

Shop around though, the lad with the Connect got 4 fitted for £220.

Edited 8 June, 201016 yr by Morg

Phoned a Kumho stockist - £70 a corner (fully fitted) for the KU17, which he says is the new one. Was all set to go for these when I spotted someone on another thread saying that he aquaplaned on Kumhos - it's all too confusing for me - who says you can't have too much choice! When I had the Lupo it was Dunlops or Toyos as only these companies do 205/45/15 - simples!

Every tyre will aquaplane given the right speed and standing water... first complaint i've heard about kuhmos being bad for it!

So try kwik fit (not something i usually say lol)

They suddenly appeared in 205 45W 16 on Kwik Fit's website today so ordered two online at £80 each including fitting, which seems pretty reasonable .

Getting them fitted at a Kwik Fit who were actually very helpful - they couldn't help me but instead recommended an excellent wheel refurbisher (thought I had a very slow puncture but the alloy was actually corroded).

They suddenly appeared in 205 45W 16 on Kwik Fit's website today so ordered two online at £80 each including fitting, which seems pretty reasonable .

Getting them fitted at a Kwik Fit who were actually very helpful - they couldn't help me but instead recommended an excellent wheel refurbisher (thought I had a very slow puncture but the alloy was actually corroded).

Got to agree that the rainsports are really good. At the garage i work we stock uniroyals and hankooks and they are both pretty popular. I've had uniroyals on my previous car and they were excellent, but was unable to get them in the standard vrs size. Our supplier just said there was a shortage and they were telling there customers that there is a four week delay with getting stock! But they can still supply us with loads of 205/55-R16 which are fitted to most new style focus, which last time i checked was more popular than a fabia vrs. So after all that it must just be down to customer demand!

Matt

i used to have kumhos on my vrs until someone gave me a pair of brand new continental contacts for free as he was leaving the country, tbh i misses the kumhos like crazy and im not sure if it's just my luck but last week i managed to punchure both front tyres on the side wall :( thankfully they were different days and i had 2 spare wheels so slapped them on until pay day at the end of this month so i could get some new toyos but today walking out to my car after work i had managed to punchure my spare! out of other wheels i pumped it up and with a hissing sound went to halfords for some tyre weld but they wanted £9 a bottle! called a mate with a mk4 golf to borrow his wheel but turned out to be to big:( running out of time and air i opted to repare the rather sad looking spare which was already close to the limit, quick search of the car found no locking wheel nut key so had to drive back to work and get it out my tool box then drive to my local tyre dealer who asked £10 for the repare or £44 for a new ACCELERA ALPHA tyre so got 2 of those fitted

has anyone used this make before as ive heard good things about them on different cars