looking at changing from the OEM Dunlop SP Sport 01 225/50 R17 94W

to one of these

UNIROYAL RainSport 2 FR

Continental Sport Contact 2 or 3 ( 3 is latest )

Bridgestone ER300 OR Dueler H/P Sport

been checking via

http://www.tyrereviews.co.uk/Tyre/

Any experience of these

looking at changing from the OEM Dunlop SP Sport 01 225/50 R17 94W

to one of these

UNIROYAL RainSport 2 FR

Continental Sport Contact 2 or 3 ( 3 is latest )

Bridgestone ER300 OR Dueler H/P Sport

been checking via

http://www.tyrereviews.co.uk/Tyre/

Any experience of these

Did the same and went for the Rainsports. I guess you have to take into account the difference between worn / new but whilst I haven't noticed a step change in performance they do seem grippy and comfortable, though not whisper quiet. Best bit: they are by some distance the cheapest option - had mine done at home by Event Tyres. The tread pattern is interesting / attractive, if that means anything (!) and in the wet they are unflappable. No regrets.

Edited 9 April, 201115 yr by zippy

Did the same and went for the Rainsports. I guess you have to take into account the difference between worn / new but whilst I haven't noticed a step change in performance they do seem grippy and comfortable, though not whisper quiet. Best bit: they are by some distance the cheapest option - had mine done at home by Event Tyres. The tread pattern is interesting / attractive, if that means anything (!) and in the wet they are unflappable. No regrets.

I'm a biig fan of the rain sports, have them all round on my Vrs, Awesome in the wet

Made by Continental but miles cheaper and better than there premium brand

I found the ER300 Bridgestones in 205/55R16 size noisy and I was glad to get rid of them. Think the Dunlops are quiet in comparison. Worth having a look at the AutoExpress tyre test.

Best bit, they are by some distance the cheapest option.

I too am looking for a set of tyres for my Scout, I'm on the original Dunlop SP Sports (23,000 miles) and the fronts are on the wear bars and rears are very close.

Could I ask how much you paid? Did you need just two or a full set?

Thanks!

I too am looking for a set of tyres for my Scout, I'm on the original Dunlop SP Sports (23,000 miles) and the fronts are on the wear bars and rears are very close.

Could I ask how much you paid? Did you need just two or a full set?

Thanks!

£467.56 for FOUR.

Not as bad as I was expecting

Had a quick quote over the phone for four tyres for my Scout from a local independent fitter...

Pirelli Rosso's, Dunlop SP Sports, Goodyear Eagle NCT5's (all in stock) - £120.00 + VAT each

He can order me in whatever I want though, are the Uniroyal’s, Continentals and Bridgestone’s likely to be cheaper?

I've read a lot of criticism of the Dunlop’s but mine have been great, at 24,000 miles I've no complaints.

Non branded tyres available from £60 + VAT but I prefer branded tyres for obvious reasons, it's just I'm finding the neck end of £600 a little hard to swallow!

Put it this way 225/40/18 Rainsport 2, £110 fitted at County Tyres (formerly british and international tyres)

Thanks Grizzle, I think it's the Scout's less common size that causes the issues, for some reason prices are high even when compared to 18's...

225/50 R17 94W must be unusual?

Could try the all season route; a couple of Yeti owners have replaced their 225/50 R17 Sport 01's with Goodyear Vector 4 Season and Nokian eNtyre respectively. Good first reports on both and available in H or V rating.

TP

Thanks TP,

To be honest my number one priority is long life.

The Dunlops coped quite well in the snow for a summer tyre so despite the criticism they seem to attract on here I am tempted to replace them with the same purely because they lasted 24,000 miles...

Had a quick quote over the phone for four tyres for my Scout from a local independent fitter...

Pirelli Rosso's, Dunlop SP Sports, Goodyear Eagle NCT5's (all in stock) - £120.00 + VAT each

He can order me in whatever I want though, are the Uniroyal’s, Continentals and Bridgestone’s likely to be cheaper?

I've read a lot of criticism of the Dunlop’s but mine have been great, at 24,000 miles I've no complaints.

Non branded tyres available from £60 + VAT but I prefer branded tyres for obvious reasons, it's just I'm finding the neck end of £600 a little hard to swallow!

Hi

Just thought I should mention I have a new scout which came with the new colour version of proteus wheels and fitted with Dunlops. I had a set of Spitzbergs fitted with P Rosso's which I bought from a friend who owned a 2010 Yeti. The tyres admittedly had just over 7000 miles on them but still with around 6mm tread all round.

The noise level from the P Rosso tyre are way above that of the Dunlop so much so that I am considering swapping the tyres over from each rim.

I've been reading with interest the many threads on here focused around the vRS and the sawtoothing / noise caused by misaligned suspension and different tyres. On these threads the Dunlops got a real hard time with a lot of criticism around noise and life. Perhaps the 18" Dunlop SP Sports on the vRS are different to those on the 17" Scout alloys (225/50 R17 94W)?

There have also been quite a number of Scout owners expressing concern around cracked sidewalls on the Dunlop's (something I have not had a problem with) and very poor grip in snow/ice (again not something I noticed, but it is a summer tyre).

The fact I've never noticed excess road noise from the Dunlop's would suggest to me that they aren't loud enough for me to be worried about.

I begrudge paying £140 (inc. VAT / fitting) for one tyre, it just seems such a lot of money, especially when I need four at once, but at the end of the day if that's the going rate for a premium brand tyre then tough luck! As long as I get another 24,000 miles of them I really should have nothing to complain about.

This is really excellent; I found this thread (and forum!) looking for the same thing!

I've got a 2010 1.8 petrol Octavia Scout; its original tyres are nearly down to the bars on the front at about 16k miles, and being summer tyres didn't seem to grip especially well in the winter either, so I'm looking around for some all-season ones this time.

It appears that the scout is a slightly unusual tyre size/speed-rating though; I found some Goodyear Vector 4seasons which look ideal and are available in the right size and in a V speed rating, but a local garage said not as apparently they have to be the same speed rating as the originals (or up to one less in winter-only tyres). The originals are 225/50 ZR17 94W (Pirelli I think), but that seems a bit excessive as I thought my max speed was either 131 or 138mph (depending on which brocure I read) - well within a V rating.

So I suspect i don't know what I'm talking about here - can anyone help?

Thanks

Kev

.... I found some Goodyear Vector 4seasons which look ideal and are available in the right size and in a V speed rating, but a local garage said not as apparently they have to be the same speed rating as the originals (or up to one less in winter-only tyres)....

Kev,

Ignore the fools in the garage, you don't need to replace original fit W rated tyres with new W rated tyres. As long as the tyres are the correct size and specification, and conform to appropriate safety standards (and they will otherwise they wouldn't be marketed by a reputable manufacturer) then go for it; V rated tyres will be fine.

Might be worth trying a different garage, one not staffed by fools who know nowt!

Im pretty happy with the Dunlops & have just replaced with the same. Gave good mileage, not bad in the snow & pleasantly quiet on long motorway runs

Im pretty happy with the Dunlops & have just replaced with the same. Gave good mileage, not bad in the snow & pleasantly quiet on long motorway runs

+1

4x Dunlop SP Sports 01, 225/50 R17 94W, www.lovetyres.com - £507.68 delivered inc. VAT.

I too have been impressed with their grip, winter performance and most important for me long life.

Thanks for the replies! Thats really good to know - looks like the advice I got locally was a bit pants then. Excellent, I was starting to worry that all I could get were summer tyres.

I'll check out the dunlops as well as the goodyears too then. I suspect that they'll both wear better but after last winter more grip in snow would definately be worth having, which is why I was thinking four season, but the Dunlops may still be better than my current ones.

Cheers

kev

Edited 24 July, 201114 yr by Kev999

Thanks for the replies!

.... but after last winter more grip in snow would definately be worth having, which is why I was thinking four season ....

What I did:

Three yrs ago I needed 4 new tyres on my A4; as I ski every year (I drive) I wanted more than summer tyres for safety and legal reasons. I went for Vredestein Quatrac 3s, they are marketed as year round tyres yet still have the snowflake symbol so are classed as winter tyres. I still have them now, they've never been off, and they've worn well having done maybe 40k miles; mostly dual carrigeway commuting so admittedly a benign environment. I've never had a 'moment' in warm weather due to their percieved 'jack of all trades, master of none' reputation that some would lumber them with. True they won't match a set of summer tyres when thrashed around the Top Gear track by the Stig but I'm a mortal who never drives at the limit so it's not been an issue for me. However they were great in the Alps and our last two UK winters. I've no regrets and if I was in the same position today I'd do the same and go for all-season tyres.

What I'm going to do:

However, I've just taken delivery of a new car and as it has 4 brand new tyres on it I'm going down the steel wheels and winter tyre route and will swap them over as required.

Horses for courses really.

I still have them now, they've never been off, and they've worn well having done maybe 40k miles.

Just curious, did you notice any difference in fuel economy running all season tyres all year?

Just curious, did you notice any difference in fuel economy running all season tyres all year?

Nothing of note. It was a 2001 1.8T Quattro (last of the B5 models) so economy wasn't its strong point (34mpg if driven gently) but I didn't notice a difference before or after. I was really impressed.

The year-round four season thing sounds good to me too; those goodyear vector 4seasons I found supposedly have the snow symbol too so should be good in winter, I'm not familiar with the Vredestein Quatrac 3s, so will check those out too - thanks for the suggestion!

I checked out the Vector 4season's performance ratings on various sites and they supposedly still grip 'almost' as well in the dry as the current/factory-fitted pirelli rosso zeros, so shouldn't be any less safe really. Interestingly, they also exceed the Pirellis in most other ratings I've seen, except perhaps noise, so my concerns over wear rate should be helped as well. I noticed in passing that the pirellis are not generally rated very highly at all in snow, which I guess is fair enough for a summer tyre, but at least it verifies that i wasn't just imagining it.

I'd looked at getting steel wheels too, the spare wheel/tyre I got as an option is steel so it seemed a very reasonable thing to me. I thought this would be good either for swapping to a second set of (winter) tyres or just to achieve a more common tyre profile, but it seemed my insurance premiums would increase quite a bit, as changing wheels makes the car count as modified.. <sigh>

Cheers

kev

Edited 26 July, 201114 yr by Kev999

I'd looked at getting steel wheels too, the spare wheel/tyre I got as an option is steel so it seemed a very reasonable thing to me. I thought this would be good either for swapping to a second set of (winter) tyres or just to achieve a more common tyre profile, but it seemed my insurance premiums would increase quite a bit, as changing wheels makes the car count as modified.. <sigh>

I bought 4 steel wheels and fitted winter tyres for the other half's A3 last year and there was no insurance increase (insured with LV, and I did check with them). I bought genuine wheels from the Audi dealer (probably identical to what I'll buy and fit to my Skoda) and that was it. The tyres don't matter as they are road-legal, and the wheels are what could be fitted to a lower spec car so not counted as a modification; let's face it if you ordered a new car and took optional wheels it wouldn't affect your insurance, and neither would fitting a steel spare wheel, so what's the difference fitting, what is in effect, 4 steel spares?

Edited 26 July, 201114 yr by toonfan66