right, after about 12.5k I need new front tyres, brilliant though the conti's are, they stop working in the rain at 3 mill (German limit) and although they are still legal, I'm replacing them..

my theory is "mid range is best compramise for cost vs performance" I'm not gonna spend huge money for more conti's that will wear quick again... but I also hate cheap plasic tyres... I've gone for these as a summer tyre (I may do proper winter tyres this winter)

http://www.maxxis.co.uk/tyres/car

http://www.tyrereviews.co.uk/Tyre/Maxxis/MA-Z1-Victra.htm

maxxis make race tyres (can't remember which country, malaysia maybe) these have 95% feedback score for dry weather, and 83% for wet!

£70 each fitted and balanced

I will post a comparison to the conti's reveiw after I've done a few thousand miles, and been to the august meet and caned it

Let me know how you get on mate, my front 2 Dunlops are at about 3mm at the moment, won't be too long till replacement!

Edit: I was probably thinking along the lines of Uniroyal Rainsport 2's when the time comes, they are about £80 each fitted, they have good reviews too.

IMO i think we all need to move up to 215 wide tyres like on the Cupra and Polo GTI.

my tyre choices would only be

Michelin plot sport 2/3

Conti sport contact 5

vredestein ultrac sessanta

goodyear eagle F1 assymetric

uni royal rainsport 2

however im thinking since i do low mileage anyway, and 4 months of the year i have winter tyres fitted, that ill go for something really hardcore like these

Michelin supersports

toyo R1R

Toyo R888

Federal RS-R

For my situation its silly to put mediocre tyres on when the tyres i have already struggle to maintain the power as it is. remaps a waste of money if you just spin the tyres away.

I have tyre OCD bigstyle. if i think a tyre is rubbish, i have to take it off and replace them. if its near the end of its life, i have to change them, even when they have a couple thousand left. I guess at the end of the day there are only 4 pieces of rubber connecting your lovely car to the ground, so you can have the best driving skills, brakes or reactions, but if you havent got the grip its useless.

I take your point, however, I've already put off changing tyres for a month due to lack of money (and meesed the wales meet this weekend) so alot of these I simply can't afford. My opinions. and I could go to 215's but again, I don't consider the extra cost worth it.

Michelin plot sport 2/3 (good but too expensive)

Conti sport contact 5 (good but too expensive)

vredestein ultrac sessanta (good but too expensive)

goodyear eagle F1 assymetric (Good, and I've used these before, but too expensive)

uni royal rainsport 2 (seriously thought about the rainsport! but decided to go a bit more dry weather performance)

however im thinking since i do low mileage anyway, and 4 months of the year i have winter tyres fitted, that ill go for something really hardcore like these

Michelin supersports

toyo R1R

Toyo R888

Federal RS-R

all good from your point of view, but i don't doo the track days or have 200+ bhp!

May I suggest these as track tyres? cheaper too....

http://www.tyrereviews.co.uk/Tyre/Federal/595EVO.htm

they do them in 215's if you want, and they are £50 each

maybe not as "specialist" as the RS-R's but you would at least get some wet weather performance, and the dry weather perfomance is still top notch!

the RS-R tyres can be had for less than 100 a corner anyway so they are pretty high up my list. i budget £500 a year for summer tyres and only normally need them to manage 7-8k maximum and also buy a set of winter tyres (which last a few years normally). i dont do huge mileage though,

R888s, R1Rs etc are actually ok in the wet, you just need to drive correctly. essentially they are an intermediate tyre that doesnt like standing water. other than that they are fine. theres also plenty of tread on the R1R, supersports and RS-Rs(much more than on the R888s) so they would be practically as good or near to the performance of the normal road tyres in the wet anyway.

the top list i stated though arent really upto trackdays though, hence why im looking more so at the bottom list. id have said the top ones are great for the road, and what a hot hatch should have. Tyres are what make a hot hatch work, put ditch finders on and thats what you'll find. All imo of course, as said i have sever OCD for tyres

lol... maybe a little OCD but I find the subject interesting, as the difference in performance can be shocking, I have used cheap (autogrip) tyres before, and they ruined my car, so i took them off after a few hundred miles and sold them on e-bay!

I'm on a mission to find tyres that perform at almost the level of top brands, at half the prices...

I have used maxxis before (and they were pretty good) but am trying a different, more dry weather tyre from them this time

whats your budget?. i think £90-100 a corner is the best range for an all round tyre. moving upto 120-150 for the best tyres

whats your budget?. i think £90-100 a corner is the best range for an all round tyre. moving upto 120-150 for the best tyres

£70 a corner. was offered falken ZE912's which have reasonable reviews, but I'm not a fan of falken. 2 types of maxxis (one of which I chose) I was going for khumo 31's, but apparently they have been replaced by '39's, he showed me the tyre, and I didn't like the pattern, seemed too open, not enough rubber on the road, the reviews do say they are better than the 31's though. I was originally going to buy the semi-track federals I poseted earlier, but there were none available to order :(

I'm pretty fussy when it comes to tyres. I always like assymetric ones and not directional. I had some before (can't remember what) and on certain roads the car tramlined terribly. I even asked the dealer what tyres the vRS came on from new. She said no one had ever asked that which I was surprised at.

On my Mk1 I've had Michelin Bridgestone ER300's (noisy), Michelin Pilot Exalto's, Pirelli Pzero Nero's and the one I can't remember but it was a good make. The Pzero's are on now and when I had them fitted I went for a blast up the Horseshoe Pass and back and they seemed pretty good. Not pushing them hard now as I don't want to change any before I part ex it. Hopefully this thread will come up with a good, all round tyre. Also why move up to 215's? They cost more and do they handle any better?

Each to their own, but I beleive that's the rubber is one of the most important parts of the car and you should always put on the best. As far as cost goes, what the difference between a set of conti's or cheapo tyres - maybe a tank of fuel? Better performance and more importantly best wet weather performance and stoping ability are always number one in my book!

Ref Mid priced but good performing tyres:

Vred's are getting good reviews by other MiTo owners I know. But, one make not mentioned so far - Khumo. I was at a hillclimb recently and practically all of the faster Subaru and Caterham cars had Khumo tyres. I also remember one of the Autocar guys fitted them to his 911 and rated them very highly.

If it was me i go for uniroyal rainsport 2 had them on my octy vRS and they were very good i will be fitting them to my fabia vRS

If it was me i go for uniroyal rainsport 2 had them on my octy vRS and they were very good i will be fitting them to my fabia vRS

I did seriously consider them, but went for a more 'dry tyre'.. next time round if I can't get proper winters, rainsports top the list!

Still likely to go for the Uniroyals.

Uniroyals in 205 = £85

Uniroyals in 215= £118

Finally found something good about the Dunlops, harder compound and take longer to heat up so less tyre wear than the Conti's, huzzah :p

I'll probably wait till the Castle Combe meet in Sept, by that time I'll have done 16-17k and the Dunlops will be worn.

Could always have a look at Autoexpress tyre test could give you some ideas

Tyre Test

As I keep on repeating my self but no one seems to listen. If they did there would be never the need for another tyre's thread.

" Uniroyal RainMasters (Rain Sports) Awsesome in the Dry, Better in the wet." You will not find a better tyre for the price

THE END

As I keep on repeating my self but no one seems to listen. If they did there would be never the need for another tyre's thread.

" Uniroyal RainMasters (Rain Sports) Awsesome in the Dry, Better in the wet." You will not find a better tyre for the price

THE END

I'm having two of these fitted to my parents Swift tomorrow. Reviews looks promising

I can recommend the federal 595 rs-r tyres:

http://www.federaltyres.com/tyres/motorsport/595rs-r

Very good tyres for the money.

If you have more money i recommend NITTO NT555r2:

http://nittotire.com/index.html#index.tire.nt555r2

If you want the very best drag race times:

http://nittotire.com/index.html#index.tire.nt05r

http://www.modified.com/tech/modp-1012-maxxis-ma-z1-victra/index.html

Dave

Read this:

MAXXIS Tyre Test: http://www.reifendirekt.de/cgi-bin/RDTyreTest.pl?cart_id=64606448.110.18533&language=EN&dsco=110&Marke=Maxxis&Profil=MA+Z1&Med=reifentest.com

Rainsport Tyre Test: http://www.reifendirekt.de/review/110/Uniroyal_RainSport2_reifentestcom.html

I'd get the Uniroyals

I still haven't found a better option at the price... they are £30 cheaper than the rainsports, and they beat them in the dry test you posted (just) and is anything as good as the rainsports in the wet? doubtfull, but I'm still trying to balance cost v performance.

Just had Uniroyal Rain Experts put on my parents Swift as well as tracking. Roads were wet to drying on the way home and they felt pretty good. Didn't push too hard since they are still new. Want to see how they are in the dry first before I say if it's a good tyre or not

Ive just ordered 2 rainsport 2's for my vrs mk1 £75 each all in at formula one auto centre don't forget the discount code

rainsport link

http://www.f1autocentres.co.uk

Edited 19 July, 201114 yr by bluepassion

well the new tyres are on, my local tyre place did a good job as always (independant family owned place) even cleaned the sealent of my white wheels incase it "stained" them... tracks straight, no vibration, I'll keep updating as I see how they go, they look fantastic, I'll "run them in" then start to push in different conditions, I can give a direct comparison to the conti's then...

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first note: they have better rim protection. and nosing around my wheeless car, it seems the brakes have cooling feeds! so er... "cool!"

same both sides, pointed directly at the inside of the brake disc...

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Like little touches like that