I have my winters on at the moment, selling my summers on e-bay, and going for a new set of 215/40/17's in federal 595 RSR flavour http://www.demon-twe...l-595-rs-r-tyre

Tempted to do this once my rears wear out. Since they are more track biased what's wear and rain performance like?

wear is apparently quite poor, they start to get worse after about 5k, so dont expect more than 10k from them (you cant really have wear AND grip!) BUT: I intend to ebay them again when winter comes next year and my winters are on this way it works out slightly better, as every summer I'll have new summer tyres, and you'd be suprised what people will pay for part worns

rain is an issue up here in the lakes, another reason for the federals, apparently according to the tyre review site, they are better in the rain than other track based tyres........ 888's ect

reviews here http://www.tyrereviews.co.uk/Tyre/Federal/595RSR.htm

Regarding the RS-R tyres ive found the weqar on mine to be more than acceptable. Ive done about 4k so far including 3 dry trackdays onthem and they still have plenty of tread.

IMO these are an amazing tyre. Not as much dry grip as a R888, but its not to far off at all, wet weather grip is surprisngly good, and best of all, they are ponly about £100/corner for 215/40R17s which is a huge saving over an R888 which is at leat an extra £60/corner.

Would you have to tell the insurance about the change?

Would you have to tell the insurance about the change?

I called them when I first put my winters on last year because they were 3% out (205/45/17's) and they were fitted and approved by my local skoda dealer, and my insurance said, as long as they are skoda approved, you don't need to tell us... I asked them (skoda garage) if fitting 215/40/17's on the OE wheels is ok, and they said yes, no problem.

edit: but not all insurance companies are the same!

wear is apparently quite poor, they start to get worse after about 5k, so dont expect more than 10k from them (you cant really have wear AND grip!) BUT: I intend to ebay them again when winter comes next year and my winters are on this way it works out slightly better, as every summer I'll have new summer tyres, and you'd be suprised what people will pay for part worns

rain is an issue up here in the lakes, another reason for the federals, apparently according to the tyre review site, they are better in the rain than other track based tyres........ 888's ect

reviews here http://www.tyrerevie...eral/595RSR.htm

That seems pretty good. Considering I barely got 10k out of my Conti's I could live with that. Bookmarked for future reference

They look pretty slick. Nice looking tyre http://www.tyretraders.com/tyreInformation%7CItemID%7CFED21540ZR1793W595RS-R.html

^{Guys thanks for the replies. basically my car is stock and will remain so. Only thing i'm likely to change in the next 18 months are tyres and I figure if the Fabia has 7j's like the A1, GTi and Cupra and so capable of running the same 215/40 R17's I'd be tempted to do it, particularly given the cost differential would be negligable and should make it just that bit more drivable.}

^{My concern really is tyre pressures, how would the change in size affect the stock pressures, could they be inflated the same as the 205's with no problem? If not how would you calculate the correct pressures for the car. Has anyone on the forum started running 215's and have overcome this problem?}

^{vRSSy, think you may be the man to answer this.}

tyre pressures remain the same (I use 2.5 bar all round) its because of the weight at each corner rather than tyre size....

Makes perfect sense thanks

Just fitted 215/40/17 Uniroyal Rainsport 2's and they're flippin' brilliant