Looking at changing both front rainsport 2's soon as nearly at 3mm (they like to skip when accelerating hard in the dry) & one of them has a slow punture..

Firstly any thoughts on what should replace with?? im torn between rainsport 3, hankook & vredestein based on reviews

More importantly though is it best to have new tyres at rear and move the rear ones (SC5 with approx 5mm) to the front?

Thanks

I put on Goodyear efficient grip performance. Definitely noticed an increase in mpg over the previous Maxxis. Plenty of grip for me but I'm rarely pushing it.

Still pleased with the Hankooks.  Now on the second set.  The last lot still gripped to the end - a nail was their ultimate downfall.

On my car, quiet, nice progressive handling and roadholding always good enough for me.  Price isn't bad either.

The tyre fitter will want and recommend you put the best tyres on the rear. This will give a tendency to understeer rather than the more difficult to control oversteer.

The rear tyres wear five times slower than the front so they might expire through age (6 years) than just wear out through mileage.

Best practice IMHO is rotate the tyres ever 6000 miles (as per skoda handbook) to keep the tyres and car balanced front to back. Many others will disagree with that.

Thanks for feedback.. will probably go with the RS3 @ the back & have current rear tyes moved to the front

I am considering Dunlop Sport BluResponse at £46.50 each in 195/65 R15 91H size as summer tyres to replace my very satisfactory Goodyear TS850 winter tyres.

These Dunlops get a very good rating on the Mytyres site, both in the official rating tests and in users' opinions.  (Have look at the MyTyres site - try listing tyres in the size you need on their site in order of user reviews - sorry, can't manage to paste a direct link at present.)  Admittedly, I shall be seeking fuel economy, wet grip, comfort and silence more than ultimate dry grip or sporting handling.  I've got a spots car to drive when I want that!.  I regard my 4x4 Ocatavia diesel estate as a versatile, comfortable and economcal workhorse.
_ _ _

Nowadays, both tyre manufacturers and tyre fitters reccomend putting the best (i.e., least-worn tyres) on the back.  This is really not so much about "understeer" or "oversteer" in normal driving; tread depth has little effect on this, unlike tyre pressures which do.  However a tyre with less tread is more likely to suddenly let go if slippery conditions (a patch of ice, mud, spilled diesel, standing water or even polished tarmac) are unexpectedly encountered.  If the back end lets go it will do so so suddenly that you will not know what has happened until you find yourself unexpectedly spinning and/or going off the road backwards.  If it is the front loses grip, the car is more likely to keep going in a straight line and less likely to go completely out of control.    Be under no illusion - you will not experience a graceful, controllable tail-slide if the rear end suddenly lets go - that is a fantasy.  Do not be misled by any experience you may have had practicing tail-slides at low speed on a skid-pan or in a snow-covered car park. 

Many people (including me) prefer to change all four tyres at once - after all, it doesn't cost any more - and therefore swap the tryes front-to-back every 6,000 miles or so.  This is particularly advisable if one end wears more quickly than the other, although quite honestly I doubt whether the wear is five times greater at the front, even on a 2-wheel-drive Octavia.

However, if you are only planning to replace two tyres at a time, on a front-wheel-drive car I would put the new tyres on the back (for the reasons stated above) and move the remaining part-worn tyres to the front; and I would then subsequently not swap them front-to-back.  That way I would always have tyres with the better tread on the back, and all my tyres would, in turn, eventually get used on the back, then on the front and then get discarded before they had an opportunity to perish due to old age by being left on the back.

Hope this helps.

My 2 new Goodyear effecient grip performance tyres will arrive at the fitters on Monday. I've got 2 already and they were about 2-3 months old when i fitted my steel winters. When i bought the car it had Uniroyal rain expert tyres on but these create a lot of road noise and i'll be glad to get shot of these, even though they still have 4-5 mm of tread on...   

+1 for the BluResponse! Go to Black Circles though....

+1 for the BluResponse! Go to Black Circles though....

Do Black Circles offer these tyres mounted on alloy wheels for less than £400 for four?

I am considering Dunlop Sport BluResponse at £46.50 each in 195/65 R15 91H size as summer tyres to replace my very satisfactory Goodyear TS850 winter tyres ....

 

.

Correction - sorry, in my earleir post I should of course have written "... Continental TS850 winter tyres ..." and not  " ... Goodyear ..." 

Do Black Circles offer these tyres mounted on alloy wheels for less than £400 for four?

Depends on size. For 16s on my l&k it was less than 300 quid

Depends on size. For 16s on my l&k it was less than 300 quid

.

Thanks!  What wheels were they please?

I suppose there's no reason why I couldn't fit 16" wheels to my car instead of 15"s if that was cheaper to do.

 

Not tried them personally, but they always come out well in comparison tests, Goodyear F1 Assymetric 2s are currently on offer at Camskill for a bargain £90 per corner, plus a few quid each for delivery

http://www.camskill.co.uk/m61b0s134p109670/Goodyear_Tyres_Car_Goodyear_Eagle_F1_Asymmetric_2_-_225_40_R18_92Y_XL_FP_TL_Fuel_Eff_%3A_C_Wet_Grip%3A_A_NoiseClass%3A_2_Noise%3A_70dB

The rear tyres wear five times slower than the front so they might expire through age (6 years) than just wear out through mileage.

 

This will never happen if you always fit new tyres to the rear though. When a set of front tyres needs replacing, the previously new rear tyres get moved to the front, so they spend part of their life on the back an part on the front. This is what I do.

 

New tyres should go on the rear. To add to the comments above, have a look at the video here:

 

http://www.etyres.co.uk/flashmovies/new-tyres-rear-etyres.htm

For the best source of info on tyre performance have a look here:

 

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

 

Not so much for the customer reviews but for the more objective tests carried out by the likes of ADAC.

 

Not sure what tyre size the OP is after? But for economy and safety I'd probably be choosing between Dunlop Sport BluResponse and Goodyear EfficientGrip Performance.

 

To buy, check out prices at http://www.f1autocentres.co.uk, they're often cheaper than the like of blackcircles and mytyres for common tyre sizes.

Edited 8 March, 201412 yr by Ultrasonic

Not tried them personally, but they always come out well in comparison tests, Goodyear F1 Assymetric 2s are currently on offer at Camskill for a bargain £90 per corner, plus a few quid each for delivery

http://www.camskill.co.uk/m61b0s134p109670/Goodyear_Tyres_Car_Goodyear_Eagle_F1_Asymmetric_2_-_225_40_R18_92Y_XL_FP_TL_Fuel_Eff_%3A_C_Wet_Grip%3A_A_NoiseClass%3A_2_Noise%3A_70dB

 .

Yeah but I was asking about complete wheels - new alloy wheels complete with good-quality (e.g., Dunlop BlueResponse) tyres fitted and balanced, including delivery.  To be able to get all this for under £100 per corner from MyTyres seems a good deal.

 

 .

Yeah but I was asking about complete wheels - new alloy wheels complete with good-quality (e.g., Dunlop BlueResponse) tyres fitted and balanced, including delivery.  To be able to get all this for under £100 per corner from MyTyres seems a good deal.

 

 

Yes, but I was answering the OP's query about tyres, not your comments (it was his thread after all)

 

An Octavia vRS, if running on 18s, will use 225/40/18 tyres, not the paltry 195/65/15s you were quoting prices for

Oh wheels and tyres... ooh wouldnt know

Just checked........doesn't look as though Dunlop do the BluResponse in 18s

I've just had two GoodYear EfficientGrip Performance fitted and couldn't be happier. They went on the back and have made an immediate improvement to road noise and braking feels sharper and stronger, so much so I'm thinking of getting rid of the Pirelli's I have on the front far earlier than I need to.

Yes, but I was answering the OP's query about tyres, not your comments (it was his thread after all)

 

An Octavia vRS, if running on 18s, will use 225/40/18 tyres, not the paltry 195/65/15s you were quoting prices for

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Fair enough - apologies!  I'm afraid that I took this thread off-topic by discussing tyres for a different car altogether, and also talking about tyre-plus-rim packages.

Sorry about that.

Since the OP has now had a clear answer to his initial question (fit the tyres with the best - the least-worn - tread on the rear wheels) I'll start a fresh thread about tyre-plus-wheel packages.

.

 

Without doubt my recommendation would be Vredestein Ultrac Vorti.

I've had, Goodyear eagle asymmetric, conti sc5, uniroyals rs2s and these Vortis are by far the best tyre I've ever had.

Hard wearing, quiet, outstanding grip in wet and dry, loads of feel and under £90 a corner from camskill.

Don't take my word for it, look on that tyre review website, check under the tyre size and see the rating.

Mine are on a 2010 vRS tdi