Firstly, due to the advice from sage people on here, I have been running 225/45-17 tyre sizes on my VRS pretty much from day one, five years ago. As has been discussed, this size suits the wheel and the car perfectly compared to the OE size, but comes in a huge chunk cheaper...

 

Now, I'm always a bit of a tyre 'snob' it must be said - I have a long history of only choosing premium options in the past, especially on performance cars that I have been fortunate enough to own like Merc SL's and my last Porsche 996 model 911. I have always chosen mostly Michelin Pilot Sport 3's, and this positive prejudice has also carried over to my humble Mk. 1 VRS.

 

Hence, I've run PS 3's on my Skoda too.....at 400 quid a set each time. However, after a few sets....I think I might be honest enough to say that they've been mostly good.....but not great....and certainly haven't had any kind of stellar longevity to them either. Grip, traction, feel, turn-in and feedback are pretty good when new, yes.....but they've not really lasted all that long either, and I have to be honest, once they're worn past about 4mm, they turn into quite disappointingly noisy hoops, start tramlining fairly noticeably, and lose their 'premium' feel and feedback to the extent that I start to contemplate their replacement.

 

18 months ago, my last set required replacement - but my Skoda Octy VRS was by then worth maybe a grand at best - so I decided that Mich PS 3's were a ridiculous indulgence, and they were actually not as great as their premium status might imply. So I got a good deal on a set of Falken ZE 912's. 200 bucks a set of four.

 

These initially gave good feel, nice turn-in.....but soon became a wee bit tiresomely noisy, and fidgety. Probably a good tyre for fast road / track day monsters, but ended up being irritatingly intrusive and far too communicative for a boring A to B type road driver, as I have basically become of late with my Skod 1 RS. And once they wore down to 4 or 3mm, they became really quite annoyingly noisy and harsh, reporting every single bump, lump and deviation whether I liked it or not. This quickly became really annoying.

 

So, last week, with the Falkens finally getting down to near 2mm, I decided to go off and seek another decent, but mid-range tyre cost-wise....as my Mk. 1 is now maybe worth three-quarters of a grand at best! Hence, spending a third or a half of the value of the car on tyres would be ridiculous.

 

 

After a bit of internet searching, and seeing what local tyre shops could offer.....I found out about Barum Bravuris 3 tyres, available at National Tyre brand places pretty much exclusively.

 

Looking at reports online, and at Barum's own website - they seem to be pretty highly regarded as a mid-range tyre option. There are lots of positive reports on the net about them. Secondly, it appears that they're made in Czechoslovakia, the factory is based there, but the company is owned outright by Continental tyres of Germany, So, I guess not dissimilar to Skoda being owned by VAG, right?!

 

Barum's website also goes on to recommend this tyre specifically for Skoda Octavias.

 

So - I took the plunge, and bought a set of 4 for my Octy 1 VRS. £220 for a set of four, fitted and balanced.

 

 

Anyway, getting to the point for other owners - after 3 weeks and 1,000 miles, I am very impressed. I have experimented with different tyre pressures, and I have found that 40 psi all round gives the best balance between feel, grip, traction and comfort. But that's just my personal preference - don't read too much into that.

 

I have to comment that overall, for ordinary driving, occasionally going a bit bananas, driving quickly in the wet, and then wanting comfort and quietness whilst cruising - I'm sold that, on average, across all those parameters, these Barums are more or less the best all-rounders that I have ever fitted to this car. And as I have said, even more attractively, they're a bargain, price-wise.

 

To sum-up, I reckon that you can't go wrong with giving them a go, unless you're a boy-racer or track-day warrior. If you drive on the road at 5 or 6/10ths most of the time, with the occasional brain-out blat - I can't think of a better and more cost-effective solution, tyres wise.

 

 

Just my musings anyway, I'm no expert - but I thought that I might post my thoughts, if it may help any of you guys and gals. For me at least, and especially for the price - I is impressed.

 

HTH! Laters

 

 

 

 

 

 

I'll stick with my Goodyear Eagle F1 Aysmmetric 2 which I have recently been picking up for around £55 a corner, but then I can get cheap fitting.

 

NEVER willing to trust cheap rubber, it's all that keep you on the road

I dunno some budget (more low mid range I mean really) can offer decent quality, just pick very carefully. I would recommend General tyres which do come off Continental production line as their sister company, we got them on the Mrs' car and they also come with puncture and damage warranty within first 5mm of wear. Seem to drive ok with low noise but you can't really find their limits in a 1.4 scenic without getting sea sick.

I almost had them on my Ibiza, but I was only getting a pair at the time and the Hankook EVO which I like we're only 7 quid more a corner so went with those. Next time maybe...

Best tyres I ever had were Pirelli P6 on my Audi years ago (they were superceded to P6000's after). Marhsall Power racer followed then, and they were fantastic for the price at the time, and lasted for a good 24k miles+ (even with a 19 year old behind the wheel )

 

I have read, and used Maxxis tyres on other cars, and for a low end mid range tyre, they were fantastic. Will be looking for new tyres for my Mk1 before long, and will probably go with the high end budgets, rather than go for the brand name bragging rights, as quite often, the budgets are made by the big names anyway. Nokian are also a good budget brand that get good reviews too.

Barums are made by Continental.

 

 

Quality tyre at an affordable price.

I have 205/50/17 Conti SportContact3. I bought them with 8 mm and regard them as good. Better than BF Goodrich medium choose. Could try 225/45/17 next time, as they probably give more grip, but would have preferred a 7,5" rim for those.

Edited 4 May, 201610 yr by dcstuurman

I have used maxxis tyres to great effect too, we have 4x AP2's (all-season) on the Abarth and they way outshine the pirelli p zero nero's that the car came with .... when it comes to winter time I will be buying four for the octy....

 

BUT for summer, I run Federal RSR's (track day tyres) £75 each, about as good as a mid range in the wet, and almost unbeatable in the warm and dry!

 

however I wouldn't recommend them for OP's car : you obviously like a premium feel, and the RSR's have a hard sidewall, and such big tread blocks, they are quite noisy, and going on the first post i don't think you'd like them! They are the tyre for me though

 

I like my tyres too, love threads like this sadly I can often simply name a tyre by tread pattern! lol..

Edited 4 May, 201610 yr by sharkrider

  sadly I can often simply name a tyre by tread pattern! lol..

  Whats this off then..................

 

deffo a tractor!

Barum, Matador, General, Gislaved (Swedish) and Uniroyal are all owned by Continental.

 

I've had experience of most of them and have fitted a fair few of each make too. They're all decent tyres. Should be something for everyone's budget.

I've been through a couple of sets of tyres on my VRS. First tyres I put on were Hankooks (one pair Ventus Prime 2 the other pair S1 Evo), all in size 205/50/17. They provided good grip both wet and dry and lasted well.

 

Second set was put on about 2 years ago - Goodyear Eagle F1 Asymmetric 2s in 225/45/17. This set has done about 30k miles or so and are near the markers now. I can't fault them and I think 30k+ is a good lifespan for high performance tyres.

 

I ordered another set of AS2s a few weeks ago when there was an offer on eBay for 20% (max £50) off. I was tempted to try something else but decided on the Goodyears again as I've been happy with them and got them for £229 (plus whatever it costs me to get them fitted).

 

On the subject of Falken ZE912s, my g/f has them on the back of her MR2. They have only been on about a year/10k and will need replacing in the next few months. She certainly doesn't drive it hard so I'd have expected them to last a bit longer than they have. Will be trying something else next time around!

UPDATE....for those whom might be interested anyway...
 

Well, further to my original post, the news gets better.

 

I've now had these Barums on for a few weeks and 2,000 miles. Since they've become nicely scrubbed in, there has been a corresponding increase in grip and traction, but probably best of all, the fronts are keyed-in to the geometry of the car, and turn-in is now really really impressive. I've not had this level of feel and bit on initial turn-in from any other tyre, even the Michelin PS 3's.

 

Done a few long-distance trips too, and they're pretty good for quietness too - definitely noticeably quieter then the Falkens.

 

Seriously, if you've not tried these tyres yet - or just want to be dismissive because of the brand name, then I really think that you're missing a trick.

My VRS Black has done 34k and the OEM Bridgestone Potenza's are basically stuffed. I do an open road tight and twisty hill drive everyday and they get a good work out. My tyre guy has given me three options, Pirelli Dragon Sport, Maxxis M36 and Achillies ATR Sport. All have mixed reviews and you basically get what you pay for. The new Pirelli Dragon is supposedly optimised for Asia Pacific driving conditions and has good performance in the wet and dry. It is the best tyre of the three but nearly twice the price of the Achillies. There's some decent reviews of the Achillies on the Mazda speed blog and also on YouTube but they don't have much of a reputation. The Maxxis seem middle of the road but don't seem to have much grip in the wet. I would be interested in people's comments and I note that a few of you have fitted Maxxis. Are they worth a punt or should I stick with the Pirellis?

Rodger

Edited 25 December, 20169 yr by arkward1

UPDATE....for those whom might be interested anyway... :D

 

Well, further to my original post, the news gets better.

 

I've now had these Barums on for a few weeks and 2,000 miles. Since they've become nicely scrubbed in, there has been a corresponding increase in grip and traction, but probably best of all, the fronts are keyed-in to the geometry of the car, and turn-in is now really really impressive. I've not had this level of feel and bit on initial turn-in from any other tyre, even the Michelin PS 3's.

 

Done a few long-distance trips too, and they're pretty good for quietness too - definitely noticeably quieter then the Falkens.

 

Seriously, if you've not tried these tyres yet - or just want to be dismissive because of the brand name, then I really think that you're missing a trick.

End of year update?

End of year update?

 

Weelll.....I can't go as far as end of year, as you may or may not have read that I sold my beloved Mk. 1 two months ago, and bought a Mk. 3 Vrs. I don't really like the Mk. 3 that much, as you will see if you do a search for my other posts!!

 

But what I can say is that the update from my post in May above, until I sold the car in October is that the tyres continued to perform as brilliantly as the update in May. Even when the temperatures began to plummet in October. Still performing really well on colder roads too.

 

As I said, I would highly recommend anyone gives them a go. In fact this Mk. 3 came with a pair of Contis on the front and Bridgestones on the back, both sets as near as dammit new. However, I don't like the feel of the Contis on the front axle, they tramline something chronic actually, and despite playing around with different pressures are not great. I noticed that the Bridgestones on the rear are XL rated but the Contis are not, so I have got the best overall result by running 32psi in the rears and 40 in the fronts.

 

That said when I get my January paycheck I am gonna bin the lot and replace with a set of Barums again. I'll let you know how they perform on the Mk. 3 next month...