As advised I swapped the front tyres to the back today. So now loads of tread on the front and still legal and enough on the back.

 

Of course I'll keep a strong eye on them and use my depth gauge regularly.

1 hour ago, xman said:

 

Strange that Continental seem convinced they won it.

 

https://www.continental-tires.com/car/media-services/newsroom/20180425-continental-scores-highest-rating-adac

 

Continental a German tyre manufacturer, yep, that makes them trustworthy. 

 

Made in China & there is the little letters 'German Technology'.

http://sd-international.cn

 

Edited 18 September, 20187 yr by Offski

So nexen will be good for my not all season. I am  buying 2 sets of tires. 4 summer and 4 winter.

It is not little money...

About 1200$ for dunlop, conti and gy and 800$ for fulda, nexen or so..

Nokian is also expensive, 2 years ago were 50% cheapier..

The 'spacesaver' (ie normal 16 inch size tyre on a steel rim) supplied on my Octavia mk3 is a Nexen and due to the number of punctures I suffered from nails and screws I have had to fit it a number of times and it is unbelievably noisy at all speeds. At least the noise is a constant reminder to get the original fixed and the spare back in its well asap.

I think the 2nd tier tyre producers are capable of making a good tyre at a good price but there are enough complaints to suggest that it is a lot more hit or miss whether you are actually supplied good examples.

One tyre retailer told me that many brands contract out production to 3rd party suppliers, consequent inconsistent quality control could account for a lot of the widely varying 'real-life' reports for tyre performance.

To his knowledge Michelin were one of the few (only?) who owned and controlled all their factories. I've no way of confirming that of course.

 

My Octavia mk3 was originally supplied with 17" Dunlop SportsMaxx and I was happy with them although I thought the 45k km life was only average. Another Briskoda member reported his identical brand/model tyres were terrible, noisy, harsh and poor in the wet and they still had legal tread after 90k miles, they must have had a very hard compound (?).

I now have Michelin Primacy fitted and I am really happy with them, but they did seem to improve markedly after being 'run in' which is not something I have noticed as much on other tyres.

 

Edited 19 September, 20187 yr by Gerrycan

Michelin own a control their factories,

and BF Goodrich, Kleber, Riken and TIGAR tyres that they also own. & ATS Euromaster. So they can sell tyres at all prices....

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ATS_Euromaster

 

Michelin Dundee manufacturers smaller Michelin tyres, which is an issue in what they describe as extremely challenging challenging trading conditions due to imports from Asia.

Job losses coming up maybe in Dundee even after all the money Michelin have invested over the years.

http://bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-scotland-business-45474740

 

Edited 19 September, 20187 yr by Offski