The fronts on my 220 L&K are coming to the end of their life now. They’ve done almost 26,000 miles so I’m happy enough with that. What’s the current thinking on the best tyres to replace them?

6 minutes ago, Silverage said:

The fronts on my 220 L&K are coming to the end of their life now. They’ve done almost 26,000 miles so I’m happy enough with that. What’s the current thinking on the best tyres to replace them?

I'm a big fan of GoodYear Efficient Grip Performance, though I'm sure @BriskodaJeff looked into getting those and they didn't fit the Superb.  If they fit your wheels then I'd defo consider them.  Plenty of wet/dry grip, relatively quiet and very good wear rate.  I good tyre IME and much more performant than their eco naming would suggest. 

 

Other solid performers are Goodyear Eagle F1 Asymmetric. 

 

I suppose it depends on budget and what you want from the tyre so if you give more info I'm sure someone can recommend a tyre that fits your criteria. 

 

I'm currently using Vredestein Quatrac 5 all-season tyres and I'm very impressed with them.  Very stable and surefooted in all conditions.  Not as good as a top-end Summer tyre in the Summer and not as good a top-end Winter tyre in erm...Winter but they aren't far off.  Not having to store and change wheels more than makes up for the outright performance 'compromise'.   I've got 5mm of tread left on them and I'm just debating whether or not to try a UHP tyre on the 280 or just stick with the Quatrac 5's as they've actually never let me down.  (TBH I'd only go for Michelin PS4S or one of the newer Goodyear Eagle F1's as they are meant to be awesome BUT...I'd likely regret it come Winter).

 

Also worth looking here...

 

https://www.briskoda.net/forums/forum/213-tyres-zone/

I guess it depends. Are you looking for all-season tyres or a set of summer/winter tyres?

For an all-season tyre I can definitely recommend the Michelin CrossClimate. By design, it’s a summer tyre with wintery properties. As such, it’s really suited for the sort of driving conditions you might encounter in the UK or most of continental Europe. It’s also rated as a winter tyre, so it’s allowed to be used whenever winter tyres are mandatory in Germany/France etc.

If you’re looking for a set of summer tyres, I’ve heard more than a few good things about the Michelin PilotSport 4 tyres. Those are the tyres I’ll be going for as well when my current set needs to be replaced.

I wanted PS4, but there weren't any available in the country in my size when I needed them doing. So i went with Goodyear Eagle Asymmetric 3s. Really happy with them. Much quieter than the P7s and all the grip I need. Recommended if you are looking for summer tyres rather than all seasons. 

Both the Michelin and Goodyear options are coming in at around the £150 each mark so I’ll probably go for one of these.

 

Is it still a thing to always fit new tyres to the rear axle?

1 hour ago, Silverage said:

Both the Michelin and Goodyear options are coming in at around the £150 each mark so I’ll probably go for one of these.

 

Is it still a thing to always fit new tyres to the rear axle?

Yes. You don't want less grip in the rear.

1 hour ago, Silverage said:

Is it still a thing to always fit new tyres to the rear axle?

Depends on rear tread. I didn't, but I have 6mm remaining on the rears.

I don’t have that much on my rears so I’ll get them put on the front as part of this job. I’ve found a couple of the Goodyears at just over £130 each from one of these outfits that come to your home and fit them, so I’ll give them a try I think.

@Silverage Michelin and GoodYear are good choices. Continental ContiSportContact 5 or 6 are also very reliable.

I also confirm that Pirelli P7 can be forgotten... 

 

Regarding the right axle to put new tyres, it is recommended to put new tyres on the rear axle to keep the better grip on therear so that you only (or mainly) risk understeering, rather thant oversteering, which is much harder to manage for most drivers.

With Understeering, you just need to decrease the throttle and/or to uncluth so that front wheels recover the right rotating speed compared to the vehicle speed. Once this is OK, you recover sterring possiblity (instead of drift/ripping straight ahead). 

With oversteering, you need to simultaneously countersteer and give full throttle to generate a mass transfer rearwards. This helps your rear axle to recover adhesion and make ti stop oversteering... This manoeuver is not inuitive, if you haven't tested it just "to play" before. (Empty supermakets' parking lots on snowy days are a good places to test and learn), 

Edited 7 March, 20197 yr by Bap33

@Bap33 yes that is absolutely right. I did that on my old banger once and it slides really easily. In the wet it is comical.  Not helped that the rears are some budget tyre. 

The mobile guy has just been out to fit the new tyres but he wouldn’t entertain swapping the back wheels to the front. Said he isn’t given time as part of the job. I couldn’t see it being more than 10 mins. but he was having none of it.

 

I haven’t even got a jack with my car so I can’t do it myself. I guess I’ll have to take it into a tyre place after all and get them to do it.

 

Apart from that, I was very impressed with mobile service. Whole job was less than 20 minutes. He even got the pressures right and I noticed him torqueing the wheel nuts up properly too.

Did he also reset the tyre pressure on the Colombus or did you have to do it by yourself? This is often forgotten...

I’d certainly forgotten about it. I don’t think he did it as part of the job. The Columbus has not kicked off about tyre pressures though.

The guys are spot on here . I have pilot sport 4s on the front ( replacing the dreadful Bridgestones)  If you could afford 4 PS4S you would be in car heaven, grip is great in wet

Conti 6 great , Dunlop sprt max great, Goodyear  Eagles best long term , do a good job of everything

 

Mid range should not be forgotten Avon zz5, Yoko's , Kumho.

 

If your a motorway driver and rarely push the car to limits , £110 -£140 on 19" will do nicely 

Replaced the factory fit P7’s 400 miles ago with PS4’s. Yeah they are pretty grippy :-)

Would it be possible to fit 245/45/19 to my L&K 190 DSG........without causing any problems???

 

I want to put a bigger side wall between the rims and road (for comfort and wheel protection)

Put Uniroyals on front of mine, much grippier than the factory P7s and quiet too. Good rim protection. Let's see how well they wear.

 

On 12/04/2019 at 22:19, k.young said:

Would it be possible to fit 245/45/19 to my L&K 190 DSG........without causing any problems???

 

I want to put a bigger side wall between the rims and road (for comfort and wheel protection)

No, that's a certifed dimension from Skoda. Since the right one is 235/40/19. You would then too much increase the diameter.

If youd like higher side walls, I suggest switching to 235/45/18.

8 hours ago, Bap33 said:

No, that's a certifed dimension from Skoda. Since the right one is 235/40/19. You would then too much increase the diameter.

If youd like higher side walls, I suggest switching to 235/45/18.. 

Edited 19 April, 20197 yr by penguin17

8 hours ago, Bap33 said:

No, that's a certifed dimension from Skoda. Since the right one is 235/40/19. You would then too much increase the diameter.

If youd like higher side walls, I suggest switching to 235/45/18.

Yes and only 235/40 R19.  It's a bit of a pain as it seems to be the most expensive size in most UHP tyres and nobody seems to cater for this size in all-season tyres too (Vredestein and Maxxis are the only ones I've found).   Whilst the R19's look great and really fill the arches I would personally stick with R18 and have a better choice of tyres, at a lower cost too.   

Edited 19 April, 20197 yr by penguin17

Yeah, if I could do a swap with someone for there 18" wheels, I would.