Replacement tyre recommendations.

[barnsleyboy]

Hi all, I've always replaced like for like tyres on my Superb Sportline (2018) but the amount of tyres I'm getting through with pothole damage is really starting to get to me. Anybody got any recommendations for a decent cheaper replacement to Pirelli 235/40/R19 96W? I'm gonna have to do it gradually as each tyre needs replacing, starting with the rear nearside which was damaged earlier today.

 

 

[naster]

Last year I bought for my other 2 cars 16" Riken tyres. Made in Serbia in a Michelin owned factory in Pirot. Drove from Bulgaria to Venice, Italy and back last April, other trips to Greece, Hungary and around the country - no issues at all. I’d probably replace my Superb’s 18" summer tyres this year too. They would probably grip well 2-3 years but at that price point a good alternative. Not sure what availability in the uk.

https://www.gorbalstyrecentre.co.uk/tyres/catalogue/riken/ultra-high-perfm/2454019yulhiperx

[Ootohere]

No issues getting Riken Tyres or even Tigar tyres which are brands owned by Michelin, and maybe from Black Circles or ATS Euromaster who Michelin own.

 

The issue is the size the OP requires.

Lots if 'What tyre' threads in this section or the Wheel / Tyre section if you look @barnsleyboy

 

 

 

 

I have used Tigar and Riken tyres lots over the years.  As well as Michelins.

Currently for All Season have gone back to Maxxis. 

 

Edited 21 February by Rooted

[naster]

10 hours ago, barnsleyboy said:

I'm gonna have to do it gradually as each tyre needs replacing

@Rooted I can’t imagine gradually migrating to another tyre size. Maybe I’ve read this the wrong way.

[Danoid]

I replaced mine with Goodyear asymmetric 6’s, so much more quieter and grippier 

 

Although not legal requirement only change tyres per axle (both backs or both fronts) if you can’t do it all at once, just asking for unpredictability if you change one at a time!

 

Have a look for them on like Asda tyres, black circles etc

 

I actually got mine from the dodgy sounding camskill then got them fitted at my local garage for some additional monies 

[naster]

10 hours ago, Rooted said:

Riken

I haven’t tried their winter tyres yet. But the summer ones are a great bang for the buck.

[numskull]

Put Conti AllSeason on in December 23. Such an improvement on the OE Pirelli P7’s in the dry and wet and, of course, in snow. They’ve covered about 6k and have no perceptible wear. 

[BTandSid]

A vote from me for Michelin CrossClimates - fitted to my Karoq and previously on a Freelander and Subaru Forester. Good all around all-season tyre

[Ootohere]

The OP is doing it a tyre at a time and does not have all seasons on now. 

[daviemck2006]

I put two vredestien winters extreme tyres on the front of my Karoq, 215/50×18 I think, the standard size anyway, in December. We have not had much snow but the few days we had the carvwas nearly undrivable with Bridgestones about 5 mm summers on the back. This is the first time I have ever had problems like it, plenty grip from the front and the back going allover the place. Therfore the Bridgestones got jettisoned and another ywo vredestien fitted to the rear at a cost of another over £300. This transformed it in the snow next day or two of snow we had. I wouldn't mix different types of tyres now.

 

I have another set of 18" wheels that I was running on my previous yeti. The wheels are vw sirocco wheels with 235/50x18 summers, two different makes but all summers and they were much better than the Bridgestones all round for comfort, and never had a problem with grip in snow with the yeti, but then it was 4wd whereas my karoq is front.

[MrRich]

Running Continental PremiumContact 6 as summer tyres and then AllSeasonContact for during winter.

[MarkyG82]

To those running 2 sets, are you using all seasons or winters this time of year? I have cross climates currently on the winter wheels. I had always planned to change them for winters when worn but seeing a few here with all seasons in winter gets me thinking.

[AGFalco]

4 Cars:-

 

One runs just summers all year round.

 

One runs summers and all season in the winter.

 

Two run just all season all year.

 

I did run one with summers and winters for 5 years.

 

Down South in North Dorset the all seasons are more than up to the job in the winter.

 

Thanks. AG Falco

 

 

[MrRich]

All Seasons are fine for UK winter and probably better suited as full winters operate better in colder conditions, so All Seasons cover that gap between Winters and Summers.  Newer ones also get alpine rating so okay for use in Europe in winter.

[AGFalco]

All my All season tyres have the TPMSS ( Three Peak Mountain Snowflake Symbol ) on them.

 

Thanks. AG Falco

[Alan_P]

I think the original CrossClimate are perfectly suited to the UK weather. It depends on your usage, but the CrossClimate 2 swings back a little too much to ice/snow grip with a loss of general handling IMO. It might indicate they going to push the Pilot Sport All Season 4 to the UK, which would be great.

In saying all that, I feel CrossClimate 2 is still the best option overall. I often see comparisons people make with the absolute best winter tyres and the very top performance summer tyres, but are these people also swapping back and forth several times a year to enjoy these gains?

We’ve had weeks of double figure temps followed by weeks of 4-6c during the day since the start of the year in Scotland. I would prefer to be on a CrossClimate than a Pilot Sport at 5c or a Pilot Alpin at 15c. With the UK temp swings in Winter/Spring/Autumn, you would have to be pretty active to be on the perfect tyre at all times of the year if you swap between winters and summer tyres at every +-8c change.

I've seen posts from people slamming all season tyres who still run the older factory Cinturato P7 tyres. Check the stats of your summer tyre before hating on all seasons:

https://www.tyrereviews.com/Tyre/Pirelli/Cinturato-P-7-Ecoimpact.htm

https://www.tyrereviews.com/Tyre/Michelin/CrossClimate-2.htm

Video review including Pilot Sport All Season:

https://youtu.be/421HkK4Nqss?si=ChXsGoHBH-nT8VOs

Sorry for the hijack and not much use to the OP, but I was following the all season talk. CrossClimate are expensive and you cannot gradually change to all season. I personally wouldn't like to mix tyre brands, let alone a dangerous mix of summer and all season. The Tyre Reviews channel I linked above has good reviews of the best budget tyres though. Hankook always seem to do well with price to performance.

[Schtum]

23 hours ago, MarkyG82 said:

To those running 2 sets, are you using all seasons or winters this time of year? I have cross climates currently on the winter wheels. I had always planned to change them for winters when worn but seeing a few here with all seasons in winter gets me thinking.

 

Currently, I have CrossClimate+ on the Yeti on the original 17" rims and  Dunlop D5 Winter Sport on the Karoq on Audi Q3 17' rims rather than the original 18's.  

 

I find the biggest difference in performance is braking on snow, where the Dunlops are bit better than the Michelins but there's not a huge amount in it. 

[Ootohere]

@Schtum and myself are south of Stonehaven & Blairgowrie on the East of Scotland but there are people posting that give not a clue where they are in the UK & some right at the South of the UK.

 

This winter so far has not had much snow in the UK for many other than those further north than me and i know how have and some can struggle in winters and need to get about and Winters or All Season / All Weathers are something having even if just in the wettest or cold weather which can be anytime. 

 

PS

Good to see someone like @daviemck2006 posting from Macduff.

Where i grew up and where we used to get plenty snow and the only place i know where people sledged using a washing line stretcher pole as a rudder.

The reason this started was because Norwegians trained in the area during WW2 and showed this way as well as teaching the Home Guard and Cadets how to ski and with a staff not ski sticks. 

 

Up there Firestone Town & Country Tyres got fitted in winter and bags of sand were put in the boot. 

Edited 24 February by Rooted

[MarkyG82]

@Rooted I think you are aware that I'm in the south. If not then hi, I'm in the south. My route to work is often icy at times through the colder months so the use of winter rated tyres is very useful. I have enjoyed having cross climates as winter tyres for the last 2 winter seasons (including the current one) and I'm now thinking I'll replace like for like when worn.

[Ootohere]

@MarkyG82 that is like many many drivers real world, not some who have a few hours of snow a few days a year if even that. 

 

All Season summer bias winter certificated tyres.  Perfect for many and for all year and even a scorchio summer.

Likely busy busy roads in the lovely weather on big fast roads where the speed limit is 70 MPH or even great driving roads in the hills.

 

The tyres do not melt or squirm or misbehave or wear quick, and if going to the track then maybe not the best tyres to use.

Well unless the 1/4 mile track and then a perfect time to kill them and get grip / traction, just take wheels / tyres to get home on.

[daviemck2006]

1 hour ago, Rooted said:

@Schtum and myself are south of Stonehaven & Blairgowrie on the East of Scotland but there are people posting that give not a clue where they are in the UK & some right at the South of the UK.

 

This winter so far has not had much snow in the UK for many other than those further north than me and i know how have and some can struggle in winters and need to get about and Winters or All Season / All Weathers are something having even if just in the wettest or cold weather which can be anytime. 

 

PS

Good to see someone like @daviemck2006 posting from Macduff.

Where i grew up and where we used to get plenty snow and the only place i know where people sledged using a washing line stretcher pole as a rudder.

The reason this started was because Norwegians trained in the area during WW2 and showed this way as well as teaching the Home Guard and Cadets how to ski and with a staff not ski sticks. 

 

Up there Firestone Town & Country Tyres got fitted in winter and bags of sand were put in the boot. 

Bags of sand in the boot may of helped many years ago when I had a mk1 cavalier, but not much use now with two front wheel drives. There has not been much snow here this winter so far, but when it was here you didn't need to go far away from the sea to find quite a lot. I'm happy that the karoq has 4 winters the exact same, and all brand new within the last 4 months, tha other set has 2 Michelins, will need replaced this year sometime, and 2 kormoran which are two years old and like new. My local tyre man said they are owned by Michelin and were £90 a tyre two years ago compared to the £145 he was quoting for Michelin at the time. I'm expecting another pair of them will be on this year as I've had no problems with them.  I don't mind different makes front and rear, but must be the same across the axle.

[Ootohere]

In the 1960,s it was really pretty much just rwd cars that there were about and a bag of sand in any fwd was to be shoveling under the tyres. 

[Winston_Woof]

I find it interesting how many people here(UK based) seem to be running Winter/Summer tyres/wheels. Not something I've ever thought of doing in my 40 odd years of motoring even though the whole of the UK is further North than a lot of people think (Vancouver sits at 48° 32' 17.33" N , Moscow at  55° 45' 3.59" N whilst Lands End is at 50° 04' 4.20" N and John o'Groats is 58° 38′ 14″ N,).

Ok I get that on the whole we have a fairly temperate climate due the Gulf Stream and with a few exceptions (BTW well done to Scotland in the Calcutta Cup yesterday) there are few places in the UK that have bad enough weather  for long enough (IMHO) to warrant regular usage of  "specialist" tyres.

Edited 25 February by Winston_Woof

[J.R.]

12 hours ago, Alan_P said:

I personally wouldn't like to mix tyre brands, let alone a dangerous mix of summer and all season

 

Dangerous mix?

 

Sub optimal maybe but no worse than driving on winter tyres for several months when the temperatures oscillate wildly around the notional switching point that people believe so religiously.

 

Perfectly legal to change one tyre at a time (arguably not so in my country but for protectionist not safety reasons) all they would need to do is press the TPMS reset button once.

 

I still havn't fitted my winter tyres yet, the weather hasn't justified it, I bought them down here before having lived here for any length of time, in 30 minutes I will be doing an 800km autoroute journey on standard tyres worn evenly to the TWI markers that have done 52K miles in my ownership and an unknown distance before that, its 7.5° and raining here and will be colder in the North.

 

The winter tyres will be fitted in spring when the old ones become visibly illegal and will probably remain on rain and shine until worn out, my new circumstances do not require changing tyres with the seasons.

 

Anyone who has driven 60's vehicles either in period or in the 70s and 80s as bangers will know how to drive to the conditions and available grip, how to modulate the power of a higher performance vehicle, todays drivers have only ever driven cars which would be very dangerous in inexperienced hands but for the traction and stability control systems, they freak out when suddenly in snow and ice they are unable to overcome their deficiencies as well, for them changing tyres with the season is sensible.

Edited 25 February by J.R.

[Winston_Woof]

5 minutes ago, J.R. said:

Anyone who has driven 60's vehicles either in period or in the 70s and 80s as bangers will know how to drive to the conditions and available grip, how to modulate the power of a higher performance vehicle, todays drivers have only ever driven cars which would be very dangerous in inexperienced hands but for the traction and stability control systems, they freak out when suddenly in snow and ice they are unable to overcome their deficiencies as well, for them changing tyres with the season is sensible.

The best (non 4WD) vehicle I've ever owned for use in snow was the Citroen 2CV. Nice skinny tyres that cut through it nicely
And of course Air cooled so no danger of the radiator fteezing ;o)

Edited 25 February by Winston_Woof