I am getting near needing to replace my Bridgestone 225/45R17 front tyres and I have had a good read around all the tyre posts and I have a couple of Continental Sport Contact tyre questions.

First off, I see differnet models, such as:

Continental 225/45R17 91W TL FR Sport Contact

Continental 225/45R17 91W TL FR Sportcontact 2

Continental 225/45R17 91Y TL FR Sport Contact 2

Continental 225/45R17 94W TL XL FR Sport Contact

Continental 225/45R17 94W TL XL FR Sport Contact 2

Continental 225/45ZR17 FR Sport Contact

Continental 225/45R17 94V TL XL FR Sport Contact 2

I have no idea which ones to buy. They all seem to be around the

First off you need to take the full details from your existing tyres which will give you extra information such as load index and speed rating. If the 18" alloys are anything to go by then I am assuming that the full reference for your tyres would be 225/45/R17 92Y?.

Secondly any particular reason for going for Sport Contact 2's, reason I ask is that is what is fitted to the 18" rims as standard and most seem to be less than happy with them!. I put up a similar thread recently asking for some recomendations and although there is a lot to choose from it became quite apparant (well to me at least!) that you won't go far wrong with the Michelin Pilot Sport SP2's they ain't cheap but with a bit of hunting around I managed to get a set on e-bay for an exceptionally good price.

Hope this helps a bit

Makefish, thanks very much for the reply. I will check all the information from my Bridgestones and search for a set of Michelin Pilot Sport SP2's. I will also have a good read of the thread you started.

the letter after the 91 or 94 is the speed rating of the iirc , 225/45r 91w is a WR and so on for the others , you must buy a tyre of the correct speed/load rating or one that is rated higher otherwise your insurance on your car could be invalidated and i agree with makefish about conti tyres , they maybe german engineering but IMO they are not that good

I have just checked and my current tyre is 225 45 R17 91W, so I need to buy W, Y or Z speed rating tyres. Looks like I am going to be searching eBay for the next few months.

Kev, Don't let the wife drive the car while the alloys are attached to it.

Kev, Don't let the wife drive the car while the alloys are attached to it.

These Michelin Pilot PS2's look like a potential good deal?.

If you like driving buy Pirelli. You'll never go back to anything else, especially if you drive wet B roads, expensive to run...but...

If you like driving buy Pirelli. You'll never go back to anything else, especially if you drive wet B roads, expensive to run...but...

I hear Goodyear f1 eagles pwn anything else...

I had Eagle F1 on my previous car and they aren't too bad.

The wear is average, the grip is OK on dry, not great on wet and the walls are very soft so you don't get a good feel through the steering.

My cars do 40-60K per annum ( I am a rep) and I have tried most tyres. My call -but this is just my call, is that Pirelli is the best, by far, followed by Michelin Exaltos although they were hard/noisy.

Pirelli is the best, by far

Were you using p6000s'?

I've put Sport contact2 on my Octy, the handling is a great improvement on the bridgestones and the older sport contacts. None you have mentioned haggling ; I never pay the full price for tyres; my last set were from KWikFit only because I had time to spare and they had the tyres in stock but they were happy to do a deal. There is no perfect tyre; you'll never get agreement ; its a perfect subject for a forum or pub argument , it just rolls and rolls (no pun intended).

Be careful of buying on ebay, some of the tyres could be old stock (tyres have a date mark on them and a reputable tyre fitter should not fit old tyres)

Try using blackcircles.com

I replace 2 tyres with the equivalent Goodyear NCT5 as originalyy fitted.

Supplied and fitted for

If you like driving buy Pirelli. You'll never go back to anything else, especially if you drive wet B roads, expensive to run...but...

Have you used them on an Ocky MkII?

I swore by Pirreli on my Mini and when I needed new tyres for my next car I changed them to Pirelli. The susoension characteristics of the new car did not go well with the Pirellis and I had to change them, fortunately Pirelli agreed thath there was amismatch and I got a reasonable refund.

If you can't afford the Pilot Sport, the Pilot Exalto is much cheaper and still a really good grippy well wearing tyre

They fitted continental on my new Octavia VRS...they must go, soon! Very noisyand the grip is only average. Not impressed...

I'm liking the sound of the pilot sport 2's

I had pilot sports on my mk1 and they proved very tough whilst still giving reasonable grip levels

Based on the ravings about the Continental Sports 2 in this thread I have just fitted a pair to replace the original Bridgestones.

Believe it or not the Bridgestones (front) had done 29,000 miles and were still road legal though at 3mm tread they needed changing.

My tyre supplier follows the Mitchelin recommendation of putting the new tyres on the rear and "promoting" the old rears to the front. I reckon that they have another 5000 or so miles left in them and then I will get a second pair of Continentals.