Another tyre dilemma !!!
 

6 weeks on and I still haven't decided on the tyre I want next, ridiculous !!!

As I go thru a set a year I definitely won't be going back Michelin's due to wear.

P Zero's - I'd like to stay away from then due to issues I'm having with them on S8 at present - back steps out quiet often.

I've tried Kumhos and Toyo T1 Proxes in between only as they both have been recommended by the tyre garage, not impressed with either, good tyres, but not good enough for the size, weight and power of the car.

So this week I was 99% sure I'll be getting Contis 5P, but then last lot of reviews from ''real drivers'' @lovetyres.com has put me off - literally on the day I was going to buy them.

So the tyre I am looking at now are Goodyear Eagle F1 Asymmetric 2 - 95% sure at the minute it what I want, but do I??

I've decided last night that I won't be trying Nokian's or Vredestein's or Falken's.

Landsail is just not convincing enough to give them ago either.

But, even if tyre tests are showing that Bridgestone Potenza's S001 are worst than F1's and all the other premium tyres, how much do you really trust Auto Express, Auto Build magazine and all others along with online tyre reviews.
Majority reviews are based on much smaller and lighter cars plus is there an ''envelope'' from manufacturers involved when testing all premium brands?
It is fairly easy to fabricate some of the results, make one tyre loose the grip sooner than the other.

Any one on here could share some feedback on Bridgestone's ??

Bridgestone's or Eagle F1's ??

or I should really reconsider Contis 5P again ?

I'm not bothered about the noise as it's cancelled either by the exhaust or music.
Not bother either about the fuel economy while doing on average 9-11MPG.

Grip, breaking - wet and dry. Comfort would be nice due to running 20s.

Got 4x new OEM TPMS sensors ordered and all I'm missing now is new tyres.

Please help if you can, I am one of the most indecisive guy you can imagine and having a good rubber in all conditions is very important as this is the only contact between the road and the car, so pretty crucial element, well, most important !!!

Thank you all +++

I used to be indecisive, but now i'm not so sure

I used to have Bridgestones on my D2 S8 before I moved to Michelin. Very happy with them.
They were RE050A's which these days are branded Potenza though I don't recall if they were at the time.

I was running Bridgestone Potenza in 255/40/19. Cracks started to appear between treads so I took them off as were unsure of their integrity. 6mm depth left so they had a short life.

Bridgestone on my parents Lexus suffered significant cracking in the tread grooves, as they aged. I wasn't happy with their condition so I swapped them to Dunlop IIRC

Contis in 20" fitment seem to wear extremely quickly - also did on our A6. Both suffered uneven wear not seen with other tyres. These were sc3 and sc5

I've been happy with Michelin overall but if you're not then I'd go Goodyear - I'm considering them for the Golf when it needs new rubber as they're significantly cheaper.

I had at least 16k miles out of the PS2s I had before the super sports which aside from the odd wear issue on the inner edge still had 5mm of tread when I sold the car with circa 14k on them at that point.

Depends what your expectations are for tyre life and how you use the car (lots of town work or heavy accel/braking will all create much quicker wear than plodding up and down the motorway every journey)

Adrian

Hi Marcin,
I have always run the F1 Assy 2s on my old car and very happy with them. Dry grip was excellent and wet grip I would say good. I swapped to the newer Assy 3s and the side walls seems to be not as stiff, but there were quieter.
No experience of Bridgestone other than the ones that came on your car!
Cheers,

John

I've had Avon ZZ5 fitted to the rear wheels and have not had any issues with them in wet or dry, have had some quick driving at times too.

Some reviews here: http://www.tyrereviews.co.uk/Tyre/Avon/ZZ5.htm

The ZZ5 is designed and made in the EU too (mine say made in England). I chose these above others partly on price but also that they are tested on European roads which is where I drive the most!

Interesting, thank you to all of you so far +++

Looked at Avon minute ago and they don't do my size - 275/35 R20

Looks like no to Bridgestones either.

For a second today I did consider possibly going back to P Zeros, but I just don't like unstable rear end. Another reason why I need to change my P Zeros is the same type of cracking/perishing along the channels while still having 4,5-5mm thread left.

A lot of people complains about the noise of Contis 5P which doesn't bother me, but also excessive wear. When I got my missus brand new A3 it came with 5P's all round, she has done 9000miles of women driving and they are now 4,5-5mm on a much lighter car with much less power, and completely different driving style - they do offer a good grip tho.

So as it stands now, I don't really have much choice other than Goodyears, I'm just not sure if this is the right tyre for my car and especially my driving style (they are not UHP tyres either).
I don't race other cars, jump from lane to lane or driving like a complete d**k, but I do put the foot down quiet often, don't like taking corners or roundabouts slowly when roads are clear or at night, which kind of tells me that I do need a ultra high performance tyre which Eagles are not.

I think I need to sleep on it for day or two more, plus Del just bough a set of Goodyears so I will ask him to take his S8 for a proper spin and see how they behave - although I read in few comments that they need good 500mies to properly bed in ?!

Thank you guys +++

Hi Marcin,
Good luck I couldn't decide for ages either, then switched to Michelin Pilot Super Sport and they have been great. I know its no use to you if they wear too quick, for me they last 2 years + but I guess I don't drive as fast as you :)

I think the experience vary a lot between drivers depending on driving style, car, tyre size and other factors. You can also have the same model tyre with tread patter and compound changing over time or for different regions producing different results. You can find that you like one model, couple of years by the same model or direct successor and it's totally changed.

I have Goodyear Eagle F1 on D2 in 255/45R19 and I am not impressed at all . Acceptable grip in warm dry weather but poor in either cold or wet. I do experience back stepping out as well even in dry and warm. I think they are the least grippy tyre I have had on S8 even including some cheap tyres which name I can't remember, they just came with 20" wheels I used for a while when my were off for refurbishing. My favorites are Michelin but I liked their older models better. Avon ZZ3 I found very poor in every aspect, no experience with ZZ5.

These days looks like most of the tyres are very fuel efficiency orientated compromising other characteristics. I see you mention UHP tyres, they do offer better grip but at increased wear. If on a normal tyre you can get 20-30k miles you will be very lucky to get 10k out of UHP and will also dry out and loose performance or start to crack over time more than regular tyre if you do little mileage and keep for years.

As for the cracks in tread, while they do look scary I don't think they compromise integrity of the tyre as the casing and tread are made of different rubber and while the tread is cracked the casing should still be fine as long as tread does not start to come off casing. Look at the airplane tyres, they retread casing several times with new tread and they still perfectly safe to use.