Tyre choice dilemma
 

I'll be buying 5 new tyres for the car soon.

I'm torn between Rotalla Setula 4 Season RA03 for £334 which are guaranteed to be made in 2021 or BF Goodrich g-Grip All Season 2 gGrip All Season2 for £535.. the only thing thats stopping me from buying the Rotallas is that they have a 72db rating and the BF's have 68db.

Would this make much of a difference on the D2? UK roads are probably the loudest roads I've driven on and I don't think paying so much more for lower DB tyres would be worth it.

Size is 245 45 r18

All season tyres will generally be noisier anyway due to greater tread depth, spacing/ size of sipes. I suspect that difference will be noticeable - the scale is logarithmic so 4 dB is a lot.

Having said that the Michelin PS4 is rated 71dB at that size, so may be no worse than a premium summer tyre (although I find the Michelin’s very noisy on the concrete sections of the M25 near us)

How much are Cross Climates in comparison?

I thought you had steel uprights and 20" FE alloys on your car?

I run the BFG g-grips on my A6 and can definitely recommend them +++ They are grippy, comfortable, quiet and last pretty well. The A6 has 205 55 16 which has about the same size sidewall as 245 45 18. Camskill have them for £106, but after shipping and local fitting that may not be much of a saving, unless you are friends with a tyre fitter ;)

72dB makes the Rotalla a pretty loud tyre. That will definitely be a noticable difference to the BFG.

I've driven on the Crossclimates on a D2 (in 18") and would not recommend them. They are very expensive, very uncomfortable but also surprisingly fragile, being easily killed by potholes and rocks. The sidewalls appear to be made of glass. I would definitely choose the BFGs over Crossclimates.

Yes I do have them but I bought the car with 18s on it and that's the size I want on it anyway to increase ride comfort.

If BF's are that much quieter then I'll be getting them. As far as fitting etc it will all be included in the price of refurbishment of the 4 alloys I have (£320)

Thanks everyone :)

Interesting, I've had Crossclimate Plus on our Volvo (also 4WD) for a couple of years now and really like them.
That said it's a Cross-Country so softer/longer suspension and the wheels are only 17" with slightly deeper (50 vs 45) profile tyres - 225/50R17 to be precise.
Though the actual sidewall of a 245/45 is only a couple of mm less than a 225/50.

Mike has them on his Allroad in 235 55 17 and they are just fine on that too, although he has lost a few to potholes and rocks sticking out of Devon hedges.

Bert has them on General Vod (comfort suspension!) in 245 45 18 and they're horrid and crashy, and he lost both on one side to the same pothole. Big Red on sport suspension and 20s with Vredesteins or Goodyears has a nicer ride than Vod on comfort suspensions and 18s with Crossclimates.

It seems they work fine in larger profiles, but by the time they get to 45 they're outside the range of what they were designed to work with.

I'm going to take my usual (contrary!) view on tyres again: I think buying cheaper new brands or crossclimates are a compromise, in either safety or quality - or both.

My preference is to stick to premium, high-quality part-worns from a reliable supplier - DM Tyres in Oldham in my case - and to keep two sets of rims and tyres (or more, sometimes, but that's just me!): one for winter and one for summer.

As an example, my winters are 18" Avus' wheels, including a set of Michelin PA4s with 7mm tread and these, with rims, cost me about £500 all in (including the refurb...). These stay on from October until May, and then Kwikfit swap them over to my 20" FE rims, normally FOC. In my book, this minimises cost, tyre wear, and inconvenience as well as giving me confidence on safely and quality.

Also NB: dB ratings aren't linear...

For my S8 I do very similar. +++

For the Volvo, Crossclimate Plus (which are a Premium tyre!) are a logical solution.

Just to prove I didn't make this thread to waste people's time.
Manufacturing date is 2019 which is a bit dodgy..