New tyres, can anyone recommend some good ones? 195/55 R15 (H)

snowdog

snowdog

snowdog

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I want some new tyres, after having a near accident where every inch mattered I realize how important they are, I want some good grippy tyres for my size, I see everyone raving about the F1's here but they are only for 17'' and upwards ( correct me if I'm wrong). My tyre size is 195/55 R15 and it needs to be good for up to 210kph so speed code ''H''. Currently have 3 Michelin energy savers and 1 continental sport contact ( yeah I realize this isn't the best combo, the michellins are all due to replacement within the year and the continental I'll probably sell as it has at least 5 ( probably more, it's barely used) mm of profile left) so I want 4 good tyres, I guess I want to spend say, erm, up to 80€ each ( is that possible) ?

So, what tyres would be best for my budget ?
 
Michelin Pilot Exalto 2 are a very good tyre, but won't be cheap and probably over budget.

Hankook Ventus V12 Evo K110 also supposed to be good.
 
[TW]Fox;16531411 said:
Can you not get 4 from the local scrappy?
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Get out. Why did you click reply instead of ''back'' ?
Ev0 said:
Michelin Pilot Exalto 2 are a very good tyre, but won't be cheap and probably over budget.

Hankook Ventus V12 Evo K110 also supposed to be good.
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Hmmm, the Michellin come out better in most reviews, but it's 105 per tyre, while the hankook are affordable.
You guys said mounting the same tyres on the same axle is the only thing really needed, Would the hankooks on the rear with the pilots on the front be a good combo, I can't remember a single time where the back end broke out...
 
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Janesy B said:
Grip is important but it won't save you from instadeath through driving like a wang.
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It will give me more space to work with when getting pulled out in front of though... Fair enough I could have driven more defensively ( saw the culprit from a long distance and I thought he stopped because he saw me) but I don't expect someone to pull out 100 yards in front of me while doing NSL on a b type road.
 
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F1's are 16" upwards IIRC for the older GSD3, the Asymmetric is 17" upwards.

I'd go for whatever mainstream tyres Goodyear offer at a sensible price.

Just remember they won't suddenly give you the skills of <insert an F1 champion here>.
 
F1's are certainly available in smaller sizes than 17" as I have some 16" ones on my Mondeo. I've no idea if they're available in your size though. Vredstiens are also pretty good though with a Volvo estate you could be quite happy with Nangkangs, I was.
 
This is a highly annoying size, it's nye on twice as expensive as some very close sizes (notably 195/50R15, consider using that size?), and none of the decent manufacturers offer their good tyres. The Good-Year Eagle offering is the horribly noisy NCT5.

I'm due to need a set of 4 tyres in this size, I'm currently split between Toyo Proxes T1-Rs (which used to be £45 each) and Continental Premium Contact 2s.

Oh, and V might be cheaper than the identical H, often more made in that faster rating.



Edit:
Oooh, actually, there's Vredestein QUATRAC 3, SPORTRAC 3 and HI TRAC tyres at a pretty attractive price, are these any good? Design by Giugiaro leaves me somewhat sceptical...
 
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Last time I checked GSD F1s were available in 195/50/15.

I personally tend to think outside the box when it comes to buying tyres and going for 'unknown' brands with rave reviews, rather than going by Brand names (Good Name doesn't equal a good tyre - P6000s anyone?). Uniroyal Rainsport 2s are said to be almost as good as F1s in the wet and believe it or not, better in the dry. Unfortunately I never got around to fitting my set, so I don't have any personal experinece :(

I've also heard some great things about Federal SS595s.

Can you not go for 195/50/15 tyres instead? Much cheaper in that size IIRC. A fair bit more choice too! :)
 
snowdog said:
Hmmmm, these seem to have worse reviews than the michellin energy savers I have on at the moment :confused: ( dry braking, grip in snow, wear n tear andcomfort) . Then again I don't know how much to trust these reviews ( http://www.tyretest.com/ )
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Well looking at the table on the front of the page your energy savers are second place so just get them then :p Tyrereviews have the Hankooks ahead, as with all these review sites the reviews are very subjective, one persons perception of good grip might be someone elses perception of terrible. Magazine articles tend to be a little better as generally they are professionals in this field, and also they drive all the different tyres back to back.

The Hankooks are a decent budget performance tyre, a good review here http://www.tyrereviews.co.uk/Article/2009-Auto-Zeitung-Summer-Tyre-Test.htm.

As said, my preference would be for the PE2s, although I'm trying the Hankooks out next week for a change after 5 years on PE2s.
 
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This was the stock tyre size on the civic. I ran KU31's, Eagle F1's (albeit on 50 profile) and FK452's - back when they weren't allowed to be good.

EDIT: Hacktually, the 452's were probably put on the TE37's which were 16's.
 
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