Sport Contact 2 vs premium contact 5 vs efficientgrip performance

-Mike-

-Mike-

-Mike-

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Hey all,

Need four new tyres for my delightful spaceship! 205 55 16 seems to be a less popular size these days so am struggling to find top end rubber in its form!

Can anyone help me choose between the SC2, PC5 or goodyears? Failing that any additional suggestions welcomed as the sidewalls have gone out of shape on my Bridgestones that are currently fitted to the rears!

Thanks
 
I have SC5 on the FN2 but at different times had 2,3 and 5 on the diseasel one and if i'm perfectly honest I couldn't really tell the difference between them. All were very good in both the wet and dry. My concern with the 2 would be that they are an old tyre now and you're unlikely to be able to get matching ones down the line, plus there are newer models available for similar/the same money.

Are there eagle F1s available? If so I'd go for them on the basis that they offer excellent wet and dry grip (initially I wasn't impressed on the e46 but once they wore in a bit they were fantasti) and are a newish model of tyre meaning you'll be able to easily match up the front two should you replace them first.

The premium contact 5 and efficient grip will be good tyres too, but if the price is similar I'd go for eagle F1's.
 
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I have EfficientGrip Performance tyres on my Focus (same size). They have pretty soft sidewalls, to the effect that I can lean gently on the car and it rolls over a fair bit :p

Very comfortable and with great dry grip though. Also very quiet.
 
Pilot sport 3's might be worth considering in your size actually. They certainly aren't as good as the AS2's or CS5's from what i've seen, but they may well be a little bit better than the others (doubt there's much in it)
 
If your struggling with the size why not change it?
Your insurance may class it as a mod tho.
My oem tyres are 215/45/18 changed to 225/40/18 and saved a fair chunk per tyre :)

Uniroyal RS3
Avon ZV5
Vredstein Sessanta
Michelin PS3's

Are ones I've heard good things about recently
 
I've not tried the PC5s or EfficientGrips but have the CSC2s in that size on the Golf. All I can reasonably say is they're far superior to the tat on before them.

205/55 R16 is a cheap size but as said, a lack of newer good rubber for them.
 
Can you still buy SC2's?
My Octy vRS came with SC3's from the factory and they were an excellent tyre - amazing wear rates, got 40k (30k on rear, 10k on front) on two of them.
I now have SC5's all round. Once again a great tyre with plenty of grip - never feel scared of wet weather at all as I know they will grip.
New I believe you can still get the SC3 as well as the SC5 - when I looked there wasn't a great deal of difference in cost between the two, so I went SC5.
 
I run CSC2s on my Golf in that size and absolutely no complaints from me, though i've wondered previously whether the performance of the PC5 has matched it these days i've just stuck with what I know :p

Unfortunately, without jumping up to 17 inch wheels, SC2 vs PC5 vs EGP is about as good as it gets, SC3/5, F1AS2 etc. just aren't made in 205/55/16
 
To put it into context : it currently still has a set of Sava tyres on it..... :o

I found sport contact 2 to be ok on my previous car so I'm sure a set of them will be better than the Slovakian or whatever it is rubber that's currently fitted?
 
-Mike- said:
To put it into context : it currently still has a set of Sava tyres on it..... :o

I found sport contact 2 to be ok on my previous car so I'm sure a set of them will be better than the Slovakian or whatever it is rubber that's currently fitted?
Click to expand...

I don't think anyone will tell you they are a bad tyre, but they are now an old tyre.

PS3 or the other offerings from Conti/Goodyear is where I'd go.

There are a number of others available in your size that are reasonable enough tyres, skirting around the periphery in terms of price like the Avon Zv5, Kumho Ku39, some vredsteins, Hankook Evos etc but the ones that have already been singled out are likely to be better all round rubber for near enough the same money.
 
Near enough the same money? Not when I was looking :(
There was masses of difference between ZV5, RS3, Sessantas and the PS3's when I looked recently, Costco the PS3's were £125 a corner, all the others I was looking at were ~£90 , could always be size specific I suppose, the PS3 are arguably a cracking tyre but for the £86 a piece I got the RS3's for I thought I'd give em a bash as I read nothing but praise for them.

Forgot about the HK Evo's they get good feedback too :)
 
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