I've got a VW GTI and the current tyres are Bridgestone Potenza S001 225/40 R18 92Y. I was looking at the Bridgestone Turanza 225/40 R18 Y (92) the ratings seem better on the Turanza for fuel and grip but they are cheaper. Does anyone know why this is and also any recommendations? I can get 4 fitted with a TPMS service for £322.33 via a mobile fitter.
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Which version of the Turanza is that?
The Potenza are a "sports tuned" tyre designed to hold the road under demanding driving conditions while the Turanza are an adverse weather summer tyre (not all season) designed to hold the road under demanding weather conditions.
Personally didn't find the Turanzas (t005) anything special fuel economy wise - probably above average but not massively so. They are epically good in wet conditions but in the dry fairly so-so, very linear and predictable under braking with good control wet or dry which I liked but one of the noisier tyres I've used - they have a constant hum which gets a bit tedious after an hour or two.
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Many Thanks I might just go with the Potenza S001 as they are what are on at the moment.
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This might be what the brochure says but the reality is that the Turanza is a mid-range tyre and the Potenza is the UHP tyre. You wouldn't pick the Turanza over the Potenza if you found yourself in that position.
The Turanza competes in the market that contains tyres like the Continental PremiumContact, Michelin Primacy 4 and the Goodyear EfficientGrip Performance. You'd normally find these tyres on a Golf diesel, not a GTI. The Potenza, meanwhile, is aimed at the Pilot Sport, Eagle F1, Conti SportContact etc market.
Really? It's a thoroughly average mid range tyre which came down the bottom of the pack for wet braking in the most recent Tyre Reviews summer test - in wet braking the Premium Contact beat it by 5m! You can read it here if you want, overall it came 6th, and remember, this is 6th in a field of mid range tyres, not a field of high performance tyres...
https://www.tyrereviews.com/Article/2020-Tyre-Reviews-Ultimate-Summer-Tyre-Test.htm
It placed similarly in the 2020 Auto Express test too.
Looks like a completely average tyre, unless you already had 4 of them and only needed to replace 2 tyres I'm not really sure why you'd ever pick it, let alone claim its some sort of adverse weather specialist.
For a Golf GTI with 225/40/18 tyres the choice looks very simple - Michelin Pilot Sport 4 is about £100 a corner fitted. Pilot Sport 4S is available too but considerably more expensive so perhaps not worth it. The Pilot Sport 4 will be a much better tyre in my opinion.
Not quite sure your point there - I wasn't representing them as anything different or recommending one over the other.
Eh - that review is mostly comparing tyres which are adverse/wet weather specialist tyres (maybe not super specialised but hence names like RainSport and WetProof). Some of the latest/more expensive do beat it these days but it is still a very good tyre in the wet.
That said I've used some of the tyres in that test including the contis in actual real world conditions and would still pick the Turanzas if I was encountering extremely wet conditions - if for example you are going past a lorry on a slick dual carriageway none of the others, at least that I have experience of, feel quite as assured and they retain a level of control under braking in the rain which that test doesn't represent despite not having quite the stopping distance compared to some of the latest efforts. Hence why the order of the tyres under subjective handling changes a bit compared to the wet braking result, etc.
(Caveat there I've not sat down and compared side by side on the same vehicle).
As a tyre in general they are definitely mid-range as I mentioned the handling overall in the dry is nothing amazing and can even become vague if it is warm and very dry and the comfort is pretty average let down especially by noise.
EDIT: I can't really agree with their conclusion on the Turanzas either - obviously to some extent it is relative to the other tyres they are comparing:
Grip in the dry I'd say was acceptable rather than good though they do handle OK and brake well in the dry as above with good level of control and predictability, definitely good wet handling but definitely not low noise (as other posters in this thread will attest to). The wet braking isn't especially long - I couldn't actually tell a difference without measuring and I've certainly not had any problems with them bringing me to a stop in the rain even with a few 100kgs of weight in the back on a downhill - and in my experience aquaplaning resistance is decent.
I'd hate to use some of the other tyres if the Turanzas are low noise in comparison - unless 2020 or newer produced ones are improved in that respect.
Yeah I'd agree - though I spent quite awhile looking into Falken before my recent purchase and they seem quite hit and miss - some of their attempts at "halo" tyres in any given segment it seems are pretty good but some of their other efforts are rather dire. For instance the Wildpeak AT3WA I bought are overall good at what they do while the older AT variant are not very good at all.
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I can honestly say I never thought I would ever be buying Accelera tyres, but here I am with a set of 4 of them to try 
Not their usual road tyres though, these are their "street legal race tyre", and they happen to get pretty decent reviews. I think much like the likes of Nankang who make arguably poor road tyres, they do also make some pretty decent road legal "race" tyres. Coming in at a total of £275 delivered it's definitely worth a go.
Got them all fitted today.
I'll be fitting them to the car ('96 Astra with 2.0 Turbo) tomorrow night, but first impressions so far are good, the side walls are nice and stiff and the tread pattern looks pretty decent. A friend of mine just bought a set who recommended them to me has said so far he is really impressed with them.
Either way I should think they'll be better than the 7 year old Michelin PS3's coming off which had cracked and perished substantially from the car sitting around so much.
Not their usual road tyres though, these are their "street legal race tyre", and they happen to get pretty decent reviews. I think much like the likes of Nankang who make arguably poor road tyres, they do also make some pretty decent road legal "race" tyres. Coming in at a total of £275 delivered it's definitely worth a go.
Got them all fitted today.
I'll be fitting them to the car ('96 Astra with 2.0 Turbo) tomorrow night, but first impressions so far are good, the side walls are nice and stiff and the tread pattern looks pretty decent. A friend of mine just bought a set who recommended them to me has said so far he is really impressed with them.
Either way I should think they'll be better than the 7 year old Michelin PS3's coming off which had cracked and perished substantially from the car sitting around so much.
Soldato
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Also have a look at the Pilot Sport 5, the 4 is now end of life I would assume for most sizes as the 5 supports the bulk of common sizes and isn't dissimilar price wise.
Also have a look at the Pilot Sport 5, the 4 is now end of life I would assume for most sizes as the 5 supports the bulk of common sizes and isn't dissimilar price wise.
The 5 is only available in quite limited sizes at present. It can often take a while for a new tyre to be widely available across a large range of sizes.
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Yes true "end of life for most sizes" isn't exactly true, end of life for the most common sizes is more accurate. For example I'm not sure why you'd suggest a PS4 in 225/40/18 when the PS5 covers that size and is easily available (unlike the console)
Yes true "end of life for most sizes" isn't exactly true, end of life for the most common sizes is more accurate. For example I'm not sure why you'd suggest a PS4 in 225/40/18 when the PS5 covers that size and is easily available (unlike the console)
Because I didn't know it was available in that size. Is just quickly looked at one tyre retailer and suggested some of the better tyres they had in stock.
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Nothing is confirmed yet, but based on the sizing of the PS5 being similar to the PS4 (i.e. 17-20"), I would expect a PS5S to come in the following months.
I've had BluResponse on my Focus (215/55R16 but equally poor range of options), and they are one of the better tyres available in smaller/"comfort" sizes imo, and probably the "sportiest" tyre (harder sidewall with less flex).
Michelin Primacy 4 is likely the only better option, with Goodyear EfficientGrip / EfficientGrip2 other recommended options.
I just gave up looking for my tyre size 195/55/15 as the options for the best rated tyres like the p4s and premium contact 6 etc aren't available.
I just went with what's currently on there: Kumho Ecsta hs51. Not the best tyre, not the worst and £50 each plus fitting. They've done me ok so far. Had I not been able to get those the only other choices i'd have considered were more expensive: Dunlop blu response being one of them, premium contact 2 and efficient grip performance (v1) the others. Nothing gets a perfect review so I figured I may as well save the money and stick with what I know. Most recent tests for the Hs51 seem favourable too as an all rounder.
I just went with what's currently on there: Kumho Ecsta hs51. Not the best tyre, not the worst and £50 each plus fitting. They've done me ok so far. Had I not been able to get those the only other choices i'd have considered were more expensive: Dunlop blu response being one of them, premium contact 2 and efficient grip performance (v1) the others. Nothing gets a perfect review so I figured I may as well save the money and stick with what I know. Most recent tests for the Hs51 seem favourable too as an all rounder.
I have thoroughly tested these tyres in all weathers and with all driving styles and they're good.
Yes, I had them on my Octavia from the Factory for however many years