**Unofficial Tyre Thread**

I find the whole rainsport 3 following a bit odd, particularly for anyone with a car that has some sort of sporting pretention

Anything I've ever driven with them on I've been feeling nothing but 'meh' about them. Safe with moderate grip and a safe breakaway both wet and dry. certainly never found them particularly good in the wet as the name would suggest.

They seem to be priced about right for what is an upper-mid range tyre going by the above - I guess we're talking about £70-80 a corner fitted in 18's, but the internet goes nuts for them. I just don't get it.

I'd happily pay the extra £10-15 for a sport contact or eagle F1 as they're notably better imo
 
Yeah I'm really surprised by that as its the total opposite of my experience.

Never having the tyres on the same car to compare doesn't help to be fair.
 
Not sure, they had about 7mm left when I bought the car, sitting just under 5mm atm. Preferred my just above legal rainsports, but got a nail in one :( and I really need to keep to similar tread on the wheels due to the AWD system. Car is a Mazda 6mps and I have them at 36Psi. My 2 previous cars were both Mazda 6mps's and had Rainsports on them both.
 
Can I do better than these for around the same price? (205/45/17 88 V)

Car is a DS3 THP, the tyres it came with are two fairly worn Bridgestone Potenzas (factory spec tyre) and two ditchfinders, so I'm eager to replace them all this weekend.

Reading reviews of the SC5 seems to suggest they may make the car feel light in terms of steering, but I don't know how much truth there is to this. It's a fairly light car (kerb weight of circa 1100kg), and yes, xl load is the factory specced load rating
 
Just wondering where the best place to get tyres from are these days? Ideally I want them fitted by the same people but might consider other options if not.

Are these places still the best to pick from:

Camskill
Mytyres
Etyres
Blackcircles
 
What's the general consensus of the Michelin Pilot Sport 4's?

In need of a pair of front tyres and was going to replace the PS3's already on there for another set but then spotted the PS4's, would be interested to hear opinions on those who have switched from the PS3's and whether they'd be worth the extra few quid or not :)
 
Any recommendations for a tyre at 215/45/17 for an MX5?

Was going to buy 4 x Rainsport 3's @ £205, but was wondering if stumping up for something like the Yokohama V105s @ £300 was worth the extra cash.
Cheers.
 
Any recommendations for a tyre at 215/45/17 for an MX5?

Was going to buy 4 x Rainsport 3's @ £205, but was wondering if stumping up for something like the Yokohama V105s @ £300 was worth the extra cash.
Cheers.

Gibbo holds the V105 in quite high regard.

I found the RainSports pretty good in my MX5 although they didn't wear particularly well I got ~5k out of a set of rears but it's more or less my 2nd car.

Edit: the RainSports had done about 8k on the rear of my previous (FWD) car before going on the MX5
 
Got a new tyre as i had a nail in my nearside rear. I have F1 AS2 on my offside rear but the garage has fitted an F1 AS3 to replace the punctured nearside F1 AS2. Only realised when i got home. Should i be concerned or is it fine to mix the two on the same axle? The older F1 AS2 has only 5k miles of wear and it's on a FWD.
 
Gibbo holds the V105 in quite high regard.

I found the RainSports pretty good in my MX5 although they didn't wear particularly well I got ~5k out of a set of rears but it's more or less my 2nd car.

Edit: the RainSports had done about 8k on the rear of my previous (FWD) car before going on the MX5

Might just settle with the rainsports then, I did look at the Michelin Supersports @ 400 for a set, but at double the price it seems a bit eccentric.
 
Got a new tyre as i had a nail in my nearside rear. I have F1 AS2 on my offside rear but the garage has fitted an F1 AS3 to replace the punctured nearside F1 AS2. Only realised when i got home. Should i be concerned or is it fine to mix the two on the same axle? The older F1 AS2 has only 5k miles of wear and it's on a FWD.

Wouldn't worry too much - although mismatched both tyres are going to have fairly similar performance. (even a new AS2 would have slightly different performance to an already slightly worn tyre)


Might just settle with the rainsports then, I did look at the Michelin Supersports @ 400 for a set, but at double the price it seems a bit eccentric.

Surely there's a middle ground between those two - e.g. whats wrong with CSC5 or F1A2 ? (4x CSC5's @ £360, or F1A2 @ £325 vs £300 for rainsports @ Blackcircles prices)
 
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I'm surprised its that much cheaper for the F1A2 - it's a good £20 more per corner in my size, which is only slightly different to the size being discussed (225 rather than 215 profile)
 
Completely agree that the tyres mentioned above are both superior tyres. But between Camskill and tyre leader the rainsports are in @ £205 for a set (A mate to do the fitting). GYAS2's which I had on my SLK come in at around £275 and CSC5's at around £310. So really it's about the Value.

Are the SC5 and the AS2's that much better? Well the RS3's get a good write up, even though there is a rather large following with them being 'the best tyres ever omglolz', but they can't be that bad right?
 
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