FTO AUSTRALIA

Hi All,

I'm in the market for new mags and when I go to Tempe Tyres for example, they'll either put Falkens or Marshalls or Nang Kangs etc...
I usually go for Falkens (don't ask why)

I don't know about everyone else, but for myself, I'm no tyre expert
My question is what Brand of tyre should I push for (or include in my deal)?? Pirelli, Good Year, Falken??

Also, for example, if you say Good Year is better than Falkens... what if they give me a low Good Year model but in reality a certain Falken model would have been better... can that happen???

To summarise, I'm just after listing of tyre brand from best to worse... I know that not everyone will agree with the rankings but I think it will be useful to have some sort of guidelines to help us all... Last thing I want to do is buy the mags on the spot because the "price was great" but in reality.. the reason why it was sooo cheap was because the tyres were CHEAP and performance is

cheers!

tyre selection is a highly subjective topic and at the end it's all about how much you're willing to pay and how important performance / brand is to you...

there have been prior discussions about this topic as well (refer below):

http://www.ftoaustralia.com/modules.php ... light=tyre

Which size u after, i've got the review from Motor/Wheels on different size tyres, so let me know & i post it up! The latest Motor got 18" so if u after 18, just get the Motor mag!

Asking what is the best tyre (or to rank them) is like asking what is the best brand of car.

As with most things it comes down to a number of factors and what is important to you.

In the case of cars, if you want to go fast by a McLaren F1, if you want to carry wood, by a Ute. But if you buy the McLaren because your mate says its the best, but you need to carry wood, you're an idiot.

The same thing for tyres.

Tyres are a balance of many factors including:
- price
- grip
- longevity
- road noise
- straight line use
- cornering capability
- how they perform in dry weather
- how they perform in wet weather
- limitations of rim size
- wank factor / how they look / brand / what your mates will say

Only once you know what is important to you, can you begin to narrow down the field to the most suitable tyres for you.

Once you know this, then you can look for:
- softer or harder tyres
- standard or directional
- tread pattern
- speed rating
- materials used

So lets begin with which of these things are important to you?

I understand all your point and agree that there are a lot of factors...
for me personally I just want an "allrounder"...
since I drive to work daily, I'd like a tyre that will last long, has grip and not too much road noise... I guesss that's what's important to me.
from the thread that GPXXX pasted, looks like ppl are happy with Bridgestone Potenza GIIIs and Kumho supra ecsta 712...
looks like general concensus is that Falkens are not that great (below expectations anyway).
Does anyone have any comments on Pirelli P7000??

Thanks FTO338, I'll check out the mag!.

Each tyre manufacturer has a range of options, to cater for the various requirements. You cannot blanketly compare one brand to another, rather you need to find the tyre by one brand that most closely matches your requirements, and compare it with that of another brand that is in the same class.

In car terms, you are effectively asking who is better Ford or Holden? You need to compare the items that fit your requirements. e.g. if a passenger car, then Commodore vs Falcon vs Magna etc. If small car, Focus vs Astra vs Corolla etc.

Each manufacturer will win over the other, in different classes, so you cannot say that one is always better than the other.

Based on your needs a Dunlop xyz may be the best, based on my needs a Toyo xyz maybe the best, while for another person it maybe a Yokohama xyz. It does not mean that Dunlop is always the best, or any other brand, but it does mean for their specific need, that specific tyre was the best.

To say you want an "all rounder" means you really haven't put enough thought into what you want. There is no such thing as the "perfect" or "best" tyre, each tyre is made for different purposes and different budgets. But it is fairly safe to say that with today's technology and with how competitive the market is, it is pretty hard to find a "bad" tyre.

The three factors you listed: grip, long-lasting and road noise, all pull against each other, so you will need to decide which is the most important. The softer the tyre, the better it will grip, but the shorter it will last. In the wet, to maintain the grip, the tyre needs a chunkier tread pattern, this in turn increases road noise.

Before you ask anyone else this question, I suggest you decide upon two things, otherwise you are just wasting their time:
1) What is your budget?
2) What is the most important thing to you about the tyre?

Once you have the answer to these questions, then you can narrow down the field of tyres. Do a ring around to 3 or 4 different tyre shops and see what they recommend, from this you should end up with a short list of 2 or 3.

It will be a lot easier to make a decision from 2 or 3 than it will from every tyre that is on the market, as you are presently doing.

the thing with falkens (the ones ive tried) ive noticed is that they wear out quick coz it is soft compound - cornering is above average but dont perform as good in the wet.

basically i think they are pretty good tyres for what you pay for... if you are thanks budget end of the market get Falken or Sime

If you can spend a little more get the Kumho 712s or the Potenza GIIIs

P7000 are brilliant but i thought they dont make them anymore and only if you can get a bargain deal on them would they be cost effective

let me know if you can get P7000 though coz im dying to try them

According to this guy I bought my tyres from, he said Falkens are not true soft compound rubber... they just happen to really wear out quicker!

...and i strongly suggest you stay away from Simex if you value your life, esp in the wet!

Sime is differnt to Simex

From what I heard
Sime actually are affiliated with Yokohama and use their old production plant in Malaysia and use their technology.

I'm considering trying them out... for $125 a tyre even if they do wear out quickly im sure the [tyre life:dollar spent] ratio is at least not worse than the more expensive brands.. same goes for the falkens

true about Simex though.. I have heard bad stories about them

hmmm, the tread pattern on the P7000 looks remarkably like a Falken ZE502 (Ziex) to me...

if you 'must' have falkens, then go for the real deal - Azenis RS-V04.

be prepared to pay an arm & leg for it, and good luck finding one in stock!

interesting... i have been in my friends WRX with the P7000 so i already know how good they are.. its just that one store told me they stopped production on them... but yeah i think i'll consider getting them when i upgrade my wheels to 17" again if they are available... ive tried michelin mxf sport before which is about the same price range and they were superb as well as long lasting...

sbe8888 wrote:

G1 wrote: P7000 are brilliant but i thought they dont make them anymore and only if you can get a bargain deal on them would they be cost effective

let me know if you can get P7000 though coz im dying to try them

The P7000 expresses the high standard of experience and knowledge acquired by Pirelli over years of research and testing. Its development is linked to Pirelli's world-wide victories in track and rally events. The exclusive "dual effect" directional tread pattern gives greater added value in terms of performance, with the wide range of sizes offering excellent opportunities for those converting their cars to technologically more advanced, lighter tyres.

Style, content and performance make the P7000 the ideal product for aesthetic and technical conversions, providing significant improvements in road holding, braking and handling characteristics.
Tread pattern
The exclusive "dual effect" directional tread pattern incorporates a continuous central rib with twin grooves and a series of inclined secondary grooves known as "sabre cuts".

Heehee... I'm running on them!!! 225/40/18. Cost about $270 each.
U can get them from Tempe Sydney...

How good are they? I only used Marshall and Silverstone before... VV much better than them!

as has been said already you need to determine what your requirements are, the way you drive.

for me i've found federals are really good as they are a semi-hard compound so i can get:

good acceleration from a standing start
great cornering at high speeds
ok tyre wear (about 15-20,000kms)

i now have a set of silverstones that i haven't really tested but they don't suit my driving style.

Just had a set of 2 Yoko' ES100's put on the fronts. Had to drive easy for a week to get the layer of wax of em, also the dude at the Shop said that if you treat your tyres good at the start, they will grip more later and for longer.
Got the Es100's for $250 which is cheap. 300 rrp i think.

Anyways, went for a coast drive on the weekend and those yoko's are excellent, there was so much grip that i was scared to take it to the next level. Went thro 'Brown mountain', tilba, batemans bay, and up 'the Clyde'. really excellent tyres. Before these es100's were put on, i had yokos 306's they dont really compare, noise, wet handling, and grip are all better on the es100's. though they do squeal allot more haha.

Where you really notice the grip is on 25/hr km posted hairpins, you are heal and toeing in from the 3rd into 2nd going thro the corner 60-65 k's
its amazing....

I noticed thro faster and longer corners 85 posted, going 120 130, the falken st115' seem to slide a bit more than the yokos at the front. I have Tein's all round and maybe that could be the reason.

Jono

hey jono i two have tein all round

i have yoko A539 on the front for a while and have found they are good, had silverstone on back and in the wet they where like ice skates

have just got two more A539 and even in the dry im noticeing the difference

had dunlop but they just wore out to quick, either still the silver lasted 18 months

robert

let us know how those yokies are for wear.. did you not consider the parada spec2's??

those with the bridgestone Grid III's how are they for wear??

Jono wrote:Just had a set of 2 Yoko' ES100's put on the fronts. Had to drive easy for a week to get the layer of wax of em, also the dude at the Shop said that if you treat your tyres good at the start, they will grip more later and for longer.
Got the Es100's for $250 which is cheap. 300 rrp i think.

Anyways, went for a coast drive on the weekend and those yoko's are excellent, there was so much grip that i was scared to take it to the next level. Went thro 'Brown mountain', tilba, batemans bay, and up 'the Clyde'. really excellent tyres. Before these es100's were put on, i had yokos 306's they dont really compare, noise, wet handling, and grip are all better on the es100's. though they do squeal allot more haha.

Where you really notice the grip is on 25/hr km posted hairpins, you are heal and toeing in from the 3rd into 2nd going thro the corner 60-65 k's
its amazing....

I noticed thro faster and longer corners 85 posted, going 120 130, the falken st115' seem to slide a bit more than the yokos at the front. I have Tein's all round and maybe that could be the reason.

Jono

i am also looking at new tyres soon, might end up with the pirellies
i found the top of the range dunlops are realyl good but dont last very long, the falkens dont grip near aso good but last twice as long (but your in for a fright in the wet !)
oh and steve hit the breaks around a corner in the wet with the silverstones !! oh wait the gpx's have abs.
anywho i am after a good tyre that grips well off the mark, and also wotn scare the sh*t outta me round corners, am i asking too much ?

which falkens did you have?

the falkens i have now have excellent grip in the dry, but wear out quicker than most other tyres ive tried.. then again ive been cornering harder on them so it makes sense that they are wearing out so quickly

and no you are not asking for too much... with the right amount of $$$ spent im sure its all possible

Basically i went to Bjtmart's and asked what tyres around the 200's mark.

they offered
Falken st115
goodyear f1
Yoko a539
yoko es100

I was really contemplating getting a539's/st115's, but the dude reckoned es100's were that much better than them. so thats what i got.

i wont know about tirewear until i fit new es100's on

My car was also shipped over here with es100's on the fronts.

jono

hey so hows the wear on the ES100's so far jono?