Michelin Pe2 V Toyo T1r For The Road

[maturin23 10]

Hi all,

 

I know this subject has been done to death ('cos I've done a search) - but I wanted to ask a specific question

 

I'm about to buy a new set of tyres for my 205 and also a set for my wife's Focus 2.0 TDCI estate

 

 

Is it worth paying the premium for the PE2 over the other usual (and cheaper) suspects?

 

 

Best prices for the PE2s I can find are on Camskill

 

195/50/15 - £54 a corner inc VAT but not delivery or fitting (Toyos are £28)

205/55/16 - £78 a corner (Toyos are £56)

 

I'm currently using Goodyear F1s on the 205 and Dunlop Supremecy on the Focus.

I've used Toyo T1S on the Pug and on my Impreza in the past, but not tried the T1Rs

 

 

I'm keen to get first-hand experiences

[Anthony 1,003]

T1-R's are better than T1-S's in my experience, so chances are that if you got on with T1-S's you'll like the R's

 

PE2's are better all round road tyres than T1-R's in my experience and particularly impressive in wet/damp conditions, but personally I couldn't justify almost twice the price over the T1-R's (on 195/50R15's anyway)

[welshpug 1,657]

They'll outperform as mentioned, they will also outlast the Toyos by several thousand miles, a friend runs them on a 306 Rallye and got 18k out of the fronts, he does not drive slow

 

I have them on the front of my ZX now and love them, quite a light tyre, a fairly soft sidewall so you do need to keep on top of your tyre pressures if you drive hard.

 

No personal experience of fitting brand new ones, but have heard from many people including the guy I bought the tyres from that Costco do very good deals on 4 Michelin tyres, under £200 for all 4 I believe in 195 50.

[maturin23 10]

Thanks chaps. We do tend to get through tyres fairly quickly, especially Deb in the Focus (she has a heavy right foot plus 251 lb/ft and no traction control).

 

I'll definitely have a look at Costco as I've got an account.

 

Edited to say no offers at Costco on tyres at the moment.

Edited February 26, 2010 by maturin23

[welshpug 1,657]

ahh buggery, are they still competitive on them?

[Tom Fenton 1,542]

If you can bide your time Costco often do a 4 for the price of 3 etc deal.

 

But I wouldn't personally put the Toyos etc on the Focus- you need something a bit harder in my opinion to get decent life out of them- I've been quite impressed with either Goodyear NCT5 or Bridgestone ER300 on my Audi estates.

[Alastairh 47]

I ran Goodyear NCT5's on my Nissan following Tom’s recommendations for a larger car. I was very happy and had 2 replaced with Goodyear Excellence because the NC5's are being phased out. The excellence defiantly is the better tyre. Tougher and have very good wet and dry grip. Reasonable price and good miles and again my Nissan doesn't get an easy life with country lanes on a daily basis plus logging heavy equipment about.

 

Al

[richsmells 2]

What would you recommend for a 306? I quite liked the Toyos on the 205 in the dry.

 

I'm probably going for Falken ZE 912's as they're cheap and a few on here seem to like them.

[hengti 2]

Hankook V12 Evos are cheap and are worth considering as well (interested in what others on here think about them) - they seem to be a bit of an 'it' tyre at the moment, with the Renault lot raving about them. i've just put a set on the Clio and they're very promising - been suggested that they should outlast the OE Contisports, which don't seem to manage much more than 10k (they're soft, and the Clios have an appetite for fronts). people seem to manage mid-high teens from the PE2s on Clios; the Hankooks should be somewhere inbetween

 

grip wet or dry is decent; example test from the interweb - http://www.caranddriver.com/reviews/compar...v12_evo_page_10

[Baz 421]

The PE2's seem to be harder towards the end of their life anyway i think.

 

Yes they'll outlast the Toyo's but the Toyo's are such good value for money i'd struggle to argue with that!

[maturin23 10]

I've been doing some 'research' (surfing the web!) on some of the above suggestions. Buying tyres really does seem to be a minefield - given they are the only part of a car that actually touch the road they are of fundamental importance, but there seems to be very little impartial advice out there.

 

Hankook seem to be getting some great reviews, both the Goodyear NCT5 and Bridgestone ER300 seem to get some rather middling reviews.

 

Baz - from a cost point of view it's a tricky one - the difference between a set of 4 Toyos and 4 Michelin PE2s is around £100 - but if the tyres last two years (c. 8000 miles for me) that's £4.20 a month. That's less than two pints of foaming nut brown ale.

 

......

 

Halfway through writing this post I've just found this review - http://www.caranddriver.com/reviews/compar...omparison_tests - and Henry's suggestion of the Hankooks is suddenly looking like a front runner...

 

[belm] - sorry Henry, didn't spot the link i your post that I subsequently found - would have saved me some time..

Edited February 26, 2010 by maturin23

[screwloose 6]

I've driven a couple of 182s on PE2s and thought they were really excellent tyres. Also passengered with Baz when he's run them and even from the passenger seat you can tell they're great tyres

[Baz 421]

^^ Pretty sure it was on them we were in the 1.6 running rings around Kenno in his Mi round the 'ring in the soaking wet, and did a 9 and a half minute or so lap too!

[welshpug 1,657]

I did hear the PE2 was developed for the 182, explains why they work very well on them and other similar light hot hatches

[mr_exe 1]

Bridgestone have a very hard tread compound, so while they last they don't grip so well. Some Ford's come with Hankooks from the factory but i've always thought of them as a cheapo brand. I've just put a pair of Dunlop fast responses on our Clio and they seem pretty good for the price (£51 fitted for 185x55xvr15's)