Tyre Selection

[justinv 4 1 Cars]

What is the best road tire that is good and looks good on a 205?

 

Was thinking on some Michelin Pilots or sport ?

 

At the moment have some toyo T1r's on

[gowmonster 2]

What's wrong with the toyos? i think they have good handling and look good in terms of side wall and tread pattern.

[justinv 4 1 Cars]

yes they do but tought of a change

[boombang 2]

What's wrong with the toyos? i think they have good handling and look good in terms of side wall and tread pattern.

 

Tyres are very personal. I have never seen anything good in any Toyos bar the 888s (which I believe still suffer from over soft sidewalls). In the dry they overheat easily and in the wet I've always found they snap very quickly and grip levels not particularily high.

 

B F Goodrich G Profilers though were very good. Ultimate grip isn't the best of any road biased tyre I've tried, but the overall performance and feel was up there with the best. Also very impressed with the progression.

 

In an old car like a 205, the way a tyre lets go and the feedback from the road is more important in my eyes than ultimate grip.

 

An alternative I've quite liked is the Kumho Ecstas. Had them on my VX220 and then on the Xsara. Similar overall performance to the B F Goodrich, with perhaps the edge in the dry and marginally worse wet performance.

[alync406 4]

For the last good while my choice of tyre has been Falken Ziex 912's. I find them a very good tyre, they grip very well and if you do go over the limit a bit they are progressive and don't just snap. They are not a dear tyre either. Camskill

[Anthony 1,003]

Another happy Falken 912 user here

 

Hankook Evo S1's are also worth a look, with decent wet and dry performance and fairly decent life. Cheap too. The Evo V12's are meant to be very good also and had rave reviews, but I've not yet tried them.

 

Toyo's seem to be a bit of a marmite tyre, in that some love them, and some don't. I've personally never had a problem with them as a road tyre and they have given decent performance - currently got the older Toyo T1-S's all round on my 306, and they've got plenty of grip and seem to be wearing quite well too. Too much grip in some ways, as the chassis has lost some of the exploitability and adjustability as a result compared to the mediocre rubber that it was wearing previously.

[swordfish210 20]

Another happy Falken 912 user here

 

Hankook Evo S1's are also worth a look, with decent wet and dry performance and fairly decent life. Cheap too. The Evo V12's are meant to be very good also and had rave reviews, but I've not yet tried them.

 

Toyo's seem to be a bit of a marmite tyre, in that some love them, and some don't. I've personally never had a problem with them as a road tyre and they have given decent performance - currently got the older Toyo T1-S's all round on my 306, and they've got plenty of grip and seem to be wearing quite well too. Too much grip in some ways, as the chassis has lost some of the exploitability and adjustability as a result compared to the mediocre rubber that it was wearing previously.

 

A 3rd vote here for the 912's, excellent tyre and fantastic value for money. I'm the opposite to Anthony on the Toyo front though, i had T1-S's and T1-R's and i was far from impressed with either of them, didn't seem to offer much grip in the wet or the dry. If you're looking for a good tyre and have a bit more money to spend i've never heard a bad thing about the Michelin Pilot Exalto 2.

Edited November 7, 2010 by swordfish210

[Baz 421]

Seem to be different on different cars, but my recommendations for 205's;

 

Toyo T1 - very good for the money, and similar to F1's but not quite as good.

 

Eagle F1GSD3 - fantasticly predictable in both the wet and dry & the transition between grip & slip is easily identifiable and controllable.

 

Michelin PE2 - damn good, but have the price to match!

[Alan77 78 1 Cars]

The BF Goodrich G-Force Profiler is an excellent tyre.

[Tom Fenton 1,542]

I've recently got some Michelin PE2 on my 205, I have also got a set of Yoko Paradas on a different set of wheels. The Miches are very good in the wet, far better than the Paradas, BUT, the car will now light the fronts up in second on the Miches without provcation, whereas the Paradas will just about hang on.

[CaptainP 2]

Goodyear Eagle F1GSD3 for me. A slightly higher road noise than my previous Avon's but a superb tyre.

[arwel 43 2 Cars]

Im running Uniroyal Rainexperts on mine. Even used them on a Road Rally and they were brilliant. Excellent in the wet and brilliant in the dry too.

[justinv 4 1 Cars]

Was at a local vulcaniser and quoted for some exalto's and he told me that he has some german Fulda tyres, anyt good info bout these ?

 

Regards

 

Jus

[swordfish210 20]

Was at a local vulcaniser and quoted for some exalto's and he told me that he has some german Fulda tyres, anyt good info bout these ?

 

Regards

 

Jus

 

Fulda are a devision of the Goodyear Dunlop corporation...thats about all i know though

[CaptainK 11]

I've got Eagle F1s on my FTO and they are very good, but fairly costly. On my 205 GTi6 I have Toyo T1R and for a road tyre they seem very good and very good value for money as they are cheap. They did me a 3500 mile eurotrip and 26 laps of the Nurburgring and a fair amount of normal mileage and are still going fine.

 

The only downside I found about the Toyo T1R is you can't do more than two laps consecutively of the Nurburging on a very hot easter weekend. The tyres just don't like it and they become "weird" and the driving feel seems wrong (non technical description as I'm no technical and don't know how to describe it except to say it felt wrong when driving it after 2 laps ).

[Rich_p 23]

Just a question regarding 912's that people have recommended.

 

I run them on the civic and find the sidewalls very soft, to the point where you can feel the car moving about on them. I personally wouldn't call them a fast road tyre. Maybe they react differently on a 205 due to the lack of weight?

 

As a day to day tyre for the price I think they are good though.

 

Have also run parada 2's and they were awfull in damp conditions, lasted a while though.

 

My all round favorite still has to be Eagle f1 GSD3's, I just wished they lated a bit longer.

[Rich_p 23]

Fulda are a devision of the Goodyear Dunlop corporation...thats about all i know though

 

 

I used some Fulda carrat extremo's for a while.

 

Quite soft tyres so grippy when new but they only lasted 5- 6k. Once they started going off the were awful and any round about approached at more than about 20mph resulted in horrendous tyre squeal

[Anthony 1,003]

Just a question regarding 912's that people have recommended.

 

I run them on the civic and find the sidewalls very soft, to the point where you can feel the car moving about on them. I personally wouldn't call them a fast road tyre. Maybe they react differently on a 205 due to the lack of weight?

Not something that I've noticed on a 205 to be honest, and there's no tale-tale wear on the sidewalls like I've had some some other tyres.

 

The worst tyres I've come across for soft sidewalls are Yoko Paradas, and even on a lightweight 205 you can feel the sidewalls moving around - at Cadwell back in the summer we'd worn the writting off most of the sidewalls on both the front and rears, and started pulling chunks out worryingly!

 

 

They're 50 profile Parada's in that picture

[Baz 421]

Yes, Parada's are sh!t, although they do stand up to constant abuse and wear quite well in a 'fast road' environment, but as Anthony says above we had chunks falling off them/delaminating sections on those, the sidewalls are just ridiculously soft, and that car doesn't even have a particularly hard suspension setup either. Plus before anyone says it, adding more pressure doesn't work as it just makes them overheat and wear bad/oddly.

 

 

It's worth mentioning also that IMO anyway, tyres act differently on different types of cars, so although still a reflective opinion, not really fair to assume they'll be the same on a different car.

Edited November 9, 2010 by Baz

[welshpug 1,657]

as well as that some sizes behave differently to others, as well as on different types of cars and driving styles, namely due to different weight ratings and carcass construction.

[Rippthrough 98]

'S why parada's are so sensitive to the car setup, it's the sidewalls. I really didn't like them in the damp/greasy conditions until I wound 3* of camber and castor on, now they're fine (not brilliant, but more than capable.

Been out in a car with 17" wheels shod with Parada's on though and they were much better - stiffer sidewall.

 

The old F1's and the Michelins before them however didn't really mind what the car was setup like, just gripped and gave good feedback no matter what. Just the Michelins fell to pieces after a while.

Edited November 9, 2010 by Rippthrough

[Miles 331 1 Cars]

Never taken the 912's on track, But doing a couple of sprints on them they don't like getting too hot but afterall it's a std road tyre and nothing else unlike Yoko's etc which use the fast road theme to sell them.

I know the pair of Parada's I had on the back of my old 306 lasted 15mins at Keveil before being bald on the sidewall edge's.

[gtmotorsport 0]

Always liked BF Goodridge myself, helps that my local tyre dealer is an agent. On my old BMW compact I could get 2 sets for the cost of a set of Michelin. The Michelin would last as I also ran them at one point, but unless you did the mileage on them the sidewalls would crack.

 

Tyres are a personal thing, but talk to your tyre dealer if they are any good they will help you make up your mind.

[Anthony 1,003]

Tyres are a personal thing, but talk to your tyre dealer if they are any good they will help you make up your mind.

If they're good then maybe, but most I suspect will just sell you whatever they have in stock or what they make the most margin on

 

Certainly I've been in before and asked for Goodyear Eagle F1's (for example), only for them to go "we don't have those, but we do have Teflon Hedgefinder 6000's that are made by Goodyear in the same factory, and they're really just as good and much cheaper"

[pug_ham 244 3 Cars]

Another vote for the Falken 912's for a road tyre.

 

I'm on my second set on the 306 without any complaints, I can attack (private) roundabouts on my way home from work at 50mph+ & use them as a chicane with no problems.

 

My 205 GTI has some Bridgestone RE720's on & I wish they still made them, they are dual compound afaik so its only after a few K they start to come into their own giving fantastic grip & feedback.

 

I haven't used them on track as they are on my S2 rallye 14" rims but I have used the previous S02's both on road & track which were just as good, if not better. Again though the T1S's seemd much nicer on track but that might've been because they were simply fresher rubber.

 

My track tyres are 195/50-15 T1S' which I much prefer to the F1's I had on before but that might be due to the amount of tread on the F1's (run them from new) causing them to overheat & the tread to roll.

 

Before I got the new set of 912's fitted to my car & was waiting on the rims being painted I ran my 306 with my Rota's on which have the 195/50-15 S02's on.

 

I did 1k on them over a long weekend & by the end of the weekend the old rubber had worn off to give me a better hint at how good they really are.

 

The sidewalls are definately much stiffer than the Falkens but I also usually run the standard 195/55-15's on my 306 so the lower profile / stiffer sidewalls made a noticable difference to the ride but only for the first few miles until I adjusted to it.

 

Maybe I should do a comparison now the S02's have been subjected to a good run scrubbing them down to fresher rubber.

 

Graham.