Ha ha, interesting thread. Tyres are such an emotive subject aren't they?
Yup, but then tyres really are such a crucial component on a car - and the more a car relies on its 'handling', the more importance the tyres have. And on the Mk5 GTI, crap tyres really can mess up the handling.
Everyone has an opinion, everyone thinks they are right, but the reality is that one make is good for one, and not for another. It all comes down to what you expect from a tyre and how you drive.
Agreed, and some tyre brands can be a bit like 'Marmite'.
At the end of the day though,
most of the premium brand tyres are more than adequate (but when seeking out the very limits, or very extremes of tyre performance, then some tyres excel in certain areas, whilst others may excel in other areas). And some of the lesser, 'mid-range' tyres can also be good.
But the big problem with the mid-range tyres is that they are
very inconsistent. Take Kumho - OK, their 'top of the range' high-performance tyre might well be very good (as seems to be the case from testimonies here
) - but the rest of their tyres in the Kumho range are fookin shyte, with some (particularly their fuel-saving 'energy' tyre) being lethal.
But with say Michelin, ALL of the tyres in their range, from their fuel saving Energy Saver at one end - all the way through to their super-sports tyre the Pilot Sport PS2 - are all superb tyres. At the end of the day, you can drive any kind of car, and if it is wearing Michelins, you know their tyres will perform, and not let you down. That is why they are used as OEM factory fits by so many manufacturers. But unfortunately, Michelin seem to suffer from not being 'cool' or trendy - many peeps think that Yokohama are a 'cool' tyre brand - but they have produced some truely shocking tyres over the years - but because they are 'marketed' in a certain way, to a certain demographic - they keep selling. Bridgestone are another brand seen as cool, probably due to their involvement in F1 - and whilst they have made some very good high performance road tyres, in all honesty, there are much better boots than what Bridgestone offer
Don't always believe what you read on the internet, trust TUV ratings, and the factory test drivers, these guys know what's good and what's rubbish, but as i said, it's all personal opinion.
I sort of agree. But like any kind of 'test' - if you design the test in a specific way, you can actually 'target' the results to favour one particular attribute. For example - when Which test tyres, they place a heavy emphasis on tyre price, another heavy emphasis on availability, and so on. Yet the real important tests such as wet cornering grip, wet braking, and the likes - they give less emphasis too. So with Which, you could have a tyre that is tops in wet grip, tops in dry grip - but just because it costs £20 more, and is only available from one tyre chain (or internet only) - then it will come below a banana-skin Trayall, which costs 20 pence per tyre, and is available at every single outlet.
Just consider what Mark Twain wrote.
