Which 18" Tyres?

[Elroy Blue]

I've got OEM 245/40/18 Bridgestone tyres on my car and they are coming to the end of their useful life. They've lasted 15000m of sedate driving. They were also totally and completely hopeless during our spell of snow a few months ago. Much worse than any other tyre of similar size I've had on previous cars. I'm looking for a good mix of decent life v performance. The car is for family use and doesn't get ragged.

What tyres have people got on their cars. I'm looking for recommedations for a replacement. Definitely don't do 50p Ling Longs , so a mid to premium tyre is what I'm looking for. Reviews I've looked at so far are pointing in the direction of Goodyear Eagle F1 2 or Uniroyal rainsport 2.

[alcovrugbyfan]

I used to have Kumho Ecsta on my S Type, they were awesome tyres.

[RicksAlfas]

I had 235/45/18 Bridgestones on my Alfa and replaced them with Vredestein Sessanta Ultracs which were cheaper, gripped better dry or wet and were excellent in the snow. The only slight downside is that they are noisy on certain motorway services. Well worth a look.

[RJB_666]

alcovrugbyfan said:

I used to have Kumho Ecsta on my S Type, they were awesome tyres.

I have these on my vxr. Currently the KU31 but i believe they have now been superceded by the KU39 which i think is a slightly harder compound. I find these to give excellant grip in the wet and dry. I think it was more my car that wasnt great in snow than the tyres so i can't really give you an opinion on that.

[oobster]

As the previous poster said, Vredestein Ultrac Sessantas generally get good reviews. I had them, in 225/40 18 size, on my previous car and liked them.

[morrellski]

I use uniroyal rainsport 2's and have found them to be brilliant. In the wet (which let's face it is most of the time) they are superb. Also didn't fair to badly in the snow this winter and were used for regular trips across the A66 during the bad weather without any problems.

[LukeSi]

it wouldn't happen to be a 3 series would it?

Oh and the michelin pilot sports are quite good

[Basil Brush]

oobster said:

As the previous poster said, Vredestein Ultrac Sessantas generally get good reviews. I had them, in 225/40 18 size, on my previous car and liked them.

+1. Much prefer them to the Goodyear F1s I had before (on TVR) and can be sourced at a decent price from Camskill. I´ll be putting the SUV version on my Touareg at next change as well.

[Elroy Blue]

Done a search of the internet and the Vredesteins seem to get universally good reviews. They are about £70-100 cheaper than established premium brands, so you can't really argue can you

Looks like these will be on my next car.

[T16OLE]

Falkens and Toyo Proxes seem to get good reviews and perform just as well as Premium brands, but with mid range prices

[alcovrugbyfan]

got Falken 452 on my Volvo, good tyres but I don't rate them as high as the Kumho.

[Oilchange]

I have KU31s on the front of my Esprit, they're pretty good all rounders and didn't break the bank. Very grippy too.

[shortar53]

T16OLE said:

Falkens and Toyo Proxes seem to get good reviews and perform just as well as Premium brands, but with mid range prices

Toyo Proxes R1 on my RX8, grip very well in the dry, a little noisy on some m/way surfaces though.

[parapaul]

I think snow grip depends as much on the car as the tyres.

Falken 452 and Kumho KU31 get nothing but excellent reviews in terms of VFM.
Vredestein Ultrac Sessentas likewise, but not quite as cheap.

I had no problems in a 230bhp FWD car over the snowy winter on PZero Rossos.

Make of that what you will - but now I'm in a BMW I'm looking out for winter wheels already

[PoleDriver]

I've had really good results from the Goodyear F1 assymetrics on both my Cerbera and the A6. Good mileage, not let me down yet and very grippy in the wet!

[rscott]

I had Toyo Proxes on my old Saab - they were great in the dry, okay in the wet and downright scary on snow/ice. Didn't last that long though - only got about 8000 miles out of the fronts, although that may have been the combination of a twisty commute, heavy right foot and 250bhp through the front wheels..

When I got the new 9-3 it came with some abysmal Pirelli things which managed to combine poor grip, loud road noise and fast wear into a single package. I swapped these for Continental Sport Contact 3 .They're much better and seem to last well - done about 5000 miles since they were fitted and the fronts are hardly worn at all.

[soda]

F1 assy. on the 330d. Excellent grip and ride in both wet/dry, only downside was a touch more road noise than the previous mixture of crap the car came shod in.

Didn't even get stuck in the snow (few slabs in the boot though for good measure). FWIW I have found that assymetric tyres will stand a better chance in the snow than directional ones with the big V's in them.