GOLF GTI mk7 tyres - real experiences please

GOLF GTI mk7 tyres - real experiences please

Author
Discussion

lee_fr200

5,477 posts

190 months

Saturday 11th March 2017
quotequote all
Swapped from bridgestones to Goodyear asymmetric 3 and the difference is huge!

Better grip

Quieter road noise

Cheaper!

Got a price on black circles and vw matched it

pixelmix

203 posts

108 months

Saturday 11th March 2017
quotequote all
Swapped the Bridgestones to Michelin Pilot Sport 4 all round here. Much better grip on greasy roads, when accelerating from junctions etc.

GloriaGTI

509 posts

87 months

Tuesday 14th March 2017
quotequote all
My car (used) came with P Zero's on the front and some mid-range Falken's on the rear.

I swapped the wheels round and went to Micheldever who replaced the Falken's with some fresh P Zero's to go on the front.

The existing P Zero's still had 4mm over the limit left, so when I reach 3mm I'll rotate the wheels again and fit new ones. Based on the reasonably low
mileage I do, that'll probably be around the winter time.

The most recent Auto Exp review, that I'm sure everyone looking for new tyres will have seen, ranked the Pirelli's 2nd only to the Michelin PS4's. I would have gone for the PS4's had I have needed to replace all 4.

I will definitely go for P Zero's again, despite the PS4 ranking higher. They have made quite a noticeable improvement now they all match, particularly on the reduced road noise I experience. The weather has been pretty reasonable here on the South Coast since fitting, so yet to really test them in the wet. Side walls feel nice and stiff on fast/sharp turn in.

On my paperwork from Micheldever the tyres were marked "MO/VW" and I believe that they come on new Performance Golf's from factory now, not the B'stone Potenza's.

cuprabob

14,573 posts

214 months

Tuesday 14th March 2017
quotequote all
GloriaGTI said:
My car (used) came with P Zero's on the front and some mid-range Falken's on the rear.

I swapped the wheels round and went to Micheldever who replaced the Falken's with some fresh P Zero's to go on the front.

The existing P Zero's still had 4mm over the limit left, so when I reach 3mm I'll rotate the wheels again and fit new ones. Based on the reasonably low
mileage I do, that'll probably be around the winter time.

The most recent Auto Exp review, that I'm sure everyone looking for new tyres will have seen, ranked the Pirelli's 2nd only to the Michelin PS4's. I would have gone for the PS4's had I have needed to replace all 4.

I will definitely go for P Zero's again, despite the PS4 ranking higher. They have made quite a noticeable improvement now they all match, particularly on the reduced road noise I experience. The weather has been pretty reasonable here on the South Coast since fitting, so yet to really test them in the wet. Side walls feel nice and stiff on fast/sharp turn in.

On my paperwork from Micheldever the tyres were marked "MO/VW" and I believe that they come on new Performance Golf's from factory now, not the B'stone Potenza's.
It's down to luck what your VW comes with from the factory, some come with Bridgestones and others with Pirelli. My Scirocco came with 235/35x19 P Zeros amd I really like them which to be surprised me as my LCR came with P Zero Rossos and they were dreadful.

SuperchargedVR6

3,138 posts

220 months

Wednesday 15th March 2017
quotequote all
Bungleaio said:
I've gone to Pilot Sport 4 on my GTI PP and I'm very happy. Loads more grip, quieter and better all round. The PS4 feel softer than the bridgestones so I don't think they will last as long but I would thing the Super Sports will be even softer.

My car is in daily use and covers 300 miles a week minimum so I tyre life is important over ultimate grip. I managed 23.5k out of my original bridgestones but I rotate the tyres every 5k.
I normally get 10,000 from a set of fronts on modified VWs and the PS4s are no different. Half worn in 5000 miles.

I'm the opposite to you and take grip over lifespan and drive pretty hard, so I'm OK with it.

I don't like tyres that last forever anyway as the rubber tends to go off through the constant heat cycling.

Adrian E

3,248 posts

176 months

Thursday 28th September 2017
quotequote all
Bumping this in case the OP has bitten the bullet and can update?

Bridgestone fronts on ours are now down to less than 3mm after 16k miles, so planning to swap the existing rears to the front to finish them off and fit a pair of Michelin Pilot Sport 4s to the rear as soon as the weather gets a bit iffy. Grip at the moment is acceptable compared to what the 20s on previous cars have been like when worn to 3mm.

mcg_

1,445 posts

92 months

Thursday 28th September 2017
quotequote all
when I changed from worn out p zeros to new PS4's the difference was night and day.

Just need to rear p zeros to wear out now!

Dermot O'Logical

2,574 posts

129 months

Thursday 28th September 2017
quotequote all
I recently bought a Golf GTI from a VW main dealer. It had Bridgestones on the rear, and new Kumhos on the front. It also had a steering wheel which was a few degrees off to the right.

With an alignment check as part of the deal, I subsequently took the car to the Alignment Centre in Southampton and was able to satisfy my concern that it might have been subject to suspension damage (it was almost as clean and straight underneath as on top), and subsequently to Costco for a new set of Michelin PS4's which have already, with only a couple of hundred miles on them, improved grip, traction on wet, slimy roads, and reduced noise.

I like Costco for tyres. They look after your wheels, don't use air wrenches if you ask them not to, and generally treat the car and wheels with care. I can only speak from experience of their Southampton branch, but they're excellent. Michelins are often on offer, and I paid £388 for a set of four including fitting, valves, nitrogen filled.

Auto Motor und Sport 2017 summer tyre test:

http://www.tyrereviews.co.uk/Article/2017-AMS-Summ...

Mitch16

Original Poster:

59 posts

106 months

Monday 2nd October 2017
quotequote all
Adrian E said:
Bumping this in case the OP has bitten the bullet and can update?

Bridgestone fronts on ours are now down to less than 3mm after 16k miles, so planning to swap the existing rears to the front to finish them off and fit a pair of Michelin Pilot Sport 4s to the rear as soon as the weather gets a bit iffy. Grip at the moment is acceptable compared to what the 20s on previous cars have been like when worn to 3mm.
Hi, thanks for the prompt. I have decided to wait for a set of winter tyres. I found the bridgestones fine over the summer ( ok a little slippery when we had rain).

Agreed with others that Michelin Pilot Sport 4 seem to be the current best tyre for the car.

Dblue

3,252 posts

200 months

Monday 2nd October 2017
quotequote all
Adrian E said:
I've been doing some research on this too, since the factory Bridgestones are down around 4mm all round after 12k miles.

Michelin Super Sports are not noticeably cheaper in 18" than the 20" of my previous car! They're also about double the price of almost anything else, although shopping around makes it less horrific.

Found Super Sports for £119 each, but cheapest I can find the Goodyear F1s is £80ish (supply only). PS4 is somewhere in between at £93.

Cheapest premium tyres I've found are PZero Nero GT at under £70. Dunlop SportMaxx RT (the only one with a VW code) are about the same as Goodyear....
Check out the wear rating though. Supersports are 300, thats substantially better than the P Zero or Dunlop and they are a much better tyre. Fact is that the MPSS or PS4 work out cheaper than the completion in reality

Adrian E

3,248 posts

176 months

Tuesday 3rd October 2017
quotequote all
Dblue said:
Check out the wear rating though. Supersports are 300, thats substantially better than the P Zero or Dunlop and they are a much better tyre. Fact is that the MPSS or PS4 work out cheaper than the completion in reality
I've had Super Sports on 2 of my cars (1 that I've still got) and aside from some odd wear, which meant Michelin replaced a pair for free, I've been really impressed with them previously. Given this car is mainly used for commuting I was jut interested to compare the other branded manufacturers - in all likelihood Michelin PS4 is what I will opt for.

One of the front wheels has a tiny bit of kerb rash, which is allowing moisture to travel under the lacquer, so will get both sorted at the same time smile


chr15b

3,467 posts

190 months

Tuesday 3rd October 2017
quotequote all
I had Bridgestone on my mk7 GTI, replaced at about 6k miles with Michelin ps4’s and the car was so much better, less road noise, better grip especially on setting off. Wasn’t massively expensive either, £100 per corner

Edited by chr15b on Tuesday 3rd October 09:03

sugerbear

4,025 posts

158 months

Thursday 5th October 2017
quotequote all
Very pleased with the Dunlop Sportmax tyres. So much better than the bridgestones that were on the car previously in both dry and wet.

Adrian E

3,248 posts

176 months

Monday 27th November 2017
quotequote all
x2 PS4s due for delivery tomorrow - one wheel is having a minor nibble to the edge refurbished at the end of the week, and new tyres will be going on at the same time, but since the rear Bridgestones still have 5mm of tread these will be rotated onto the front to wear them out.

rob1234

854 posts

197 months

Monday 27th November 2017
quotequote all
Mk3 Octavia VRS, but another "+1" for Michelin Pilot Sport 4...

SuperchargedVR6

3,138 posts

220 months

Tuesday 28th November 2017
quotequote all
PS4s down to 3mm and the TC light flickers very often now. Rubbish traction in the wet now, but lateral grip remains exceptional for the price.

Adrian E

3,248 posts

176 months

Tuesday 28th November 2017
quotequote all
I’m down to 2-3mm on the Bridgestones and the cold weather makes swift progress more or less impossible! Throttle pedal needs an egg under your foot to avoid electronic intervention (it’s an auto)

I suspect the deeper tread Bridgestones will be no better but at least some traction issues may assist in finishing them off!

anonymous-user

54 months

Tuesday 28th November 2017
quotequote all
Dunlop sportmaxx - excellent grip in the wet and dry
But expensive.

Goodyear Eagle asym 3 - crap in the wet good in the dry, but cheaper.

Car for reference:
MK6 Golf Gti: Edition 35 DSG.

Msportman

279 posts

156 months

Thursday 30th November 2017
quotequote all
I run a Stage 2 MK7R.

I've been running the Conti 5 P's and they have been superb TBH.

I've had pretty much most premium branded tyres on our Audi and my previous cars from Michellin PS3 and 4's which were very good when new but when you get to 3-4 MM. the compound goes very hard to create a tyre that will last that bit longer as Michellin claim.
The downside is that they feel flat footed and wooden.

The Goodyear Assymetric 3's are very good all round and super quiet.

I looked at the new MPS 4S to swap out my Conti 5's but I'm now going to go Conti 6's as they are considerably cheaper they're a step on from the 5P's and like for like I suspect they will just as grippy.

At this level most tyres are soft for grip and marginal between the MSP 4S , Continental and Goodyear.

Cams kill were doing some great deals on Continental


Tahiti

987 posts

247 months

Sunday 3rd December 2017
quotequote all
Golf GTD here which we've had from new.

Never a fan of the factory Bridgestone's, and switched to Conti Sport 5's when the fronts wore out. They were an improvement, and the ride appeared to be less jolty too. I've now replaced the other pair which had worn down to circa 3mm with Dunlop Sport Maxx RT2 over the weekend so will comment on these in due course.