What makes a good tyre?

[Rob]

Apart from rubber

Seriously, after a conversation with Vimeous some time ago I started thinking. What do you look for in a tyre? What do you consider 'good'?

My description of [my] Michelin Primacy Pilots...

On the Primacy's though - They have pretty much taken everything I have thrown at them, and I can be quite hard on them . Doing a lot of early hours driving I can be a little more aggressive on cornering, etc. They feel nice and solid on corners, although how much of that is good suspension is hard to say. But yay, the proverbial 'to a blanket' does come to mind.

Wear wise, on my 18000 mile service they had lost 3mm from their original 7mm. Doing 130 miles a day at an average 60-80mph.

And the only time I've pushed them to the limit wet weather wise was (dont tell ) 70mph, pulling hard on an uphill right hand curve with running surface water! They did let go then! But saying that, the cars FWD so the weight was at all the wrong places. I lost the front end slightly, but nothing so scary I couldn't catch it. Besides, I should've know better in that weather anyway!

In the next few months I think I'm going to be looking to renew my rubber, so... What compares to these? What do you look for? Particularly interested in wet weather handling.

Cheers

Rob

[Shad]

These are the tyres I've used and my opinions, but I think we look for different things in a tyre...

Michelin Pilot Sport (Clio) - fantastic wet and dry, didnt have much time to use them though because they were nearly at the legal limit.

Pirelli P6000 (Clio and Bravo) - terrible. Very little cornering feedback in the dry, not enough wet grip.

Yokohama AVS Sport (147) - awesome! Dry grip just goes on and on and on, fantastic cornering response and feedback. Wet was equally as impressive but they suffered in heavy rain. Only lasted 8k miles

Yokohama A539 (147) - very good, but not as good as the AVS Sports. Noisier on the limit when compared to the AVS, and not quite as grippy. Better in the wet though.

I'd buy Yokohama's again without any hesitation, even though I'd be hard pushed to get more than 10k miles from a set of fronts. But then I tend to look for out and out performance rather than value for money and comfort.

[Rob]

Yoko's sound quite good but 8k? Unfortunately, doing 30k a year looks like I will have to comprimise.

[XTR]

I've been using Falkens..... only because they are cheap... £61 a tyre. 205/40/17's..........

I'd say they are ok on the back of the car.... but on the front.... well lets just say i've went through a pair in 6 months!

Alright in the dry.... lots of grip.... but in the wet... absolutly crap!!! I could be sitting at a junction, waiting to pull out, and dont dare "jump" out into the gap.... cause i know the wheels will spin. In the dry though it'll grip fine though!

Cant say i've noticed much tyre noise from them..... they dont seem to squeel.


I used to have 15" pirella p6000's on the car... and they were noisy little gits... one of the worst tyres ive had on a car... and would never go back to using Pirella!

[Lowe]

What makes a good tyre?

Something that won't let you broadside a Clio going around an island in the rain...

[Vimeous]

Lo thur Rob, a damn fine question indeed!

Things I've learnt to appreciate are:

Predictability.
A tyre that behaves in a predictable manner in a given circumstance. There's nothing worse than a tyre suddenly flexing or loosing/regaining grip just when you least expect it. A predictable tyre gives the driver confidence.

Progressiveness
A progressive tyre, regardless of how good is out-and-out grip is, is hugely desireable. A tyre that gradually gives way at the limit and comes back into grip in a controllable manner. Combined with predicability this allows a driver to play on the edge of adhesion without having an upset. In an emergency such as wet braking or swerving while braking a progressive brake-away will allow the driver to maintain maximum stopping/avoidance AND maintain enough grip to be pro-active in a situation rather than a passenger.

Strong Yet Flexible Side-Walls
Odd one this but something my Goodyear F1's have taught me. At the limit their sidewalls flex a little too much. Solid sidewalls would be a nightmare as the ride would be awfull. However too soft and the attitude of the car in the corner changes. As one corner loads up a tyre with too much flexibility will compress, lifting the opposite tyre and reducing overall grip. It also changes the suspension attitude to the road as the whole car leans.

These are just some of the things that are usefull. Even with a supposedly 'bad' tyre the above characteristics make them at bBest driveable and at worst safe.

Since I last discussed tyres I've replaced my front F1's. The rears are now on the front and I've had new Michelin Pilot Exalto 2's fitted to the rear. These are facinating tyres with a very distinctive tread pattern. I've done over 1k miles on them so far and they're doing very well with no nasty characteristics and less side-wall flex than the F1's. Ultimate grip is difficult to tell with them on the rear but they've not let-go yet under my normal driving conditions and I'm suitably impressed. I plan to try them on the front next time I look for tyres.
Interestingly it's taken the F1's quite some time to 'bed-in' at the front. They grained differently on the rear and it's only now that I've worn them in on the front that they're acting as predicably as the previous pair. They continue to be extremely impressive in all conditions, something I prize above virtually everything else

[Rob]

Progressiveness
A progressive tyre, regardless of how good is out-and-out grip is, is hugely desireable. A tyre that gradually gives way at the limit and comes back into grip in a controllable manner. Combined with predicability this allows a driver to play on the edge of adhesion without having an upset. In an emergency such as wet braking or swerving while braking a progressive brake-away will allow the driver to maintain maximum stopping/avoidance AND maintain enough grip to be pro-active in a situation rather than a passenger.

A very, very good point , never thought of it in this way.

Guessing I could well be sticking firm ('scuse the pun ) with Michelin, as so far they've ticked all the boxes you guys suggest. Plus they have the funky tread