Tyres and opinions...

[Degen-Astra]

Okay...just doing some scoping on wheel and tyre packages over the past few weeks and just getting prices from everywhere.

I was pretty set on Yoko A539's but was given a suggestion to go for Goodyear Eagle F1 GS-D2.
Anyone have any opinions or better knowledge of these, good/bad/ugly/pretty...good for a perve?
http://www.goodyear.com.au/showtyregood.php?tyre=0000000151023

Have been thinking of other tyres but I tend to be a "go with what you know" type of guy.

Also throw any other suggestions at me.

Looking at 215/40 17's in size.

[sunny]

prices on both?

[Anonymous]

go the gsd-2's 8)

i got mine at 190 each fitted for 215/45/17, very good tyre imho....

the thing u need to look at though, is your weight index/weight rating which i believe needs to be i think 87/88 from memory..... notice that the gsd2's weight rating is only 83, hence making goodyear gsd2 215/40's illegal/defectable

i didnt do much reasearch on 215/40's, but im 80% sure that the only tyre that is 215/40 and is upto the right weight index is the dunlops which the turbos come with, which are hell expensive, if you found another tyre other than dunlop, i'm sure it would be still pretty pricey....

my bottom line... be sure to investigate they weight rating...... i ended up taking the gsd2 215/45's, if your car is lowered, then i suggest you don't go for the 215/45's, cos mine scrub pretty badly at the rear with them on

if your not fussed about weight ratings, go the goodyears 8)

[Degen-Astra]

No...just opinions on tyres. Price is not a huge concern. Obviously not going to spend huge amounts so looking at about $250 a tyre. AT MOST!

Samvac - Yeah - 87.

[Vectracious]

Nick, I just upgraded 2 tyres on the Vectra to Yoko's A539 and found them superb compared to the Stock Dunlop Monza 200's it came with.

Much less understeer in the wet and the Traction Control light comes on rarely, whereas before the Monzas would sit there and spin all day.

They are also quieter. They just don't have a very pretty tread pattern.... :P

[mixmelb]

I've got GoodYear RevSpec... it's made in Japan
Pretty happy with it, very quiet and good grip.
Got it for about $210 each, it's 205/55/16

Used to have stock Dunlop Monza 200, they're sucks!!!

Told from tyre place don't get Michelin, they're hard compound...

If u want good tyre, quiet and soft, go for Bridgestone Turanza or Potenza, problem is they're expensive... I've been told they'll cost more than $300 each for 17's for Potenza

[InsaneAsylum]

have a combination of goodyear F1's and Pirelli P6000's in 215/45/17


goodyears were alright in the dry and wet... pirellis aquaplane a bit if you hit big puddles. they don't seem to handle so well in the wet. personally I don't like the pirellis in the wet.

i've heard A539's to be great although I wonder if they still make them?


what get's me is there are an abundance of 235/45/17 tyres being made of various qualities and prices, however you can only seem to get 215/45/17 in the big brand names which come with big price tags!!

would love falken azenis semi-comp, price is high and life is short, but they're supposed to grip like superglue. friend of mine cut a few hundreth's of a second off his quarter time after replacing tyres with azenis.

[extralarge]

weight rating - defective as it may seem - stock tyres simply came of a much heigher rating. do the math and you'll find that the car will never reach that weight. checked with insurance. they said sweet no problem.

look at the sri. it is heavier than the city astra yet has lower weight rating tyres.

in regards to degen-astra's initial q - yokos are superb. experience is that it becomes shoddy as it wears. few months in and you'll have average tyres, if not below. the rubber simply doesn't stand up to use.

currently running gs-d2s. work well. not as good as new but neither far off. works exceptionally well in the wet. noise is not a problem as people report - they were in different cars anyway. tread pattern design makes the tyre look bigger than it should - 15" d2s would make the 15" rims look more ~14".

for the money you spend the d2s are a better buy, longer lasting and perform better.

ps. got mine GS-D2 $150 each. are 16" as well.

[windy]

Yokohama - AVS ES100 8)

They don't make the V102's in 15" so, I'll opt for these!
They make the V102's in 17" Though - so do some research into these, Degen!

Edit: Just checked - V102's not avail in 215/40/17 (ES100 are though)

http://www.yokohama.com.au/Tyres/Catalog.asp?CategoryID=2


I'll be slapping the ES100's on the astra before winter I'd say.
The Standard Dunlops are F*&#in S(#&#thouse - Understeer and squeel like a pig! :x

[extralarge]

degen-astra if you are willing to spend the full $200+ as you mentioned. the michelin pilot precedas are ace. without doubt the best of them all and very much suited for the euro passenger car astra.

[extralarge]

stock dunlops were quiet tyres. dormant handling though and easily lost grip squeeling when pushed.

[corsaboy]

Be careful with Goodyear F1s and Pirellis. Some say they are crap while others say they are good, when in actual fact it really comes down to where they were manufactured. I had F1s that were quite worn, yet they still provided considerable grip. Because you can get ones made in Japan and ones made in Germany, the ones I had were the German ones, Japan ones aren't really suited to our condtions/don't perform well. Which will also become evident in how much you pay! Same with Pirellis, in the Drago category, most of them are made in Malaysia i.e they don't write on them where they are made. But having said that, I never had any problems with Pirellis.


my 2c

[macquered]

Everyone is an expert when it comes to tyres. Take everything said above with a huge grain of salt, especially the bit where insurance companies disregard the weight rating of the tyres.

[SmellyTofu]

If you do want to be "safe", the easiest and cheaper option for 16" owners driving a 4/5 door is 215/50R16 90V. Only one I've found to be available is Silverstone crap though it does come in Michelin MXM but only if you have 4 kidneys to give (last quoted @ $4xx a corner). A lot of the Japanese tyres are also made in this size but never make the trip down to the island.

[Alfonzo]

I actually had Goodyear F1 GS-D2's in 215/40/R17 on my old Lancer.

Good God, they were beautiful. Road noise wasn't terribly bad, but it was the overall traction I got from them that really impressed me, especially in the wet. I mean I used to push it a fair bit in all conditions (you know, as you do), and I'd get scared well before I was in any danger of losing grip.

I was coming from a set of Falken Ziex directionals too, and the bloke at the wheel shop was only too happy to recommend the F1's. I'm glad I decided to go with them.

Oh, and that sweeping tread looks mad too 8)

[GOZOFF]

Hmmm... I had the Goodyear Eagle F1 GS-D2. on my last ride I must say they had very good milage but where a bit noise had similar Yoko's they had a better grip but milage was crap :roll:

[BUGEYE]

If u want good tyre, quiet and soft, go for Bridgestone Turanza or Potenza, problem is they're expensive... I've been told they'll cost more than $300 each for 17's for Potenza
Dunno about that dude. WRX's come standard with Bridgestone Potenza's and they are one of the loudest tyres I've ever heard. Bloody good tyre though but yeah, bloody expensive.
Allot of us in the WRX Club (including myself) are running Falken Azenis ST115's. Great bang for your buck tyre at about $210 a hoop. Quiet, great in the wet but not as inspiring in the dry as the Potenza's were.
Do yourself a favour and check out the Azenis.

[corsaboy]

Yes I must agree with Bugeye. If you must get Falken then get from the Azenis range!

[Anonymous]

ive got es 100 and they a going strong

[OzzySRi]

i was lookin at hankook k104's.

any opinions?

[Anonymous]

Well Nick ya know what camp I sit in :twisted:
Falken Azenis :D
Like BUGEYE said ST115-D1 get them for ya @ around $200 a corner
or Azenis RT215, Get them for around same price. :)

[krayzastra]

I was looking at getting some tire's and the guy at goodyear said that the gs-d2 are 'old technology' and goodyear are currently phasing them out. Didn't say anything bad about the, all good really, including milage. So basically the gs-d2 are being replaced by the new gs-d3, which the guy daid are F*&kin' awesome. But maybe he was just trying to up sell me, $100 difference. But u would wanna sell your old stock firt, right???

Make waht you will with my post. Just trying to give u some help.

PS. I ended up getting Vedestein Sportrac 2 - beautiful tyre. SO so much better than stock, although that upgrading from 14" to 16" haha

here's a link to Vedestein website, really good tyre:

http://www.vredestein.com/english/

[Anonymous]

that is true, they are being phased out.... i had to wait for 2 of my tyres to come from qld.... but moset tyre sizes are still available i think, and i wasnt prepared to pay for gsd3's.... which they tried to upsell me to

[Degen-Astra]

Awesome work people. Thanks for all the info.

Glenn - I know your a Falken boy thru and thru. :wink:

I had A539's on the old Astra on 15's and they were damn sweet. Sweet FA road noise. Currently run Pirelli P6000 on my SRi and do the job nicely. Although when pushed and get really hot i notice they tend to lose slight traction.

But yeah I am pretty sold on the F1's. $170 a corner i have been quoted for a 215/45/17 87W tyre. The tyres and wheels will come about Oct/Nov. Just putting together quotes and so on now, and its looking sweet.
Thanks for all the comments and help people.

[Anonymous]

so u went for the 45's ;)

[Degen-Astra]

Prefer to be safe than sorry and *cough* my insurance. :wink:

[GOZOFF]

Awesome work people. Thanks for all the info.

Glenn - I know your a Falken boy thru and thru. :wink:

I had A539's on the old Astra on 15's and they were damn sweet. Sweet FA road noise. Currently run Pirelli P6000 on my SRi and do the job nicely. Although when pushed and get really hot i notice they tend to lose slight traction.

But yeah I am pretty sold on the F1's. $170 a corner i have been quoted for a 215/45/17 87W tyre. The tyres and wheels will come about Oct/Nov. Just putting together quotes and so on now, and its looking sweet.
Thanks for all the comments and help people.

Noticed you saying when they "get hot you tend to lose traction" well you won't have that trouble with the Yoko's then cause for me anyways I found them to get better when they where nice and hot :wink:

[NUTTTR]

I had A539's and they were good, but to be honest i really felt there were better tyres out there....
The Dunlop's are "ok" (stock turbo ones) but they could be hugely better..... they are wearing rapidly, so might be time for a change sometime :)
However, i'm looking at 235's or something (maybe) to put on the astra....... they are 7.5" rims...... do 235's fit? Or would they bulge too much? i just like the fatter look :)

[aussievectra]

I've got Pirelli P 7000 in 225/45/R18 but u can get them to fit on 16 and 17 inch rims. The Pirelli's are really good in the wet and on corners. You don't notice the change in the cars performance if it starts raining.

[Dregger]

nick i got F1 eagle on the front atm with 215/40/17 they are very good.....i just want to see how they go for the next cruise! ;)

[Degen-Astra]

Nice. They fitted to the rims you had in the trunk of your car on the last run?

[Dregger]

yep! those the ones!

[OzzySRi]

hey guys n gals

found a site that may be helpfull. its yank but its searchable n has specs on all the tyres

www.1010tires.com

[GAZ914]

I'm a Bridgestone man and I currently run Potenza GIII in 205/40/17.

The only complaint I have is that they are a little noisy (compared to the factory 185/55/15) but you get used to it :)

I now have had them on for 10 months and 23 000 km without issue.
I would recommend them as a decent tyre.
Cost me $240 a corner (compared to $190 for the OE Michelins).

[Degen-Astra]

I have got a few more ideas thanks to the tyre freak i know :wink:

Hankook - Ventus Sport K104 (Come in a 215/40 with a load index of 87)

Kumho - Ecsta 712 (215/45)

Toyo - Poxes T1-R (Also in a 215/40 with 87 L.I.)

Will let you all know how i go on pricing as well.

[vwt]

need some prices on tyres drop me a email will get them cheap

[Degen-Astra]

Thanks VWT - I will hit you up with an email when I am closer to buying (prob. Nov). Just doing the initial research now.

Looks like Hankooks are the go - $188 a corner (initial price)
Kumho - $205
Toyo (now known as Transpath S/W) - $186

[vwt]

I suggest Continental Contact Sport 2's


As for tyres get me some sizes you will be pleseantly surprised with the prices