Hi all, I have been shopping around for a new set of rubber and I have been considering Uniroyal's. I normally go for falkens but I am still not sure about the latest FK453 tyres and I have found the Uniroyal's at Camskills for less than £227 delivered so even with fitting added they are still cheaper than a full set of Falkens which would set me back about £300 fitted.

So am I making the right decision with the rainsport tyres or should I stick with the Falcons?

Cheers,
Ian

 

Been running 4 18"RS3's since July or so and really like them. Dry grip is good, wet grip is spot on and snow this week was very sure footed. I've not really had such all weather tyres before as I usually use summer tyres and will be buying these uniroyals again.

 

That's good to know, thanks for the feedback.

 

I would recommend you have a look at Momo M3's, I have had Falken 452 and Uniroyal Rainsports, Falkens are a reasonable budget tyre and the rainsports are a decent all year tyre but wear quite quickly, neither come close to the grip that is available from the Momo M3 in the dry and I would say they are better than the Falkens in the wet and probably the rainsports too, but it's a long time since I had them, so can't quite remember.

Momo M3 are a performance tyre for budget money.

 

Rs3 are really good in pouring wet conditions is all I know of.

 

Just got 4 of these to replace my falkens on my 05 Wrx and the uniroyal rainsport 3s are a lot softer/rides better...grip very good too .

 

I've been looking at these for my wife's A4 avant. Would they be too soft for the weight of the car and front wheel drive?

 

They are very soft sidewalls, I personally wouldn't use them as not s decent all round tyres imo but i just wanted to state they are good in surface water type weather.
Heavy cars would be of concern to me, definitely wouldn't fit to my audi.
I go for original spec on audi (dunlop sportmaxx gt)

 

Thanks busta will look into those.

 

Not cheap but branded tyres come with quality on the rd, michellien, continental etc are good aswell and some better but i find the dunlop have a longer life span and quieter and decent in wet n dry.

I have also found, used branded tyres will last longer than brand new budget tyres due to rubber quality

 

If it's for the Newage in your profile pic then you want tyres with a stiffer side wall.

 

Ditch'finder'myster

Sorry couldn't resist

 

The Momo M3's are a good tyre, even exceptional for the money, best I've had and at something like £50 a corner (I bought mine in Croatia so not sure what they cost in uk) they're a bargain.

I can only think they're so cheap because it's a new product for Momo, but I doubt they'd risk their good name on crap tyres, their stuff is generally good quality and they are a pretty big company, which is why I took a punt on their tyres and it paid off.

 

Thanks all for the info, I had my concerns over soft tyre walls but the car doesn't get driven hard these days so as long as they have good grip in all conditions then they could be worth while.

I have owned the car for 10 years and only had the original Bridgestones and the falken 452's and 453's so i have little else to compare to. I didn't find the Bridgestones that good to be honest so paying big bucks for tyres doesn't equal good grip.

I have never heard of Momo tyres ao will take a look at those but so far it seems the RS3 tyres are a reasonably good buy.

More direct comparisons between the falkens and RS3 would be good if anyone has any?

Cheers all

 

I have had a search for Momo tyres and can't find a UK supplier for 225 40 18's and the smaller sizes I have found are over £80 a corner so they may not be an option.

 

COSTCO are doing deals on Michelin and Bridgestones at the mo.

 

Cheers Ian, will have a look into that aswell.

 

I put 4 RS3's on my blob a couple months ago (225/45/17) they are excellent for this time of year offering amazing wet grip. The sidewalls are soft and the roll/wobblyness in corners is noticeable. However saying that you wont get the wet grip these tyres offer you with many other brands. The fastest wet lap round knockhill with a road car was with these tyres.
I can still spin two inside wheels in first gear off the throttle with them in the wet, but then 340 ftlb of torque tends to do that.
As a side note I run them at 34 psi to help with tyre wear, no noticeable wear with 2000 miles so far.

 

Got a pair of RS3's on the front of my daily volvo v50, pretty good tbh, prob get another pair when i need to replace the next ones

 

i have rainsport 3's on my STI and I can't wait to get them used up so I can switch to something else. Grip is good but the sidewalls are so so soft I'm considering upping the pressure to see if that helps them.

I can literally feel the car squishing down on them leaning into corners, sure there is grip but for me it has wiped out a lot of the confidence I had in the car on the previous set of bridgestones.

I'm putting most of my problems down to switching back to a 17" wheel as well, I was looking for something I could run over the winter and for that I guess they are OK. I think on a larger wheel with a smaller sidewall it probably wouldn't be so bad.

it's the XL ones I have as well, I think i'd be terrified with the regular ones on!

 

What pressure do you have them at? theyre not that bad!

 

36 in the front and 34 at the back - honestly it's like they are filled with mushrooms sometimes! As I said, i think its because i went from 18's down to 17's as well.

There's grip there, don't get me wrong - you hit a puddle and it aint no thing like a chicken wing, it's just when you have to lean on them a little you can feel a little something funny then it goes back to normal.

What pressure you running on yours?

 

If you think they flex pete do not be trying most yokohamas. Last time I used a set of them (A539s) I could push the car sideways around an inch at least.

 

When you've had decent tyres, these don't compare IMO. Yes good in wet but that's it.

 

34 psi

Its been wet for three months now though? Cant remember the last time I saw a dry road.
Are these not decent tyres? What do you class as decent tyres for the road in winter?

 

It has been wet yes, but has also been dry too as the wet doesn't stay stuck to ground for long, it dries up, it's been sunny too, cold but sunny.
my statement was meant as a all round/year tyre. Especially on a performance car where the driver needs progression in all weathers.
I didn't say anything about winter tyres. Read my post.
There's loads of decent tyres out there for all year, Dunlop, mitchellen, continental etc etc. Depends what you want to use it for.
Most nowadays like to buy the cheapest tyres and expect to preform in all sinerios, you can't have all.
I'm pretty sure you didn't buy them tyres just for winter?
Like I said, they are good in wet and that's it, compared to others out there.

 

i got them just for these wet and wintery months, I knew they wouldn't be awesome in the dry - I think with smaller sidewalls on a larger rim they would probably be fine. The grip is there if you keep the sensible head on so from that point of view they do the job for me.

The 18's will be going back on though once things clear up a bit and I'll probably stick with those and pay the extra for a larger size next time.

 

I am a little torn now after reading the 2 sides of the story. I only cover around 4k a year so the tyres could be on there around 2 years so they will need to have reasonable ability all year around but the benefit of the extra wet grip is a big plus for me.

Like I said, I currently run Falkens, FK452 on the back and FK453 on the front. I am not a fan of mixing treads but the backs had plenty of life in them and the FK452's were no longer being produced. I have had maybe 3 sets of the FK452's and found them to be great all round tyres and better than the original Bridgestones but I am unsure about the FK453's so was considering the RS3's.

To tell the truth I would love to go for expensive rubber but I am currently not in a position to go big budget and the car doesn't get used in such a way to justify the extra cost either.

I guess what I really need to know is how do the RS3's compare to the FK452's, if they are in the same ball park with more wet grip then they could be worth while but if not then I will need to look at something else.

Decisions decisions........

 

I did take a look at Costco online but couldn't find any deals on tyres.

Are they store specific deals you have seen?

 

Yes butty. Buy 2 or more and a good discount is added.