Jay m A

iTrader: (2)

WRT the usual suspects

I'm in need of some 205/50/16 tyres soon, price not an issue - what is an issue is the best available for my needs.

Researching this forum and I am pretty much decided on Eagle F1s.

How do these rate WRT road noise and sidewall stiffness?

Personally I'd like minumum road noise and maximum stiffness - I assume these 2 attributes do not go hand in hand

So how do the F1s rate compared to Toyos, Dunlop, Pirelli, S03s, OE etc

Any input welcome

Ricky81 STi

If your going for the F1's go for the Extra Load (ET) option as the standard F1's might not be as stiff as you'd like, super choice though I have a set and wouldn't chance them for anything else. I think they generate a bit of road noise but but we're not talkin mud terrain style!! I paid £80 a corner so expect something the same!!

Scoobydick

F1's have soft sidewalls. Toyos quite soft too. Bridgestone have stiff sidewalls but as a result they tramliine like buggery.

Foot_Tapper

BTW from mytyres.co.uk 205/55/R16 91W rated
Toyo's £ 56.90
Eagle F1 GS-D3 £ 70.60

tinhead

I found the goodyears sidewalls a bit soft but I had changed from S02's Which were so stiff it took 3 people to remove the tyres from the wheels. When the F1's are scrubbed in the grip in both wet and dry conditions will make up for it. Have you considered moving up to a lower profile such as 215/40/17.

BlueBoy

I changed from Toyos to Goodyears a while back and the road noise is noticeably less with the Goodyears on now. More sidewall protection than the Toyos as well

I've just got some Goodyears for an amazing price of £105 fully fitted for 225/40/18's (well they will be on Friday next week) they do them mail order inc P&P for £95 as well

cefski

As above. I'm on my third set of 205 50 R16 F1 GS-D3's. Was on oem Bridgestone RE010s before that. Dry grip with the RE's was great, but tramlined like ****. in the wet, they were merely average. As mentioned above, there was so little give in the sidewall that it took one guy between 30 and 45 minutes to remove them!!

Stiff sidewall meant very little wobble when cornering and this was the most noticeable difference when I shifted to F1s, though the the tread pattern and depth of the tread strips (they're hardly 'blocks', are they?) also contribute to this. They do take a bit of getting used to as the car will feel way different.

That said, The F1's have never let go in 18 months of wet and dry fast road driving. Even when down to the tread wear marker, they're hard to fault even in the wet. They're sh!te in snow, though.

Re. the road noise aspect - There's very little.

In brief, there's no way I'd consider putting any other tyre on the Imp.

On 16 in rims, I've found that 34psi front and 32psi rear works best with the F1, and if you've not already had it done, get your geometry set up properly. Makes all the difference.

kev