scooby_greg24

I have a classic wrx 1994 impreza with 18" alloys. I have been using falken 215/35/18 and I recently lost control of the front end of my car in light rain sliding in to a kerb smashed one of the front alloys and done alot of other damage costing me £££££££ to be repaired . It would of been less likely to happen if i had decent tyres.

So can anyone tell me what make and model tyres i should be using to help prevent this from happening again? What are the best all round tyres but also at an affordable price?

Brun

Toyo T1R's if you can find them although Falkens are generally regarded as not too bad - i suggest a modification to your driving to avoid hitting kerbs in future

scooby_greg24

Cheers but it does happen alot where the front end slides out on corners and i do know how to drive a subaru! So i wont be using Falkens ever again.

MrNoisy

iTrader: (28)

Again I hear Falken 452's are decent tyres, but personally I would opt for Vredestein. This question has been done to death a million times over. T1R's are budget tyres, and don't wear well.

MrNoisy

iTrader: (28)

Is this Berks Scoobs Greg?

Brun

26k+ miles on my 313/300 classic tells a different story

deepy

iTrader: (1)

If you understeered into the kerb then regardless of the tyres you go for, find somewhere safe to practise your driving. Finding your and the car's limits on the road is usually gonna end in tears. If the car has the standard rear ARB maybe look at changing that for an adjustable 22mm one which will give a big improvement in the handling.

I'm not sure that running 18" wheels does an awful lot to help either.

TonyBurns

iTrader: (3)

I would have been less tactful so basically if your understeering everywhere there is an issue, either with the driver going to quickly and putting all their hope in the car, tyre pressures, worn suspension components, incorrectly set up geometry etc.
Of the above, what did you do to correct this aforementioned understeer OP?

Tony

deepy

iTrader: (1)

Just making a start on the good guy/bad guy routine!

He didnt say it was understeering everywhere, just got caught out on what sounds like a nice greasy bit of road. I imagine its happened to most of us at some point with vary degrees of brown pants. As an ex-biker from the 80's I can well remember sliding off in pretty much similar circumstances and hitting diesel mid bend with similar results.

Fact is if you push it on the road however good you think your skills are at some point you will run out of talent and road.

Tony has made some good points about the overall setup and its well worth getting everything checked out, tyres being just one factor in the equation.

Galifrey

iTrader: (3)

http://www.camskill.co.uk/m61b0s53p7..._84W_XL_FP_TL_

Those are the best road UHP tyres money can buy and affordable from Camskill, fit those, and you can never blame a tyre again.

TonyBurns

iTrader: (3)

Horrid tyres Galifrey really those are not the best available, I found they flexed too much, even with the xl reinforced side wall.
Dunlop SP sport get a good review, so do the continentals, but your going to start paying for those as they wont be the cheapest, hence why people say go for the vreddies, they were better all round tyres than the goodyear F1's I had fitted (different car though for the vreddies and goodyears)

Tony

Galifrey

iTrader: (3)

Ack thought they were AS2's not 1's, but the 1's are pretty good wet tyres, even if they aren't great in the dry. In the wet a flexy tyre is way better than a stiff tyre.

AS2's are very good according to all sources and people I know who have used them.

http://www.tyrereviews.co.uk/Article...-Tyre-Test.htm

http://www.tyrereviews.co.uk/Article...mmer-Tyres.htm

MrNoisy

iTrader: (28)

You knew it was coming - you must drive it like a girl then
I wore out two sets of Eagle F1's returning 8000 miles per set, back when my WRX was only making 250bhp.
Same driving style has seen over 12,000 and still going on the Vreddies.
I think that says it all - direct comparison - regardless of how many miles you manage, and the Vredesteins are cheaper.

Goodyears are OK in the dry, ****e in the wet, and have terrible wear - all in my honest opinion and own personal experience.
The F1's have a very soft side wall (and I suspect use a soft compound due to the high wear rate) and I found they flexed far too much on cornering, whilst in standing water they were truly frightening; I needed to stop quick, and the car aquaplaned on very little surface water without any grip at all - same situation with the Vredesteins and I had no issue.

Like I said, the Vreddies are a fantastic all round tyre for the money; many people I know who track their cars swear by them.
And for those of us who don't have an unlimited supply of cash, they're probably a decent choice over other more expensive brands like Michelin.

You can read as many online tyre tests as you like, but each driver will ultimately have different perspective and different driving style; the sites posted above by Galifrey tend to have reviews from Saab and other repmobile drivers, who arguably won't have a car that would ever push the limits of the tyre, and hence are probably not of great value when buying tyres for a proper performance car.

But as said a billion and one times before use the search.
The question's been answered better and far more comprehensively many many MANY MANY MANY MANY MANY times in the past.

Cammy5106

iTrader: (3)

When I bought my classic and it had 4 new Falkens on it and I have never had a issue.

Get your 4 wheel geometry checked out properly mate, its amazing the problems that can be sorted with handling by getting it done properly. Most garages just adjust the tracking (Toe in + out ) the dont even check anything else its worth getting it done mate.

Never had a issue with understeer on mine and I have some good roads for throwing it about on at my area.

Hope you get it sorted out..

MrNoisy

iTrader: (28)

Fitting your rear tyres with the tread pattern the right way round would definitely help mate

Brun

Nope - no girly driving but wasn't exactly a nutter either. Car was a Classic though so probably far easier on tyres than a Bug.

Galifrey

iTrader: (3)

I don't think reviews by Evo, Auto Zeitung, Autobild and Auto Express and reprinted on the website as well as tests from the German AA can be regarded as "repmobile driver ratings" although like you say the individual tyres do have those ratings to be ignored, like some ratings you can read here

Most of the tests are done scientifically rather than just some pub talk experience..

But of course they aren't tested on every car, so some discrepancies may creep in, and different sizes have slightly different construction.

I do find it amazing that every review says F1's are great in the wet (as does my experience on a BMW Coupe) yet they seem to be hated here... Must be something they don't like about being on a Scoob. Wear I agree is bad, because they are soft and have higher rolling resistance, economy tyres they aint.

I like Falkens myself, have used them a lot and I loved the 912's on my 205 gti-6 conversion, but that was a light car.

http://www.tyrereviews.co.uk/Tyre-Tests/#summer gives a list of all the professional magazine and association reviews, so you can read those rather than the rep-mobile and pub talk ratings

MrNoisy

iTrader: (28)

Actually, I wouldn't place too much value in those tests mate.
First, whilst I rate Evo the same can't be said for Auto Express - always a bit more cowboy and tend to make a fair few mistakes; other sources dunno.

Secondly, the tyre sizes in those reviews are all over the shop. One pattern in 17" may be terrible in 14" or even 18".

Lastly, the selection of tyres in some of those tests is misleading.
For example, the Auto Express 2010 performance tyre test picked a non comparable vredestein tyre; says to me they don't know their stuff...

scooby_greg24

That was Colins mistake mate, thats how the car came back to me with the tyre the wrong way round so i soon changed it.

But at this rate with everyone saying/recommending different things i am none the wiser.

Plus does the profile make any difference i.e one person recommends a tyre for size- 215/35/18 and someone else recommends a tyre for size- 225/40/18???

confused:

scooby_greg24

Come to think about it i had Maxis tyres on the front and the Falkens on the rears so obviously the maxis tyres were to blame for sliding off the roundabout into the kerb!!! Since the little accident i have had BC coilovers fitted and everything is all inline as it should so its all down to getting decent tyres for the best handling. So whats it going to be for my classic? Falken 452's or Vredestein's?

shambles

Nothing wrong with f1 asymetrical on my blob - wet or dry. Made a vast improvement over the rubbish kumho that the previous owner had fitted.
I'm not afraid of my car and get to use it on a closed road now and again and I'm really impressed with the good year

Galifrey

iTrader: (3)

Go for the Falken 452's and swap the rears to the front, fitting the new tyres on the rear.

scooby_greg24

Really? I thought it would be better to have the newer more grippier tyres on the front for maximum grip on the front?

Galifrey

iTrader: (3)

Never ever ever ever should you put the grippiest tyres on the front.

It's the choice between correcting an easily correctable understeer, or going backwards into something

Here is an old friend of mine explaining why...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l5YsQ...layer_embedded

wiley

iTrader: (63)

get some budgets, thats all you can afford i guess

his-n-her-scoobs

iTrader: (5)

Been fitting the new tyres to the rear for years after experiencing a nasty slide with new fronts and worn rears on an Audi coupe, many moons ago.

Nice to see VBH agrees, and Jason Plato came to the same conclusion on 5th gear (I think) some time back.

Still have aguaments with tyre fitters who insist the new tyres should go on the front cos they are the experts LOL

No experience of Maxxis on the front of a Scooby but had a pair on the front of one of my runabout Fiestas when I bought it. Couldn't stop the car or steer in the wet. Went in the bin even tho they had loads of tread left. Fitted a set of Uniroyal RainExpert, problem sorted.

Galifrey

iTrader: (3)

I used to use Maxxis Slicks on my Kart



I think the road tyres are a bit old tech though.