How do you choose car tyres - to much choice content

I call my tyre place, who I have used for the last decade, and say 'What decent all seasons have you got in size X please?'. They usually reply they have Michelin or Kumho in and give me a price for both.

Sorted.

filter by size - what fits my car

all season - narrows it down to the all season tires they make that fit my car ( in the case of my own car that only one brand)

Depends on the vehicle and it's use. The main family car gets premium tyres. The Berlingo gets whatever mid range are cheapest.

Can't go wrong with premium brands, but there's loads of decent mid range tyres these days. Kumho, Dunlop, Toyo, Avon, Uniroyal etc.

filter by size – what fits my car

all season – narrows it down to the all season tires they make that fit my car

So, lets say I do that, and am left with 5 tyres, 1 Kumho, 2 Michelin, 1 Conti, 1 Bridgestone. All within £20 per tyre, all the same ratings in terms of noise, wet braking and efficiency.
Then what??
Yes, I know I'm overly complicating this...

Get the cheapest with a decent review (and number of reviews) and don't read too much else into it, also you know your usual driving conditions so factor that in too (where the local tyre fitter helps)

IMO - i buy the michelin that best suits my needs, Usually a pilot sport or PS4S for me but that's sporty cars. no better company for car tyres

Then what??

Pick the ones with the prettiest tread pattern 🙂

I used to keep 2 sets of wheels and swap winter/summer but now just use all season tyres(Goodyear Vectors). I've driven from Scotland to Italy on them a few times and used them to commute to work. I've not noticed any extra wear and they feel fine in all conditions. My partner has a very heavy right foot as well 🙂

So, lets say I do that, and am left with 5 tyres, 1 Kumho, 2 Michelin, 1 Conti, 1 Bridgestone. All within £20 per tyre, all the same ratings in terms of noise, wet braking and efficiency.

Sounds like you've done all the hard work then, so now you write each of them on a postit note, stick them on a wall, find a dart and blindfold, cover your eyes and chuck a dart at the wall to pick 😀

Availability might be a consideration too of course

I just look at the review sites, see what comes out in the top 5 regularly and is available on offer locally. I do stick to premium brands though: Goodyear, Continental, Michelin etc. Had to slum it last year and ended up with a set of Toyos that were actually rather good (lasted over 35k on the fronts! Previous best was 25k for Goodyears) but the Continentals that just replaced the fronts ones are a step above them again. Amazingly the full set of Toyos cost less then the two Conti's (£190 vs £195) but it's more than worth it for the extra grip and wet weather performance.

I bought some Maxxid all seasons because I like the Maxxis tyres on my bikes🤷‍♂️
They wore out too quickly so I replaced the with Michelin Cross Climates because everyone on here said they were very good. Impressed so far but not cheap!

Uniroyal rainsport or Avon zv/something.
Great wet grip/ good price.

Michelin Cross Climates for year round comfort and control.

Generally it's whatever was on there before, think we've one on Michelin's and the other on Conti's.

Thanks for the reminder though, think my car will need a full set of boots after Xmas.

Basically do you have an issue with the tyres you have?

if not any premium brand rubber.

poor in wet / winter make sure its an all season one.

thats it basically.

Unless you have a performance / driver orientated car then look at the owners forums as construction / tread can have a massive impact on some cars.

I just go on blackcircles and check the rating in the price bracket I'm prepared to pay. saying that I've been usuing Goodyear efficient grip for years now. Always seem to get good reviews and rating are good for all aspects.

Might look at changing to cross climate 2's next time though.

Ring up local well regarded tyre and exhaust place, tell them the size.

They give 2 - 3 options.

I pick the most expensive. Got 4 Toyos at £80 each currently.

Front wheel drive hatchbacks get through about 3 fronts to a rear, dont think I had ever changed the rears before on this car.

All of those are fine though aren’t they, so I’d go for the cheapest option I reckon.

I go to the garage over the road from work and say can I have some new tyres fitted please.

Unless you swap summer to winter already then I'd get some all season tyres.

Get the cheapest out of the above. I've had Kumhos on my car for a while and they've been spot on.

From this week's experience, anything that doesn't come via via blackcircles.

Front wheel drive hatchbacks get through about 3 fronts to a rear, dont think I had ever changed the rears before on this car.

You should be rotating your tyres to even the wear out and buying 4 at once. Cost = neutral.

Effect of not having ancient tyres on the back, cracked and perished = priceless.

MrsF's car had Premium summers until recently and she decided she wanted All Seasons, so Cross climates. I have budget tyres, but the best they do as my car isn't used much (Kormoran Ultra High Performance - owned my Michelin).

The little run about is running Avons.

See if you can get any deals to soften the blow.

Pick the ones with the prettiest tread pattern

You joke, but a lot of design goes into tread pattern, it's the only visual marketing they can do. All these chevron shaped aligned blocks, as I understand it the block shape/size/sipes matters but the overall look is purely aesthetic.

Any premium all season. I drove out our street this morning after overnight snow. No issues. My neighbour and a dog walker's van didn't make it up the (gentle) hill.

Unless you live somewhere you don't get snow.

Michelin cross climates

/thread

I recently bought a set of 4, I just went for the best priced of the tyrereviews top picks in an all season. £93 for a Goodyear Vector vs £107 for Michelin CrossClimate so £56 cheaper for the set. Halfords were the cheapest. I see Blackcircles currently want £117 for Vectors and £123 for CC - bit of surge pricing going on there?

Crossclimates on Van and Mini here (hilly, narrow roads of the Holme Valley in West Yorks)

It's more important to decide what you want from a tyre:
Summer/All seasons/Alpine/Nordic
Wet grip, low noise, fuel economy, but you can't have it all

1 Kumho, 2 Michelin, 1 Conti, 1 Bridgestone

Kumho Ecsta OEM on some current Octavias
Kumho and Contis OEM on some Kias
HMG procurement is Goodyear and Michelin, e.g. public services, emergency services, military, etc

Premium brands also own minor names, e.g. Michelin = Goodrich, Kleber, Uniroyal, etc

Michelin Cross Climates for year round comfort and control.

Michelin cross climates

/thread

Agreed... Stick michelin cross climates on it... will suit ou all year round

DrP

Michelin Cross Climates for year round comfort and control.

Michelin cross climates

/thread

Agreed… Stick michelin cross climates on it… will suit ou all year round

All hail the new Conti Vert Pros!

+1 for crossclimates, had a few sets on our big heavy Volvo and they are a great fit and forget tyre.

But I've got Conti's on my Berlingo that gets ragged everywhere and they are refusing to wear. Noticed the same on a LWB Transit that I bought with Conti's and they lasted years whilst avoiding ditches.

Based on recent experience I’d suggest get the best all seasons you can afford. I started a thread recently, there’s good info and links to reviews from others in there.

Asda tyres and CostCo often have deals to better Blackcircles if you can get the tyre size you need.

I had conti van contacts on the iveco that made me question if the front wheels were connected to the tie rods with elastic.

I had Michelin premacy on the Berlingo that would spin up with all 90 bhp when trying to pull out of our road end.

If you have a decent car you can feel the difference between tyres

I look for quiet ones good in the wet .

I find even the noisiest tyres quiet these days, progress has been made. 30 years ago the Conti Winter tyres I used were noisy and not especially good in wet snow. When I fit Winter tyres now (Michelin Alpin) I don't notice any difference in noise. No doubt improvements in the cars have helped, the Zoé has things like double door seals that keep noise out.

Wet grip, low noise, fuel economy, but you can’t have it all

You can get close though. All those can be A B or C in the right tyre.

The Merc had Kumo tyres on the front when I got it and P-Zeros on the back, both sporty tyres and the rears were hugely wide 285, in 19" size. I went to 18" to make them more comfy but also went to 255 on the rear, Goodyear Eagle F1 Asymmetric 5. They are much quieter than the P-zeros, more comfortable, grip is pretty good, they have worn well so far and gained me 10% fuel economy. But they are much less stable feeling as you can feel the tyre compress in corners - even though you can corner just as hard. So it's either the extra 12.7mm of sidewall or it's the fact they are comfort rather than sport tyres - or both.

I think changing size is more noticeable, but other factors are still noticeable at least in certain cars. The extra 10% fuel is nice.

but also went to 255 on the rear,

Did you change the rims? I'd worry about them moving around if thats the case.

On the point about Michelins being soft, I notice the Conti's feel harder even though they review as a "more comftortable tyre". I had no issues with handling though, not that I am Chris Harris.

I've come to the end of my severe winter driving now, my car looks like a proper alpine Beemer, covered in shit, icicles hanging from the arches and grey salt/dirt stained side walls. Never missed a beat across snow and ice covered roads in 300m of driving with temps as low as -12. Of course, the majority around me would have been on "normal" tyres and survived, but the added comfort blanket off all seasons has me convinced.

You mentioned pilot sports- brilliant summer tyres, for cars that want it but how many trackdays are you going to do in this car? 😉 Also it's december, they're not good at the cold and wet and they're terrible at snow and ice. Some sort of allseason would make sense for you I reckon... A lot of modern tyres share a fairly similar design and tbh you can take one look at the lack of cross tread and predict how well it'll do in snow or mud

Basically you need to decide what your actual use is, then work from there. These days pretty much all tyres from a quality brand are decent so I tend to narrow it down on price and on arbitrary decisions about brands I like.

Yikes.
Seems blackcircles have only the Vredstein Quatrac Pro as an all season choice for my car. £194.47 each R19/255/45Y. C efficiency, B wet stopping, and 73dB. Still, over £20 cheaper each than the ones that I think are on😧. Just as well I don’t need any new tyres now.

On dB levels; 3dB increase is perceptible, 5dB noticeable and 10dB appears twice as loud
The majority of tyres used in the UK will be nearer to a 3-5dB difference between them

On dB levels; 3dB increase is perceptible, 5dB noticeable and 10dB appears twice as loud

The levels are measured outside the car so aren’t necessarily reflected in the noise in the car. Which is a shame.

I imagine different road surfaces make a much bigger difference than changing tyres.

🤣 ‘which tyre for concrete section motorway’?

blackcircles have only the Vredstein Quatrac Pro as an all season choice for my car

Same here. But I've only got 15 inch castor wheels so they were 70 quid a corner.

Michelin Cross Climates here, live high up and get snow, haven't missed a beat. I'm slightly biased as I used to work in a Michelin factory but there is a reason they are more expensive, the level of quality control was bonkers.

Only problem is we have 2 new cars at the moment with OEM ones which are designed to maximise fuel efficiency and I can't afford to swap unworn tyres. First world problems.

Did you change the rims?

Yes of course, I'm not going for the stretched look good god man! 🙂

The noise thing is weird. The P-Zeros were reasonable when new, apparently, but well known for being incredibly noisy when part worn, and mine certainly were. Some noise is generated by the tyre on the road and some from vibrations transmitted to the car; but it's only the former that forms the tyre noise rating.

Look on places like HotUKDeals to see what's on offer. Last year I've paid £60ish a corner for Michelin PS4s (18") and Goodyear Eagle F1 5 (17") after taking into account some Halifax account cashback at ATS. I know you've said it's not a sporty number but tyres are the only contact you have with the road.

Side note but avoid the ZV7s, cracks develop within the tread within comparatively little time at all.

I've never investigated winter/all season tyres, guess it depends where you live, how you drive and how often you drive.

https://www.michelin.co.uk/auto/cars-suvs-vans-tyres#i80hjdn0g

https://www.continental-tyres.co.uk/b2c/car/product-search.html

https://www.youtube.com/@tyrereviews/videos

But I’ve got Conti’s on my Berlingo that gets ragged everywhere and they are refusing to wear.

That seems to be down to them taking the Black Chili MTB tyre compound tech across to their car and van tyres. They call it Yellow Chili and it's has reportedly improved wear rates significantly. Time will tell for me though as the new tyres are this Yellow Chili compound and they feel rather soft to the fingernail test, loads of grip in the current slimy conditions too. Done 2k on them already and there is no discernible wear (0.3mm, yes I have a digital measuring tool!) so going from 8mm to 3mm, my change point, should get me close to 20k which is loads more than the original Conti EcoContact 2's the car came with which were done in just over 10k.

Was in the same position as the OP a couple of months back, absolutely clueless about tyres generally. Did a bit of googling and looking at pistonheads, Goodyear F1 asymmetric seemed to be pretty well liked. I’m in the SE so wasn’t really looking for an all season tyre. Right now I can see the appeal of something better in the cold/ice but it’s obviously not often like this.

In the end Kwik fit came up best on price, black circles and the indies quite a lot dearer. Paid around £80 a corner for my civic, semi low profile 17”. They seem pretty good so far, noticed better grip than the mid range ones on before.

That seems to be down to them taking the Black Chili MTB tyre compound tech across to their car and van tyres.

As far as I know Black Chilli is silica compound, which is what the original energy savers were, pioneered by Michelin. These lasted really well, as did all the various offerings but they weren't quite as good in the wet. Since then the compounds have been fettled and there seems to be a spectrum of fuel economy not just energy saver or not. So presumably varying amounts of silica.

My tyres are highly rated for fuel economy, they have done about 5k on the Merc and are at 8-8.5mm. Given that people are reporting tyres being eaten in 10k miles on that car I think that they are wearing pretty well.

ATS has a deal on Cross Climates at the mo. They were the cheapest I could find a couple of weeks back

https://www.atseuromaster.co.uk/special-offers/michelin-promotion

And free Lego if you buy 4

Given that people are reporting tyres being eaten in 10k miles on that car I think that they are wearing pretty well.

Driving style perhaps - There's certain correlation between people reporting they can feel the difference that wear their tires out quickly......

prettygreenparrot
Full Member
Yikes.
Seems blackcircles have only the Vredstein Quatrac Pro as an all season choice for my car.

We've got those on the Vitara.
Absolutely excellent, and it's been grim round here.

Have CrossClimate 2s on the Jazz which have been fantastic as well, even at -8 on the ungritted M65 at 6am.

Michelin are great tyres. Especially the Pilot. Good life. Wet grip. Quiet. I asked the garage about cross climate and they guy asked how often I drive on snow.

Do you know anyone with a Costco account?

Every 2 months they have up to £100 off a set of 4 Michelins (depending on wheel size).
Might only be £60 on a Kia, but they are generally already cheaper than anywhere else before the discount.

Crossclimate 2, amazing tyre.

asked the garage about cross climate and they guy asked how often I drive on snow.

Strangely irrelevant question to ask for a tire for an all season tire..... The clues in the name.

Crossclimate 2, amazing tyre

This is starting to look like a cult.

Strangely irrelevant question to ask for a tire for an all season tire….. The clues in the name.

Seems a fair enough question to me. All Season tyre brand performance is weighted differently. If you do encounter snow a lot the CrossClimate 2 would be an excellent choice because those are conditions it excels in. If you're more likely to drive in cold wet conditions there are better All Season tyres out there.

As far as I know Black Chilli is silica compound, which is what the original energy savers were, pioneered by Michelin. These lasted really well, as did all the various offerings but they weren’t quite as good in the wet.

These are rated B for fuel efficiency and A for wet grip, the best by a long way for my size. I've had the Michelin Energy Savers before and while they were good for fuel they were very vague in the wet and droned horribly once they had worn down a few mm, a few other owners have said the same on my car's forum (Briskoda). They didn't last too long either, rounding off the tread blocks but wearing as a whole equally. Guess they just don't suit my car!

I just asked my local tyre place for a “decent all season tyre” a couple of months ago. They put on something by Maxxis which made me smile as a mountain biker. I’m sure there are sites that will tell me exactly how much worse these are than the current hot pick, but I’ve been driving around rural Aberdeenshire in the ice and (sometimes moderately deep) snow all week and they haven’t let me down yet. I do have 4WD which probably helps but I can still tell that they are significantly better than the “summer” tyres I had on before.

I used to agonise over tyres for my tuned mini, but I for a normal car being driven normally, I’d go decent make but not the obvious- Avon, Yokohama etc, and get quieter all rounder that’s cheap.

I’ve had the Michelin Energy Savers before

When was this? Mine lasted 50k miles 2006 ish.

johnners
Free Member
Crossclimate 2, amazing tyre

This is starting to look like a cult.

🙂
I first read about them on here, ages ago when they were introduced.

We've had them on 3 cars now and they really live up to the hype.

On the back of this thread and the one the other day I'm getting cross climates fitted on Tuesday.

So far found the Cross Climates great in cold and wet, and they are very quiet, coming from Conti summer tyres. Seem to be good 'crap weather' tyres.

https://www.autoexpress.co.uk/product-group-tests/92863/best-all-season-tyres-2022
Hankook all seasons won this year with the new Cross climates second

Hankook all seasons

I was very impressed with my Kinergys when I had them. Couldn't get them for the Passat at the time so got CC2s. Either way, both are great.

When was this? Mine lasted 50k miles 2006 ish.

2016, I was really surprised how poorly they performed as the vans at my then job were far better on Michelin Agilis than anything else. The Goodyear Efficientgrip Performance I fitted afterwards were better in every way. I put it down at the time to them just not suiting a a relatively light low powered (54 rampaging horses 🤣 ) supermini.

Cross climates are very good, but there are better on snow , ergo I have full winters on separate wheels. But how often do you have snow as opposed to 3 degrees and piddling rain, where they excel

Cross climates are very good, but there are better on snow , ergo I have full winters on separate wheels

The tests I've seen have the CCs as class leading in the snow (matching some full winter tyres) and very good in the dry. They're middle of the pack in the wet.

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In a British winter in the same day you might be driving on snow then ice then on snow and ice free road surfaces, plus a combination of slush and snow and ice.

We've got Goodyear vector 4 season tyres on the Octavia. Son has Michelin Cross Climate on his Civic. Both have been good in the recent snow/slush.

He upgraded from the ditch finders after managing to get the car to oversteer on a sharp off camber corner near Peak Forest. Looked good on the dash cam 🤣