FAO : MKV GTI Owners or Tyre Experts

MadCow809

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I'll let the picture do the talking first:

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Yeah, it happened while I was on the highway, doing about 90mph in the fast lane. :| I heard a loud flapping noise as the tyre disintegrates, that's when I realised that my front right tyre finally gave in. I took the closest off ramp that I could find, pulled over and fitted the spare tyre.

Well, it's mean to happen for a while now. I've had a good feeling that the tyres were about to pop any time soon, especially after the run I had at the crest (hi thedguy & nouseferaname90 :wave:). Anyway, I want to take this opportunity and get rid of these dreadful all seasons tyres. Which brings me to this question, have any of you GTI owners tried different non-oem tyres? I normally buy Bridgestone Potenzas, beacuse they offer really good grip in both dry and wet surface, but it seems like the local market is short on Bridgestones(?). I don't mind the Michelin Pilot Sport PS2, since it's the oem option, but I want to hear what you guys have in mind.

Any recommendations? Thanks in advance.

Edit : I think the Michelin Pilot Sport PS2 are about $380 a pop, am I being shafted or is that the market price?
 
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My brother has a 07 MkV GTI and he runs Goodyear Eagle GTs. They have very good dry and excellent wet grip and are very reasonably priced. He does have the 17" wheels though, not the 18s.
 
Thanks, one more option for me to choose from.

It seems like the Eagle GT has quite a good treadwear, scored an 8.0. The Pilot Sport PS2 only managed a 7.4.
 
Those tires were already GONE by the time your tired popped, you are lucky it could have been worst.

I had the RE050A as OEM tires on my car, great grip but wear out way to quick and cost an arm and a leg. I ended up switching to RE760 by them as I got a decent price on them. They are just as good, I would say 90% but cost less and according to the rating and reviews should last longer then the RE050A.
Only problem with the RE760 for you is they are not rated to 200mph ;)
 
just stop driving so agressively, it'll help with tyre wear too :p
 
Man, you still were running the same tires that you had on the crest? Thats been a while. After that run, I had to even replace my tires (the front ones at least) :D

And when you do find tires, Midas does price matching even with online retailers. Its where I got my tires done.
 
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My GTI came with Michelin Pilot Exalto.
I really like them, the grip is excellent, and after 12000 kms I can't really notice any wear...

Also: Your tires: They read M+S which in Germany means winter tires and not all year tires...
I never rode a M+S tire to the ground like you did, they are usually fucked long before that...
 
Those OEM tyres are weird indeed. They look pretty much like the sp sport 01 summer tyres sold in Europe, apart from those thin diagonal grooves, which apparently turn them into all season tyres. Also they fit the GTIs with tyres with H speed index i.e. up to 210 km/h from factory? Isn't the GTI's top speed quite a lot more than 210 km/h? I can't imagine that a car would be factory fitted with tyres designed for lower top speed that the car itself in Europe.
 
Well I run Dunlop Direzza Sport Z1 Star Spec for street/AutoX as when it was time for me to buy tires last I didnt have the cash for two different sets. They may be a bit aggressive for what you want, but I really love them and they are amazing. Dont know if any are still floating around but there were some amazing steals on RE-01's for a while. If you enjoy the track/lots of aggressive driving, I would go with the star specs, if it is really just a daily driver I dont know. Sorry.

Though this may be of help for you. [MKV GTI Tire thread]
http://www.golfmkv.com/forums/showthread.php?t=13374

edit:
Hankook Ventus R-S2's are on sale at tirerack for 80 flat a tire. Something you may be interested in, but I dont know much about them.
 
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^ A whol set would be cheaper than one of the pilot sports he was looking into...
How bad can they be?
 
Those OEM tyres are weird indeed. They look pretty much like the sp sport 01 summer tyres sold in Europe, apart from those thin diagonal grooves, which apparently turn them into all season tyres. Also they fit the GTIs with tyres with H speed index i.e. up to 210 km/h from factory? Isn't the GTI's top speed quite a lot more than 210 km/h? I can't imagine that a car would be factory fitted with tyres designed for lower top speed that the car itself in Europe.


Pretty much all VWs in the US run h-rated tyres which are only safe to 130mph or 210km/h. Despite the fact that the 2.0T cars can run up to 149mph or 240km/h.
 
Man, you still were running the same tires that you had on the crest? Thats been a while. After that run, I had to even replace my tires (the front ones at least) :D

And when you do find tires, Midas does price matching even with online retailers. Its where I got my tires done.

Hm.. I happened to be doing some groceries shopping with my sister at Costco, so I popped in the tyre department and got the quote. Came down to $288 per tyre, about $1100 altogether, bar wheel alignment.

And yeah, I'm still running the same set of tyres that I had at the get-together. IIRC, that was back in July sometime. I left the states that same weekend, spent my summer break in SA, and only got back at the end of August.

just stop driving so agressively, it'll help with tyre wear too :p

lol, I honestly wish I can slow down and drive normally. It cost me a bloody fortune to replace my tyres every 8000km. Actually, come to a think of it, my 130i needs a set of new tyres as well :cry:


My GTI came with Michelin Pilot Exalto.
I really like them, the grip is excellent, and after 12000 kms I can't really notice any wear...

Also: Your tires: They read M+S which in Germany means winter tires and not all year tires...
I never rode a M+S tire to the ground like you did, they are usually fucked long before that...


Yeah, M+S means mud & snow, kind of inappropriate for performance driving. And I'm very hard on tyres, none of my tyres have ever lasted for more than 10000km. I popped my BMW's rear right tyre in a very similar fashion. Basically, the car was literally running on it's rims, the threads were worn to a point where the surface was so smooth that the tyres started to look like slicks. I knew that it was dangerous but I didn't care. After a few scary moments with those worn tyres, I thought it was rather fun so I kept on driving the rear tyres with my throttle, until it popped and totally disintegrated.


Pretty much all VWs in the US run h-rated tyres which are only safe to 130mph or 210km/h. Despite the fact that the 2.0T cars can run up to 149mph or 240km/h.



Yeah, H rated tyres are crap.

I just ordered 4 x 225/40/R18 Michelin Pilot Sports SP2 92Y.

yup. They are Y rated tyres, but it's not like I'm stupid enough to try and max out the topspeed on the local highways. I'm not a big fan of the yank cops, as they don't accept any bribes :p

Anyway, the tyres are suppose to arrive on Tuesday, but I have the option of fitting the semi-slicks (Michelin Pilot Sport Cup Tyres) for an extra $40 a tyre. I'm really thinking about it, semi-slicks are the epic stuff, only problem is that the tyres will only last about 4000~5000km.
mi_sportcup_ci2_l.jpg
 
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lol, I honestly wish I can slow down and drive normally. It cost me a bloody fortune to replace my tyres every 8000km. Actually, come to a think of it, my 130i needs a set of new tyres as well :cry:

8000 kms? lolwut?

I do atleast 4 times as long and I'm not exactly a slow driver either
 
8000 kms? lolwut?

I do atleast 4 times as long and I'm not exactly a slow driver either

Maybe I should invite you to SA, so that you can see for yourself why we struggle with tyre life? :p :cool:

We are blessed with countless open roads that is almost never congested. So yeah... everyone drives like a lunatic in South Africa. It is very common to hear the random wheel-spins and heavy braking from where I live. Having said that, I believe that I'm not the average driver who enjoys a bit of spirited driving from time to time. I more serious about pushing my car to the limit than most ppl I know, hence I'm always heavy on fuel and tyres.

Edit : On a side note... I bought the car in Feb sometime, so that's roughly about 8 months of ownership. During that 8 month, I took a month break and travelled back to SA...... yup, sounds about right, 7 month or 7000km of hard driving.
 
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Maybe I should invite you to SA, so that you can see for yourself why we struggle with tyre life? :p :cool:

Yes please, any first class ticket + 5 star hotel will do. You're paying right?
And you're letting me drive the Beemer of course?
 
In my personal opinion, dont get Cups. Get either Star Specs or RE-11's. You will have almost the same dry traction (the best for real road tires), better traction from cold, better wet traction, longer life by a huge margin, and they are cheaper by again by a huge margin. If you are really set on something like that. Get a second set of super cheep rims and mount up some A6's.
 
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