Rover 75, from new, covered 30,000 motorway miles on original Dunlop tyres.
Replaced with Pirelli, as the cheapest name - brand available at the time.
Absolutely destroyed the ride and handling, but worst yet, gave horrendous road / tyre noise.
Sounds numb, I know, but I never realised how much difference tyres can make!
Question is, is there any brand of tyre which is generally accepted as giving smoothest, quietest ride, with steady /stable handling?
Is there any inevitable price to pay, for instance in terms of tyre lifetime, road holding, etc?
Thanks for all comments.
BR
DrS
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Passat from new, replaced original Dunlop's with Pirelli P 7's.
I am delighted with the P7's, much better handling especially in the wet, and I have not noticed any increase in road noise.
It just goes to show, what suits some folk don't suit others.
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If it helps any I once upon a time had a 2000 'W' plate Vectra onto which I had the misfortune to have fitted four Pirelli P6000 tyres - worst decission of my life. These tyres were noisey and they had a tendancy to pull to the left - annoyed me no end as it transpired that the way the tread pattern was, it read the road in a particular way and this caused the pull to the left :P
Never bought Pirelli ever again.
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I've learned, after many years of doing lots of miles in company cars, that the best thing to do is replace like with like if at all possible. Over time, you get used to the feel & sound of the existing tyres so anything new seems very different.
Harder tread compound tyres are generally quieter - our leasing company always tries to fit Firestones, with TWI of 400 (most 'OEM' tyres are 180 or 200). Firestones are noticibly quieter, but have worse wet grip (as you'd expect).
I have run Pirelli P6000 (& P6, I think) without any issues.
Have a look at www.mytyres.co.uk - it has scorecards for most of the tyres listed (P6000's do look quite noisy).
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Thanks to everyone for your interest and comments:
These are actually P6000's: I thought it was just me, but now you mention it, they really do make the car pull to the left, and give nervy handling, even with correct pressures.
Closest thing I can think of to compare is the experience of riding across wet tramlines on an old Suzuki GT 250 on 1970's Bridgestone cross plies.
I never will buy Pirelli again!
Bridgestone seem to have cleaned their act up, though!
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Have you checked the tyre pressures since coming back from the tyre depot? They usually overinflate the tyres which gives nervy handling.Mike.
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DrS, which Pirellis, they have a large range of tyres with an equally large gamut of characteristics. From Pirelli Courier to Pirelli PZero Rosso.
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I agree that this is a slightly subjective area but it's really frustrating to know how to choose new tyres if noise is a key concern.
FWIW I've recently replaced a noisy set of Bridgestones with a set of Dunlop SP9000s. One of the reasons I chose the Dunlops was that they were claimed to be quiet running. That's proved to be the case - they are dramatically quieter than the Bridgestones. SP9000 may now be obsolete but may be worth checking out whatever has replaced them.
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Having owned a Rover myself, with half a dozen trips on the back of a break down truck in a year, I found the engine noise from the Merc Diesel in the truck even more pronounced than the Rover's Tyre noise.
Paul {Forest of Bowland}
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