Ford Focus - Seeking tyre recommendations please!

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Tue 17 May 2011 20:29
Ford Focus - Seeking tyre recommendations please! - Chris Adam

Hello all, I'm here after ages but used to visit daily for a few years! Hope you're all well. Thought it best to come back to the experts.

I need to buy 4 tyres ( 205/55 R16 , 91V ) for my Ford Focus 2006 (1.6 petrol hatchback). Have been doing loads of research, including looking at Which? and tyre review websites. The best performing brands in the Which? tests are: 1st: Continental, 2nd: Michelin, 3rd: Bridgestone. They also do well in other tests, so I've been looking at the following tyres:

Continental Sport Contact 2
Continental Premium Contact 2
Michelin Primacy HP
Bridgestone Turanza ER300

I was going to order one of the Continentals, but then came across lots of customer reviews saying that they wear out quickly. It seems that many people think that Continentals wear out quickly in general. As it's expensive to buy 4 tyres fully-fitted, I would be grateful for your input about your experiences with these and any other tyres. Which of the Continentals would you buy, if any, or what else do you suggest? Plus is it worth buying wheel alignment?

Also, I was going to order them from blackcircles.com, but please let me know if you have any other recommendations! Many thanks in advance for your advice.

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Tue 17 May 2011 21:15
Ford Focus - Seeking tyre recommendations please! - gordonbennet

Grr, posted a long message and it vanished.

Vredestein Sportrac 3 at £60 each from Tyremen.co.uk.

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Tue 17 May 2011 21:24
Ford Focus - Seeking tyre recommendations please! - daveyjp

I can confirm Contis wear quickly - less than 8,000 on the front of an Aygo which does town work due to a wear rate of just 230 - i.e soft compound.

Vredestein is a good option, also consider Toyos.

I've used Camskill for my last few tyre purchases - Vredestein are £55.40 plus delivery, Toyo £54.90. Delivery is about £10 and if they are in stock you will get them next day.

Edited by daveyjp on 17/05/2011 at 21:34

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Tue 17 May 2011 22:10
Ford Focus - Seeking tyre recommendations please! - Mike H

Well, I believe that Sport Contact 2s are no longer made, so that narrows the list down. There are plenty of other good makes out there, depends on your priorities. I've just had a couple of Sport Contacts (no numeric suffix) fitted on the rear of my Saab, but they will probably last for ages like most rear tyres on FWD cars. First time I've used them so no idea on wear rates.

Blackcircles used to be very competitive, but I haven't used them for years as they suddenly got way overpriced. I've used Mytyres and they have always been competitive for me.

And yes, it's worth getting a 4-wheel alignment done every couple of years.

Edited by Mike H on 17/05/2011 at 22:12

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Tue 17 May 2011 22:48
Ford Focus - Seeking tyre recommendations please! - Chris Adam

gordonbennet, injection doc, daveyjp and Mike H - thank you beyond words for your replies. They are extremely helpful. Stupidly I posted my message in 2 forums (Motoring discussion and Technical matters), which is probably why gordonbennet thought his reply had vanished from one of them (sorry!!) but I do very much appreciate you posting in both forums!! I'm posting my reply to all your kind messages in both forums.

I just checked out the Vredestein Sportrac 3 on the tyrereviews website and saw that they came top in the 2011 ADAC European Summer Tyre Test, so I'm seriously considering buying these, although they only came 6th in the 2010 Auto Zeitung Premium Touring Tyre Test. Any views on the Vredestein Ultrac Cento, which seem to do well in some tests? I'm not a slave to reviews though and value your experiences and opinions more. I'll also check out the Hankooks. (By the way injection doc, it's Hankooks not Hanooks, right? Genuinely just checking! Also do you have a Focus?)

The general consensus seems to be that Continentals wear out quickly, so they're off the list I think. But why do they do so well in tests? Do reviews never take longevity into account?

Any opinions on Michelin and Bridgestone tyres by the way? Also any opinions on 'premium touring' versus 'performance/sporty' tyres?

I will check out your recommendations about where to buy the tyres from, but I would like them to be fitted for me (plus wheel alignment maybe) and I don't think that Camskills fit them do they?

Mike H - just saw your reply - thanks very much. Actually blackcircles (and others) are still selling Continental Sport Contact 2s (does this mean the tyres are really old?) and have a 'premier' fitting garage just 2 miles from my home in north London (whereas with tyreshopper, my nearest garage is 13 miles away), so that's why I was considering them.

My tyre priorities are (like many people I guess) safety, fuel economy and longevity, less so noise (but quiet is good).

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Wed 18 May 2011 09:52
Ford Focus - Seeking tyre recommendations please! - Bobbin Threadbare

I had some of those Vredesteins for my old Focus (not a full set - the other 2 were Continentals and I sold it before changing the lot). They never seemed to wear down; they were great.

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Wed 18 May 2011 15:48
Ford Focus - Seeking tyre recommendations please! - oldtoffee

I think the tyre tests and reviews on my tyres are useful as the results they give tyres are IMO an accurate reflection of my own experience. Bridgestones and Continentals do well in the dry handling, Bridgestones skittish in the wet and both wear relatively quickly (stickier, softer compound?) Michelins are almost as good but give better mileage, the new'ish Energy rates very well and is quiet and the Pirelli P7 also. I have the Michelin Energy that replaced noisy and poor in the wet Dunlop Sports. (ATS were cheaper fitted for 4 than any on-line and it would have cost me another £10 a wheel for fitting balancing etc)

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Wed 18 May 2011 16:50
Ford Focus - Seeking tyre recommendations please! - turbo11

As well as the usual suspects, another choice if available in your size are Uniroyal Rain Expert. My wifes 2007 Mazda 3 has these on. They were replacements for the Original fit Yokohamas. The Uniroyals were fitted three days before the snow arrived, and were fantastic. On two days I had to use her car to get to work as my car wouldn't even get up our un-ploughed and ungritted rural hill we live at the bottom of. Hers went up it like a scalded cat. I ended up buying Pirelli Sottozero winter tyres for the princely sum of £600 !!.

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Wed 18 May 2011 18:50
Ford Focus - Seeking tyre recommendations please! - craneboy

I had a set of Rain Experts fitted a couple of months back. Was looking at Michelin Energy, but had them recommended to me on this forum. Got my independant to order them in for me. I do a 30 mile round commute daily, plus a lot of weekend driving and am very impressed indeed with them. very stable, quiet and seem to be wearing very well.

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Wed 18 May 2011 20:36
Ford Focus - Seeking tyre recommendations please! - mlj

Have bought nothing but Vredesteins for seven years. Great tyres In my opinion.

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Sat 21 May 2011 07:56
Ford Focus - Seeking tyre recommendations please! - Mike H

Mike H - just saw your reply - thanks very much. Actually blackcircles (and others) are still selling Continental Sport Contact 2s (does this mean the tyres are really old?) and have a 'premier' fitting garage just 2 miles from my home in north London (whereas with tyreshopper, my nearest garage is 13 miles away), so that's why I was considering them.

Must admit I'm only going by what I was told. I live in Austria, and specifically wanted the Sport Contact 2s - because of their design, they have an inner edge that is resistant to the odd rear tyre wear pattern that owners of Saab 9-5s will be familiar with! I looked on Mytyres (in Austria Reifen.at), and they weren't listing them any more. AFAIK they have only recently discontinued them, so if you can find them they will almost certainly not be out of date and perfectly fine.

You may find that when/if you actually try to order them on Mytyres they don't have any.

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Wed 18 May 2011 21:30
Ford Focus - Seeking tyre recommendations please! - ianhad2

Goodyear Hydragrip, had them on my Suzuki Sift GTi, and Almera GTi.

Look up Auto Express's Tyre Test;

www.autoexpress.co.uk/products/total_tyre_guide/

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Mon 23 May 2011 22:22
Ford Focus - Seeking tyre recommendations please! - Viz

Just to say, my front 2 originally fitted Continental tyres have only just worn out at 46k miles. Back tyres still have about 4mm left

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Tue 24 May 2011 11:55
Ford Focus - Seeking tyre recommendations please! - ForumNeedsModerating

Ah, the old 'recommend a tyre' lark again.

No help I know to the OP, but I find, as with 10 economists having 11 opinions about how things are, so with tyre recommendations!

You'll have as many recommendations as posters on this thread! Bear in mind that what most people are really comparing is old tyres vs. new tyres - thery're almost bound to be the 'best I've ever had' !

Best advice is simple - buy the best (i.e. most expensive) you can from the top brands.

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Tue 24 May 2011 12:14
Ford Focus - Seeking tyre recommendations please! - unthrottled

Guess that's the 12th opinion then eh, Woodbines?

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Tue 24 May 2011 14:22
Ford Focus - Seeking tyre recommendations please! - craig-pd130

The factory-fit Conti SportContacts on my Passat lasted 33K on the front, the replacement Vredesteins lasted less than 20K ... I believe longevity depends somewhat on the specific model of car they're fitted to, as well as tread pattern etc.

On the premium brand argument, I replaced the factory-fit Michelin Pilot Premacy on my Mondeo at 22K with Kumho Ecsta Sports. The Kumhos give less road noise, otherwise absolutely zero detectable difference in wet or dry grip, handling, braking etc. The Kumhos were half the price of the Michelin.

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