The Official Polo Tyre Thread

[sambb]

A 225 on a 6.5in rim is going to be pretty dam baggy. I now guys have gone to 205/50/16 but at the width you are talking you'd be way bigger than that and I doubt you'd fit in the guards.
The front guard is a mixture of plastic and steel. The are single skin at the front so you could roll there. Not sure at the back.

[flat6]

Finally need some new tires for the Polo, currently running the RE003's, have had the 002's and 001's in the past and all have been great, only complaint is they are not very comfortable with the reinforced sidewall but handle well in the dry, in the wet they are a little sketchy yet i've had these on the car since 2017 so they are definitely getting on. Still have a bit of tread on them but fairly hard now.

After doing some reading on the 205/50/16's it looks like the way to go on the stock rims!

Has anyone tried the Pilot Sport 4 on the POG? I have the PS4S on the R and they are just superb in almost all aspects. Really miss getting power to the ground as the Polo just spins in 1st and 2nd with your foot down

Bob Jane are doing the $50 cashback on the Pilot Sport 4 @ $205 per corner $770~ all up which is about the same as the RE003's

[FckBullerScott]

Well folks here's my tyre review. I appreciate that this might be useless for those out there who have spent the last 10 years turning their rigs into track beasts, but it might be insight for someone who simply wants a decent touring tyre.


Car: '09 Pog GTI
Wheels: 16x7.5 F / 16x7 R
Tyres: Yokohama BluEarth AE GT51 all round - 205/45 R16 Front, 195/45 R16 Rear


I'll preface this by saying I've come from Bridgestone RE00X's in the past, BF Goodrich sport things, some Michelins that were on my Clio before changing to Bridgestone RE002's (those Michelins were amazing - they were the ones that were made for the Clio, not your standard PS3 etc), and on my old diesel Polo I used to run Fed 595RSR Front/Bridgestone RE001 Rear in a square setup, which worked well.


Just my personal take, but I was never rreaaallly chuffed with the Bridgys. I only ever got them because they were on that 4-for-3 sale. My current Polo came with 17in wheels (looked pretty decent for a subtle OEM+ approach), and no offense to the previous owner who had really, really passed a fantastic, low-km car onto me, some horrible horrible Hankook Ventus things that I just had to get off the car as soon as I could - 2020 snow season was approaching (heh, or so we thought), and on a couple of pre-season test runs up the hill, those Hankooks were downright dangerous - they just wanted to plow into the ditch, on greasy corners.


Enter my researching a decent touring tyre - I searched high and low (reviews) for a tyre that had favourable winter-use reviews, and landed on these Yokos, 195/45 R16 all around. The under-sizing was to enable easier chain fitment in the snow - a moot point now, given that a few months later, I found a shockingly-good deal on a 2015 Impreza from a guy in the Ovens, that my old man and I went halves in (for him to drive when he's back from work in Indonesia, which goes up the hill on days which you just KNOW are gonna need chains. On dryer days, the Polo is simply more fun to drive up there).


Honestly, I am quite happy with them. More specifically:


--- WINTER USE ---
- VERY impressed. First real "action" that these guys saw was when I had to head up the hill and do some admin stuff for the various passes I needed for the season. It so happened that it started snowing as I was driving up the hill. Cut to 90min of various admin work later (I was sorting 2x cars + errors with various Epic accounts, with Resort Management). I leave the building to find the roads, parking lot, EVERYTHING caked in a couple of fresh inches of snow.
- Yes I had chains in the car, but wanted to see if the tyres would perform the way I had intended my daily tyres to, when I was researching. They had plenty of cold-traction to get me out of the snow-covered parking lot / down the (mostly) snow-covered road to park entry, and a few swerve tests in new snow yielded massive confidence in them - they actually turn nicely with your steering wheel movements. Yes there is some delay due to the fact that the car is sliding around on snow, but damn - best tyre I've ever driven on-snow, in a 2wd car.
- Coming down the hill that day, roads were wet and cold, but it was a good chance to see what these can do in cold wet corners. The confidence levels progressively just kept going up and up with every new corner. You really CAN go for a decently spirited drive with these, in the wet, and not worry.
- Repeating myself here - 2021 season saw a number of days where roads were bare on the way up, and after a day on the hill, there's new snow on the roads in the afternoon. With some gentle-momentum snow driving, these tyres enabled me to get down the hill every single time, without needing to fit chains. No I wouldn't take them to Perisher on a 50cm day, but when it DOES snow a bit, there's no need to stress.
- Aquaplaning during torrential rain (e.g. times when I've driven into Wodonga, and it's pissing down on the way back home) is not unnerving - yes the car might pull slightly, but you don't get yanked off to the side like other tyres I've driven. Nice and safe.


--- SUMMER USE ---
- Firstly, when I first picked up the car, I felt it drove like a boat. I was surprised to learn that it had H&R springs and Whiteline sways front and rear. I missed the feeling of direct turn-in and a somewhat dance-able rear end, that I had in my Clio. Hence my returning to 205/45 R16 in the front, leaving it at 195/45 R16 in the rear.
- I know this setup might have people laughing/scratching their heads, but I quite like how this staggered setup works FOR ME. It does feel more front-end grippy and direct, and grip wise, the car feels a bit better balanced in some of the tighter stuff.
- I know it's a touring tyre and wouldn't ordinarily get a mention in here, but it's a decent "driver's" tyre, too - Google reckons it takes 43min to get up the hill (from my house). On warm Spring days with dry roads and non-kook traffic (i.e. respectful people who know to turn out), I was clocking myself at 25-28min on average, so these tyres will work with you in the corners, if you want them to.
---- ^^ on the above, I'm not driving like a reckless ****head - I have no intention of binning a (relatively) low-km, great example of a robust little car that I intend to learn about, and keep for a long time. 80km/h zones most of the way, and I drive at levels where I know I can get up the hill and back, safely. My point? I'm making up time in the corners, thanks to these Yokos.


--- FINAL THOUGHTS, FINALLY ---
- I was impressed with these enough, that I got a set for the Impreza. Then I bought into the "Orange Oil" fanboism, and got Yokos AGAIN for the Impreza - this time Geolandars and a lift kit.
- Once these are done, I'm considering going to the Advan Fleva V701 - 215/45 R16 Front and stock size rear - with coilovers and bushes (and stage 2 - I'm slowly gathering parts) that will inevitably come, I'm thinking this might be a light-hearted, fun little setup - I don't feel I'd do e.g. AD08R's justice, given the somewhat variable conditions of where I live.
- Re: tyre wear - they've broken in nicely, but I feel I can't really comment on longevity - I've put less than 7,500km's/year on the car, despite living in the country.


TLR - Yokohama BluEarth GT AE51 is a great all-round touring tyre, that performs admirably on lightly-snowed roads, cold wet corners, yet will still allow you to have light-hearted fun on dry twisty roads, when you want.


Thanks for reading!

[Sprinterboy]

Stumbled across this the other day. For those interested

In Search of the Fastest Tire and Wheel Combination 2022 | Tire Rack - YouTube

Tire Test Results : In Search of the Fastest Tire and Wheel Width Combination

[JimBob99]

Thanks for the post. Interesting...