The Official Polo Tyre Thread

[kaanage]

Got 175/65 Michelin XM2s mounted on my 14" rims today - now I can push for some real performance numbers!!

Finally swapped to these rims and the XM2s are AWESOME. Ride is basically back to stock vs the jiggly firmness and occassionally thumpy ride when I had the B12 kit fitted with the stock tyres and wheels plus there is a surprisingly noticable improvement in fuel economy. And the road noise seems muted too. No doubt, the higher profile has a lot to do with the improvement in refinement but given that I'm running 36 psi all around, the suppleness is very impressive.

For general use (ie non-aggressive), I don't see any reason to need any more tyre (ie wider, grippier etc) on a non-GTi Polo (or even most of the GTi Polos I see driven by middle aged ladies).

OE 195/55R15 on left vs 175/65R14 on the right

[WEDEL.1]

Mmmmmmm, thought provoking post Greg.

Maris

[FLYINGTI]

Hey guys!
whats the polo gti 16" standard wheels offset??

[seangti]

Hey guys!
whats the polo gti 16" standard wheels offset??

there's a difference in offset between the 06 and 07 onwards models. I believe it's 43mm and 45mm, but don't quote me and I'm unsure which way round. search polo offset and those numbers should narrow it down.

[WEDEL.1]

For non GTI owners.

I recently replaced the Toyo Transas Teo Eco tyres (185/60 X 14) tyres on the Polo at 92,000 kms. These were the 2nd set of tyres, so an ave. of 46,000 out of each set isn't too bad.

However, I am always looking for ways of saving money, so I bought a set of Firestone TZ700. These are listed as a Touring tyre which is what I want. I bought them in 195/60 X 14 size which made them approx 12mm taller. The wheels now fill the wheel arches more, so the wheels don't look like shopping trolley wheels. This added another bonus in 6mm extra ground clearance so we don't scrape coming in & out of the driveway, 11 revolutions less each Kilometre, makes the speedo accurate within 2Km/h and offers a bit more protection against kerbs & stones. Hopefully this means more Kms out of the tyre.

The ride is noticeably smoother and the tyre is as quiet as anything I have had and the power steering seemed to get more power in it. All this for $115 fitted, balanced and tyre disposal, I am very happy at this stage. A bonus was the great service from the boys at Bridgstone Modbury.

Some pics;









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[kaanage]

Well I've just proven to myself, today, that running semi slicks (195/55/R15 Advan 048R) and fuel saving tyres (175/65R14 Michelin XM2) together make for a very weirdly unbalanced car. Cruising through hills with a mixed set is not something I aim to do again (ever)

[WEDEL.1]

Hahahahahahaaha. You're always trying something different Greg.

Maris

[kaanage]

I actually just fitted a single semi-slick to the drivers rear but even this caused the front to push badly in both directions. Immediate turn in on right handers wasn't bad as it tended to 'hook' the front around like a pivot point but once into the turn, it still overwhelmed the available front end grip, despite being on the lightly loaded inside.

I only did this to put a gentle heat cycle into the semi-slick as it was the replacement for the one that I killed and I didn't want to waste the first session at my next track day, toodling around, just to break in a single tyre.

[gavs]

Was rather intense watching from behind, the car just never looked quite right, I could see the front pushing wide quite a few times, one especially where the car just kept running onto the other side of the road after a left hander!

[kaanage]

Never looked right? You should have tried driving it!!! I did push the exit on that particular turn as I could see well up the road in advance so I knew there was no oncoming traffic - behaviour was as expected: massive understeer as the additional weight transfer made the outside rear stick even harder along with the traction requirements overwhelming total grip of the fronts.

I still contend that the 175 width XM2 is more than enough tyre for most Polos as I only held up one car in the group + the gentle and progressive breakaway characteristics make it very controllable as the limits are approached. In fact, even at a track day, it would be a good tyre for inexperienced drivers to learn with as they could learn the car's on the limit cornering behaviour and recovery techniques when overcooking a turn at slower speeds with highly predictable response.