Tyre Choices

[PassCruiser]

Choosing a tyre is not easy, as you cannot exactly try before you buy. You rely on feedback from forums such as this & tyre reviews, which can be either truthful or not.

Since I bought my Passat I have gone through 4 sets & are on the 5th. These are the tyres & my experience of them for 235/45R17. We live in the country & travel interstate fairly regularly, driving both bitumen & dirt roads, so my experience is based on our crappy coarse bitumen roads. One of my daily drives in the Southern Adelaide Hills is very twisty and extremely bumpy often with opposing ditches which can throw the car off line while another set will just soak it up holding the line. It's also tyre hungry. Driving experience & passenger comfort vary greatly. I look for a tyre with comfort & grip compromise. It just depends on personal preference.

I have rated these with the number in front, but the list is in order of fitment.

4/ - The factory fitted tyres Continental, ContiSportContact5. I like the overall performance dry & especially wet grip, though side walls are firm & tend to transmit bumps into chassis. Feedback is good with a progressive feel. They are also not an especially quiet tyre. Fuel consumption good. Life, I got about 25k.

3/ - Hankook Ventus S1noble 2, the overall performance was nearly the same as the Conti's only with a slightly softer quieter ride. Feedback is similar to the Cont's just a little more vague on initial turn in. Fuel consumption rose over the factory tyres on average of 0.5ltr/100km. Life, 23k.

1/ - Bridgestone Turanza Serenity Plus, these are a terrific compromise between comfort, performance, fuel consumption & life. They are a quiet tyre which soaks up bumps well without transmitting into the cabin, overall grip is down a little over the Conti's & Hankook's giving a real surprise grip in the wet holding a line beyond what most would dare. Feedback, in a straight line is positive, though initial turn in feels as if the tyre comes off a flat surface then rolls (if that makes sense) returning back to flat when in corner. Fuel consumption was equal to the Conti's. Life 27k

5/ - Cooper Tires, Zeon RS3-S. These are a AA rated tyre for grip. Oh boy, if you want outright absolute grip these will not disappoint. But, the ride is very harsh in that pump absorption is directly transmitted to your backside & tram line especially on opposing bumps, throwing the car off it's line requiring greater steering input to keep your line. If you like comfort, do not get these. They are noisy too. Fuel consumption is about the same the Hankook's. Feedback is the best however, you know exactly what the front & back ends are doing every time all the time. Confidence inspiring. Life, only 20k, but that may be in part to my over enthusiastic driving.

2/ - Goodyear Assurance Triplemax, my current fitment. For ride quality they win hands down. They just soak up bumps with aplomb. Nothing fazes them. Dirt, not a problem. They absorb external shock without any transition into the cabin. The car feels so much more plush & are the quietest overall of these lot. For long distance cruising the car is more serene. If your into chucking it hard into a corner these are not suited. Your passengers will thank you however for ride comfort. Fuel consumption is slightly better than the Conti's. They are however a soft tyre so ultimate grip is not a match for any of the above. I've done about 8k so far with little signs of wear. I just love the comfort but are wanting for more grip, but it's a trade off. Feedback is a little numb at the straight ahead with feeling progressing along with grip on rotation with a slightly rear bias through twisty stuff. You need to let them settle on the rear before squeezing the go pedal. I do like these tyres & will fit again. Life, with little wear evident I expect a longer life than any of the above.

Next fitment will be a toss up between the Bridgestone Serenity Plus or Goodyear Assurance Triplemax.

[ope126]

Good review there mate!
Actually, I would not like to drive on the roads you do on a daily basis...

Here is a review I did recently on tyres also, however for 18" not 17" but similar background; Passat 140TDI Highline tyre replacement (235/45R18)

You left Michelin off your list...
I have owned (2) B6 and (3) B7 Passats (both 17" and 18" combinations on various models).
And in that time, I always swapped out the tyres for Michelin and they were great!!!

[3C4M Guy]

Thanks PassCruiser for this comprehensive review. As you say, you can't try before you buy. So the experience of others is invaluable.

I also use 235/45R17. Last tyre change I decided to try Michelin Pilot Sport 4. Hate is a strong word but I didn't like them at all. For me, they were too biased towards comfort and low noise. The sidewalls were too soft and they had a lack of feel. These Michelins communicated a lot less about what they were doing compared with my previous Bridgestones. Luckily for me I was able to do a deal and pass them off and went for Bridgestone Potenza Adrenalin RE003. They are a vast improvement. From what you say, I might enjoy the Cooper Tires Zeon RS3-S!

Tyres are very much an individual preference. What one person loves, another person might hate. Amongst the top brands there are no awful tyres. No unsafe ones. It's just a case of the type of driving, the type of roads where an individual's preference sits in the ride / handling compromise.

[PassCruiser]

Thanks & a good review ope126. I have thought about Michelin but tead mixed reviews. Maybe I'll have a closer look next time.

[PassCruiser]

Thanks 3C4M Guy. I imagine the Zeon's will have a similar performance to the Adrenalin's, they were designed for the Roush Mustang. Intersting to see oposing views of the same tyre from ope126 & yourself. It's all a personal preference.

[3C4M Guy]

I imagine the Zeon's will have a similar performance to the Adrenalin's

I should add there was a higher level Bridgestone that I wanted, but it wasn't available in our size. So I settled on the Adrenalins which are not a particularly high performance tyre within the Bridgestone range.

[befau]

Thanks for that great review! It will come in very handy when I'm up for tyre replacement on my newlly aquired 130TDI Wagon.
I've currently got Bridgestone Turanza Serenity Plus on my BMW 3-Series at present and on that car also they are a great allround tyre with good compromise of comfort and grip.