Michelins life...

[maffwilson]

I've got ~18500 miles out of the original front Michelins fitted to the Fabia vRS with the tread wear indicators now visible, so around 3mm left (loads of tread on the back of course)

Is this good, bad or indifferent?

Anyway, time to browse on here for what tyres to put on the front of the Fabia vRS, I can't say I don't like the Michelins, but then I don't think of myself as an 'advanced' driver, just want to 'point and go' and get reasonable return for my money - so any thoughts as to what to use appriciated.

[VRStu]

In my experiance Michelin's tend to be a very hard, hence long lasting, tyre.

With tyres it's a trade off between long life and lesser grip or sticky and soft.

I'm a fan of Goodyear Eagle F1's or Yokohama's.

As everything, budget plays a part in your selection, there are some very good tyres out there - some more expensive than others.

Try http://www.mytyres.co.uk/start.html

or

www.blackcircles.co.uk

[Josh_PoloGTi]

My fronts have lasted bang on 10k...

I've just replaced them with Kumho 712's (£122 for a pair, All Inclusive).

The Kumho's look taller for some reason, even though they are the same size, but they're cheap as chips and they grip far better than the crappy Michellins.

BTW, my rears still have over 6mm of tread left after 10k

[doer1]

Originally Posted by VRStu

In my experiance Michelin's tend to be a very hard, hence long lasting, tyre.

With tyres it's a trade off between long life and lesser grip or sticky and soft.

I'm a fan of Goodyear Eagle F1's or Yokohama's.

As everything, budget plays a part in your selection, there are some very good tyres out there - some more expensive than others.

Try http://www.mytyres.co.uk/start.html

or

www.blackcircles.co.uk

Goodyear are very good have them on our mondeo and the wet and dry isn't much different but then it doesn't have the go that the Furby has

[rsbspt]

16,500 on my Primacys and fronts are not yet down to the wear indicators. I'm thinking of Contis next time 'cos I'm told they're quieter. The Michelins create far too much road noise IMHO.

[VRStu]

Originally Posted by rsbspt

16,500 on my Primacys and fronts are not yet down to the wear indicators. I'm thinking of Contis next time 'cos I'm told they're quieter. The Michelins create far too much road noise IMHO.

I personally don't like Continental tyres, again a little hard wearing which results in less grip. I've seen some Furby's with Conti's on. Superted has them on his.

[helpmedisappear]

My Michellins lasted 14k on the front, i like Josh replaced them with Kumho 712's and have never looked back! Josh mine look taller too...i havent really figured this one out yet either but the tyre walls do look a different shape to the Michellins still left on the rears

[carefree]

ContiSport II's for me......marvellous

[flyingscot]

Michelins on my Dad's Octy lasted 23,500 miles, which was very good. I have Continetals on the Fabia and really like them, hard wearing yet resonably grippy for £30 a corner. Previous Continentals lasted 21,000 miles before replacement due to a puncture.

[alexst]

My mich's lasted about 22k, very good, i find the grip fine, but then can't really cpompare, agree with the road noise but loads of cars are louder on certain (concrete) roads, can't really notice that much difference.

Stuck with originals cause they must be there for a reason, and wanted to keep tyres same all round.

[robmawer]

Originally Posted by alexst

Stuck with originals cause they must be there for a reason

Skoda must have a cost-effective deal with a Michelin supplier...


Rob.

[flyingscot]

Originally Posted by robmawer

Skoda must have a cost-effective deal with a Michelin supplier...


Rob.

But then Skoda tend to come fitted with a Variety of Brands....

[robmawer]

Originally Posted by flyingscot

But then Skoda tend to come fitted with a Variety of Brands....

Yeah, I know...was just trying to make the point that the reason for them picking any sort of tyres would be more related to availability/cost...


Rob.

[WW_VRS]

I'd imagine the Michelins are a decent compromise between grip and endurance as well as price. As the car is not marketed as the hottest hatch in the universe there isn't much point slapping very grippy tyres on which only do 5k (a little extreme as an example).

For some here the endurance & price really is more important than for others. I'd personally imagine if you got it remapped or tuned in other ways, the grip may matter more to you than the price per mile, but hey, at least you can choose

[NigelR32]

I've had my VRS a week now, and have covered 550 miles. I would not fit Michelins again.

They are the noisiest tyres I've ever had on a car. They may last well though, which means I'll just have to put up with the noise for a long long time!!

I thought I'd read on here that Skoda had dropped Michelin on the VRS. Mine has them, and it's an '05 car??

Regards

[rossm]

Originally Posted by NigelR32

They are the noisiest tyres I've ever had on a car.

I didn't notice them as being particularly noisy, must just mean my previous car was noisier! I've got a feeling that I read somewhere that the Michelins are 20% (or something) quieter.

I put Goodyear Eagle F1's on mine, and apart from the balancing problems kwik fit seem to be having the grip on them was superb, even in the wet it was hard to make them lose traction. I did notice they were slightly more noisy than the Michelins when I had them on the front though. Stereos usually on though so doesnt really bother me.

[T31 VRS]

I've swapped my tyres around from front to rear and they are all ok (although I doubt I'll get much more out of them). My Fabia has done just under 33k and I'm tempted to get a set of Bridgestone Turanza's.

Whats your view on Bridgestone tyres?

To be honest, I've found the Michelins to be ok, just occasionally (in the wet) have I noticed that the car wanted to slide, but in wet conditions I wouldn't really want to fly round bends etc, or maybe I'm just losing my nerve!!??

[VRStu]

Ours is a facelifted model and has Michelin's on.

Superted has a facelifted but has Conti's.

I expect it just depends on what's on the shelf at the time.

[Josh_PoloGTi]

When I was getting my car serviced last weekend at Rainworths, they had 2 unregistered Fabia vRS's round the back and they both had Continental SportContact II's on.

They look like they'll be much better than the Michellin's, as they're the type fitted to some Porsches!

Is it me, or are 205/45/16's a bit of an odd size? They're proper expensive!

I was tempted to go for 215/40/16's as they are more common and a lot cheaper (and only something like 2% difference in rolling radius).

The Kumhos (although tall-looking compared to the Michellins due to their squarer design) seem to be a good compromise between grip and cost.

We'll see how long they last over the next few months!

[Mavrik]

All 16 inch tyres are expensive, it is an odd size, mine are Michelin and are gonna be due for replacement soon, 28k on the front ones and markers are visible, but not down to em yet