The 195/55R15 Tyre Thread

[neil]

I've never experienced the Falkens, so just passing on what I've heard. The more comments we here from experience on French cars the better choice we have on future purchases. Are Falkens good value? How much are they per tyre?

I too run Azenis RS on my 205gti/mi16 and I'm very happy with them so far. They are very progressive and give fantastic grip in the dry and wet. I'm yet to run them on the track and was due to go for a run on Saturday but last night I killed my ankle at soccer and I'm not able to drive my car for the next 2 weeks.

I always take hear-say advise with a grain of salt as it could turn you off a perfectly good affordable product for no reason at all.

I got the Azenis RS's for $200 a corner in 195/55/15 which is considerably cheaper than the other top end performance tyres.

Neil

 

[nJm]

Justin has asked that while he is at work tonight that I give you all a brief report on the new tyres on his 307. He bought some rather attractive looking peugeot 16" alloys and fitted some Goodyear Eagle F1 (the newer type). We took the 307 on an extensive test today and I must say they really are great tyres (in the dry anyway, had a lovely day in melbourne today).

Grip - these tyres definately put his previous Conti's to shame. I would have to say this change in tyre has made the 307 the fastest cornering car I've been in. Understeer is almost completely gone - the pug now has completely neutral handling unless you go into a corner at stupid speeds. I have never driven a FWD car you can charge into a corner yet continue to accelerate through the corner and it just doesn't flinch. Justin was demonstrating his lift-off oversteer today, and the car remained completely stable. The rear end no longer dances around on mid corner bumps like it used to.

The F1s have also improved the steering feel and level of feedback. I used to dislike the 307's steering as it felt a little numb and artificial. Now you can feel everything but the smaller pieces of gravel. Truely amazing what a difference they have made here.


So I highly recommend these tyres. They have turned a decent family hatch into a rather hot little thing.

Oh yes, and the quality of tyre squeel was excellent. A nice tone and pitch - not too high or harsh on the ears (this is for you Lincoln!).

 

[DeKa]

Grip - these tyres definately put his previous Conti's to shame. I would have to say this change in tyre has made the 307 the fastest cornering car I've been in. Understeer is almost completely gone - the pug now has completely neutral handling unless you go into a corner at stupid speeds. I have never driven a FWD car you can charge into a corner yet continue to accelerate through the corner and it just doesn't flinch. Justin was demonstrating his lift-off oversteer today, and the car remained completely stable. The rear end no longer dances around on mid corner bumps like it used to.

I'd like to disagree with this statement after watching the 307 do some 3 wheel work on the weekend... but anyway....

I still think the 307 is too tall to go racing around corners in. Those of us on the sideline were worried for both Justin and the car's wellbeing several times, and it wasn't only on the track! I saw it on 3 wheels twice on the motorkhana skidpan It wasn't a comfortable fast 3 wheel corner like you see in a 205 either ... it was 3 wheels looking soon to become 2 wheels on the ground.

I also saw *PLENTY* of understeer in the 307. Where all the other cars, including mine at full throttle in 2nd gear on the skidpan oversteered like mad, a few of us noted the 307 was the only car to plough on straight ahead in one huge understeer. Even the Renault 17 oversteered on that motorkhana task, whereas it had previously been understeering an aweful lot. It took a lot of handbrake to get the 307 under control and go around the witches hat it needed to.

I'm not saying Justin doesn't know how to drive it - he's adjusted his driving skills remarkably to "tame the 307" as he says himself, but it's no 306, 205 or 206.

Derek

 

[Haakon]

Was very happy with my 195/55 15 BF Goodrich Profiler G on my last Fuego. They were very good in the wet and dry. Only demerit point they got was they were a bit noisy, but at $135 a throw for Michelin designed spanish made tyres I was happy, and would buy them again.

 

[nJm]

Derek today we were out on the roads, not on a race track. When I was driving it didn't understeer, but I wasn't being completely silly with it either!

I've only seen what little video footage there was of DECA, and you can't really tell how it was doing. I must say I'm quite concerned about the new Megane as from all reports it isn't nearly as dynamic as the 307!

Anyway, what I was trying to get across in my post was that these tyres have made a big difference to the 307. I never actually said it was better than a 306, I said it was better than any other FWD car I've driven (a few Hondas, Mitsubishis, Volvos, etc).

 

[GTI124]

Thanks for the comments on the new GS-D3 F1. However, at this stage it's not available in this tyre size. Rats, ey?

 

[FourOsix]

before my 406 i had a astra gsi (97)..

It also ran 195/55/r15's all round...

original tyres were Michelin Pilots, and when the time came to change them over they wanted around $220..

As i was selling the car, i didnt want to spend that much, so i bought a set of 195/55/r15's Goodyear Eagles from a used tyre dealer in Melbourne...this bloke imported containers of slightly used tyres form europe.

get this..

3 of them were close to 100% and the other one was about 90%..
I think that they had done under 2000 k's ..

I paid $200 for the lot...fitted!!!

 

[Pug307]

Simple summary of the new tyres: the 307 still understeers, it still oversteers, but it's nicer to drive with new tyres underneath.

I still think the 307 is too tall to go racing around corners in. Those of us on the sideline were worried for both Justin and the car's wellbeing several times, and it wasn't only on the track! I saw it on 3 wheels twice on the motorkhana skidpan

Aaargh, why didn't you take a photo The photos need a little more drama in them

Now, you know, the 307 was a few seconds faster around the track than the Fuego and 306 (I know you weren't going to kill the car, but with 25% more power someone was still a good deal faster down the main straight which is a third of the track)

I also saw *PLENTY* of understeer in the 307. Where all the other cars, including mine at full throttle in 2nd gear on the skidpan oversteered like mad, a few of us noted the 307 was the only car to plough on straight ahead in one huge understeer. Even the Renault 17 oversteered on that motorkhana task, whereas it had previously been understeering an aweful lot. It took a lot of handbrake to get the 307 under control and go around the witches hat it needed to.

I'm not sure which event is being referred to, but if it was one of the slaloms on the eastern side of the skidpan, I had actually tried to avoid oversteering madly like everyone else, so I could get into the garage without fuss. Too many people just went too fast for the last cone.

I don't think anything can beat the R17 for understeer

I'm not saying Justin doesn't know how to drive it - he's adjusted his driving skills remarkably to "tame the 307" as he says himself, but it's no 306, 205 or 206.

It's a different car to those above, but it's far from a dynamic dunce. It is more understeer prone than the above cars and it has to for stability as a function of its higher CoG. But it still is capable of oversteer and is still throttle steerable, as friends will tell you from yesterday's test run. Anytime you go from one of the above cars into the 307, you do notice that its height does have its benefits too.

As I've said before, when I redid one of the events for fun because I went around the wrong direction first time round, I did it in 30 seconds, a record which beat smaller cars such as those above. I'm certainly no seasoned master of motorkhana either, so I think that example shows that the 307 is much more capable than what is being inferred above

I've only seen what little video footage there was of DECA, and you can't really tell how it was doing.

Yes, unfortunately I can't see the car on three wheels verging onto two

Still, the emergency indicators flashing into the first corner are fun Plus it's fun watching this big family car zoom around the track. All it needed was a 'Baby On Board' sticker on the back

I must say I'm quite concerned about the new Megane as from all reports it isn't nearly as dynamic as the 307!

I don't know whether that is the case, but both cars aren't class leaders for dynamics. Funnily enough though Top Gear thought it was better than the Focus in their first review, but I wouldn't agree with that. I think feel, rather than capability is the main issue in the 307.

Where the 307 excels is handling by numbers, if you look at lane change, emergency manouvre tests it's pretty much a class leader. These things don't tell you about feel, etc, but it's reassuring to know that the car has high limits. So it's nowhere as bad as what it is sometimes made out to be and I think your experiences yesterday would support that.

Anyway, what I was trying to get across in my post was that these tyres have made a big difference to the 307. I never actually said it was better than a 306, I said it was better than any other FWD car I've driven (a few Hondas, Mitsubishis, Volvos, etc).

Eh, eh! What about that 206 & the C3s That 206 was driven on the same roads too. Based on suburban tests, I suspect the C3 won't be able to sustain the same cornering speeds, even compared to the base 307 with standard Contis.

I'll post my review in a thread specific to the tyre, as this thread isn't the best place to do it. You can visit it here - http://www.aussiefrogs.com/forum/showthread.php?t=9195

 

[Mitch Mi16]

Go to Tempe Tyres Bro.. They are Fully Sick Bro.. hahaha... I don't think i would ever go there, Unless you just want to be cool, cause you have a TEMPE TYRES sticker on your car..

 

[GTI124]

Go to Tempe Tyres Bro.. They are Fully Sick Bro.. hahaha... I don't think i would ever go there, Unless you just want to be cool, cause you have a TEMPE TYRES sticker on your car..

Tempe is the place to go for Falken Azenis RS tyres, seriously cheap. Buy them and get them fitted elsewhere if you don't trust them. Oh, and pay cash...get change out of his wallet...hehehehe

 

[nJm]

Derek, I was just thinking that one factor that may have improved the 307's stability was it had all 80kg of me sitting over the rear axle most of the time .

 

[XTC]

I'd like to disagree with this statement after watching the 307 do some 3 wheel work on the weekend... but anyway.... I still think the 307 is too tall to go racing around corners in. Those of us on the sideline were worried for both Justin and the car's wellbeing several times, and it wasn't only on the track! I saw it on 3 wheels twice on the motorkhana skidpan

206GTi and 306GTi-6 both do this trick quite happily

- XTC206 -

 

[DeKa]

206GTi and 306GTi-6 both do this trick quite happily

- XTC206 -

Whilst in reverse?

 

[PULS8R]

Great info, now can we get a thread for the 175/65R14 crew? Or is it time for us to get some new rims?

I went down to the local tyre place and they recommended Sava, apparently made by Dunlop, sort of the same thing as Remington and Bridgestone or Goodyear, one of those. That's what they told me anyway. I'm yet to decide what to get.

before my 406 i had a astra gsi (97)..

It also ran 195/55/r15's all round...

original tyres were Michelin Pilots, and when the time came to change them over they wanted around $220..

As i was selling the car, i didnt want to spend that much, so i bought a set of 195/55/r15's Goodyear Eagles from a used tyre dealer in Melbourne...this bloke imported containers of slightly used tyres form europe.

get this..

3 of them were close to 100% and the other one was about 90%..
I think that they had done under 2000 k's ..

I paid $200 for the lot...fitted!!!

Could you let me know who to contact regarding these used tyres?

 

[pugrambo]

Great info, now can we get a thread for the 175/65R14 crew? Or is it time for us to get some new rims?

I went down to the local tyre place and they recommended Sava, apparently made by Dunlop, sort of the same thing as Remington and Bridgestone or Goodyear, one of those. That's what they told me anyway. I'm yet to decide what to get.

check out the pics of the sava's i put up earlier in the thread
i'm going to own up now
i have a pair on the front of the GTi-6
i don't do any track work
the car travels on average 5000k's a year
they have been good when we have had rain
they are generally ok in the dry and as i don't push the car very hard having them on the car doesn't worry me
they were basically an experiment at the time to get them to see what they were like
the GTi-6 still has 2 of it's original p6000's on the rear that were on the front so that shows you how much i push the car
if you are only after a tyre for general driving they aren't too bad
i haven't really heard anything about them and that's why i posted earlier as well asking about them
i heard as well that they were made by dunlop
they don't make any more noise than the p6000's and they do tend to hang on fairly well
so there you go
i have come out

 

[GTI124]

I'm yet to find anything substantial on Sava. However, I found something that did surprise me. Sava is owned by Goodyear, not Dunlop. But Dunlop is owned by Goodyear.

Goodyear own: Dunlop, Sava, Kelly, Fulda and Debica and they have a joint venture with Sumitomo

Whilst I'm at it:

Michelin own: Uniroyal, BF Goodrich, Kleber, and Riken...and a bunch of other brands I've never heard of.

 

[Yokohama Man]

Hi Aussie Frogs.

I was browsing your site and I couldn't help responding to this comment:

AFAIK, they're rubbish I can look into it though. Nankang is at least owned by Yokohama.

Yokohama do not own Nankang. Yokohama does not have anything to do with Nankang. I'm sure Nankang would like to be associated with Yokohama but they are not. In fact we are peeved that their logo looks similar to the Yokohama one.

Regards, CT

 

[DeKa]

Hi Yokohama Man,

Welcome to Aussiefrogs

Thanks for your input - hope you stay around and post more often. Tyre threads are pretty common on here.

Derek.

 

[briz205]

hI CT,

Its good to see we have another tyre man on the forum. I really like the yoko range and hope you stick around to give some advice.

Cheers Nick

Hi Aussie Frogs.

I was browsing your site and I couldn't help responding to this comment:



Yokohama do not own Nankang. Yokohama does not have anything to do with Nankang. I'm sure Nankang would like to be associated with Yokohama but they are not. In fact we are peeved that their logo looks similar to the Yokohama one.

Regards, CT

 

[mi16_weapon]

Hi Aussie Frogs.

I was browsing your site and I couldn't help responding to this comment:



Yokohama do not own Nankang. Yokohama does not have anything to do with Nankang. I'm sure Nankang would like to be associated with Yokohama but they are not. In fact we are peeved that their logo looks similar to the Yokohama one.

Regards, CT

heya yokoman...

do you work for/sell/distribute yokohamas??

If so, im in need of a full set... can you give me any prices??

maybe with af membership discounts?