508GT Tyre Recommendations? Buying 4 cheapies vs 2 primos?

[4cvg]

Do you ever brake in the rain ? Do you ever go around corners ? I tried to save a few bucks on the latest 2 tyres I bought and put mid spec Dunlops on instead of Conti's - worst mistake ever. The Dunlops are as close to dangerous as I've ever had a tyre - the grip on 1000km old Dunlops is certainly far, far worse than bald CSC's. My wife recently had trouble doing a hill start up a local hill because the Dunlops couldn't get traction - I thought that a little strange and so took the car out myself - first round-a-bout I nearly speared off the road they were so bad in the wet. I checked the tyre pressures with 3 different tyre gauges to be sure.

Justin

For those who find this puzzling, the story is as follows:

Generally speaking, the tread pattern is just there to get the rubber in contact with the road. If the road is merely slick & not (aquaplane-threatening) streaming wet, then a worn tyre that is compounded to interlock with the micro peaks & valleys of the road surface can grip better than a less worn but differently compounded tyre. It's all a matter of breaking the water film & gaining mechanical interlocking. Assuming a lack of aquaplaning, the only tread elements that assist here are sipes & block edges, not void volume.

Mind you, compounds age & change nature with time &, by the time a tyre's bald, its compound might no longer carry out this interlocking function very well.

Continental seem to currently be very good indeed at compounding & their tyres generally achieve that interlocking well. Moreover, they seem to have managed the chemistry such that the compound degradation slope over time is not steep. So, the good wet performance of the worn Continental SportContacts is not surprising.

Mind you, even if fitting two & with two SC3 already on it, I'd go for the SC5 & not the SC3 (& put the new ones on the back). It's a notably better tyre & would be a better basis for a new matched set of 4.

cheers! Peter

 

[gt508]

resurrect an old thread..

Whats the widest tyre I can get on my 508 GT? knowing 235 is spec could I stretch to 245? Has anyone done this. I have on other cars but now looking at the 508 for a new set.

 

[adbell]

Yes, my 508 GT spec was 235/40 R19.

I went with the Michelin Pilot Sport 4 in 245/40 R19 and have no complaints.

When I checked the 235/40 R19 options were limited and expensive.

Michelin Pilot Sport 4 245/40 R19 weren't cheap either but offered better value than what could be had in the original spec.

 

[BIGRR]

Where are you? Buy New 2354019 [235/40R19] Tyres | Tempe Tyres

A dozen choices under $600

WHATCH THIS MOB! A couple of weeks ago they fitted 4 Continental tyres to my car that were 6 (Yes six) years old.

I made them refit my old tyres and left. Be warned.

 

[Stuey]

Well spotted then! Did they argue at all?

 

[BIGRR]

They did not argue after they saw how angry I became.

The tyres I was replacing were full tread Michelins and only twice that age.

Though they did offer to sell me the tyres at 1/2 price.

Continental only warrant their tyres for 24months.

I waisted nearly 3 hours of my time that day and left with my old unbalanced tyres and wheels!

I sent their head office an email asking if it were their practice to sell customers 6 year old unwarranted tyres, NO answer, though the tyres in their online add disappeared next day.

 

[4cvg]

One problem is that most punters think of new tyres as automatically ok & that tread depth is the main consideration on a used tyre unless obvious great cracks abound.

There are some very bad retailers around. Unless trusting the retailer, I'd not part with money until I'd physically inspected the manufacturing date stamp on the sidewall. (4 digits meaning week & year, so 4813 would be the 48th week of 2013. Anything with but 3 digits is pre turn of the century.) Industry guideline is to not sell anything older than 2 years. I won't buy anything older than 1 year.

Rough rules of thumb are that wet grip will be noticeably diminished at around 5 years of age & that there will be a considerably increased risk of structural failure (notably belt separation) at around 10 years of age.

These are but rough guidelines & tyres vary. As it happens, Continental's compounding seems not to go off with age as badly as most manufacturers' & the presence of a nylon belt overlay in the tread area lessens the rich of separation markedly compared to a tyre without one (other things being equal).

On tyre sizing: one very good motivation for departing from the manufacturer's stipulation is that one can sometimes get much better tyre types in some alternative (but feasible) size.

cheers! Peter

 

[metulmykul]

I'm about to put new tyres on my GT and am definitely going to 245s.
19s at a Commodore price.
Probably Pilot Sports but Sports Contact is possible.

 

[dimistyle]

I wont mention my set if 20 yo Yokohama 508s sitting on Fiat alloys. Looked brand new, but just had them replaced to get a road worthy otherwise performed well in the dry considering age.....no good in the wet!!

I would have never seriously used then but looked the part.

Sent from my SM-G900I using aussiefrogs mobile app

 

[4cvg]

I'm about to put new tyres on my GT and am definitely going to 245s.
19s at a Commodore price.
Probably Pilot Sports but Sports Contact is possible.

I'd include Pirelli's new PZ4 on your short list. It come in two varieties: 'Sport' & 'Luxury Saloon'. The former is crisper handling. Each is very good. I suggest that your first decision is how crisp handling you wish the tyres to be; the trade-off for that is slightly worse wet grip in pattern-sensitive conditions (less channelling, especially on the shoulder) & somewhat harsher ride (less flexible sidewall). All of these tyres are dynamically excellent in all conditions so we're talking noticeable, not major, differences.

Depending on your priorities, you get two short lists.

Most sporting:

Pirelli PZ4 (Sport)
Michelin PilotSport 4S
Continental SportContact 6

One step less sporting:

Pirelli PZ4 (Luxury Saloon)
Michelin PilotSport 4
(Continental's candidate, the PremiumContact 6, is not available in this size.)

As a medium list within this second group, consider these:

Were you to wish to save a bit of money, one step down from the above (but still very good indeed) is Hankook's Ventus S1 Evo2.

If you have the time to wait for one of their "4 for the price of 3" deals to pop up, then another good all-rounder is Bridgestone's Adrenalin RE003. Not as good as the short list but very good & sometimes splendid value for money.

All of the above seem available in your size (reference: Jax).

cheers! Peter

 

[metulmykul]

Thanks Peter.
Haven't heard of the PZ4s.

I had P7s on my Skoda Superb and went to Primacy's. I thought the Cinturato's were a bit noisy. I go more for comfort these days!

Will check them out.

 

[4cvg]

Thanks Peter.
Haven't heard of the PZ4s.

I had P7s on my Skoda Superb and went to Primacy's. I thought the Cinturato's were a bit noisy. I go more for comfort these days!

Will check them out.

You probably know of the Pirelli P Zero. The PZ4s are the latest variants of their "top of their range" P Zero line.

If comfort is an important one of your criteria, then I'd recommend the PS4 Michelin.

cheers! Peter