What tyres do you recommend?

[gaza1994]

So, I've owned my polo 6r for over a year now, and I've been through a few cheapo tyres (arrowspeeds)

The tread on my front tyres is getting rather low, so im looking to replace all 4 corners with better tyres! However, I have no idea which ones to get (the whole driving thing still being relatively new to me)

So, what do you all recommend and why?

The car will be driven on A roads and some dodgy af B roads in not so sunny Scotland

Thanks guys

[iichel]

First things first, don't try to save to much money on tires.
Do you have separate summer and winter tires? Here in Switzerland we have to by law.

I'm not sure about Scotland and the Scottish weather but my mom in the Netherlands is quite happy with a set of all weather tires. I think it were the Michelin cross climate ones.

General rule of thumb is that all a brand tires will be ok like continental Pirelli Michelin Goodyear Bridgestone. Hankook Vredestein Dunlop will get you anywhere safely as well.

Every tire will probably have its stronger and weaker points. Michelin's are usually expensive, Dunlop's and conyis sometimes have some cupping, pirelli is a bit noisy.

Myself I got some pirelli in the summer and hankook icebear in the winter. I'll probably have to figure out what I want next. Probably Bridgestone or Michelin in the summer.

[SRGTD]

Buying tyres can be a bit of a minefield, as there are so many different brands and prices. I personally think it’s always worth buying the best tyres you can afford, as you depend on them for your safety - it’s only that small contact patch of rubber between you and the road that you’re relying on to keep you on the road, and ensure you’ve got good grip in all conditions. I’d always avoid cheap tyres with dubious handling characteristics (known by some as ‘ditchfinders’!) from unknown manufacturers you’ve not heard of.

Always worth putting your tyre size details into a website such as Black Circles (www.blackcircles.com) or Camskill (www.camskill.co.uk) and see what options come up. You’ll get a variety of different tyre options, and prices to suit your budget.

This website is also useful, as it gives customer reviews of tyres.

The last two sets of tyres I’ve bought have been Goodyear Eagle F1 Asymmetric (for my previous car - mk6 Golf) and Continental Sport Contact (for my Polo GTI). I’ve found both of these to have good grip in wet and dry, they haven’t worn too quickly (although wear rate will be influenced by driving style), and the car has handled well with them fitted. If I was buying replacement tyres now, I’d consider a set of Michelin Pilot Sport 4, which have been getting good reviews.

Not for now, but as you’re in Scotland, you might want to also consider getting a set of winter tyres later in the year for winter use. They’re manufactured from a compound that stays softer in cold conditions and a tread pattern that gives better grip in cold, icy and snowy conditions. So they’d help to keep you mobile in winter, while others are struggling.

[RUM4MO]

First things first, don't try to save to much money on tires.
Do you have separate summer and winter tires? Here in Switzerland we have to by law.

I'm not sure about Scotland and the Scottish weather but my mom in the Netherlands is quite happy with a set of all weather tires. I think it were the Michelin cross climate ones.

General rule of thumb is that all a brand tires will be ok like continental Pirelli Michelin Goodyear Bridgestone. Hankook Vredestein Dunlop will get you anywhere safely as well.

Every tire will probably have its stronger and weaker points. Michelin's are usually expensive, Dunlop's and conyis sometimes have some cupping, pirelli is a bit noisy.

Myself I got some pirelli in the summer and hankook icebear in the winter. I'll probably have to figure out what I want next. Probably Bridgestone or Michelin in the summer.

Yup, I got a set of all weather tyres for my daughter's late 2009 Ibiza, though I needed to get them supplied from mainland Europe as her car has 17" wheels and low profile tyres from factory fitted options, so that excluded Michelin CrossClimate and meant that I went for Kleber Quadraxers which no one stocks in UK. This winter she has so far probably been lucky that I picked them for her!!

Edit:- at the present time, in UK it is left to the individual if them fit and use winter tyres, at least now most insurers do not hit you with excesses if you use them, so that is some progress!

Another Edit:- from my personal experience, in some locations like Northern UK in some winters, premium Summer tyres have become "summer only" tyres, and I would include Michelin especially their Primacy HP and Exalto - if they still sell them, as being in that category - in fact my local Michelin dealer said about the Exaltos "good tyre, just don't plan to use them in winter!" - luckily I had already found that out and had bought a second set of steel "one size smaller" fitted with Michelin Alpins from Germany for that car in winter! Same with both of our current cars, it just makes life so much easier if we need to use cars in winter and want to avoid clearing roads before being able to drive over them, and saves on our use of road salt buying for keeping our driveway clear of snow and ice during bad periods of winter weather.

[RUM4MO]

Buying tyres can be a bit of a minefield, as there are so many different brands and prices. I personally think it’s always worth buying the best tyres you can afford, as you depend on them for your safety - it’s only that small contact patch of rubber between you and the road that you’re relying on to keep you on the road, and ensure you’ve got good grip in all conditions. I’d always avoid cheap tyres with dubious handling characteristics (known by some as ‘ditchfinders’!) from unknown manufacturers you’ve not heard of.

Always worth putting your tyre size details into a website such as Black Circles (www.blackcircles.com) or Camskill (www.camskill.co.uk) and see what options come up. You’ll get a variety of different tyre options, and prices to suit your budget.

This website is also useful, as it gives customer reviews of tyres.

The last two sets of tyres I’ve bought have been Goodyear Eagle F1 Asymmetric (for my previous car - mk6 Golf) and Continental Sport Contact (for my Polo GTI). I’ve found both of these to have good grip in wet and dry, they haven’t worn too quickly (although wear rate will be influenced by driving style), and the car has handled well with them fitted. If I was buying replacement tyres now, I’d consider a set of Michelin Pilot Sport 4, which have been getting good reviews.

Not for now, but as you’re in Scotland, you might want to also consider getting a set of winter tyres later in the year for winter use. They’re manufactured from a compound that stays softer in cold conditions and a tread pattern that gives better grip in cold, icy and snowy conditions. So they’d help to keep you mobile in winter, while others are struggling.

Slight snow last night, more expected overnight on Monday up here, so winter has not vanished completely yet.

I've found that cheap tyres tend to be to older designs and mainly from a time when UK suitable tyres had some use even in winter, but as you said a mine field with no single correct answer.

Back to OP, do you have space to store a scabby looking set of winter only tyres, probably a smaller diameter than your current tyres, I'd go for 15" winter tyres 185/? X 15 and 16" for summer use - if you have the money. Maybe try buying second hand VW alloys from mainland Europe, that is what I did for my wife's 2015 6R 1.2TSI 110 Polo as soon as she got it, as it came with 16" alloys and 215?/?? X 16 tyres from factory. If your car has 15" alloys, see if you are allowed to use 14" maybe steel wheels from a basic Polo in winter as that will still clear your front brakes and give you cheaper size of winter tyres still maybe 185 section, unless you want to drop down to 175 section if that size is advised for your car in winter.

[Gee40]

Let's be honest, the costs of motoring are high enough as it is, so no one wants to waste money, but saving money on tyres should be done very carefully.

One option is to make sure you do not over spec the speed rating of your tyres. My Polo GTI came from the factory with "Y" speed rated tyres and although they are not ready to be replaced just yet, when they are, I'll be using "W" rated tyres as they are considerably cheaper. (never change the load rating as this could result in compromising safety and will almost certainly cause an issue from an insurance point of view if you have an accident). W rated tyres are speed rated to 168mph and so are more than adequate should I completely lose my mind and max the car at 147mph on the M67 (that said they tyres on my son's BMX would cope as its a car park most of the time anyway!)

Before people jump all over the above suggestion with concerns about insurance, having managed the claims dept for a large motor insurer for 20 years, I
can confirm that an insurance claim can only be repudiated if the insurer can prove or has just cause to believe that a none standard part has directly contributed too a claim, which would not be the case providing the speed rating of any tyre you fit exceeds to vehicles top speed. As a belt an braces approach there is nothing to stop you discussing this with your insurer before you took up this option.

Just a thought

[RUM4MO]

Personally I’d still stick with what was fitted at factory if that info is available as that model would have been homologated with that spec.
Sometimes cars end up with higher rated tyres for a reason, though sometimes due to ratings available in that size.
I always use “Z” rated tyres on my S4 while others don’t and complain about the side walls or drive being not as good as it was on the factory fit spaced tyres.

[gaza1994]

So I'm looking at getting a set of continentals CONTIPREMIUMCONTACT 5

[RUM4MO]

My wife's 2015 Polo came with Contact 2 from the factory, they seem fine as summer tyres, never had them on the car in cold weather or winter time though, so do the job not too noisy etc what is not to like for warm and summer weather.

[gaza1994]

My wife's 2015 Polo came with Contact 2 from the factory, they seem fine as summer tyres, never had them on the car in cold weather or winter time though, so do the job not too noisy etc what is not to like for warm and summer weather.

yea - from doing loads of looking up what my car came with from the factory it was the contact tires, so that seems like a good starting point for me to swap out these cheapo "ditch finders" - although - theyre not that bad for what they are, do tend to slide a sh*t tonne (metric ) though!

And as we should hopefully be getting into the warmer months (minus the crap load of snow today) they should be fine for the next little while!

Going to visit the scrappies at somepoint to try get some steelies from someone thats binned there car, put winters on those ready for when typical scottish weather gets worse again

[RUM4MO]

Make sure that you do your homework on what steel wheels to get, all VW Group steel wheels will have their VW Group part number stamped on them, so you need to get the right diameter of wheels, even 14" with the correct width(J) and the correct offset (ET) and the centre bore and the correct wheel bolt PCD.
Once you have all that info, you are prepared to buy only the ones with the numbers you have.
So that means steelies from certain Fabias, 6R Polo - maybe also check out what sizes were used in base models of 6J Ibiza as well. I think that you should avoid all 9N Polo and Golf wheels that "look the same" - that is unless someone can guarantee you that other sizes are okay to use.
Spring time can be a good time of year to search ebay here and Germany for someone off loading winter wheels from a Polo that they are about to sell later in the year.

[mtt57]

never change the load rating as this could result in compromising safety and will almost certainly cause an issue from an insurance point of view if you have an accident

What about incresing the load index rating? I understand that mounting tyres with lower ratings (either the load index or speed rating) it's not ok from both a safety an insurance point of view, but what about e.g. replacing 84H with 88V (XL) (yes, I am looking at winter/all season tyres here).

Could that generate any problem with the insurance company, or potentially invalidate the policy?

Thanks a lot for your help!

[RUM4MO]

Maybe ask them to make sure first, the sidewalls will be stiffer than the originals and so maybe more road noise than before, though especially with winter tyres, tyre will always be a bit noisier than summer ones.

Edit:- sometimes different from standard size optional tyres when fitted at factory have different load ratings.

[spartacus68]

If you're considering keeping the car for a while, then opt for winter tyres and wheel package. I've been a convert for some time. It revolutionises how the car behaves. I also run an Audi quattro, but even with permanent 4-wheel drive, a car with summer tyres in winter is next to useless.

Back to your quandary. My Polo 1.4 TDI runs 17" alloys. I forget the tyre size, but with winter wheels and tyres it's not unusual to drop a wheel size to 16". As mentioned, keep the speed rating for insurance reasons. Some online retailers will sell tyre and wheel packages. The steel rim packages are okay, but after 3-4 years the steel wheels will be rusted and the powder coating flaking.

On my Polo I bought genuine Volkswagen alloys. Running summer and winter wheels, although expensive for initial outlay it does pay dividends. Winter tyres, I really rate Khumo tyres. I used to regularly commute to Dundee from Aberdeenshire over the Cairn O' Mount and in all weathers, snow, hail and rain and these tyres saved my bacon. That said I nearly got side swiped by a logging truck so stick the AWPR to the A90 now.

On my Audi Allroad, as it's not a daily driver I run Mitchelin Cross Cimates which are a hybrid tyre. If you have a Costco card you can get deals on them.

With tyres, just do your research, they are critical, so don't cut corners.