Goodyear F1 GSD 3

[Pringles]

I would be interested in other drivers' experiences with Goodyear F1 tyres in the snow. I was caught in a bad traffic jam in Surrey last night in the snow.
Going down a long gentle incline in traffic I found it very hard to keep control of my car and no other cars I could see had the trouble I had at keeping in a straight line.

It was very hard to steer straight at all and I was wondering if the Goodyear tyres which are fantastic in the wet become a problem on packed snow compared to more standard tread patterns.

The car has no special anti skid features on anything like that but I was not accelerating at all really as I was goin down hill in traffic moving at a snail's pace.

Any comments from others that have used FI tyres in the snow are appreciated !

 

[robert.saunders]

Must confess I don't like 'em - poor grip in wet & especially snow. Dry grip is decent but they are a very noisy tyre generally.

Despite sticking with them for a while, I have ditched them I'm afraid. I think tyre design is moving on, these are a little old now

 

[fabes]

Other cars succeeding better than you may have more to do with them having narrower tyres than you as seen by me when a little polo climbed a small hill on what were probably 155 13" wheels, when I just spun the 225 rears

 

[robert.saunders]

http://www.tyretest.com/pkw_sommerreifen/goodyear/eagle_f1_gs_d3/index.html

 

[rf065]

I've got them on mine and think they are a great tyre. But, they are a summer tyre & summer tyres are not designed for snow. Therefore, I change to winter tyres in December & will put the Goodyears back on around Feb/March.

Russ

 

[crockers]

How much tread? Once a tyre has less than 4 - 5 mm the performance in snow is very poor. Not that a wide low profile tyre will be that brilliant...

 

[rf065]

taken from a dealers web site......

"The Eagle F1 GS-D3 is Goodyear's Max Performance Summer radial developed for driving enthusiasts who want more performance from their factory stock or aftermarket-tuned sports cars, sporty coupes and performance sedans. The Eagle F1 GS-D3 excels in wet conditions by delivering class-leading hydroplaning resistance and traction, as well as offers competitive dry performance. Like all summer tires, it is not intended to be driven in near-freezing temperatures, through snow or on ice."

Russ

 

[Mactech]

taken from a dealers web site......

"The Eagle F1 GS-D3 is Goodyear's Max Performance Summer radial developed for driving enthusiasts who want more performance from their factory stock or aftermarket-tuned sports cars, sporty coupes and performance sedans. The Eagle F1 GS-D3 excels in wet conditions by delivering class-leading hydroplaning resistance and traction, as well as offers competitive dry performance. Like all summer tires, it is not intended to be driven in near-freezing temperatures, through snow or on ice."

Russ

That's exactly right! I was out today on Michelin Pilot Premacy and they rate even worse in the snow tyre tests. Had to divert to the back roads to avoid a major accident and spent 10 miles almost having my own!
I've had race drivers come on the radio and say 'the car has zero grip' and you then point out that they are the quickest car on the circuit... well today I really did have that much grip!
Wide summer tyres in the snow are all a disaster looking for somewhere soft to land

 

[Pringles]

Thanks for all these responses.I confess to not knowing much about tyres and assumed that good tread depth would be enough. Looking at the Tyre Test data and your views I realise I couldn't have much worse tyres for the job in the snow. I'll look at getting something better when I change them.

Any views on what is a better all tyre round performance tyre? I can see the benefit of winter tyres but snow on the south coast is normally a 5- 10 yr event where I live so it wouldn't be worth doing.

 

[crockers]

Stick some autosocks in your boot - use them when deepish snow but not when you can see the tarmac

 

[Adam230K]

I've got these on my C-class at the moment, 225/40/18 on front and 245/35/18 on rear and i have to say that these tyres were a massive improvement over the falken rubbish i previously had. I was (almost) able to floor it round a roundabout in the dry and not lose traction (dont have traction control/asr).

To add, they are very grippy in the wet too and do have excellent aqua-planning. I can gear down and floor it very suddenly in the wet and i get no loss of traction. The only bad thing is, if you abuse them very often they dont last as long as other tyres, although i've had them for 5 months now and i still haven't felt their grip deteriorate at all.

 

[Howard]

Adam , it's strange that you don't rate the Falkens when pretty much everyone else on here finds them a good tyre ...

Andy K has them on the back of his E55 , loves them ...

I have them on my 430 , love them ....

lots of others have them and love them too ... nothing wrong with the Falkens , sure it's not a bit of 'tyre snobbery'

 

[Adam230K]

Why would it be snobbery, i've got a C-class , and i bought the falkens cuz they were cheaper! so i kinda wish they were better!

And i'm saying what i honestly found, nothing more. The falkens actually didnt last long either!

 

[Howard]

Were they Fk452's ?

Can't understand how cars with a fair bit more power run them ok , and yet yours are struggling for grip ?

Have you had the bonnet up recently ? are you sure someone hasn't transplanted an engine from an SL65 in it when you weren't looking ?

 

[Adam230K]

I used FK452's yes. They lasted for about 7000miles (probably less) and when i first bought them, they didnt have the grip i thought they would. When it 'set in' they got a bit better, but that wore out within the next 3 months (i was using my car on the motorway constantly at this time).

Just before changing them, i remember a few scary moments in dry conditions where i'd gear down with some aggression and floor it, and the car would fish tail quite badly giving me a horrible floating sensation that i was going to lose control of the car. (This is in a straight line too!) I honestly thought they were a good tyre until a friend highly recommended eagle F1's... and when i tried them, i have to say (although more expensive) there is a noticeable difference between them, even from new.

 

[andy_k]

Goodyears were fine in the warm and dry when they had plenty of tread but were truly awful in the cold/wet when they were down to between 4mm and 5mm. Now, that's not even anywhere near the tread wear indicators and a tyre should still be performing properly at that level.

Like a few others I've got Falken 452s on the back of the E55 and they give much better grip than my 'knackered' Goodyear F1s.

As for flooring it and not losing traction (wet or dry) - not unless the tyres were twice as wide and made of rubber which would last about 50 miles

 

[Adam230K]

I will buy Falkens next time, because they cost almost half as much as the eagle f1's and although i enjoyed the extra grip i'd much rather go for the cheaper option.

 

[crockers]

I've got these on my C-class at the moment, 225/40/18 on front and 245/35/18 on rear and i have to say that these tyres were a massive improvement over the falken rubbish i previously had. I was (almost) able to floor it round a roundabout in the dry and not lose traction (dont have traction control/asr).

.

I used FK452's yes. They lasted for about 7000miles (probably less) and when i first bought them, they didnt have the grip i thought they would. When it 'set in' they got a bit better, but that wore out within the next 3 months (i was using my car on the motorway constantly at this time).

Just before changing them, i remember a few scary moments in dry conditions where i'd gear down with some aggression and floor it, and the car would fish tail quite badly giving me a horrible floating sensation that i was going to lose control of the car. (This is in a straight line too!) I honestly thought they were a good tyre until a friend highly recommended eagle F1's... and when i tried them, i have to say (although more expensive) there is a noticeable difference between them, even from new.

I will buy Falkens next time, because they cost almost half as much as the eagle f1's and although i enjoyed the extra grip i'd much rather go for the cheaper option.

Sorry - let me see if I have this right - you found them crap - don't last long - but will buy them again cos they're cheap........Surely if the other tyres give you twice the mileage at twice the price there is no difference in costs...

Or is just me who is confused at the logic ??

 

[Adam230K]

Sorry - let me see if I have this right - you found them crap - don't last long - but will buy them again cos they're cheap.....

Or is just me who is confused at the logic ??

Its just you, you confused prat.

I didnt say i found them crap at all in any of the sentences i wrote, ok i said "from the previous falken rubbish", thats because i personally think the eagle f1's had better grip and performance characterisitcs than the falkens.

Surely if the other tyres give you twice the mileage

Where did i say it gave me twice the mileage? Another instance of you being a picky pathetic moron.

Sorry to go off, but i've seen you do this many times before needlessly and you seem to think you are quite intelligent when in true fact you aren't. Thank you.

 

[vijilants]

You think Goodyears are bad in wet / snow.....Bridgestone are below bad .

This morning my car had simply no rear traction whatsoever on the semi snowed side streets of London.

At one stage the car got stuck on a very slight incline and it took a lot of messing about to get it moving again......everything else was flying past me with no problems.

Just the very slightest of slippery stuff and the back end loses grip.

Characteristics of a RWD C230k in the slippery stuff combined with pi** poor tyres