What tyre to replace Goodyear Eagle F1 GS-D3 ?

[maxima]

It was the quietest tyre I ever saw. I bought them new 10 years ago. The most comfortable ride and tremendous grip....

I wanted to refresh them (or at least the rear pair) but cant find any in stock for my size.

225/55/R16.. speed 140+ mph.

Anyone has pair stashed in the garage for sale by any chance ?

What would you replace them ? My priorities are : quietness / wet grip / speed / stunning looks

 

[maxima]

P.S. after sleepless night and tones of reviews (will though try and see some fresh magazines in the shops for the latest as the free web seems to be either old or biased)... I marked down the Vredestein ULTRAC CENTO

why - few cross-references put this model to the quiet side; I know the brand from my cycling years; the other really quiet tyres were all unknown to me (kumho, hankock , Fulda etc and I'd prefer to have a European brand).

 

[camerafodder]

I have Hankook ventus v12 fitted to my car at the moment. They are very quiet, good in the wet and seem to be lasting well.

 

[Will]

I ran loads of Eagle F1s back in the day - they weren't a quiet tyre for sure.

After 10 years tyres have moved on - there's loads of online tyre test results you can google.

Michelin or Continental make some of the better ones. I'm sure Goodyear must do a replacement for the size you need too?

 

[V12]

+1

Some of the recent budget tyres will outperform the high end tyres of yesteryear.

 

[maxima]

hmm.. here's the food for thought. thank you

 

[maxima]

I ran loads of Eagle F1s back in the day - they weren't a quiet tyre for sure.

are you sure they were G3-DS eagles? there are others too..

..
Also I am going to disagree with the comment of next year be always better than previous (budget vs premium)..

First it is so very easy for different media powers to massage slightly reviews to put a favourite product on top.. so why would NOT they do that? (surely they are not regulated like banks and running tyre tests is costly business).

Second if the results were not doctored then you would see SOME consistency across them. and yet there is none..

This renders those 'test' to be very much irrelevant.

Third (I know you guys would think this is ridiculous). Here is example from my pro cycling life. There was one tyre (not really for racing but very good training tyre) which was practically indestructable - it was leading everything by a mile and for few years.. then probably manufacturers got worried as more people bought it and there was no reason to buy another one. so they killed it. discontinued.. everything went back to 'normal'. the tyres being release every year marked with 2, 3, X, Pro whatever but really very little changes... once in a while some new compund is developed but is 9 out of 10 is improving one side of the ride borrowing from another...

also the crisis made many products go backward (as the manufacturers were looking for cheap processes / cheap materials)..

using powerful marketing machine it is easy for them to bring cheap inferior quality tyres because crowd wanted cheap for 5 years and yet made them look good through bogus tests..

so I am sure that average 2013 tyre is worse than average 2008 tyre.

 

[V12]

Lots of independent testing done by AA, RAC and motoring magazines.

I understand and agree with some of your points.

Personally I only fit Michelin or Continental on my S class but my other cars do get middle of the range Kumho or Falken tyres and on the whole I have been extremely impressed with how they perform. Excellent VFM.

 

[maxima]

would you say Kumho is more comfortable than Michelin? (genuine interest no sarcasm here).

p.s. i had 'stock' conti on my merc when I bought it with 4000 mi on. they were real hell to drive. this is why i so excited about my F1 G3-DS cos they were so MUCH better (comfort grip and noise). so I am bit uneasy about continental..

 

[Will]

are you sure they were G3-DS eagles? there are others too..

Yes. I am sure.

They were good grippy tyres in their day but looking back now they're pretty awful - they tramlined badly, were noisy and wore fairly quick. I wouldn't buy them anymore.

Michelin make some of the very best tyres money can buy and they're worth it - just depends on what your budget is.

At ten years old your current tyres will be badly aged anyway - rubber deteriorates. Time to move on

 

[maxima]

Ok then.. tell me what is most comfortable tyre for motorway driving (no cornering no street racing no flashing before girls ) ? most comfortable with least compromise on wet handling?

 

[maxima]

P.S. I forgot to tell.. the F1 G3-DS - I was doing 120 mi a day for 9 months... They are very comfortable tyres..

 

[V12]

My experience has been that Continental tyres on my S have been wearing quicker than the Michelins they replaced but they are quieter.

It's always hard to tell because we are usually judging an old tyre with many thousands of miles against a new fresh tyre.

 

[C43AMG]

10 Years is a long time ago.

Tyres now have road noise reference, you can now choose the quietest tyre available. Just Google tyre reviews.

 

[maxima]

the EU labeling for the tyre noise is indication of the outside (environmental) noise and this figure is often irrelevant to the interior noise.

 

[maxima]

My experience has been that Continental tyres on my S have been wearing quicker than the Michelins they replaced but they are quieter.

could you please tell which model of Continental?

P.S. I most certainly dont care about wear. Just comfort and grip.

 

[V12]

ContiSportContact 3

275/40/18 rear
245/45/18 front

Previous to these was a set of Michelin Pilot Sport (think they were PS2?)

 

[C43AMG]

It's like pulling teeth

 

[maxima]

what is? driving? :bannana:

 

[maxima]

Ok.. I have ordered the rear tyres. Will try them and report back. If good - then I will order the front ones if not - sell on ebay get anothers

Despite my patronizing tone (I am renowned for ) and snobbish attitude (same thing). I finally started to make my mind around Hankock S1 EVO 2 and Kuhmo KU39.. However when I was ready to pull the trigger it appeared that both don't come in my size 225/55/R16. Tried Michelin Pilot Sport 3 PS3 - no size..

So I bit the bullet and bought Goodyear Eagle F1 Assy 2. Well because I simply run out of patience. Cant have 2 sleepless nights in a row..

The somewhat useful info I got here. The ADAC tests for 2013 and 2014 had luckily the tires I was interested in.

2013 European Summer Sports Tyre Test - TyreReviews
2014 ADAC 195 65 R15 Summer Tyre Test - TyreReviews

And despite the recent scandal with fiddling with the test results (I told you so) I think their test are somewhat superior to anyone elses.. And they have numerical values.. Which I compared between these 2 years and found that the 2014 leaders have lesser score than the 2013 (I told you so again!)

So I basically wanted a nicely looking tyre as Sport Maxx RT or 'exotics' with low noise like Hankock and Kumho.. After exotics fell through with the size I had to pick a major brand with right size and somewhat low noise. So I was left tearing between Sport Maxx RT and Eagle F1 Assy 2 (what an ugly piece of rubber !).. In the end the Goodyear won due to much larger user review base, little better rolling resistance and being same family us my current Eagle F1 GS-D3... Although aesthetically the Dunlop is much more exciting.

But its done now.