Which tyres suit the STi hatch?

Hi Guys,

It's new rubber time and before I buy it would be good to know what others are using and what works on the STi hatch.

Cheers,

Neil

Pirelli P-Zero Rossa tyres they are whats fitted to mine and there superb

My 330s has the 18"s and came with Dunlop SP Sport 600 245/40R18 93W.

They're very good and haven't really heard anything negative about them from anyone else.

Ben

Rob wrote:Pirelli P-Zero Rossa tyres they are whats fitted to mine and there superb

Same as Rob on 18 " GT 1 no problems

I can tell you from experience that the Goodyear F1 GSD3's, that worked well on my previous Scoobs, do not work well on the hatch...

But the Goodyear F1 Assymetric's work very well...

Have heard very good things about the Michilen Pilot Sports 2's (same grip levels/performance as the F1's but much less road noise, but they are a bit pricey)

Dave P wrote:I can tell you from experience that the Goodyear F1 GSD3's, that worked well on my previous Scoobs, do not work well on the hatch...

But the Goodyear F1 Assymetric's work very well...

Have heard very good things about the Michilen Pilot Sports 2's (same grip levels/performance as the F1's but much less road noise, but they are a bit pricey)

F1 Assymetrics not exactly cheap either, £145 each ex delivery and fitting is best I've found for 245/40/18 - at least I know they work well though!

Anybody tried anything like Falken 452s, Advan Sports or similar?

Rheid wrote:

Dave P wrote:I can tell you from experience that the Goodyear F1 GSD3's, that worked well on my previous Scoobs, do not work well on the hatch...

But the Goodyear F1 Assymetric's work very well...

Have heard very good things about the Michilen Pilot Sports 2's (same grip levels/performance as the F1's but much less road noise, but they are a bit pricey)

F1 Assymetrics not exactly cheap either, £145 each ex delivery and fitting is best I've found for 245/40/18 - at least I know they work well though!

Anybody tried anything like Falken 452s, Advan Sports or similar?

An independant place (Wraysbury Tyres) near me in Surrey, did the F1 ASSY's for £135 fitted per wheel (245/40/18). Sorry know this is no good to you up in Scotland, but just to give you an idea of what some independants can do them for mate

Rheid wrote:
Anybody tried anything like Falken 452s, Advan Sports or similar?

I haven't had Falkens on a scoob but have had them on three other cars. They are great value for money performance and excellent in the wet. I thought I had heard some good feed back from a hatch driver who had them but not sure really.
The only thing is tho they are fairly noisy.

Maybe of some help??

Ben

Dave P wrote:I can tell you from experience that the Goodyear F1 GSD3's, that worked well on my previous Scoobs, do not work well on the hatch...

But the Goodyear F1 Assymetric's work very well...

Have heard very good things about the Michilen Pilot Sports 2's (same grip levels/performance as the F1's but much less road noise, but they are a bit pricey)

Dave, out of interest why do you think that the GSD3's don't work well on the hatch? I have them on 18's my Prodrive 18's and the ride is very harsh - maybe the tyres aren't helping? Seem to be getting a strange 'hopping' sensation at full lock, maybe also the tyres....?
Cheers!

I had GSD3's with prodrive GT1's on my STI until a few weeks ago when I swapped back to the stock 17" alloys and toyo snowprox winter tyres. Ride is much better, but then it would be since it's cold weather rubber & higher profile.

For me the GSD3's were great, much much better than the original Dunlop SP Sport 01 on both wet & dry roads. But since the beginning of December I also had the hopping effect at full lock. I was advised it was temperature - and since it's gone now that seems the best explanation - guess I won't know for sure until April when I put them back on

GE90 wrote:

Dave P wrote:I can tell you from experience that the Goodyear F1 GSD3's, that worked well on my previous Scoobs, do not work well on the hatch...

But the Goodyear F1 Assymetric's work very well...

Have heard very good things about the Michilen Pilot Sports 2's (same grip levels/performance as the F1's but much less road noise, but they are a bit pricey)

Dave, out of interest why do you think that the GSD3's don't work well on the hatch? I have them on 18's my Prodrive 18's and the ride is very harsh - maybe the tyres aren't helping? Seem to be getting a strange 'hopping' sensation at full lock, maybe also the tyres....?
Cheers!

Also get that slight hopping on full lock with F1 ASSY's at slow speeds, probably something to do with the weather/camber settings/tyre angle on full lock, I just take it a bit easy when moving it about at slower speeds.

I went straight for GSD3's out of habit, but found they hunted down ruts and followed cambers a lot more than my previous scoob, made some roads near me unbearable at high speeds (had to constantly re-adjust the steering as the wheel got tugged in all directions). The GSD3's have softer sidewalls than the ASSY's (but this may not help you with your ride quality issue). When I brought this up Ian at Litchfields explained why the directional tread type patterns do not suit the hatch STI, so I waited until I wore out the old F1's, fitted some new ASSY's and got the geo done again, sorted now

Thanks Dave, nice to know that it is just the tyres that are causing the 'hopping'. So should I expect the ride to be firmer if I change to the Assy's? Any other tyre that might have softer sidewalls? Almost starting to regret choosing the 18's! It's a little worrying - I must be getting soft as I am ageing!

Rheid wrote:Anybody tried anything like Falken 452s, Advan Sports or similar?

I have the Falken 452, good tyre at good prices, not at their best in the snow. If you have 18 x 8.5" then the 245 are a little thin and make the rim protection useless. A mate of mine has Uniroyal rainsport and rates them.

Paul666 wrote:I have the Falken 452, good tyre at good prices, not at their best in the snow. If you have 18 x 8.5" then the 245 are a little thin and make the rim protection useless.

Thanks, very useful to know, 18 x 8.5 is what I have.

As soon as I've trashed these Yoko's that it came shod in, I'm going back to Vredstein's. Had Ultracs on the last scoob and they really are a peach of a tyre.

Celtic Dragon wrote:As soon as I've trashed these Yoko's that it came shod in, I'm going back to Vredstein's. Had Ultracs on the last scoob and they really are a peach of a tyre.

Yep, never used them, but heard a lot of good things about that tyre...get's a thumbs up from everyone I ask who has used it, including hatch owners

My local stockist does them for about £70 a corner for the ultracs, so quite a bit cheaper than the competition

Celtic Dragon wrote:My local stockist does them for about £70 a corner for the ultracs, so quite a bit cheaper than the competition

Jeez, that's cheap! Is that for the Ultrac or the Ultrac Sessanta?

And spill the beans, who's your stockist!!!

That was for the Ultracs, may have gone up since, that was 2 years ago I bought them.

Stockist wont do you any good, I'm just north of London! Quite a drive.

These are what I had on my old 1, http://www.tyres-pneus-online.co.uk/car-tyres-VREDESTEIN/ULTRAC/205,50,R17,93,W,XL.html

The 16" which is the old car used are only 88 from there, seems in they pattern you can only get 17's as the largest, and the 225/50's are £150 each.

The plot thickens!

Decided to go for the F1As, used them before (just not on the hatch) and loved them. However, it would appear that in 245/40/18 they're no longer available. Spoke to a few places and same story everywhere. Revolution even have a live link to Goodyear with current available tyres and F1As in that size are not on the list.

So unless I find somewhere that actually has them in stock (unlikely as it's not a common size) then it'll have to be something else.

One other option might be to go 255/35/18 but not sure how that'll work on an 8.5" rim. The design size for 255 is a 9" rim. Anybody got experience of 255 on a 8.5" rim?

Cheers, Neil.

Further to my above post, I phoned Goodyear this morning and it's true, 245/40/18 F1 Asymetrics are no longer in production!

On a more positive note, they did say 255/35/18 would be fine on an 8.5" rim. They are however, 18mm smaller in overall diameter than 245/40/18 and 10mm smaller in overall diameter even than the stock 235/45/17s. Visually, that's not going to look good IMHO.

What to do, what to do . . . . . .

Rheid wrote:Further to my above post, I phoned Goodyear this morning and it's true, 245/40/18 F1 Asymetrics are no longer in production!

On a more positive note, they did say 255/35/18 would be fine on an 8.5" rim. They are however, 18mm smaller in overall diameter than 245/40/18 and 10mm smaller in overall diameter even than the stock 235/45/17s. Visually, that's not going to look good IMHO.

What to do, what to do . . . . . .

Cheers for the heads up

Damn it, I was just getting used to the F1 Assyemetrics as well...

I would not fit anything other than what Subaru recommend for the 18's, buts thats just me being an old git

vredestein ultrac sessanta's or (if work is going well) Michilen Pilot Sport 2's next then...

Dave P wrote:

Cheers for the heads up

Damn it, I was just getting used to the F1 Assyemetrics as well...

I would not fit anything other than what Subaru recommend for the 18's, buts thats just me being an old git

vredestein ultrac sessanta's or (if work is going well) Michilen Pilot Sport 2's next then...

Yeah, I'm going to play it safe and stick to recommended 245/40/18.

Funnily enough, when I mentioned to Iain L about the Goodyear issue the first alternative he recommended was the Ultrac Sessanta - some good prices on those at the moment.

PS2s were on my list but prohibitively expensive for me right now. Also heard the sidewall is a bit soft so would probably be best to specify the 97 extra load version, more expensive again I would expect!

currently looking at tyres myself,
Picked up two punctures in the past week and discovered one of my tyres is shot at,

Been getting some prices but they all seem to be around the £140 - £150 bracket, may replace all four dunlops as I have always thought they were rather noisey.

May go for pirreli atm.

I wish Bridgestone did the RE070's in 18"...they'd sell millions