Rain Tyres, thought opinions! no spam plz

[M3_Power]

Careful with the re001, a lot of the honda sizings are made in Thailand not Japan. Personally I think the RE001 are just a step up from the MY01s (similar side wall design but with awsome compound).

I'd buy the Pirelli P-Zero Neros for wet weather grip, or the Eagle F1s if you can find the German ones.

However I'd also rate the DZ101s to have pretty nice wet weather grip - predictable, but not ultimate in grip levels.

Unfortunately we get bugger all selection in NZ which is a shame - we seem to get a lot of second rate stuff rather than the top of the range items.

[duncanb]

Originally Posted by M3_Power

Careful with the re001, a lot of the honda sizings are made in Thailand not Japan. Personally I think the RE001 are just a step up from the MY01s (similar side wall design but with awsome compound).

I've bought 215/45-17 and 195/55-15 and both were made in Japan. And I suspect that Bridgestone manage to maintain quality better in offshore factories. I bought a set of Turanzas that were made in Indonesia about 4 years ago, and had no problems at all.

[duncanb]

Originally Posted by erichns

I have no trouble with 225/45/17 China made Eagle F1 on 220rwkw. But now I have 255/40/17 German made Eagle F1 on 250rwkw and still have no traction problem. I don't know why the china made should be inferior? Most of our stuff are made in China anyway, like Nike, motherboards, monitors, TV, etc. There's always different grade of China made stuff of course and you get what you pay for.

I'm glad you didn't have problems. But if you do a search, you'll find some threads on the made in China F1. I even had a tyre dealer tell me that he took a set off his Commie SS as he couldn't get them to balance.

[WAY TC]

re01R :!:

[erichns]

Originally Posted by duncanb

I'm glad you didn't have problems. But if you do a search, you'll find some threads on the made in China F1. I even had a tyre dealer tell me that he took a set off his Commie SS as he couldn't get them to balance.

Somehow the 255/40/17 German made ones need more balancing weight than the 225/45/17 China made ones on the same rims, but maybe it's because of the larger sized tyres?

[DrRubber]

it could be that the heavy point of the tyre is not in sync with the light point of the wheel.

or the wheel just may have a heavy spot........

or it could be the tyres......

i myself noticed a massive difference balancing chinese gsd3 to german equivilants.....took more weight for definate

[BWDOWN]

Eagle F1's here too on my 9. Awesome in the wet!

[CL7R]

I so wish I had Eagle F1 tonight...the motorway was full of standing water

[Ali]

Originally Posted by BWDOWN

Eagle F1's here too on my 9. Awesome in the wet!

Awesome in the wet

[erichns]

Originally Posted by CL7R

I so wish I had Eagle F1 tonight...the motorway was full of standing water

My Eagle F1 cut through water on motorway easily yesterday, despite the fronts having done 38,000km. Drove in the wet like it was dry, except for the reduced visibility of course.

[BWDOWN]

I bought my Eagle F1's in March this year and got German made. So there are still some out there which are good quality..

[Ali]

I purchased them at beaurepairs which were the German made F1's. Out of interest is it just the quality of the tyre?

[vtec-aus]

Originally Posted by Ali

I purchased them at beaurepairs which were the German made F1's. Out of interest is it just the quality of the tyre?

Consistency is what the German made ones have the edge on, better quality control. Your most likely going to get a decent set of Chinese ones but theres just more chance you'll get a dodge tyre than if you got a batch from Germany. No difference in the compound, design etc. well not that i know of.

[PRF]

Goodyear NZ have released a brochure "If It Says Goodyear, It's A Goodyear", produced by Goodyear Europe: 245/0507/LUX-ENG.
To ease the concerns of buyers, highlighting...

"Same Tyre, Same Quality. Different Country.
Goodyear compared the wet braking performance of Goodyear products with Chinese budget brands.
It showed that Goodyear CHina and EU tyres are on the same high performance level, unlike their Chinese competitors.
The Dalian tyre plant meets ISO 14001 certification, and was the company's first plant to be awarded TSO 16949.
Goodyear entered the Chinese market in 1994.
Since 2001 Goodyear tyres have been supplied from Dalian to several original equipment clients including BMW, VW, GM, Ford and Citroen".

And more.
permaisuri tells me there's a Goodyear Dealer Video to go with the brochure, that dealers were shown.
Drop by your local Goodyear outlet and ask for the brochure, well worth reading.

Originally Posted by americ_ian

well its winter, and i want to live this year... and the ae needs new tyres
the rear of mine does NOT hold on in anything remotly wet.. and the front suffers understeer when pushed(ie ruapuna)

sizes 205/50/15

recomendations...

As good as Eagle F1 GS-D3 is, it is not available in 205/50R15.
Nor are many of the tyres posted here.

A good start would be fitting the same model tyre all round, even if your run different sizes front to back.
This will go no end to improving the handling of your AE.
As no car handles well with a mixed set front or rear, even more so mixed on the same axle.

Direzza DZ101 are a solid, sharp priced performer.
As are Proxes T1R, which while very good in the wet, suffer like DZ101 from soft sidewalls.
There are better performing tyres which offer stiffer sidewalls, and as a result inspire more confidence.
Coping better with harder driving like Potenza RE001 Adrenalin, Potenza RE040, Pilot Preceda PP2, and particularly Azenis RT615.
But at a higher purchase price.
Then there's the option of personally importing the likes of Advan Neova AD07, Potenza RE-01R, or Potenza RE-11 even.
Which brings the price into the mid to high $200 each bracket.
Options, and choice aplenty.

[americ_ian]

Prf! Win!!!

[TypeRMachinist]

Ive got F1s all round and they are mint Did Blenheim to Nelson in the shittest weather ever and handled nicely

[Bazda]

From testing escorts we have found the Dunlop 03G soft compound to be MAGIC in the wet.
Using a 200hp escort track car, you can use 100% throttle on a launch in the wet on pukekohe start line. You have to see it to beleive it lol, this guy over took 7 cars on the start before the sweeper.

The tread on these tyres dont look like they would do much in the rain, but they must do a little and i recon most it it relies on the sticky compound of this tyre (As they usually only last about 1-2 meetinsg in the dry).

If they are too expensive, dad also tried the toyo RA-1, another semi slick. Brand new these were awesome in the wet!!! dad was doing 1.23s at manfield in the wet!! he lapped about 6 back markers before 8 laps were up. As they got a little older they werent quite as good but still VERY good.

He just used them at the last auckland car club meeting at puke, and won all his grid start races with them and beat a 700hp+ falcon haha.
In the handy cap some datsun from SS2000 tried to go faster as dad caught up to him but he hit the wall into the first left hander to the hill then went across the track and slid along the armco and ended up on the home straight

Oh and if anyone is using bridgestone RE55s, dont ever use them in the wet, useless and totally dangerous.

[duncanb]

Originally Posted by PRF

Goodyear NZ have released a brochure "If It Says Goodyear, It's A Goodyear", produced by Goodyear Europe: 245/0507/LUX-ENG.
To ease the concerns of buyers, highlighting...

"Same Tyre, Same Quality. Different Country.
Goodyear compared the wet braking performance of Goodyear products with Chinese budget brands.
It showed that Goodyear CHina and EU tyres are on the same high performance level, unlike their Chinese competitors.
The Dalian tyre plant meets ISO 14001 certification, and was the company's first plant to be awarded TSO 16949.
Goodyear entered the Chinese market in 1994.
Since 2001 Goodyear tyres have been supplied from Dalian to several original equipment clients including BMW, VW, GM, Ford and Citroen".

ISO 14001??? This has NOTHING to do with tyre quality:

ISO 14001 is the international specification for an environmental management system (EMS). It specifies requirements for establishing an environmental policy, determining environmental aspects and impacts of products/activities/services, planning environmental objectives and measurable targets, implementation and operation of programs to meet objectives and targets, checking and corrective action, and management review.

And there is no such standard as "TSO 16949". They are referring to 'ISO/TC 16949", which is a variant of ISO 9001 for the automotive industry.

Obviously written by a PR person.

[Cheeky Kiwi]

I got Goodyear F1's from Frank Allen Tyres a month ago. They're German made, need more weight to balance, and kick ass in the wet and dry.

[DSCRET]

The 3 race meetings I have raced in (NOT DRIVENN FAST IN THE STREET)
It has been pissing down
I have used dz101 very have been awsome imo. There are probley better. But for value for money they are the go. And remeber they are controlled wet for N.Z production car series

[monolith]

Originally Posted by DSCRET

And remeber they are controlled wet for N.Z production car series

And TZ100s are the control tyre for the HQs.... and they're complete rubbish.

As for the GS-D3, IMO they are very good in the wet. In the dry they are OK for normal street use, but I've had them start to melt during spirited driving. Also, as they don't really have any continual rib they feel squirmy under hard braking.

I've given bridgestone NZ a hard time over not importing the RE01 (And now RE01R) all to no avail...