2014 Evo Tyre Test

[toyneg]

Was just reading this month's issue and their Number 1 tyre for this year is the new Continental Contisport 5 by quite a margin it seemed. I know Contis havent had the best feedback on here over the years, maybe they have finally sorted themselves out. last year's winner, the Goodyears are now 3rd.

[neilparf]

Was just reading this month's issue and their Number 1 tyre for this year is the new Continental Contisport 5 by quite a margin it seemed. I know Contis havent had the best feedback on here over the years, maybe they have finally sorted themselves out. last year's winner, the Goodyears are now 3rd.

That's interesting. I have ContiSport 3's on mine (4 new when I got the car) and they are ok, but I'm desperate to rip through them in favour of some Asyms - if Evo rate the 5's so well, then that may be a dilemma...off to buy Evo now...

[Wavey Dynamicist]

What about Pilot Super Sports? Were they included?

[toyneg]

What about Pilot Super Sports? Were they included?

They were 5th behind, contis, Pirelli, Goodyear and Yokohama

[coffey555]

No, they tested PS3's instead which I think came 5th.

Just worn out my first set of Supersports which are a very good tyre IMHO. The car felt much better on the Michelin rubber than it did on the SportsContact 3's the car came with and the 'interesting' P Zero Rosso's that briefly followed them.

[MikeFish]

So Pirelli placed 2nd? Which ones?
I'm surprised contis and pirellis beat the goodyears.

[bam_bam]

I take the Evo tyre test with a pinch of salt. Is it just me or do they always use a cooking model Eurobox running 215s with a load of sidewall?

[Graeme4130]

I take the Evo tyre test with a pinch of salt. Is it just me or do they always use a cooking model Eurobox running 215s with a load of sidewall?

Yeah, I'd take it for a pinch of salt too
Not only do they test on a car not generally comparable with our RS4's and 6's, but also, the tyres you get fitted on the car OE are of a different compound to those you can buy in the open market, so your Pzeros that come on your car can behave very differently the Pzero's you can buy from Blac circles or quick fit.
It's only if you buy through the dealer that you get the OE compound tyres, and that's if they buy through Audi logistics and not from quick fit or whoever they can source them from too.

[J130YCE]

.... the tyres you get fitted on the car OE are of a different compound to those you can buy in the open market, so your Pzeros that come on your car can behave very differently the Pzero's you can buy from Blac circles or quick fit.
It's only if you buy through the dealer that you get the OE compound tyres, and that's if they buy through Audi logistics and not from quick fit or whoever they can source them from too.

Is this really true?

The evo test is good / useful but as others say not necessarily representative of the cars we drive. I run pilot sports on my RS but will be looking to change... Winters defo, summers undecided for next year.

However my Abarth was running pzero's which were shocking and now I run proxies which totally transformed the cars dry handling when warm, wet otherwise but I have just changed rims and tyres for rainsport 3 after all it rains a lot here...and it only has a little bit of power!

Such a hard choice to make as it's not as if you get a new set every few weeks that you can chop and change.

Following with interest.

[Graeme4130]

.... the tyres you get fitted on the car OE are of a different compound to those you can buy in the open market, so your Pzeros that come on your car can behave very differently the Pzero's you can buy from Blac circles or quick fit.
It's only if you buy through the dealer that you get the OE compound tyres, and that's if they buy through Audi logistics and not from quick fit or whoever they can source them from too.

Is this really true?

The evo test is good / useful but as others say not necessarily representative of the cars we drive. I run pilot sports on my RS but will be looking to change... Winters defo, summers undecided for next year.

However my Abarth was running pzero's which were shocking and now I run proxies which totally transformed the cars dry handling when warm, wet otherwise but I have just changed rims and tyres for rainsport 3 after all it rains a lot here...and it only has a little bit of power!

Such a hard choice to make as it's not as if you get a new set every few weeks that you can chop and change.

Following with interest.

Very true
I used to work for Honda and I worked on tyre projects for a while with BS, Conti and Michelin
Oe tyres will nearly always use a custom compound developed for the specifics of the car and are generally screened for balance and matched across the car for conicity , whereas the 'any old <beep>" spec is what goes out through general distribution
In my experience, the OE tyres will be much higher spec than the aftermarket stuff

[J130YCE]

Wow, so given this who should you buy a tyre from and more importantly how do you decide on a tyre, as the same tyre, by label could be very different from 'another' (same, same but different) purchased from another source .. The plot thickens

I am now more undecided than ever....

[Rick_RS4]

im sticking with nankangs, my nan said they were awesome on the way to get her hair done

[sar]

i swear by my ditchfinder 2000s's.

[Surrey Sam]

Interesting thread, I'm inclined to agree with Bam Bam's thoughts.

I have an RS4 shod with Goodyear F1 Asy 3's and another temporary RS4 shod with Michelin PS3's. Always liked the Goodyears but having covered a fair distance now on the PS3's I find myself liking those slightly more. They have a firmer sidewall and feel less squirmy under braking, also there is no squeal at the adhesion limit unlike the Goodyears which was my biggest gripe with the F1's. Outright grip is hard to tell apart but the PS3's give you more confidence in the high speed corners.

[adsgreen]

OEM tyres have a suitable code.
For example, the yoko 48's fitted to Lotus cars end with the code "LTS".
This is a custom compound (IIRC in this case it's actually harder than normal).

Depending on the deals with the manufacturer yo may or may not be able to source these tyres outside the dealer network.

However, Audi do allow their own make tyres to be available - they are suffixed AO.
RS models have RO1 IIRC.
edit: Good list here. http://www.tyres-pneus-online.co.uk/rea ... dvice.html