195/55/15 daily tyres (V+ speed)

[matej]

What tyres would you recommend in 195/55/15 for daily driven MB6? The only ones I've found in this size localy are.

for daily use:

Toyo T1R V - 57,83 per tyre (gbp) UTQG 280 A A

Pirelli P7 V - 72.47 per tyre (gbp) - UTQG 260 - which I have now on my car (well not now since it is winter)

MAXXIS MAZ1 V - 48,13 per tyre (gbp) - UTQG 280 AA A - read they might be good, but not sure, the price is very low though. The design is a copy of some good high performance tyre, don't remember which one though.

Goodyear F1 GSD3 W - 59,83 per tyre (gbp) - UTQG 280 AA A

probably not good for daily (so for future trackday use) :

since they would wear too quickly for daily driving...but probably won't track my car much until I have some coilovers...those first two are 195/55/15 as I was looking for daily tyres, but for trackday I could go also 195/50/15 or 205/50/15

Toyo R1R V - 82,61 per tyre (gbp) UTQG 140 AA A - might be too exteme for daily since they would probably last max one summer season with that low UTQG

Bridgestone RE010 - cca 80 gbp per tyre - UTQG 140 A A - the 10 year old technology kinda puts me off and they would not last much at 140 UTQG so they might be too extreme for me

Yokohama Parada spec 2 - not sure what sizes they come in

found Yokohama PARADA 195/50/15 82V, not sure if they are spec 2 though, the pic can be seen here. they are 49.23 gbp for one which seems good, seems the picture is exactly the same as this one for spec 2 only mirrored. Thought they are more track oriented, but found on one site that the UTQG is 300 So they could be good for daily as well if they would come also in 195/55/15

others that I've heard good things about, but cannot find them locally

Dunlop Direzza Sport Z1 Star Spec V - UTQG 200 A A

Bridgestone RE-11 - UTQG unknow but probably 140-180

currently probably leaning towards trying the T1R for daily, wanted to buy them when I was getting my Pirelli P7 two years ago, but due to not enough feedback on them I didn't get them. I would like to last them 2 summer seasons, so I guess anything less than 200 UTQG is not able to provide that slow wear.

If you know any other good tires let me know and I will search for them if I can source them locally.

For daily I want only 195/55/15, for trackdays I could also go for 195/50/15 or 205/50/15 if they would be trackday only set.I also have a set of 16inch alloys that I could use for trackdays, but in 16inch the tyres would be more expensive, so will probably sell that alloys. I want to buy some new 15inch alloys anyway. Probably Rota Circuit 8 15x6.5 et40 or et38 (I've found in et38 in us that would cost about 330gbp including shipping to me so that is probably the best offer I can get, gotta email them if they can also source the et40 that rota also makes) but I would like those for daily since I want to reduce the unsprung weight to inctrease the comfort on our terrible roads.

I haven't decided on coilovers yet. Don't have money for some good ones like TEIN MonoFlex (with EDFC) or for daily probably TEIN ComfortSport would be better (also supports EDFC) but that would be too soft for serious trackdays, but guess better than nothing. Or I might go for the usual Eibach/Koni combination that is supposed to work well for M, but will leave the coilovers discussion for a different thread. Our roads are so crappy that even the stock suspension is sometimes hard on our very bumpy roads, but at least I can go pretty fast almost everywhere which is what I need for daily driving. I hated how I had to go slow all the time with lowered springs and 16inch wheels that my car had when I bought it.

[Guest]

Just a quick note about the parada spec 2's, I have run them on the front of my civic for the last couple of years, they are ok if the road is dry but as soon as it's cold, greasy damp or wet they are a nightmare.

I ran eagle f1's before that and loved them, the wet grip is amazing. (they dont like snow though!)

I'm now trying Falken 912's which are not really a performance tyre but in the wet the improvement over the paradas is very noticeable.

[matej]

btw I looked at http://www.yokohamatire.com/tires/spec.aspx?tire=PARADA

and they don't list the 195/50/15 for Parada spec 2 tire (only 16"+). So I guess the one I've found in local eshop is the earlier model.

Anyway if you say they are very bad in wet I think I won't consider them as my daily since in wet the risk of crashing is much higher with bad tyres than in dry with bad tyres. Not that I would drive that fast in wet, but still one can be surprised by some unknown corner and I don't want to end up badly just to have little bit better dry traction.

What is the traction of T1R than in wet? Seems like the most likely to go for currently, but I need some wet grip as well. The Pirelli P7 are ok in wet, but probably not great as well and not probably as good in dry as the T1R.

Thx for the tip on the Eagle F1. I was looking at them too, but didn't hear any comments. But that's probably since I was looking at some forums where dry traction was above anything else so the usual contenders were the extreme performance tyres with UTQG below 200.

Read something more about them and they seem like a great tire. So it seems like a decision between the Goodyear Eagle F1 GSD3 and Toyo T1R. The price is the same and probably the Goodyear will be a bit better, so I may go for them.

[Dave]

I was running the TOYO T1R 195/55/15 on the MA8 civic, and I thought they were superb. Amazing grip in the dry, and good grip in the wet aswell. I really rate them, and thats what im thinking of getting for the MB6. Wear wise, if you drive hard a lot, they can wear quickly, as they're a soft compound. On saying that, my toyos are now on Dawns aerodeck and still going strong, alhto she doesnt do as high a mileage as i was doing.

But........................GOODYEAR Dawn had hese on a Focus Zetec (estate) and althought its well known that the focus is an amazing handling car straight out of the box, I can honestly say that wet or dry, I couldnt get these to loose grip!!!!!!!! Most amazing tyre ever! Think it was the eagle nct 5's...........awsome trye. Its just the price diff that kinda makes you try and weigh up the differences. Either toyo t1r or the goodyear and you can go wrong.