Mk 4.5 Mondeo Titanium X Sport Tyres

[Delankster]

Hi guys ,

just recently traded me old focus in for a Mondeo Titanium x sport

me new car will be needing some new boots sooner than later so i thought id ask you all what tyres you use and would you recommend them.

cheers guys

[BOF]

At first I thought that you wanted sport tyres for a Titanium X, but you probably want (unspecified) tyres for a Titanium X Sport? Is that right?

What size do you need and what are your priorities (essentially grip vs fuel economy and life, although you'd probably go witb a side order of whether you use them through the winter and how sensitive you are to noise)?

I suspect that the answer is going to be Conti SC5s versus Goodyear Eagle Assy 2s, but it depends on what you want.

[Delankster]

hi bof

yes tyres for a titanium x sport ... think they're 235 40 19 96w

basically after a good all rounder, will use all year round and dont mind the noise as the stereo's normally up loud !!

[BOF]

In 235 40 19, I am afraid that they are going to be expensive. The only budget 235/40/19 I can see at all is a Nankang AS 1, which isn't a great tyre...but it is half the price of some of the more 'respectable' choices.

Next up is a Hankook VENTUS S1 EVO2 K117; at least you could say some positive things about that, but snow perf is as disastrous as the worst summer tyre that you can find, and wear isn't the greatest, either.

Goodyear EAGLE F1 ASYMMETRIC 2 is slightly better on snow (still no great shakes, though); overall, apart from snow, you could probably decide that it is a bit 'give and take' between this and that Hankook, and if you weren't bothered about snow ('cos, eg, you use winter tyres) that the Hankook is slightly better overall, but, if you take snow into account, the Goodyear has it, marginally.

Vred Ultrac vorti? Better on wear than the goodyear, less good on snow. In general, the Goodyear is slightly better on performance, but not decisively so, so, if you could get the Vred at a discount to the Goodyear, it would be worth considering. (There is also a a Sessanta that you might see around; these look dramatic, but the Vorti is probably the better tyre all round if tyre pattern looks are not a big thing for you.)

Dunlop SPORT MAXX RT? not a bad tyre, but it is a bit difficult to see anything that it does better than the Goodyear, except noise, where it is a bit quieter. Oh, and fuel economy, where this is a C tyre and the rest are E, or worse (not that I really believe the official fuel economy numbers completely, but they are probably an indication, and there isn't much other indication).

Yoko ADVAN SPORT V103. compared to the Goodyear, slightly less of a sport tyre and more of an all-rounder. Better wear, slightly worse grip. Snow very, very marginally better.

Mich Pilot Super Sport. Better on wear and noise and comfort, worse on wet road stuff that the Goodyear; snow worse.

Conti SC3; an older tyre design than the SC5, and more of a sport tyre than the SC5s all-rounder type. Not much cheaper than an SC5, so I don't understand why you'd buy an SC3 over an SC5, unless there was a big discount (and there isn't, as far as I have seen).

SC5 Compared to the Goodyear, the Goodyear is a bit more sporty, but the SC5 is a bit better on wear, a bit better on snow (still not great, but...) and better on noise and comfort.

Those are roughly in order of increasing price (that will change from supplier to supplier, so if you have chosen a particular supplier for one reason or another that could change the ordering) and while, for example, you could say that the Goodyears and the Contis are are similar in overall quality (a difference in emphasis, but similar overall quality), but that price difference might make the difference for a lot of people.

In that size, most people will find that they have enough grip and so other things like fuel economy or comfort would be their priority. On the other hand, some people will always want the most grip that they can get and that might steer them in a different direction.

Hope that helps.

[stooge75]

put 17's on it. honestly it's gonna be SOOOOO expensive kitting it out with those

[Delankster]

cheers Bof,

some great info there.. quite like the sound of the Goodyear and the Continentals, not keen on budgets so will see whats available down my local before i decide .

Stooge: Am liking the look with the 19's so i wont be chopping them for 17's anytime soon thats for sure, thou as you rightly said its gonna cost a small fortune to fully boot it.

cheers guys

[BOF]

Pirelli P 7

put 17's on it. honestly it's gonna be SOOOOO expensive kitting it out with those

Well, yes, it is a problem, but then, if you didn't want something running on Titanium X Sport wheels 'n tyres, you shouldn't have bought a Titanium X Sport, really. And, if you think that's bad, don't ever, ever, look at the price of premium winter tyres in that size. (Although a set of 17s for winter tyres does make sense, if that's the way that want to go.)

In the interests of completeness, I should add that the following also exist in your size

Pirelli PZero Nero

Pirelli P7

Accelera PHI

Accelera Alpha

I'd only consider the Repellis, if you could get a really worthwhile discount that made them cheaper than the Goodyears or Hankooks. The Acceleras are 'budgets' (budget and 19s aren't really concepts that go together), and I can't really comment on the comparison between the Acceleras and the Nankangs mentioned earlier. The Phi would be the slightly better of the two Acceleras, but I wouldn't be expecting greatness, and I don't expect to be proved wrong...

Some people, who just want 19s for the looks would be happy with budgets; with 235s you could still end up with a similar amount of usable grip to a better tyre in, say, a 205 or 215 size. If that's not you, just be happy that you don't have to buy tyres that often...

[stooge75]

Pirelli P 7

Well, yes, it is a problem, but then, if you didn't want something running on Titanium X Sport wheels 'n tyres, you shouldn't have bought a Titanium X Sport, really.

go easy mate. who thinks of tyre size when they buy a motor

[Delankster]

I knew that 19's were gonna be expensive when I got the car so its no biggy.

quite tempted with the idea for 17's for winter thou... will look into it

cheers for all the advice chaps

[BOF]

go easy mate. who thinks of tyre size when they buy a motor

Well, I did for one, and it sounds as if Delankster did too, and he is happy with the decision. Don't see the problem.

Something else that you could look at is this; it is (sort of) an Auto Express review of 225/45/17s. They give you the final table, but you can't see the individual tyre scores without either some kind of authorisation, or the 4 - 10 Sept 2013 edition of the magazine itself.

There is something a bit odd about their noise results; even the tyre that did worst in the test scores 96%, and I would have expected a much bigger range than that, unless the car that they tested (a golf) was pretty noisy under the test conditions, irrespective of the tyres (and then you aren't really testing the tyre, but the car).

The Contis win on the basis of a decent performance everywhere, and a stellar braking performance; as braking could easily be priority, that's essentially a persuasive argument. Mich PS3 comes second and, unusually for a Michelin doesn't ace the rolling resistance test; they didn't test wear, but there would have to be a possibility that the Michelin is competing against tyres that don't wear as well (...competing against cheaper tyres that don't wear as well..). Or. maybe that's only the more economy orientated Premacy tyres.

Dunlop Sport Maxx RT does ace the RR test, but is a better 'eco' tyre than a wet weather tyre. Hankook's Ventus S1 evo 2 does badly on RR and is quiet, but isn't spectacular apart from that noise result.

The Goodyear Eagle F1 Assy 2 was a bit more of a middle-of-the-road tyre; no appalling results (dry handling came last, but that test didn't have a big spread of results), 2nd in RR, but generally ok rather than spectacular results...but then, you do generally have to pay a price for good rolling resistance results. For someone who prioritised RR, Sport Maxx RT, F1 Assy 2, SC 5 and Pilot Sport 3 (in that order) would be a good set of tyres to look at.

This set of results, while not on your exact tyre size, should be close enough to be representative of the same variety of tyre, where they are available in your size; some won't be available in your size, though.

[andthen]

^{hi guys}

^{like all things in life , you get what you pay for .}

^{I fitted some 18in avons av5's earlier this year and have not being disappointed}

^{i'm a member of the AA and you can buy tyres through them at internet tyre shop prices}

^{worked out at £129 each fitted and balanced..}

[stooge75]

aye well just keep spending £130 each per tyre lol

(& we wonder why they charge these prices!)

[chaznik]

Look at falken or kumho for middle of the road tyres

[BOF]

aye well just keep spending £130 each per tyre lol

(& we wonder why they charge these prices!)

Actually, in the size that Delankster wants, £130 is relatively cheap...which is why you look at tyre prices before buying a car.

@chaznik

Look at falken or kumho for middle of the road tyres

Well, as it happens, i have some experience with each of those brands.

I once bought a pair of Falkens (mid 90s, so you might ask how relevant that is today). After a few hundred miles, to wear the release agent off the tyres, I had to do an emergency stop in the dry. To make this clear, it didn't look like an emergency when i went for the brake pedal, but when the car didn't stop, it became an emergency stop. From about 35 mph they added at least 1.5 - 2 car lengths to the stopping distance, and I hate to think what would have happened in the wet.

Now this is only one of the tyres that Falken make, and even that was nearly twenty years ago, but given how truly terrible and frightening this was, I'm not in a hurry to repeat the experience. (And, by the way, I tried moving the tyres from the front of the car to the back, where they had less braking work to do, and there they were fine. No problems in cornering, wet or dry, no strange aquaplaning or anything; this was a surprise. Still not enough to change my mind about Falkens, because, clearly Falken is an organisation that doesn't mind putting out tyres that are dangerous. YMMV and all that, but I'll have to see a proper tyre review that shows some particular variant of tyre from Falken performing acceptably before I'll change my mind, and then only for that particular tyre.)

Kumhos? I've had a Cougar, and for a Cougar and its odd tyre size, frequently Kumhos are the only option, so I know them rather better than I might like. The older Kumhos (KU19, possibly) are ok; they have the older 'arrowhead' kind of tyre pattern, and at least the aquaplaning performance is decent. They are not the finest in terms of Rolling Resistance and wear isn't spectacular, but, if you can live with those, they are (or, were at the time) pretty much ojn the money for a mid-range tyre.

I've also tried the later KU39, which you are far more likely to see around these days; they aren't as good in aquaplaning and have a peculiar effect whereby they give a certain amount of lost motion in the steering (when fitted at the front). Now, if you are to take any pleasure from driving, that lost motion in the steering might be a real killer, but overall these are decent tyres with a very significant flaw. This is more of an all-rounder that the KU19, with a better balance of the different performance aspects, particularly wear, but they won't be for everyone, on the front at least (on the rear, I don't know, but the rear might move around more with these on, I don't know).

One point I would like to make is, you can't just say 'Brand A makes good tyres, Brand B makes bad ones'. (Well, you can say that some of the Chinese manufacturers make lousy tyres, so to that extent you can say 'Brand B makes bad tyres, if they are Chinese'.)

You can only really compare specific tyres. Overall, more modern designs tend to be better than older ones, but there is also the market segment at which they are aimed; If you want a sport tyre, an eco tyre is going to have to be an absolutely brilliant eco tyre to keep you happy, and vice versa.