Hi chaps,

I have just bought a used Mondeo Titanium X Sport after a reasonable hiatus from car ownership due to living in the big smoke of London and Singapore, so I'm a little out of touch with the car world of today.

The car is in decent nick with 10,000 miles on the clock and what looks like a decent set of Potenza 235x40x19 96Ys on it. These appear healthy enough for now, but I know that new rubber in this size will be somewhere between "ouch" and buttock clenchingly expensive, so I would like to do some homework well in advance of actual need.

I know there are a few posts on this subject already - I just thought I would put out my perspective and see if any recommendations are different.

My views are that I wont buy budget tyres - no way, now how. This is from bias in "the old days" where budget tyres were pretty garbage. There have probably been a lot of advancements, but I would rather put my safety in the "hands" of the premium brands.

Looking at names out there I think my choices are :

Dunlops

Brigestone (Potenza is by Bridgestone - right?)

Michelin

Continental

In the past I have always gone for either Contis or Dunlops as I always thought Michelins were overpriced and rubbish in the wet, but that's based on 7 years back ..

So - I live in Scotland which as rumour has it - is always wet (near enough). So - I have a big priority on wet handling.

Safety is top priority, so I would like anyone's view on the above brands (and models if you can recommend any), that would give a good reckoning in terms of :

- Wet road handling

- Dry road handling

- Road noise

- Fuel economy

In order of most to least important.

Budget is not a huge concern - I will pay top ££ if a tyre is SOO much safer than another alternative, but I don't want my wallet raided just for a fancy name and "go faster" stripes type thing.

Your expert options are greatly awaited.

Worth considering Goodyears - the Eagle f1s are good tyres and probably have better (wet and dry) grip than some you have mentioned

A lot of modern tyres have a high silica content biased towards low rolling resistance (economy) and wear characteristricts so do not grip well at under 7 degrees centigrade (especially in the wet)

so its not just the wet weather grip - but at what temprature a tyre that has exellent grip in the wet at 15 degrees + may be useless at 4 degrees centigrade

Its also worth considering getting a second set of wheels (mk3 Mondeo 16" steelies will do/ or Ford 5-stud 16" or over ) and fit them with winter tyres for the.... winter - if safety and grip is a priority and budget is not a major concern (+ you live in Scotland) your spare may be a (potentially dangerous/ speed limited) space-saver so worth getting a full size one too if so