What kind of tyre brands do u guys recommend that will last a while and have good grip in wet conditions, good in hot climate and smooth when driving?

I'm not sure what size your running but i recommend the kumho. They are are a nice grippy tyre that are quiet and good for the wet too depending on the tread pattern (try and find the ku 31s) at a reasonable price. but keep in mind that there is virtually no such thing as a tyre that grips and has a long life. The more grip the shorter the life, a tyre that is designed for long life tend not to work to well in the performance area.

Whats your price range per tyre, and what size?

Like TiMi said, it would help to know your tyre size and your budget. Many tyre manufacturers make good tyres and not-so-good tyres, so it's much better to recommend particular models of tyres instead of brands.

And like chrisby said, you more or less sacrifice lifespan for grip. Are you looking for a high performance tyre, or more an all-round tyre?

I'll start though by suggesting the Maxxis MA-Z1. It's quite grippy in both wet and dry - it fared quite well in a motoring magazine tyre test not too long ago, and was one of the better tyres for wet weather performance. It's a softer compound, but comes with pretty deep tread blocks - it looks like I'm going to get 45,000km - maybe even 50,000km - out of my set which, to me, is quite impressive. The main downside is that it's quite noisy, particularly on coarse bitumen. Expect to pay around $250 for 235/40/R18. If want other people's feedback (and prices for other sizes), check out the consolidated tyre discussion threads in the 380 and AWD sections (you will need to search for them).

Pirreli seem to have reasonable grip and long life. The one's my dad have on his pergeot lasted 60,000 and seem pretty good. Not a 'sports' grip as such but more of a 'safety' grip, i wouldnt reccomend them for giving your car a flog on a mountain side but regular driving they have enough grip to rank a fair way above triangles.

Pirelli P-Zero are good if you have some money to spend, if not, depending on size and budget, Kumho KU31 or KU19 are your next best bets.

After that, Nexen N6000 are very grippy but will be stuffed fairly quickly, but are cheap enough for it to work. Maxxis like Red Valdez said are very good from what i've heard from customers and mates.

Avoid anything like Triangle like the plague. Bridgestones are, as a rule, much too overpriced for what they offer.

[Edit]
Also, although i haven't really tried them in the wet, Pirelli Dragons aren't too expensive and have excellent grip in the dry. Holding up fairly well in the wear department, too.

I used to use Yokohama A520 (on my old RWD Corolla) and later loved a cheap 'standard' Yokohama tyre - these were about $80 for a size similar to 185/55/14 and the wet weather grip in these was phenomenal IMO. I could launch in the wet almost as hard as in the dry and initially it would spin, but then it seemed to clear the water away and, FMIIL, would chirp/squeal then take off.
Any lesser tyre under the same clutch & throttle application would just turn into smoke.
But these Yokohamas lasted about 25,000kms with me and I must have used 3 or more sets of those.

So - from my experience, even 1 cheap Yokohama was not cheap due to any lack of performance.

Kumho KU31 is also very popular - wet grip is impressive.
Only 150 a tyre depending on size etc.

Yoko Advans - A little pricey but GREAT!

SuFz :ninja:

Nexen n8000, anyone know what happened to those? they aren't on the nexen site anymore and possibly discontinued? They were meant to be very good value in terms of grip.

See also the 380 thread - nearly 600 posts tere on this question

http://www.aussiemagna.com/forums/showthread.php?t=70151&p=1415078&highlight=#post1415078

Here's another one for ya if your looking for grip..... the federal 595, they glue to the road but I'm not too sure about comfort or noise.

My price would be about 100 a tyre and size is 16

Do yourself a favour and bump your budget up per tyre. I doubt 100 bucks will get you anything worthy

Do yourself a favour and bump your budget up per tyre. I doubt 100 bucks will get you anything worthy
Plus one.

If you're asking us guys to recommend a tyre that will handle the heat of Darwin, without tearing themselves to peices being so soft, and handle 'the wet'.
I'd go and talk to the tyre shops up there, we are all eskimoes compared to you.
I have had the KU31's every one is talking about and they will show noticeable treadwear after a winding mountain cruise on a 25 degree day on a shaded road, if you like the twisty's, the Heat will kill'em in 15,000 k's up there.
Any well made tyre will grip well on Dry conditions, I mean, its not really cold up there is it. But you'll need a soft tyre with deep tread for after the build up.
I'd be looking at owning two sets of tyres in those conditions, If I had the place to store them, But local knowledge is the path I'd recommend you take.

I was guessing you're from darwin, coz there's only two weeks of rain of year in the Alice.
N.T. is weird, you speak australian, vote in the same country, but its different, like going overseas, but not.

i am also looking looking for new tyres for the magna. if anyone can recommend anything that can fit a 17" wheel. Money isn't really a problem but i would like to keep it under $220 - $250 a tyre.

I'm tempted by Falken tyres - they start around $150 each and always tested well when they entered the market about ? 15 years ago maybe?
I don't know if any specific styles they make are best, good or bad, but as a brand it's one I'm willing to try.

My price would be about 100 a tyre and size is 16



in the tyre business its virtually a case of you get what you paid for and with a budget like that and the size your giving us you will be lucky to get a set that won't cause constant vibration problems let alone actually grip.


i am also looking looking for new tyres for the magna. if anyone can recommend anything that can fit a 17" wheel. Money isn't really a problem but i would like to keep it under $220 - $250 a tyre.

The good old 235 45 17 would be the one your looking for, you can get the some good brands without breaking the 200 mark.

The good old 235 45 17 would be the one your looking for, you can get the some good brands without breaking the 200 mark.[/QUOTE]

Any real brand you can think of?

The good old 235 45 17 would be the one your looking for, you can get the some good brands without breaking the 200 mark.


Any real brand you can think of?
I recently got a pair of Federal 595 tyres (235/45/17) from Advanced Tyres in Richmond, $220 for the pair, and I think another $20 or something for the wheel balance. Haven't done a hell lot of a lot of driving with them so I don't really have much to report but they seem grippy enough and certainly aren't noisy. I found it on ebay but the listing is gone, anyway there's other places with the same price. Only thing is the load rating is 93V which for my TJ is 20kg short of the required max load. Can someone clarify how important this is, and would I have anything to worry about it being only 20kg short?

double post :ninja:

The car has a minimum load rating that you can go and if you go below that then its dangerous, illegal and your insurance is completely void. I would to back and give that tyre shop a blast because that's dangerous and its illegal for them to fit a tyre if it hasn't got the right load rating.

Check out SUMITOMO ZIII Bloody Awsome handling and lasting tyres thay are japanesse alse the parent company of Dunlop

Check out SUMITOMO ZIII Bloody Awsome handling and lasting tyres thay are japanesse alse the parent company of Dunlop

Yes, these are good tyres for relatively low noise & grip, have a pair on my Magna.

To the OP, check out the major brands, e.g. Bridgestone, Dunlop, Pirelli, Michelin etc., and see what deals the major tyre dealers can do. Steer clear of the chinese cheapies as you will be very disappointed - many seem to have harder compounds that will last a while, but at the expense of noise and grip. Not good.

I'm tempted by Falken tyres - they start around $150 each and always tested well when they entered the market about ? 15 years ago maybe?
I don't know if any specific styles they make are best, good or bad, but as a brand it's one I'm willing to try.
I see that Falken (http://www.falken.com.au/tyres/passenger-tyres.html) only have three different models to choose from. I was looking at the ZE912s when I was up for new tyres, but it's supposed to be more of a 'touring' tyre than a 'performance' tyre, so I gave it a miss.

My parents have the FK452s (the performance model) on their Commodore. They're pretty quiet for a performance tyre. It's a bit hard to make an accurate assessment on their grip - I don't drive it that often, and being a V8 it's pretty easy to get stability control to kick in regardless of the tyre lol. They're definitely on the grippy side of things, and I would definitely consider them for my car depending on the price.

The car has a minimum load rating that you can go and if you go below that then its dangerous, illegal and your insurance is completely void. I would to back and give that tyre shop a blast because that's dangerous and its illegal for them to fit a tyre if it hasn't got the right load rating.
This.

If you crash and kill someone, they can actually go down for manslaughter.
If you want to keep your insurance, i suggest you go load-rated.


OP, bump your budget up to $120-150 a tyre and you can start looking at decent options. $100 for 16" is right on edge of the 'cheap shit' range of tyres.

If you crash and kill someone, they can actually go down for manslaughter.


The person you killed goes down for manslaughter? WTF?

Yeah I know just thought I might get lucky lol

Yeah I might try kumho they sound good

The person you killed goes down for manslaughter? WTF?
The owner of the business, where the tyre(s) was fitted.

I'm tempted by Falken tyres - they start around $150 each and always tested well when they entered the market about ? 15 years ago maybe?
I don't know if any specific styles they make are best, good or bad, but as a brand it's one I'm willing to try.

I have fallen ziex on the wagon which came off my vrx its supposed to be one of there high end tyres and the grip in the wet was poor and just as bad in the dry!

I have fallen ziex on the wagon which came off my vrx its supposed to be one of there high end tyres and the grip in the wet was poor and just as bad in the dry!

the 512's yeah? Shite tyre. They were crap on the SRi and it only weighed a tonne!

the 512's yeah? Shite tyre. They were crap on the SRi and it only weighed a tonne!

unsure ill have to check when i get home

I'm happy with my Australian made V-rated Dunlop 300E tyres (205/65-15). However some mediocre reviews have made me wonder whether the imported H-rated equivalents are inferior - anyone experienced both?

BF Goodrich tyres seem to be good tyres at reasonable prices - Jax are advertising the Sport TA in the above size for $104. A while back they were advertising the newer (I think) G-Grip (not to be confused with G-Force) at about $109. They get very good reviews (see below) but for some reason the G-Grip isn't mentioned on the Jax or Goodrich (Australia) web sites.

I like to check reviews on tyretest.com (click on "Car summer tyres"). If a tyre has a large number of reviews then the overall rating should be meaningfull, although I suppose only the "spirited" drivers can properly rate the cornering. Take note when looking at the rating - the lower the number the better, so the best tyres are under 2.
Another good site is tyrereviews.co.uk.

Checking 215/60-16 tyres, Dunlop Fast Responce came up well - any comments on it? I've been quoted $185.

The car has a minimum load rating that you can go and if you go below that then its dangerous, illegal and your insurance is completely void. I would to back and give that tyre shop a blast because that's dangerous and its illegal for them to fit a tyre if it hasn't got the right load rating.
Is it only void if the accident is my fault?

In every situation mate. It's dangerous to cut corners and there's no getting away with it, go back and tell them to do their job properly before its too late or your gonna get burnt.

Is it only void if the accident is my fault?

They could take any excuse to stop a payout, However still unlikely.