As the threads wear down nearer to the limit, here comes tyre shopping! I started with some Pirelli P-Zero's last year, plenty life left at the front but getting really close to the legal limit at the rear now. They are good tyres, but somehow felt like something is missing, something not quite hitting the spot. So I've decided to try the new Continental SportContact 7 this time. Haven't purchased them yet, still in the process of shopping around to find the best deal available. I'd love to give Michelin a go, but my wallet says no. Maybe for the next tyre replacement next year who knows, if Goodyear doesn't show up in my line of sight!.

Anyways, while shopping around to find a good price for those Continental tyres, I stumbled across those cheap budget tyres with some fancy names that big brands marketing teams can only dream of... "Value Choice", "Budget Tyres", and many more... Such sexy names, with such attractive prices! More than half price of the big names!

I'm no tyre expert, and always assumed you get what you pay for, and in the tyre world I feel like the more you pay the better! And when it comes to those XK/XKRs with the amount of power and torque going through the rear wheels, you better have good tyres. Tyres being your only point of contact with the road, and so a critical safety item you don't want to skimp on.

But I'm left wondering, how bad are these super low cost tyres? Has anyone tried any of them (for whatever reason)? Are they actually that far away behind from those premium brands or are we only talking maybe marginally worse (5-10% worse)? Could they be the equivalent of premium tyres but from 10 years ago or even that is too far fetched?

I'm not planning on fitting any cheap budget tyres on my XKR. Other than for safety reasons it would just feel wrong to see such a nice car fitted with ugly shoes. Just trying to satisfy my curiosity.

Cheers for reading

 

My old Range Rover would chew through tires. I started using off brand tires and...........they lasted just as long as the top tier brands at half the cost. With a performance car, I would stick to name brand tires (I have Pirellis on both XK's at the moment.)

 

Here we go again!

 

Continentals are generally good tires. Had them on several cars, even the quite sporty Contact models. Make sure with whatever brand you buy, check the date codes. You want recent and matching.

 

What's your driving style and what's your expectation? Do you care about longevity, noise, handling, performance, feel, etc? There are so many variables, even within a single brand.

 

Are the tire compounds even the same in the US vs UK?

 

I agree with jahummer. There is no single part of a car that varies as much, and impacts your experience of driving as much, as your tires. As such, there is no One Size Fits All answer to your question.
I've never gone "economy" on tires, but I'm not an expert.
I want: QUIET. (I'm a convertible guy and every little bit helps) Followed by performance, and wet-weather.
Longevity is not high on my list.
I'm a Continental guy, but LOTS of opinions (and threads) on here.

 

There are too many tyres to choose from, it's a moving target as tyres are updated continuously, and the only relatively reliable guidance is from recent controlled tests. We individuals haven't tested tyres back to back and I certainly don't have the skills to consistently repeat a test at high speed at the limit of what the tyre/car can do. But this is exactly what we pay for, the extra margin of a better tyre in addition to the overall performance and handling experience. Have a read of this tyre test/watch the video as it sort-of answers your questions:

https://www.tyrereviews.com/Article/...-Tyre-Test.htm

They actually tested some budget tyres and weren't impressed Even well-know tyres performed noticably worse than the best.

The Continental SportContact 7 seems to be in the same ballpark as the Michelin PS4S, maybe better according to the tests that are starting to come in and is priced much less painfully. I've just had a set of SC7s fitted. They are virtually factory fresh with production dates of 1722 and 2022, an advantage of a new model but as I only drove the 4 miles home along fairly straight town roads, I can't really make any comments. They were not particularly noisy or uncomfortable and had that new rubber "softness" compared to the aging tyres they replaced. The initial signs are OK at least

 

Great time for this thread. I bought a XKR last week. At the time of purchase, I noted the Dunlop Sport Maxx tires that were on it had good tread, but didn't take a close look. Just today, however, I saw that all four of them had begun to crack. Disappointing, as the date codes showed they were less than four years old.

Off to the local tire shop. The guy behind the counter pulled up the catalog. The first one was by a brand I'd never heard of called Triangle and were £78 each. I nearly laughed out loud. I'm all for spending less money, but that struck me as taking my life in my hands.

The shop also offered Continental Sport Contact. I've heard good things about these and did consider asking for them, but when I saw the trusty Michelin Pilot Sports were just a little bit more, I decided to go for the tires I already know. I've had them on other cars and liked them.

My wife knows very little about cars, but has sometimes noticed when a cheap tire on a used car is lacking in grip. "Well honey, I'll make sure I get some good tires!"

When I suggested that I mail-order from Tire Rack, the tire shop guy mentioned that the tire compounds were different across the pond. I am interested if there is a difference in compound, but would like to hear the answer from someone who isn't trying to sell me something.

 

I've been fairly loyal to Michelin over the years, and have never been disappointed with any choice for any car I've owned. However, I've been told that Michelin has recently had production issues and have stopped making certain tires over a period of time making them very difficult to purchase. That being said, if purchasing a Michelin product.. especially relevant to the Pilot Sport 4S...check the production dates! I haven't checked dates, because the tire has to be purchased and at the tire retailer to find out.

 

US tires are a harder rubber than European tires. This makes US tires last longer at the cost of grip.

 

Sounds dubious. There are many variants of the same tire. Even the same pilot sport can have several specs under the same name. You'll see this on TireRack for instance.

 

There might be, but it is impossible to make a blanket statement for a market that is so varied. Compounds continuously change, so making a one-time generalization for a complete continent doesn't make sense. Many products are modified for their respective markets. Many tyres are designed for the US market and aren't even available in Europe and vice versa. Buying cultures are different even if physics, the cars, roads and climates are relatively similar and broadly comparable. Continental and Michelin produce in the US, mainly for the US market. Goodyear produce in Europe mainly for the European market and many models also seem to differ. Best to take main guidance from tests that recently sourced locally to your market. Your tyre seller just didn't want you to consider buying from anywhere else

Even though there has been little said officially about the Michelin's PS4S replacement, stocks of the PS4S in certain sizes seems low. The common Jaguar size 255/35-20 seems suddenly very rare in Germany with special offers for old DOT examples only. Michelin probably have something up their sleeve to replace the now quite old but still very good PS4S.

 

Running Falken Azenis FK510s on my XKR Portfolio. They went on back in March. Was just under 1200USD for all 4.
I'm completely happy with them so far, pretty quiet, wet weather performance is good, dry is excellent. Cold or cool days not so much. To be expected from a high performance summer tire. Track performance is very good as well (1/4 mi drag). Not a lot of twisty roads where I live, but there are a few, and I am sure i have rounded them faster than was legal, or sensible, and the Falkens just barely chirped in protest.

 

I’ve been trying to find these

 

As it happens, the Fred Flintstone pic is appropriate for me. Bought the XK 2 years ago with a set of 19" Michelin Pilot 4's on it. 6 years old per the date stamp. Probably only 20Kmi on them.

Driving experience here on FL roads was pretty bad. In fact, I thought there was a problem with my suspension, and the road noise was miserable.

This week I swapped in Continental DWS06 Plus' ($1K from Tire Rack) and I'm astonished how the ride has changed. Though they'll never see snow, I've used the DWS on all my cars for the last 20 years. Quieter by far, still good control. No more slamming over bumps like a jeep. Huge difference from the Pilots, which had gotten stiff and miserable to use. Note that they spent their lives in New Mexico and Florida, so the heat may have affected them as well as age.

So I can't comment on new Pilots. Might be great. But my older ones were like concrete. The Contis aren't floaty or anything -- just feel like tires should feel. And their wear rating is 540, and my experience is they have a long life. YMMV....

 

Lots of good tire choices out there.
+1 on the Continental DWS6+ that were installed last November on 19” wheels. A little over $1k total cost. Continental has some good warranty benefits too although doubtful I’ll ever use them.
Quiet, comfortable and secure driving. Much happier than when the nearly new Pzero summer tires were on the car. I wanted an all season tire as I do like a drive on dry winter days and didn’t want to bother with seasonal swaps or storing a set of large wheels/tires in the garage.

 

Yes, it's new tyre time for me too, so I've already seasoned myself on this topic and come to my own un-movable biased conclusions.
A couple of posters here noted the claim that a manufacturer's COMPOUND changes from US market to European markets. That's TRUE. But not in all manufacturers and not in just any tire/tyre. I've been a fan of Nokian, and they'll produce a touring tyre especially for a US climate, with compound that addresses the temperature ranges, speed class ratings, and summer humidity that our regions have as opposed to European driving. They'll market that model tyre FOR THAT American market, to the point where any Englishman who admires this tyre will pay hell trying to obtain it through a "foreign" procure/ship seller. Nokian has been pushing into the performance tyre market with that kind of thinking too, but the ones I've tried are clearly promoted as "European driver's tyres" so far.
It's not typical for a manufacturer to change compound for a region, and my research into ones like Pirelli show they experiment with compound changes for "class of driving" or car-maker, way more than for a region of the world. I sense (only sense) that neither Michelin nor Continental have decided to spend time doing region-specific tyre compounds.

But you need to go back to your introductory post. You mentioned PZero's on your rear-powerful XKR (didn't mention if they were Zero-Neros, or Zero-7th gen, or Zero-PZ4 luxury or PZ4 sport (too different from P-Zero's of the past). You did say they were good but simply "missing something". In my mind, that means you had a tyre that has by physical proof delivered you more than halfway to 100% pleasure. So why try another maker out there that has to "promise" you pleasure (not physically proven at least 50% of that pleasure like your Pirelli's just have)?

I would only look to pinpoint the "missing something", and research a Pirelli tyre that promises THAT missing component.
Your XKR is an acceleration beast,... but do you play on the track much (needing grip during acceleration above anything else)----or do you drive on winder-challenging scenic roads much more (needing grip, but NOT willing to trade it for less responsiveness and feeling of the road changes under the car)?
The poster who asked "what's you're driving style like" is SPOT ON,...because although tyres are the things that keep your car synched to the road, YOUR driving profile and your relationship to that car are what decides which tyres synch best to your car.

I'm going to get Pirelli PZ4's (Sport). They are not as "grippy" to a surface as the famed Michel's 4S's, but I am almost exclusively a street and expressway driver, and the PZ4's default RESPONSIVENESS is what I value to obey my tendency to swerve-n-down-throttle in a Jaguar XE.
I've found Continentals too soft and "touring" in my swerving, and it makes me second-guess my confidence. Nice "square, non-sway" feeling, even in their inexpensive tyres (Germans must love square shoulder tyres?), but it was SO easy to break my contact with the road on Continental tyres---and that's fun for many drivers, not what I want my tyres to do at all.
Michel's PS4's would only be fine for me if I visited tracks and spent more fast-time on winding open roads----with my style those tyres would be a waste.
And I've had enough experience with All-season Pirellis (Zero-Nero's) on mustangs and like, to know that Pirelli has given me physical proof of 70% of my pleasure, and the summer PZ4's pro-review reports say to me that I'll be risking only a remaining 30% on maker-promises.
VALUE your driving style, and build on YOUR style, not other people's pleasure with their tyres. And if your current tyres pleased you that much, (sometimes more than we consciously are aware), maybe Pirelli's Zero-Corsa are the more commanding accelerators for that XKR beast and you.
...From what I have heard, the tendency to spin your wheel JUST a little when you accelerate in an XKR is part of what their owners like so much. Not a loss of control, just a fast reminder of how overwhelming its rear power is. I hear Corsa's have something near to that personality.

 

Unfortunately they were nearly new when I bought my Aston Martin but I cannot wait for the AML specific P Zeros to wear out so that I can put on some PS4S's or whatever their latest offering is when the time comes.

I pulled out the supermarket car park recently in it and had to make a reasonably rapid exit as there was a car coming and whereas the Jag, which has a lot more power and torque, would have just gripped and gone the rear end of the Virage did a wide slip and I fishtailed up the road with the tyres spinning madly! I have lost traction quite a few other times as well in situations where the Jag wouldn't and takes me back to how the Jag was on Dunlop Sport Maxxs when I first got it and it still had the factory tune.

The P Zeros don't inspire confidence and I also find them very noisy.

I see that the 4S's don't always come first in tyre reviews now but I have been very happy with mine.

 

I just replaced P Zero Nero (Ferrari 458 Spec) tires on the Rapide with AM OEM Bridgestone Potenza's. The Bridgestone's seems a little softer. I was happy the Pirelli's. The dealer stocks the OEM tire (go figure) and Pilot Sports but only had the Bridgestones in stock when I needed to swap all four. In general, I am not as fussy over one brand vs. another as many here are. If the tire drives a little different than the previous one, I just adapt my driving style if need be.