URGENT! XL tyres or not?!

[Deleted member 74601]

You should buy an econobox like me and have done with performance tyres. Low rolling resistance tyres are far less confusing

*Stands back and waits for the abuse about how poor LRR tyres are for grip and stopping*

 

[LukeFR]

The ones I had fitted yesterday were 225/40 R18 92Y XL

 

[shnazzle]

I took the Leon for "proper" drive to work this morning, first time without wife and kids in...
It handled like a DOG

It's absolutely grand with normal driving and I have grip where I never did before (especially in wet). Much smoother ride and low road noise. Steering feels lighter and feedback is great.

Show it a corner and you feel like you're going to go through your tyre and ride your rim. Like riding on marshmallows and the tyres wail and scream in pain at even the slightest "spirited" corner. BAH!!!

So, once again on this forum I will pay for the lesson so that other people can learn from it as well, and I am once again prize n0b

Do NOT cut corners on anything that FR or above. Saving 25 quid per tyre to not go XL will make your car KAK. 91W non-XL tyres are NOT ok!!!

My fault entirely, nothing wrong with the tyres. They're amazing:
GoodYear F1 Eagle Assym2, 225/45/17 91W. Definitely recommend...if you DON'T have a "sporty" car.

 

[JamesL]

Is Lee69 not running these? Interesting to see what he thinks of them if they are the same.

*haven't read the whole thread

 

[shnazzle]

Another small update:
Apparently according to both the official Continental and official Michellin tyre guides, for the 17 inch wheels the official spec is 91W. Which is why the guys didn't say anything when I requested those.
The car will never reach anything over 150 (I won't drive it that fast in the UK anyway), so W is more than fine, and 91 is the correct load for the car.

XL does indeed help with stability and is noticeable in corners, but also in ride comfort and noise. More noise and a bit stiffer. (this is why my review further up is kak...because it is soggy, but admittedly comfort is x10 higher compared to my previous XL tyres)

As for insurance, 91W is grand.

 

[EndlessNameless]

So you'd recommend XL on 17 inch wheels (if you want to have a bit of fun, at least)?

 

[JamesL]

Ignore my post, thought this was in the mk1 forum.

 

[shnazzle]

So you'd recommend XL on 17 inch wheels (if you want to have a bit of fun, at least)?

Yes. Definitely.

Put it this way; I went from Gerutti (I challenge you to find them online) XL "Performance" tyres, the cheapest of the cheap with a helping of cheapness, to these G/Y F1 Eagle Assym2 non-XL 91W...
And on a dry day warm, the Gerutti's with 0.6mm of tread felt more stable in corners than my new G/Ys.

By stable I do not mean it cornered well...it understeered massively of course, but it felt stable. It felt like the cornering was limited by tread and suspension, not by the fact that the tyre walls were flexing all over the place.

 

[G.P]

By stable I do not mean it cornered well...it understeered massively of course, but it felt stable. It felt like the cornering was limited by tread and suspension, not by the fact that the tyre walls were flexing all over the place.

Your never going to get new tyre's with nice strong stiff sidewalls like you used to due to the noise reg. that came into effect in 2010, the XL's will be stiffer but won't eliminate the tyre suffle. .