Seat Leon FR - tyre choice?

[B-Man]

Hi,

Have a Seat Leon FR which had/has Bridgestone Potenza 225/45/R17 tyres fitted from new (2006). Had to replce the front two back in June/July, and now the back ones have been highlighted at the service as wearing on the inside.

Just wondered what others think about these tyres and how they wear, and if anyone would recommend any better choice? Do around 8-9k miles a year, mostly on the motorway.

Cheers,
B-Man

 

[Molehill_Mike]

When I had my Leon (MK1) I found Goodyear Eagle F1s were fantastic...

Out handled a couple of 'tweaked' Leons on standard Cupra R suspension.

 

[smitty13]

Get your four wheel alignment checked circa £65 - made a massive difference to my tyre wear.

Also avoid contintel and pirrelli

 

[GunnerCP]

i actually like my pirelli pzero rossos! Wear is about the same as the bridgestones and dunlops (I seem to change mine after 10k on the fronts) I had but for me grip is better and tyre is quieter, bridgestone potenzas seemed really noisy to me.

 

[Dyscontinued]

I know it's different age, but can't make that much difference. Goodyear Eagle Asym. all the way.

 

[Street]

I've just put a pair of Vredestein Ultrac Sessantas on the front of mine.. Cost me about £180 for the pair fitted, decent grip and apparently they last a decent amount of time. They are a lot quieter than my previous P-Zeros too!

 

[Jace]

Good year Eagle F1 Asymetrical's all the way

 

[Deleted member 13581]

Check camskill.co.uk for prices and get your local tyre place to fit them.

Eagle F1's are £83 a corner. Toyo Proxes are £67.20 a corner.

Eagle F1's are really quiet on the road, Toyos are almost the same.

 

[bryanhs]

As Smitty says, you need to get your wheel alignment corrected to solve the problem with tyres wearing unevenly (at the back). This costs £60ish though the stealer quoted me £95. The camber was well out on mine (2006 Mk2 Leon) causing the rear tyres to wear on the inside and the factory-fit Bridgestones to become stepped, generating a lot of road noise.

Tyre recommendations on ths site seem to always land on Goodyear F1 Asymetrics or Falken FK452 which are a bit cheaper. I was quoted £95 per tyre for the Goodyears and £72 per tyre for the Falken's all-inclusive.

 

[Sooty torques]

Tyre recommendations on ths site seem to always land on Goodyear F1 Asymetrics or Falken FK452 which are a bit cheaper. I was quoted £95 per tyre for the Goodyears and £72 per tyre for the Falken's all-inclusive.

Can you let us know where you got that quote from? Was it somewhere local, on-line or a uk wide chain? Ta.

 

[bryanhs]

Goodyears from blackboots (blackboots co uk) near Amersham - their sister company (wheels in motion) fixed my rear camber problems last week.

The Falkens were from B&T tyres in Bletchley, Milton Keynes (where I've been getting my tyres from for almost 15 years).

 

[Gunnie]

Just ordered 4 x Goodyear F1's from Camskill

 

[xyz]

Michelin Pilots on my LCR. Little noisier and more expensive but boy do they grip!!

 

[rudgey]

Just wondering people do the leons need a 94Y or is 91Y ok? Cheers!

 

[GainfulShrimp]

Just wondering people do the leons need a 94Y or is 91Y ok? Cheers!

Wondered this myself, so checked my car last night. It came with 91Y P-Zero Rossos.

 

[Sooty torques]

Hmmm Interesting... Mine (Mk2 FR TDI) came with R18 92Y Bridgestones...

 

[bryanhs]

17" wheels are 91Y - supporting 615 kg per corner.

 

[Dyscontinued]

Interesting, our Mk1 Leons are meant to have 94 rated tyres.

 

[bellkevin]

I too found the Bridgstones noisy and the grip was lost even when there was about 4mm left on the tyre, maybe about 2mm on the legal limit?? Not bad in the wet but an expensive tyre compared to the performance and low noise of other brands. I'm leaning towards the goodyear F1's?? What do people think??

 

[erichuyn]

My tyre experiences so far:

Falken FK452(both axles):
Pro:
Cheap(altough not a problem for me since it's a lease car)
Con:
Cupping
Fast wearing
No rim protection worth mentioning
Grip in wet and last 1/3 of tread

Conti SC3(both axles):
Pro:
Very massive rim protection
Good alround performance
NO cupping
Low thread wear, lasted about 22k-24k miles on the front. In comparission Falken lasted about 16-17K
Quiet, until last 1/3 of tread
Con:
More expensive(no concerne of mine, see above)
Wet weather performance goes down noticably when on last 1/3 of tread life.
Cost above average
Quite hard, probably because of the thick sidewall

Goodyear F1 Assymetric(rear axle):
Pro:
Cheaper than Conti SC3
Same grip levels, at the beginning. See con for more info
Almost the same rim protection as Conti SC3
Wear is very good, 40k miles already and only half gone. Note, on rear axle
Quiet
Con:
Now that about half the tread is gone the rear has become very lively. Used to like on rails. Checked wear, pressure and alignment but still quite loose

Michelin Pilot Exalto(front axle):
Pro:
Best performance in dry and wet after a few hundred miles. Scared the crap out of me when they where new :S
Performance still on high levels even though tread is down to 3.5mm
Good tread life, on 3.5mm now after 27-28k miles
Better than Conti&Falken when very cold and on snow. Not really a pro since performance is still SH*T
Quiet
Con:
Very expensive(not a con for me, lease car)
Very little rim protection

These are my personal experiences with the mentioned tyres used on a chipped 1.9TDI, about 140hp, Leon II(1P). About 80% motorway, frequent Autobahn excursions and spirited cornering&acceleration