Falkens it is, then
OK chaps, thanks for the input on tyres. FYI my best bargain since 1999 were the original Bridgestones I fitted on import but I don’t know which type. The next best were the RE71s which cost me 0.55p per mile and the worst have been the Eagle F1s @ 1.14ppm (just talking about rears, that is).
I thought about going back to Bridgestone but they were completely unhelpful when I complained about tyre wear before so they’re not getting any more of my money just yet.
A spot of googling found that the RE71s were OEM fit to the
Porsche 959 so they’re clearly seriously good tyres. You can also still get S-02s which used to be the top forum recommendation before the S-03s (S-02s are OEM for S2000 so if they’re good enough for Soichiro…)
In my quest for good info, I emailed blackcircles with the tyre wear question and got back a list of 24 different tyres with the comment “a Michelin … or the original Bridgestones would be a good choice” so good marks for rapid response but 0/10 for actually answering the question in my email.
I also emailed
sales@montyswheelsandtyres.com as they did a nice job on refurbing my wheels and fitted the previous F1s but to date no reply.
I’ve ended up buying a pair of
Falken 452s from
www.event-tyres.co.uk who I’ve used before and who do mobile fitting which is dead handy. £75.20 each all in inc VAT, fitting, balancing etc. And they can do it tomorrow. The cheapest was Mytyres at £61.60 plus a tenner or so for the fitment but they weren’t as quick and I didn’t fancy wasting my lunchtime hanging around in a wet Cricklewood.
Also in googling, I found the US NHTSA ratings on tyre wear for a bunch of brands courtesy of etyres and the link to the Bridgestone section is
here. Oddly, this says that the S-03s should have lasted better than the RE71 but they didn’t. Maybe this is all down to my wobbly HICAS which we have been trying to mend since last August without much success.
Oh well, I’ll let you know how it all pans out in 8,000 miles!