Sportiva Tyres

patrickowens1

Hey guys,

Just shopping around for 4 new tyres for an Audi A4. I can get Sportiva (205/55/16) for €60 a corner, 91 V rating.

Apparently Sportiva are a part of Continental and are a decent budget/mid-range tyre. Anyone ever heard of them? Any opinions?

Cyrus

patrickowens1 wrote: »

Hey guys,

Just shopping around for 4 new tyres for an Audi A4. I can get Sportiva (205/55/16) for €60 a corner, 91 V rating.

Apparently Sportiva are a part of Continental and are a decent budget/mid-range tyre. Anyone ever heard of them? Any opinions?

id be amazed if they arent sh!te

get a decent set of mid range tyres and dont contemplate putting dangerous muck like that on a decent car.

Falken, toyo, kumho, vredestein, uniroyal all have reasonably priced tyres far superior to the budget stuff.

actually here ill do it for you:

Buy 4 of these:

http://camskill.co.uk/products.php?plid=m62b0s291p12360

or these

http://camskill.co.uk/products.php?plid=m62b0s291p61055

or these

http://camskill.co.uk/products.php?plid=m62b0s291p60648

-Corkie-

Cyrus is spot on OP.

I actually had cheap Triangle tyres on the back of the wifes car. I had Pirellis on the front which were wearing a bit so I put the Triangles on the front. Lord god the car was all over the place and the road noise is terrible.

I actually disputed here that their could not be that much difference but their is. Vredstrein ultrac Sessantas are a very good tyre.

Nissan doctor

Sportiva are nothing like the chinese brands. They are part of the Continental group and are designed and manufacturered in Europe. They've also been around for years, not just since everyone started wanting cheap tyres.

For their price they are not a bad tyre at all.

Wheelnut

patrickowens1 wrote: »

Apparently Sportiva are a part of Continental and are a decent budget/mid-range tyre. Anyone ever heard of them? Any opinions?

Are you not a bit late asking that question now that you've fitted them and paid your money?

Anyhow, I'd think you'll be OK. I presume you bought them through Advance Tyre.

Cyrus

Nissan doctor wrote: »

Sportiva are nothing like the chinese brands. They are part of the Continental group and are designed and manufacturered in Europe. They've also been around for years, not just since everyone started wanting cheap tyres.

For their price they are not a bad tyre at all.

Why would you buy them over actual contis? Or uniroyal or vredestein?

Just because big tyre co's own budget brands doesn't make them any better

Cyrus

Cyrus wrote: »

id be amazed if they arent sh!te

..............

Cyrus wrote: »

Why would you buy them over actual contis? Or uniroyal or vredestein?

Just because big tyre co's own budget brands doesn't make them any better

Ok, we have a qualified mechanic who works in a garage that also retails tires, the same lad drives a high powered rwd car around a track. In fairness if he reckons Sportiva are not a bad tire compared to the likes of Triangle perhaps he has a point.

I can safely say you have no experience whatsoever about Sportiva tires

-Chris-

Wheelnut wrote: »

Are you not a bit late asking that question now that you've fitted them and paid your money?

Huh?

mp3kid

RoverJames wrote: »

Ok, we have a qualified mechanic who works in a garage that also retails tires, the same lad drives a high powered rwd car around a track. In fairness if he reckons Sportiva are not a bad tire compared to the likes of Triangle perhaps he has a point.

I can safely say you have no experience whatsoever about Sportiva tires

With all respect Cyrus said "id be amazed if they arent sh!te"

So it sounds like he doesn't have any experience with them either.

Cyrus

RoverJames wrote: »

Ok, we have a qualified mechanic who works in a garage that also retails tires, the same lad drives a high powered rwd car around a track. In fairness if he reckons Sportiva are not a bad tire compared to the likes of Triangle perhaps he has a point.

I can safely say you have no experience whatsoever about Sportiva tires

you would be right

not bad compared to triangle isnt a vote of confidence that id be looking for,

my point is nobody seems to know what they are like, there are no reviews, and apart from the tyre chains peddling them as made by conti, nobody knows much about them.

for more or less the same money ive listed three tyres that have been reviewed by different magazines and websites and have scored well, i know what i would be buying.

i think that a lot of tyre places here, esp the chains, sell tyres like this as their entry level and make a nice mark up on them, they would appear to be poor value compared to more established brands.

Nissan doctor

Ok perhaps clearer,

Compared to the latest wave of super cheap chinese brands, triangle, fullrun and a raft of others, many of which are of a quality that...shall we say, takes advantage of the lack of inspection of imported tyres in certain countries in europe(Ireland mainly).

The sportiva are made by a company which is owned by the continental group and like I said, manufacturered in europe, so they are subject to all the same quality assurance as Continental tyres them selves, and Bridgestone, Michelin etc.

They will not be at the cutting edge of grip/economy/handling design as they are using the technology which is a couple of years behind the major manufacturers, which is what keeps them cheap. They are however made in the same facility as certain continental tyres although in a completely seperate part..I've seen this with my own eyes.
Barum, uniroyal, semperit tyres are in the same group as sportiva too.

Cyrus

Nissan doctor wrote: »

Ok perhaps clearer,

Compared to the latest wave of super cheap chinese brands, triangle, fullrun and a raft of others, many of which are of a quality that...shall we say, takes advantage of the lack of inspection of imported tyres in certain countries in europe(Ireland mainly).

The sportiva are made by a company which is owned by the continental group and like I said, manufacturered in europe, so they are subject to all the same quality assurance as Continental tyres them selves, and Bridgestone, Michelin etc.

They will not be at the cutting edge of grip/economy/handling design as they are using the technology which is a couple of years behind the major manufacturers, which is what keeps them cheap. They are however made in the same facility as certain continental tyres although in a completely seperate part..I've seen this with my own eyes.
Barum, uniroyal, semperit tyres are in the same group as sportiva too.

youd rather have conti sport contact 2s for a few quid more tho surely?

and uniroyal rain sports perform very well in any test i have seen them in, there is no data on these sportivas

mp3kid

mp3kid wrote: »

With all respect Cyrus said "id be amazed if they arent sh!te"

So it sounds like he doesn't have any experience with them either.

He also said they were dangerous muck Based on nothing really.
Now his point is "youd rather have conti sport contact 2s for a few quid more tho surely?"
......and I know he has no experience of them, that's my point.

Cyrus

James,

i know disagreeing with me is like a bloodsport for you and all that, but the fact is you have no experience of them either?

Except to say that a mechanic you know, that drives round a track, thinks that they are better than triangle.

And i think thats the point, no one seems to know what they are like, there are no reviews of them anywhere either, a little strange no? if they were so good surely continental would provide them from review?

anyway, i offered the OP 3 alternative tyres that i know are very good mid range, because i have either driven cars with them, or seen evidence to suggest that they are worth what you will pay for them.

but all you are doing is disagreeing with me

What do you suggest he does?

Cyrus

Cyrus wrote: »

Why would you buy them over actual contis? Or uniroyal or vredestein?

Just because big tyre co's own budget brands doesn't make them any better

Loads of people have absolutely no interest in spending money on tyres so they might as well get these as the really bad Chinese one's.

Id be pretty confident putting budget tyres made by one of the leading European manufacturers on any normal car, different if you are taking about a powerful car obviously.

Cyrus

Sonny Damaged Tangent wrote: »

Loads of people have absolutely no interest in spending money on tyres so they might as well get these as the really bad Chinese one's.

Id be pretty confident putting budget tyres made by one of the leading European manufacturers on any normal car, different if you are taking about a powerful car obviously.

maybe, but the tyres i have listed above are definately good tyres and in most cases arent much more expensive.

the difference in stopping distances in the wet between ok tyres and better than ok tyres makes it worth your while doing some research,

most irish people dont seem to care less unfortunately

Nissan doctor

http://www.tyretest.com/summercar_tyres/sportiva/g65/index.html

http://testedtires.com/pkw_winterreifen/sportiva/w65/index.html


It seems their winter tyres(not the same as snow tyres) perform much better then their summer tyres.

But again, I make the point that the vast majority or Irish drivers are happy once their is something made of rubber that will pass an NCT wrapped around their wheels.

Cyrus

Cyrus wrote: »

maybe, but the tyres i have listed above are definately good tyres and in most cases arent much more expensive.

the difference in stopping distances in the wet between ok tyres and better than ok tyres makes it worth your while doing some research,

most irish people dont seem to care less unfortunately

Some don't care but a lot wouldn't understand either. A lot if not most people drop in their car, ask for something fairly cheap and pay at the end. They don't know anything about tyres and don't really want to. They see paying more for one tyre over another as a waste of money.

I can guarantee if you tried to explain to a lot of people about difference in stopping distances in the wet they would reply "well you should be driving slower in the rain" or "You should be watching out more" and hence no need for more expensive tyres.

Cyrus

Cyrus wrote: »

James,

i know disagreeing with me is like a bloodsport for you and all that, but the fact is you have no experience of them either?................What do you suggest he does?

I'd suggest that Nissan Doctor's view on the Sportiva's would carry more weight than yours, no offence. If I said Accelera tires were perfectly adequate no doubt you'd say they were sh1t, one of us has driven two different cars on them and one of us hasn't After reading NissanDoctors comments you come back with a statement asking him to agree that he'd prefer to have conti sport contacts than the Sportiva.

Are they not dangerous muck anymore in your view?

Generally when someone asks for opinions they are looking for more than a comment of they are rubbish etc from someone who has never driven on them.

Cyrus

RoverJames wrote: »

I'd suggest that Nissan Doctor's view on the Sportiva's would carry more weight than yours, no offence. If I said Accelera tires were perfectly adequate no doubt you'd say they were sh1t, one of us has driven two different cars on them and one of us hasn't After reading NissanDoctors comments you come back with a statement asking him to agree that he'd prefer to have conti sport contacts than the Sportiva.

Are they not dangerous muck anymore in your view?

Generally when someone asks for opinions they are looking for more than a comment of they are rubbish etc from someone who has never driven on them.

why does his view carry more weight than mine?

again i wouldnt put accelera on any car of mine, but if you want to put them on yours work away.

no one has proven to me that they arent dangerous muck? altho that was a flippant comment.

generally when buying tyres i do some research and make a decision based on my requirements, but regardless of the type of car i am buying them for safety is of paramount performance, so if i cannot find any empircial evidence on the performance of a tyre i wont consider it, id rather not be the guinea pig who takes an extra car lenght to emergency stop in the wet.

finally, after making my comment that i would be surprised if they were any good, i offered alternatives to the OP. Given that he has yet to buy them im assuming his post was also a query on tyres in the price range.

you have decided to spend the thread disagreeing with me and not offering him anything.

what exactly is your problem with buying good tyres ?

Cyrus

Sonny Damaged Tangent wrote: »

Some don't care but a lot wouldn't understand either. A lot if not most people drop in their car, ask for something fairly cheap and pay at the end. They don't know anything about tyres and don't really want to. They see paying more for one tyre over another as a waste of money.

I can guarantee if you tried to explain to a lot of people about difference in stopping distances in the wet they would reply "well you should be driving slower in the rain" or "You should be watching out more" and hence no need for more expensive tyres.

totally agree, doesnt mean i have to like it tho

Cyrus

Cyrus wrote: »

why does his view carry more weight than mine?

He works in the tire industry, he is a qualified mechanic. You have just said you have made flippant comments in your response to the OPs question which makes them of even less value.

I have no problem buying good tires.

Cyrus

RoverJames wrote: »

He works in the tire industry, he is a qualified mechanic. You have just said you have made flippant comments in your response to the OPs question which makes them of even less value.

I have no problem buying good tires.

i dont know why i bother responding to you, you completely ignore most of what i say and concentrate on the few points where you can score points, im trying to help the guy, you are trying to prove me wrong,

i couldnt give a toss, if everyone wants to buy budget tyres let them, i was trying to show that there are decently regarded mid to premium tyres available at similar money

i dont know why i bothered to be honest

ps its tyre not tire

Cyrus

Nissan doctor wrote: »

http://www.tyretest.com/summercar_tyres/sportiva/g65/index.html

i presume you have taken a look at this james?

very few reviews of them around, but here is one from some who bought them, 2/5 for dry grip and 0 for wet.

and they last for ages, so a hard compound with poor grip

Cyrus

Cyrus wrote: »

..........where you can score points..........
ps its tyre not tire

Oh the irony , correcting spelling mistakes :rolleyes: Will I run through your posts and correct the punctuation?

I don't know why you bothered either. I remember years back everyone was saying Falken and Kumho were a desperate tyre. So too Yokohama, now they are good tyres.

I reckon in a year or two Accelera will be as equally well regarded as Falkens.

Cyrus

Cyrus wrote: »

i presume you have taken a look at this james?

very few reviews of them around, but here is one from some who bought them, 2/5 for dry grip and 0 for wet.

and they last for ages, so a hard compound with poor grip

And did you have a peak at the one for the winter product? Why would you give any weight to the review anyway? If it said they were brilliant you wouldn't believe it, would you?

Cyrus

RoverJames wrote: »

Oh the irony , correcting spelling mistakes :rolleyes: Will I run through your posts and correct the punctuation?

you can if you like, i was just pointing that rather large mistake out to you seeing that you work in the industry, save you getting it wrong in future.

Yes i had a peek at the one for the winter tyres, however i would be very surprised if its winter tyres that the OP is being offered wouldnt you? Seeing as people couldnt get winter tyres in this country when they actually needed them last november.

the point is, there is no evidence to suggest that they are any good, so why not, for the same price, get a tyre that there is, thats my point.

what is yours? apart from consistently disagreeing with me?

Cyrus

Cyrus wrote: »

you can if you like, i was just pointing that rather large mistake out to you seeing that you work in the industry, save you getting it wrong in future.

What industry do you reckon I work in?

-Chris-

FOR THE LOVE OF GOD, DROP THE HANDBAGS RJ & CYRUS.

Cyrus

RoverJames wrote: »

What industry do you reckon I work in?

i assumed the motor industry given your high regard for everyone else that works in it

are you going to answer any of the rest of my post?

Cyrus

Cyrus wrote: »

i assumed the motor industry given your high regard for everyone else that works in it

Nope, nothing at all car related
I would hold NissanDoctors views in high regard though as his posts are very helpful and he really knows his beans.

Cyrus wrote: »

are you going to answer any of the rest of my post?

I can't after Chris's warning :pac:

Wheelnut

-Chris- wrote: »

Huh?

Sorry, misread the first post...

Wheelnut

Cyrus wrote: »

youd rather have conti sport contact 2s for a few quid more tho surely?

Well... err.... actually NO!

I have a 320d that came with Contact 2 Runflats as OE. Great on the motorway but horrible on a normal Irish road. They were hard and uncomfortable, I always seemed to have to fight with the steering, the front of the car would sometimes "float" sideways as it went over small bumps and there was literally a danger of it hopping off the road. (To add insult to injury, they had no traction in the recent snow either.) Then I tried a pair of budget Kumho runflats thinking I would not lose much if I had to get rid of them. It was amazing, the car was transformed and is now nice to drive.

I have no doubt that someone will do a test on a flooded racetrack and maybe find that Kumhos take 1.248 metres longer to stop under full-force braking, but until I find myself in that situation I am very happy that the car is now stable and goes where I point it.

Lower price does not always indicate a bad tyre. On the contrary it could be the case that a premium high performance tyre is not best suited to hacking in Irish conditions as I found out. The Sportiva is made in Europe so has to meet European manufacturing standards which puts them in a different league from the Chinese stuff. ....and finally, yes I have experience of one Sportiva tyre! My daughter ruined a tyre on her car a while back and the little garage she went to put on a single Sportivo. She put over 20k miles on the tyre and never got into trouble, so I think the OP will be OK with these tyres.

(now for the lecture about matching tyres from someone.)

Cyrus

Wheelnut wrote: »

Well... err.... actually NO!

I have a 320d that came with Contact 2 Runflats as OE. Great on the motorway but horrible on a normal Irish road. They were hard and uncomfortable, I always seemed to have to fight with the steering, the front of the car would sometimes "float" sideways as it went over small bumps and there was literally a danger of it hopping off the road. (To add insult to injury, they had no traction in the recent snow either.) Then I tried a pair of budget Kumho runflats thinking I would not lose much if I had to get rid of them. It was amazing, the car was transformed and is now nice to drive.

I have no doubt that someone will do a test on a flooded racetrack and maybe find that Kumhos take 1.248 metres longer to stop under full-force braking, but until I find myself in that situation I am very happy that the car is now stable and goes where I point it.

Lower price does not always indicate a bad tyre. On the contrary it could be the case that a premium high performance tyre is not best suited to hacking in Irish conditions as I found out. The Sportiva is made in Europe so has to meet European manufacturing standards which puts them in a different league from the Chinese stuff. ....and finally, yes I have experience of one Sportiva tyre! My daughter ruined a tyre on her car a while back and the little garage she went to put on a single Sportivo. She put over 20k miles on the tyre and never got into trouble, so I think the OP will be OK with these tyres.

(now for the lecture about matching tyres from someone.)

The tyres suggested by me originally are non runflats

i have no experience of Kuhmo run flats, but your experience with the conti run flats is similar to peoples experiences with runflats full stop, the sidewalls are very stiff which is what leads to the issues that you described,

hence bmw dont put them on M cars, and a lot of people with audis and bmw swap them out for non runflats.

secondly, summer or all weather tyres arent suited to the snow, no matter how good they are.

thirdly, maybe you dont care about how quickly you can stop in the wet, i do, plenty of times there is a downpour and the road is saturated.

im not going to bother on the mismatched tyres :pac: also you could have a car with 4 triangle tyres on and never get into any trouble if the gods smile down on you, doesnt make them ok

-Corkie-

Actually Nissan doctor while we are on the subject what are Altenzo tyres like.

Nissan doctor

-Corkie- wrote: »

Actually Nissan doctor while we are on the subject what are Altenzo tyres like.

I read somewhere that they are Chinese made but comissioned by some alloy wheel crowd in Australia or new zealand I think. Thats about as much as I know, I've never seen them here.

-Corkie-

Nissan doctor wrote: »

I read somewhere that they are Chinese made but comissioned by some alloy wheel crowd in Australia or new zealand I think. Thats about as much as I know, I've never seen them here.

They are the same price as Triangles (70 euro) so I was wondering were they the same quality..

EPM

Spend the extra ya miserable fceker:p

-Corkie-

EPM wrote: »

Spend the extra ya miserable fceker:p

True:D but I see you can get Vredstrein Sessantas for 128 euro including VAT and fitting of Alloywheels.ie and iirc you get a discount for being a vagdriver.net member. Thats 235/45/r17

Nissan doctor

There is one last point I want to make about the flood of cheap chinese tyres to hit the irish market since the downturn. The vast majority of them are not available in any other european country, strange, you might think that little Ireland gets all this choice when no-one else does. Untill you consider that Ireland is the only European country which has no body in place to regulate the importation and sale of tyres made outside the EU. The nct now checks for 'e' marks but there is no-one checking the certification of tyres before they are imported.

Also most chinese tyres didn't have 'e' marks untill the NCT included the requirement in their test, then immediatly, they all did.

People can draw their own conclusions on chinese brands from the above. I know I've driven cars with various brands fitted and when you have to completly change your driving style because of a brand of tyre fitted, you know there is something wrong.


A saying we coined in work lately, compare the quality of tyres a country produces to the quality of the cars it makes.

Continental, Michilen, pirelli etc are from europe as are VAG, merc , fiat etc etc etc

Bidgestone, Yokohama etc are from Japan, Nissan, toyota, honda and so on.

Kumho and Hankook are from Korea which has Hyundai and kia.

Triangle, fullrun, linlong, yellow sea and numerous other crazy names are from china.....now look up some chinese cars on youtube!

Wheelnut

Kumho and Hankook are now being fitted as OE by VW on some models and that was a consideration for me when I decided to take a chance on Kumho. I'm delighted with my choice.

I also recall that Hankooks are now also being made in Europe although I don't remember where.

Wheelnut

Wheelnut wrote: »

Kumho and Hankook are now being fitted as OE by VW .

Hankook were OE on a 2005 Mondeo I had years back.

Nissan doctor

Nissan doctor wrote: »

A saying we coined in work lately, compare the quality of tyres a country produces to the quality of the cars it makes.

Continental, Michilen, pirelli etc are from europe as are VAG, merc , fiat etc etc etc

Bidgestone, Yokohama etc are from Japan, Nissan, toyota, honda and so on.

Kumho and Hankook are from Korea which has Hyundai and kia.

Triangle, fullrun, linlong, yellow sea and numerous other crazy names are from china.....now look up some chinese cars on youtube!

Aren't some Michelin made in India though, Indian cars are utter sh1t. I'd disagree with the logic anyway. Lots of stuff sold in developed countries that folks reckon is made in developed countries is made in China and there is nothing wrong with it, no one will buy it if made in China is on it though. Companies just ship it to Ireland or wherever for the final processsing (quick quality check and clean and pack) and out if goes, made in Ireland or wherever their prestigious location is)

niallam

I had Continental premium contact on a car before and thought they were terrible. Have driven cars on most sorts of rubber though over the years.
Bought a car with nankang tires and changed all 4 2 days later for toyo's. My favourite tire was a bridgestone RE720 but when they were discontinued i went for toyo proxes from then on.
90% of people will never drive a car hard enough to notice any difference in tires and are happy driving on ditch finders.
I do think though for the extra few € try stay away from the chinese brands

Nissan doctor

RoverJames wrote: »

Aren't some Michelin made in India though, Indian cars are utter sh1t. I'd disagree with the logic anyway. Lots of stuff sold in developed countries that folks reckon is made in developed countries is made in China and there is nothing wrong with it, no one will buy it if made in China is on it though. Companies just ship it to Ireland or wherever for the final processsing (quick quality check and clean and pack) and out if goes, made in Ireland or wherever their prestigious location is)

Its not so much about where they are made, its where the manufacturer is from. Most tyre manufacturers have plants all over the world making tyres for different markets but they will all have the same standards of quality as they are controlled from the HQ.

VW have facilities in Germany, Spain, Czech republic, Brazil, USA etc
Nissan, have them in Japan, UK, Spain, France, USA

The cars we get in our market, as with the tyres, all come from a mix of plants around the world so IMO its not the plant that the tyre/car/TV/fridge or whatever you care to mention comes from, its the company it come from/is made for that dictates its quality.

patrickowens1

Hey Guys,

Cheers for all the replies and debate everyone. I definitely can see where Cyrus is coming from - why would someone buy a relatively unknown brand, with little available performance data when there are proven mid-range tyres from well known brands available for not a whole lot more....

I'm a student though, having left a job to go back to college, so if effin broke! The VREDESTEIN SPORTRAC 3's, for example, from camskill, will each work out closer to a hundred bucks by the time I get them on the car (shipping + fitting), which for me at the moment is a massive difference over the 60 per tyre for the Sportivas. So it's easy to say that I just don't care or understand the importance of fitting decent tyres, but while I definitely don't know a lot- I am an engineer with some amount of experience in skid resistance and road design, so i at least appreciate what's involved. What i'm looking for is a decent compromise, that's all....

I put real crap on last year - Sunny tyres i think they were, basically just putting literally the cheapest tyres i could find. I think they were €45 each. But they were noticeably crap, especially in the wet and I only got about 10k miles out of them. Waste of time.

Nissan Dr and Wheel-nut seem to be the only ones with actual 1st hand experience of Sportivas, and seem to give them an ok 'review' for their price. I think Advance tyres retail them at €85 and I've managed to get them at €60 so I'll prob get them fitted over the next few days.

In the meantime - if anyone has firsthand experience of Sportiva's or finds anymore data for them online, please share! Or if anyone finds alternatives in the 60-70 bob price bracket (fitted), let me know

Thanks again
Paddy.

patrickowens1

Hey Nissan Doctor, or anyone else - a guy I know in the tyre business offered me 4 x BF Goodrich for €300 and 4 x Michelins for €360, fitted and incl. tracking.

I can't quite stretch to the michelins, and I know that I don't have exact tyre specs, but as a general rule, do you think BF Goodrich would be worth the extra 15 bob a tyre?

Cheers

Cyrus

patrickowens1 wrote: »

Hey Nissan Doctor, or anyone else - a guy I know in the tyre business offered me 4 x BF Goodrich for €300 and 4 x Michelins for €360, fitted and incl. tracking.

I can't quite stretch to the michelins, and I know that I don't have exact tyre specs, but as a general rule, do you think BF Goodrich would be worth the extra 15 bob a tyre?

Cheers

did he give you a model?

Wheelnut

When you have a model check the reviews here: http://www.tyrereviews.co.uk/Tyre/BFGoodrich/