Given
59%
while driving a
Ford Focus MK1
(185/65 R14 N) on
mostly country roads
for 10
spirited miles
I bought a Ford Focus 1.8 Ghia with a full set of these tires on. I was told they had about 10,000 miles on them, which i found hard to believe as they still looked brand new.
I have now driven a further 6,000 "spirited" miles on these tires since i bought the car, mainly on a selection of my favourite country roads as well as a little town and motorway use going to work and back, and i have to say they are proving the most hard wearing tires i have ever come accross. They simply refuse to wear down, and its not from a lack of trying.
They dont have very good dry or wet grip, but are perfectly fine for every day driving, not in any way dangerous. Its only when you start increasing the cornering speeds on a fantastic bit of country road that you realise the total lack of ultimate grip.
They are incredibly progressive though, i think largely down to the lack of ultimate grip, which makes them a much more entertaining tire to have on your car than you would expect, its a bit of a challange making quick progress without overwhelming the tires.
There is hardly any need to change your driving speed and style any more than you normaly would for wet roads because the grip is poor in the dry there is very little difference when the road gets wet.
These tires deal with standing water very well, possibly due to how narrow they are on my car, but good all the same.
They make a lot of road noise at motorway speeds and cause a little vibration when making swift progress down the motorway (no more than 70mph + 10% obviously)and you do feel everything thats happening on the road.
In summary i would not reccomend these tires to anyone looking for a sporty tire who is after high levels of grip, or has a car with a substantial ammount of power. They are in no way exceptional (appart for how hard wearing they are) but just a cheap tire that does what it says on the tin, and i imagine fine for the vast majority of people.
I enjoy my driving and intend to swap them very soon for a set of sporty summer tires of some description, but i just thought it would be interesting to see what these were like and get a bit more wear out of them before i did. It turns out their not as laughably awful as i had feared.