Given
86%
while driving a
Ford Focus ST170
(215/45 R17 W) on
a combination of roads
for 21,000
spirited miles
These tires have a really stiff sidewall. I noticed this as soon as I swapped them onto the fronts, potholes and the general road surface felt much harsher. On the plus side, turn in and feel were amazing, and the tire did not flex under hard cornering.
The main problem or flaw I found with this tire is that it certainly isnt at its best when cold. Putting the throttle down too early coming off a mini roundabout would see instant understeer. Once heated up though I found dry grip absolutely amazing, and with the great feel i got from these tires this made the car feel well stuck to the road.
Wet grip I would say was adequate. Fast long corners were not really a problem, but sharper tighter corners would see the car easily understeering where my previous tires would not. No major problems though.
One thing I did notice was that once the tread level reached around 4.5mm performance of the tire dropped significantly. This exhibited itself in a 'knife-edge' feel to cornering in the wet even at low speed, and squirming under breaking. The tires have always been very progressive though so any loss of grip was easy to feel and correct.
These tires lasted a total of 27000 miles, 6000 on the rear and 21000 on the front, which I consider pretty good.
Id definitely buy these tires again, if they were still available in my size!