Given
59%
while driving a
Honda Civic 1.8 5 door
(205/55 R16 V) on
a combination of roads
for 2,000
average miles
I was swayed into buying these tires from the reviews on this site. I regret this decision. I'm not a racer boy and tend to drive carefully but I'm also willing to put my foot down on a wide clear road.
It seems most of the reviews on here are comparing the tires to budget and low end tires. My previous tires on this car are Michelin Primacy HP and Bridgestone Potenza RE050, neither of which could be considered low end. The bridgestones were good, the Michelins were superb, these uniroyals are terrible.
All my tires were nearing the end of their lives so I got 4 of these and immediately noticed the difference. They have changed the car so much I started obsessively checking the tire pressure and have even had the tracking rechecked (its near perfect).
Dry Grip:
These tires have very soft side walls and while that means they have softened the slightly harsh ride of the civic, it also means that they make the car wallow around corners and understeer has increased dramatically, to the point where going around a dry roundabout at low speed now causes slight understeer. I dread to think how these will perform in emergency manoeuvres.
Wet Grip:
The wet grip is only slightly worse than in the dry, but the grip in the dry is so bad that it isn't much of a praise.
Road Feedback:
The soft side walls also mean I can feel a lot less of what is happening on the road making me constantly feel detached from the road surface - not a good thing. This also means that when to car does understeer, its harder to feel where the grip is and pull out of it.
Progressiveness:
The grip when accelerating compares poorly to my old Michelin tires but as I said, I'm no racer boy and its still acceptable.
Wear:
I want these to wear out so I can replace them but unfortunately they seem to be wearing ok. I've so far done around 2000 miles on them and they still look fairly new.
Comfort:
As i said before, the soft side walls do soften the ride of the civic which is known to be slightly harsh so I'd have to give them a good rating for ride comfort.
Economy:
This is probably the most damning thing about these tires. I normally get around 40 to 42 mpg on my commute to work however I am now struggling to keep it above 38 mpg. The economy changed as soon as I had the tires fitted and my journey has not changed at all. I was so shocked I even had the tracking rechecked at a different garage but it came back as near perfect. This means that if these tires last me 20,000 miles at current petrol prices (£1.35/litre) then they will cost me around an extra £236 in petrol and I only saved about £100 by fitting these over my previous Michelins.
Summary:
If I can't really afford it right now but as soon as I can I'm having these replaced as they feel unsafe and have much worse grip than my previous tires. If you want increased comfort, don't care about fuel consumption and never plan on turning a corner then they may be worth it, otherwise AVOID.