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I've Ruined my Car: Goodyear Eagle F1 Asymmetric 2 (235/45/18)


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I am posting this for the information of other GS300h owners who are considering changing their tyres. Please learn from my own stupidity. Do not purchase Goodyear Eagle F1 Asymmetric 2 in size 235/45! 

When looking at reviews, I found near-universal praise for these tyres (in other sizes) for being quiet, comfortable and low rolling resistance. Despite the fact that I know full well that tyre reviews are second only to food reviews for being utterly pointless subjective tripe, I allowed myself to be persuaded away from spending the extra on Michelin CrossClimates which have been recommended by owners on here. That was foolish, and it is going to prove to be an expensive mistake.

These tyres are not quiet. They produce noticeably more cabin noise than the OEM Bridgestone ER33s, which I did not consider to be a quiet tyre in the first place. They are perhaps more 'comfortable' in that they make the car feel as if it's driving through treacle. However, the biggest problem is that the rolling resistance is absolutely, utterly, appallingly terrible. Unbelievably, it has actually made a noticeable impact on performance - significantly more throttle is now required in any given situation, and the distance I can get in milkfloat mode has been considerably reduced. As a result, fuel economy is now catastrophically bad. I'm not talking a slight reduction - I'm talking a minimum 10% worse and on some journeys up to 20%. Where I would have been touching an indicated 50mpg on these cold days, I am now struggling into the low 40s and occasionally dipping down into the 30s. If I needed more proof that those ridiculous EU economy ratings are anything other than fabricated bulls--t then this is it - these tyres have the same rating as the ER33s they replaced, and the associated mumbo jumbo claims a maximum difference of 7.5% between A and G!

I hoped they might just need scrubbing in, but there's been no improvement after a few hundred miles. I have tried whacking the pressures up to 2.7bar, but this has had little impact on economy. It just makes the ride unsettled. And yes, I've checked they were fitted the right way around!

Clearly, these tyres can't be universally awful. I've actually got the Asymmetric 3s (the updated version) on my wife's Auris HSD and they're absolutely fine. However, on a GS300h they are an unmitigated disaster if you have even a passing interest in fuel economy. I hope this information may save others from making the same mistake as I have made.

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At the moment I have  winter  Hankook  Icept Evo , but at season change I planned to mount Goodyear because if low noise rating...

About fuel economy, it dramatically decreases with low temperatures, I had 16,5-17 km/l this summer and now reading only 14,5.

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What size they are 235/45.. 17 or 18? if 17 I might be interested (though I doubt Premier ever came with 17s).

Otherwise, I think you right - following tire reviews is difficult thing...  What I found they usually do reviews on common cars like Golfs and Focuses and there tend to run small tires, it becomes really difficult to choose tires for more luxury car because effectively nobody reviews all the exotic tire sizes like R19/275/35 or something like that. Different size tire can be completely different and so review for say R15/195/55 means completely nothing when you looking for say R18/235/45... because that is completely different tire.

As for EU rating - so far I am lucky and all tires I had were spot on (except of maybe Nexen's), however I know that it could be wildly misleading at times... and it is not because they are factually incorrect, but because they are for "comparison" reasons and does not actually reflect realistic driving experience. That is almost like MPG ratings - you can compare two cars like for like and say Fiesta 1.2 diesel with 85MPG is more economical car than BMW 340i with 28MPG, but it doesn't mean either of those cars going to do those MPGs in real life... and finally there is level of cheating in all these ratings. All manufacturers knows what is methodology and can adjust their product to specifically perform good for the test, same for MPGs and same for tire rating, vacuum cleaners ratings or anything else - where methodology is clear, there is always a way to exploit it.

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An ultra high-performance tyre, designed for sports cars, will always compromise on comfort and noise. They may be quite compared to their direct competition in the UHP category but not compared to comfort or fuel efficient designed tyres.

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Not to mention, UHP tyres will never be in their optimal working temperature at this time of year. They effectively remain rock-hard and generate way more noise than normal. Grip and ride quality is significantly reduced too.

I recently switched from UHP summer tyres to a winter set, and purely in terms of noise and ride comfort, the difference is quite staggering.

 

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My original post could probably have been neatly summarised as:

"Idiot buys high-performance summer tyres, drives on them in winter, then complains about things which nobody would expect a high-performance tyre to be good at anyway."

Thank you all for politely dancing around this, rather than stating it flatly! It would be a fair thing to say, and I have nobody to blame but myself for my predicament. I also failed to remember that tyre reviewers have completely different priorities from me, although I'm sure the praise heaped on the Eagle F1s was further sweetened by my discovery that they were £50 a corner cheaper than my original preference of the Michelin CrossClimates. Of course, the Goodyears are now going to cost me way more than that £200 difference over their lifetime and if there is one salutory lesson which I shall be taking from this, it will be to avoid getting distracted from my priorities by a cheaper up-front cost.

That said, I do think there is one point in my original post which remains a legitimate complaint. The EU 'eco' ratings on tyres completely failed to do their job in this instance. It is worth repeating that the Bridgestone ER33s which were previously on my car - and which are not a high performance tyre - had the same 'E' rating for economy as the Goodyears. Despite this 'low' rating, the Bridgestones delivered 60+mpg on a dry summer day and ~50mpg on cold, wet winter roads. It doesn't seem entirely unreasonable for people to expect two tyres of the same rating to deliver broadly similar fuel economy, regardless of whether either tyre is UHP or summer or winter or whatever. If these ratings can't actually facilitate such comparisons, they should be scrapped.

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Probably you will obtain good mpg with GY tyres  for the season the are made for, meanwhile you could make a little effort and mount winter tyres, as when you use one set don't  waste the other one, and have the right set for the season . I decided to do so, provided I will be able to use both sets before they get too old (making 15 miles a year).

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