Avon ZV3

I replaced some Kleber Dynaxer tyres on the front of my vehicle with these Avons believing that going for the better known name would prolong the life. Now, an Escort Estate 1.8TD is hardly a performance car, is it?! Needless to say, it is not physically possible to accelerate quickly in this vehicle; indeed my cat invariably beats me to the end of the road when I exit the cul-de-sac. I am an advanced driver and I regularly check the tyre pressures on my vehicle; thus erratic driving and poor maintenance can be eliminated from the equation with regard to exactly why this tyre performed so dismally. On average I commute 500 miles each week, plus a bit of work mileage and on the whole I drive steadily on the dual carriageways (which if you know the A12 usually entails driving at speeds of around 15 mph on a regular basis!!!). Initially the tyres seemed to make the steering somewhat light, which I expected whilst they bedded in; however, this light feeling has now turned into a vague, disconcerting, scary feeling whenever there is more than a morning dew on the road, if you drive over the slightest surface inclusion or attempt to navigate a roundabout and find your bottom twitching as the things understeer like crazy. The tyres have always been noisy, provided a hard ride and for the money I paid do not equate to good value. They have worn excessively at the shoulders and have lasted only 6,000 miles!!!!! Yes, you are reading this correctly, 6,000 miles!!!!! Needless to say, the only Avon I shall be purchasing from now on will be some shower gel from the catalogue that comes through the door!!!! I shall be trying Firestones in the future, or maybe just a compound of porridge and grit as this would probably exceed the performance of the Avons, would be cheaper to replace and may even glow that lovely orange hue that is so prominent in the adverts. Avoid these tyres like the plague; indeed plague would be preferable.

Tyres lasted 17000 miles on a mixture of country and motorway roads for a daily commute, I have had 3 sets of these tyres fitted as they were recommended however I have decided to experiment with other tyres to see if I can get onle that last slightly longer. Only ever slid once in the wet but it was due to a slippery road surface and they recovered nicely. These tyres haven't let me down yet.

I bought four of these after reading some good reviews elsewhere. I drive mainly on back roads in the countryside with the occasional long blast of over 200 miles back home to see the folks. My annual milage is higher than average at about 18k per annum. Initially I was impressed with the tyres. Grip was very good in both wet and dry with lots of feedback, even when pushing them to the limits. The tyres do let you know when you are pushing things too far! After 13k I noticed quite alarming loss of grip on patchy/wet roads, particularly when the car was cold, always on the same part of my route back home. The front tyres has worn significantly , particularly on the inner aspects and I now need a new pair after just 13k. I am now going to try uniroyal rainsport. I would not recommend the ZV3/ZV5 and expect better wear for a tyre that cost nearly ?100 a piece.

A new set of these tyres were on my Caterham when I bought the car and despite hearing negative reviews from other Caterham drivers they have performed well as road tyres. The dry grip is good, not outstanding but certainly good enough for some very spirited road use.

I have used my car in the wet rather more than the majority of Caterham drivers do and I have never had a problem with the tyres. There is obviously considerably less grip offered by a performance orientated road tyre and you do slip and slide a bit, particularly under power. The loss of traction has never been sharp or unprogressive though and the feedback is there to let you know what is happening. I have never had any trouble with standing water either.

Tyre wear has been no more than average for this type of tyre and 1 year in and 7k miles on I need another pair.

One thing I would recommend with any tyre is keeping track of the pressures and making sure they are optimum. I run the Caterham tyres at around 17psi and attribute the relatively good wet road handling to this. I suspect many Caterham drivers who complain about the wet performance of ZV3's are running them at higher pressures.

I would buy these again to run through the winter and maybe get some more agressive summer tyres such as Toyo R888s.

I had 2 sets of these tyres on my Passat and they were average. I got a good deal when buying and they were superior to the OEM Continentals supplied. I can't decide if it was the tyre or car setup that let the combination down (I suspect a bit of both) but I wasn't overly satisifed. Reasonable grip in the dry, above average in the wet, but noisy, lacking feel and feedback and wore fairly quickly.

These tyres are hopeless. For a so called performance tyre they are very dissapointing. I had one scary moment in the dry when my front wheels lost traction, causing me to under steer into oncoming traffic. Luckily I survived.
Wet grip was also nothing to write home about, they are also noisy and have an average wear rate.

You can but far better tyres for much less cash.

Dry grip is pretty good, ditto grip on damp roads (no standing water), but where these really seem to score is on very wet roads where they cut through puddles like anything - i.e. they seem to have very high resistance to aquaplaning. My previous treads (Yokohama A539) were slightly better in dry and damp conditions but practically broke your wrist if you caught the edge of a puddle at motorway speeds. The Avons hardly seem to notice.

Quite a comfortable tyre let down by its wet grip. Wouldn't buy again, will spend a little more and buy something like a toyo t1r or uniroyal rainsport.

They lasted 8000 miles a set.

Excellent grip in wet & dry conditions. A little experience in snow but in the AWD Jaguar X-Type I've had no problems. A quiet tyre and comfortable. Wear is good so far after around 15000 miles. Price is very competitive. These Avons are far better than the Pirelli's P6000's I had previously. Strongly recommend.