Avon ZV5

Moved to these tyres following a poor performance from the stock Pirelli PZero's fitted. Initially rather cautious given the other ratings on this site and the cost saving (£100 per tyre rather than £130 for the Pirelli's). However it appears my fears were unfounded; the car handles as well if not better than the Pirelli's, road noise is drastically reduced and the tyres look good too. They've only been on the car for a couple of months/2000 miles so I'm reserving judgement on the wear rates for now, but don't appear to be dwindling too fast. In summary, recommended for my car!

Not a bad tyre when first fitted, I put two on the front of my Bora to replace well worn budgets (previous owners fault).
Tyres have been very mediocre at best and do not inspire confidence, under breaking the car feels nervous and has a tendency to slide (brakes all new and perfect).... not good!!!!
Wear rate is appalling and uneven, at just over 5000 miles they are right down to the blocks, especially considering cheap rears have only lost approx 2mm in the same time period!
Definately will not be buying again as had no real strong points and cost far too much for poor preformance

Damn fine tyres that cost 50% the price of the premium brands but give you 80% + the performance.

Grip is really good in both dry and wet, and not to shabby in the snow but when really cold, like winter 2010, then the compound did get rock hard and performance dropped off considerably. Thanks goodness for variable 4WD I say.

But then again we should be using winter tyres in those conditions.

Only concern is tyre wear. They seem have taken a bit of a bashing over the past 12 months and about at the limit, where as I'd expect another 3 - 4 months from them. That said, no complaints and I'd happily part with my hard earned for another set (pity 4WD requires all 4 to be replaced at the same time, ouch!)

very good grip wet and dry
must have a soft compound as only got 10k use as wore very unevenly despite no tracking problems
expected better durability from a british premium brand
corner very well though

Can i just say ive been using avons for years first was zz1 which were very good and now cheaper avon zv5 which are fine also.I must admit i don't hang around in my car i like to keep things flowing and these tyres have not let me down at all.You can stick it into bends and feed the power on no problem.no slippage and thats in a rear wheel drive car with big power.So for all you muppets out there driving run of the mill mickey mouse cars ie shopping trollys these tyres should last a long time in conparison assuming you maintain tyre pressures and dont go round hitting kerbs ie knocking wheel alignment out.It a cheap middle of the line tyre and a good one at that.I said so.

These replaced a set of Dunlop S3000A's that wore out after 20 000 miles. despite their low cost these offer superb grip - my Almera regularly loses BMW's and Hondas on bends! Good wear too, only 2mm down after 10 000 miles. Fairly quiet. Would be ldeal for minis and BMW 1 series since theor tyres are overpriced in this size.

Nothing special would be my opening statement. I'm very choosy about tyres, but every now and then I take a steer from the bloke selling them. I've never had a good tip yet. I dont think they have a clue about what there selling. But whenever I've gone with a review and insisted on a particular tyre, I've never been disappointed. If I ran a tyre business, I'd only sell what gets rated here. eg I've just had some bloke try and tell me the ZV5 is as good as the Uniroyal Rainsport2 which I bought for my wifes car. Two words, Alternate Reality!

Anyway, the tyres. Wet grip is better than dry (relatively speaking) It's not a tyre that will forgive you throwing the car around. You have to be quite precise in the way you set the car up for a bend and be smooth all the way round. They don't really seem to respond very well to any sudden changes in steering input.

Feedback is very poor. You find yourself rationalising your faith in their ability to do their job. eg, Car settled, Entry speed correct, line smooth so why wouldn't you go round? You will go round!

To be fair they are ok under braking. But the wear is dissapointing. I'm down to the wear indicators in only 6,000 miles. Although they have worn very evenly, both around and accross the tread.

In summary not a tyre that inspires confidence or makes for an enjoyable drive.

The best tyre I've personally had to date is the Uniroyal 550. Albeit some years ago. They wear out a little quickly as is borne out on here. So I'm going for Rainsport2's this time. They're only £15 more than the Falken ZE912, a tyre that you can't really knock for the money.

Had all four fitted to a Saab 9-5 estate, as recommended by a so called Saab specialist. I now have the worst driving Saab around. Front wheel drift, skittish, lack of grip. My traction control hasnt worked so hard.

I would not recommend these tyres. They may be cheaper than Continental Sports Contact 3s (my original tyres), but they deliver a horrid ride and are not worth the money. Avoid at all costs.

Tires are good enough

The Eagle F1s I had on the Focus 2.0L just wore down too low for comfort when the weather was very wet, so needed some new tyres urgently. The Avon ZV5s were available along with some Pirelli & other tyres of good pedigree. Read the reviews & decided to give the Avons a go, replacing all four tyres. Really glad that I did. The wet grip is amazing - better that the Eagles, & they were pretty good when the tread was full. Dry grip seems OK too, but we haven't had a lot of dry weather of late so can't be 100% sure. These will be my tyre of choise in future.