Volkswagen Golf Mk6 Tyres

Back in August 2011 I started researching a new set of all-season, winter-rated tyres for my wife’s DSG equipped VW Golf Tsi. We decided that having a set of summer and a set of winter tyres didn’t fit our requirements and would be too much hassle. Having suffered for years getting stuck in the snow and having to walk over half-a-mile back to our hilltop village, enough was enough.

After 2 months of reading various magazine reviews plus my own internet research I had it narrowed down to 3 options: Vredestein Quatrac 3, Hankook Optimo 4s or Goodyear Vector 4 Seasons. Following reading numerous tests we decided the Goodyear’s suited our needs best.

The internet price per 205/55/16 tyre in August was £90 (same as the factory-fitted Michelin Primacy’s) but by the time I ordered all 4 tyres in October the price had crept up to £101 per tyre.

We had the Goodyear’s fitted locally for £10 each at the start of November and following this my wife reports that the ride is smooth and absorbent with lower noise levels than the previous Michelin’s. Travelling on wet roads through standing water the Goodyear’s are significantly more resistant to aquaplaning and offer noticeably more grip in the corners on cold, wet fast A-roads and motorways.

She’s tried the Goodyear’s on a previous dusting of snow without any problems but the real challenge was during the snow dump on Feb’ 4th 2012.

After a trip out shopping it started to snow but rather than go home to Bury, Lancashire we headed for the A59 North Yorkshire to go to a pub for a relaxing meal to allow the snow to accumulate. As the afternoon progressed we returned to Bury where there was now 2-3 inches of snow on the towns’ roads. Growing in confidence we felt ready for the challenge of getting back to our hilltop village on untreated roads and along the way we would perform a few tests, too.

We started the climb up the hill on 2-3 inches of snow and soon met our 1st victim: a bus performing a 3-point turn and heading back down. Waiting for the bus to get out of the way we realised this would be our 1st hill start on packed snow and the grade was about 1 in 5. Once the bus left my wife hit the accelerator and the car shuffled slightly, but quickly gained traction and we were off – no problem.

Further round the corner the road steepens and then crosses a bridge where there was 4-5 inches of fresh snow – nobody had gotten this far up and it’s now about 1 in 4 incline. We purposely stopped on the bridge and attempted another hill start but this time the intention was to accelerate as hard as possible. The traction control light flickered as the tyres searched for grip but we were off and got up to 25mph from a standstill in no time at all at which point we ran out of bravery on the narrow road.

Emergency stops are dealt with just as easily: the car stops very quickly in a straight line with no drama at all, even when heading down steep roads. It was a real eye-opener just how quickly the car was able to stop on fresh snow from 25mph. The only concern we would have doing this is possibly being followed by someone who will likely be on ‘summer’ tyres – there is no way they would be able to avoid crashing into us such is the grip generated by the Goodyear tyres.

Near the top of the hill, before going to our house, we drove into a large pub car park that is also on a quite a severe slope when covered in snow. Nobody drives too far into this car park in the snow as there would be no chance of recovering your car easily. But this didn’t put us off – we drove in at about 10-15mph and applied the amount of steering lock we would expect to use on a dry day to exit at the top end of the car park. Amazingly, the tyres gripped and tracked the route we were hoping to stick to without needing to apply any more steering lock - no skidding or scrabbling for grip.

Bottom line: we wanted some truly all-season tyres that wouldn’t leave us stranded following a decent snowfall and that would give us total confidence to venture out in such conditions as well as being great in the wet and the dry – we can confirm these tyres are fantastic.

Some might say that all-season, winter-rated (3 peaks mountain snowflake on sidewall) tyres are a compromise; 90% grip of decent winter tyre in the snow and 90% grip of a decent summer tyre in warm weather but we feel these tyres are worth it for our needs. After all, we’ve not been left stranded in the snow (the main point of buying them) and neither of us drive like Ayrton Senna in the summer so this so-called ‘compromise’ won’t even be noticed.

Given the Goodyears’ cost the same as the factory-fitted Michelin’s (£90), don’t need changing every 6 months like full winter tyres, no need to buy a 2nd set of steel wheels to mount the tyres, they likely won’t leave you stuck in the snow, are confidence-inspiring in the cold and wet and will be prove more than good enough come the summer, I just don’t see the point of buying ‘summer’ tyres again.

My wife was skeptical after the Goodyear’s were fitted – I mean, how could a different set of tyres not have her slithering to a stop on snow like the Michelin’s near home and end up her having to walk it? Well, she drives the Golf all the time and drove the car in all the conditions / tests written above (hill starts, cornering and emergency stops on 6 inches of snow) and she says she never wants summer-rubber again and has insisted on another set of Goodyear Vector 4 Seasons when these wear out – praise indeed.

Like the Winter Sport 3d only slightly better! Best winter tyre!

The Vorti is a fantastic tyre from start to finish! The design of the sidewall gives a 'designer tyre' look which compliments the upgraded alloy wheels I have fitted to my vehicle, in heavy rain the tyres cope fantastically and have so far not missed a beat! Would very highly recommend to anyone!

One of the best tyres i have ever buy ...we have this model before on a Focus (2008 1.8 tdci) and was unbelivable to dry wet and road feedback .
In my golf have for 25.000miles energy saver and god knows why iam still alive - now i buy 4 x ps3 and the golf is back on performance .
I will buy it again ! Super !

Indescribable amount of grip on snow, and the cold wet grip is better than my normal tyres ever were. Converted.

Excellent tyre for the general winter season. I purchased just prior to the snow (December 2010) and am glad I did! The wife feels much more secure driving in poor conditions / snow / ice, too.

A pair of these replaced the factory supplied Bridgestone RE050 on the front of my Golf TDI. The bridgestones lasted 16k miles and were pretty hopeless in the last 4-5k miles, especially in the wet where noise was as much an issue as wet grip. The Falkens have now done 15k miles and have worn at the same rate as the Bridgestones. Overall they've been excellent - better wet weather grip than the RE050s throughout their life, good dry weather grip and enough feedback to please all but the most sensitive 3% of drivers. I still have the original Bridgestones on the rear and comparing the sidewalls there is no more protection on those than the Falkens, and both are typical low profile tyre walls that will not protect the rim if you bash a kerb. Wear rate has been even across the tyre width, 50p inner tread blocks are a sympton of poor suspension geometry (excess camber , often caused by straddling speed humps, or excessive toe-in). In summary, as good as the Bridgestones in all areas, better in some. Great tyres especially at 25% lower price than the RE050s. Would buy again without hesitation.

Have had these fitted to steel rims of my Mk6 Golf since November, having now covered almost 7k miles. They've been excellent in most conditions through winter, only the very warmest of winter days (10-11'C) have seen them feeling a little less grippy and a bit soft. I've driven in 8" of snow easily thsi winter, whereas last winter i was almost stranded in an inch with the original 225/45/17 Bridgestone RE050s (brand new at the time). Even whent he snow was compacted and iced over with -15'C tenmperatures the tyres didn't struggle at all, i haven't seen the traction control light once this year, last winter the system actually threw an error as it was working so hard to get me nowhere !
Comfort has been very good, but then moving back to 15" tryes with a high sidewall is bound to improve things over a 17" wheel with an inch less wall height.
Handling has been fine, winter conditions aren't great for sporty driving and these tyres have no claims to be sporty - driven in normal manner they've ahd all the grip thats been required and a fair safety margin left.
Noise - for such a blocky pattern with very deep tread (about 9.5mm when new) they've been remarkably quiet, long curve at speed such as motorway intersections produce a little extra noise, but hardly noticeable (even in a car as quiet as the Golf)
Wear - after 7k miles, the built in tread indicators show exactly 8mm on the front and over 8mm on the rear (first wear indicator is at 8mm). By rotating the tyres the wear would average out at about 1mm every 7k miles, which would give a life (down to 4mm) of around 40k miles in winter use, and a further 14k miles of potential warm weather use to see them wear down to 2mm.
Value for money - absolutely. For £50 a corner you can't go wrong as a winter tyre set, extra security and mobility in winter alone make then a good buy. No idea what they'd wear like in summer temperatures, but even if they wear faster they are still capable of great mileage for the money.
Will i buy again - I will always run winter and summer tyre sets going forward and when these wear out, probably after another 3 winters !, i'll look again at Nokian and compare the prices to the big brands ike Dunlop and continental. No doubt i'll go with Nokian again.

A pair of these replaced the factory supplied Bridgestone RE050 on the front of my Golf TDI. The bridgestones lasted 16k miles and were pretty hopeless in the last 4-5k miles, especially in the wet where noise was as much an issue as wet grip. The Falkens have now done 15k miles and have worn at the same rate as the Bridgestones. Overall they've been excellent - better wet weather grip than the RE050s throughout their life, good dry weather grip and enough feedback to please all but the most sensitive 3% of drivers. I still have the original Bridgestones on the rear and comparing the sidewalls there is no more protection on those than the Falkens, and both are typical low profile tyre walls that will not protect the rim if you bash a kerb. Wear rate has been even across the tyre width, 50p inner tread blocks are a sympton of poor suspension geometry (excess camber , often caused by straddling speed humps, or excessive toe-in). In summary, as good as the Bridgestones in all areas, better in some. Great tyres especially at 25% lower price than the RE050s. Would buy again without hesitation.