Volkswagen MkVI Golf GT TDi Tyres

I changed from Goodyear Excellence (a directional summer all rounder) to these when the Goodyears were unavailable (just on the front). I've been driving 20+ years and fairly keen on my driving. These are on my daily driver. The short version of this review is that these were so bad on my car that I booked the car in to get suspension checked.

The problem was that the planted feeling I had from the Goodyears disappeared. The car felt vague to the point of dangerous. I'm talking about even at legal speeds on motorways where it felt like there were crosswinds (it was also more tramliney). On the twisties I was getting torque steer over any slight bumps (I'm a progressive but smooth IAM type driver) and even with gentle turn-in it felt like the tyre was folding under the wheel slightly - just horrible.

I've never felt such a dramatic effect from changing tyres on a car and have been through most brands (Pirelli, Contisports, Goodyear, Toyo, Michelin, Bridgestone, Falken etc). I can only put it down to the fact that this is a tyre designed for "premium" motor cars and perhaps for comfort before anything else. It may be better with lower profile sidewalls or in a higher speed rating, but I'd have to recommend staying well clear whatever your style of driving if you're choosing for this size. I got to the stage where I was pricing up replacements despite these only having 2100 miles on them.

I have since rotated the tyres on to the back (today) and having taken it for a longish spin over a motorway, town, twisties test route - the car's back to how it was before.

Very noisy, poor dry grip and abysmal wet or greasy grip. I have had budget tyres grip better than these. They came on my MkVI GT TDi Golf and I only hope I make it safely through to the next set (which won't be Dunlop!). Goodyear, Vredestein or if you're flush, Michelin Pilot Sport. I had the Pilots on my A4 and they were awesome.