Avon Tyres

[GTAm]

Hi Guys,

I'm about to replace the front set on my Alfa 159, size - 225/55/17 (the correct size is 225/50/17 but there aren't any in that size)

I've narrowed down to Avon W 101 XLs (if I recall right). They have a better speed rating than Pirelli P7's I was also considering and are sligntly cheaper.

The car originally had Goodyear Eagle F1's which were fabulous. I had to change the fronts last year due to excessive negative camber (I failed to check) eating the inner sides and went with Dunlop SP Sport (cheapest option) which are near bald almost before a year!!! It's unbelievable how fast they've wasted. And the grip level was nowhere near the Goodyears.

This is the first time I'm trying out Avon. I know it's new to SL but was just wondering if anyone had any info or experience before I part with the money. (Goodyear's aren't available and I can't afford Michelin Pilot Sport and Pirelli P Zeros which are about double the price).

I've given up reading internet reviews because you get good and bad reviews for any brand and tyre model. So it is really not helpful. Considering that it's budget time next month I'm thinking of buying 4 and stocking 2 for later.

Thanks in advance.

[The Don]

GTAm, Avon has a pretty good reputation in the UK and is standard equipment in many British cars. The only thing you might need to be mindful is that Avon is sourced to SL from China and the UK so best check which is the version you are signing up for.

Also SP Sport Maxx (not SP Sport which is actually the old Le Mans series tyres) are pretty good having had first and hand experience. The Tyre wear issue on the 159 is quite common from what I've heard (it's design related rather than related to failure of a component) so I would not blame that on the tyre.

Is yours a 159 JTS? What is the engine in it?

[KaluZ]

As a suggestion, try Yokohama/Advan. I have had a set on my car and even with a few track days, the grip is amazing, and the wear rate is acceptable. Very responsive and predictable handling.

N

[YRD]

GTAm. Call up Unit#d Mot#rs, Yokohama section.. There is a guy there.. He will order your proper size and bring it down specially for you.. Can't remember his name though, doesn't speak English . Whatever happens, DO NOT SPEAK TO THE LADY she has no idea that they do special imports and will only tell u that they don't and say other things to frustrate you...

[YRD]

BTW. Autodrome has your original size 225/50R17.. Might wanna try that out first.. It's available in the turanza as well as the potenza..

Edited October 16, 2012 by YRD

[GTAm]

GTAm, Avon has a pretty good reputation in the UK and is standard equipment in many British cars. The only thing you might need to be mindful is that Avon is sourced to SL from China and the UK so best check which is the version you are signing up for.

Also SP Sport Maxx (not SP Sport which is actually the old Le Mans series tyres) are pretty good having had first and hand experience. The Tyre wear issue on the 159 is quite common from what I've heard (it's design related rather than related to failure of a component) so I would not blame that on the tyre.

Is yours a 159 JTS? What is the engine in it?

Hi Don,

Got the Avons yesterday as I kerbed the right front Dunlop accidentally while parking and the sidewall split. Avons are UK sourced according to the vendor cannot find a "Made in.........." tag anywhere though.

Dunlop Sport Maxx was not available and anyway they are way beyond my budget. For that price I would go for Michelin Pilot Sports or Pirelli P-Zeros. They are about double the price of the tyres I purchased. They are high performance tyres that are really too good for the speeds we are able to drive at in SL, not to mention the some of the rutty roads we have to drive on. Just to give you the price differences the Avons were 32k a piece wile the Sport Maxx/Pilot Sport/P-Zeros would cost between 55 to 70k a piece. There was Michelin Premacy for 56k each. Still too much for me.

Yes front end tyre wear is an issue on the 159. But the Goodyears lasted a lot longer than the Dunlops. They were used in UK already when the car arrived and I used them here for over a year. I had to replace them because the inner edges were gone as the camber was a very aggressively negative. Since then I have reduced the camber. However the Dunlops wasted in 10 months flat! And I felt the reduced grip almost immediately when I replaced. Can't blame the car for that can I?

Engine is 2.2 JTS.

[GTAm]

As a suggestion, try Yokohama/Advan. I have had a set on my car and even with a few track days, the grip is amazing, and the wear rate is acceptable. Very responsive and predictable handling.

N

Used a set on my previous 156. Very good indeed. Not available.

[GTAm]

BTW. Autodrome has your original size 225/50R17.. Might wanna try that out first.. It's available in the turanza as well as the potenza..

Turanza is terrible from my previous experience. Potenza is good. 37k a tyre. Thought about it but 20k extra for the 4 tyres

[GTAm]

GTAm. Call up Unit#d Mot#rs, Yokohama section.. There is a guy there.. He will order your proper size and bring it down specially for you.. Can't remember his name though, doesn't speak English . Whatever happens, DO NOT SPEAK TO THE LADY she has no idea that they do special imports and will only tell u that they don't and say other things to frustrate you...

Ah one of those ladies

There were many people who offered to import a set but I really did not want to wait for the budget - chances are that everything will go up . And last morning's tyre damage prompted me to conclude purchase right away.

[GTAm]

Thanks for the inputs guys. Will give you some feed back on the Avons in a few days/weeks.

[The Don]

I was tempted to go for a set of Avons myself but they did not have the size I needed. I went for Maxxis MA-Z1, which turned out to be a bit of a revelation. They have a higher wear rating so won't expect to last for ages, but at 12400 a piece were a bargain and they grip and they grip! Read the reviews and see what others say as well. My size was 195/55 R15

I would have recommended them to you but weren't sure you would be prepared to put them on an Alfa They are also not available in all sizes and not always in stock as the demand is less. Last I heard the agent had replaced them with the MA-P1.

[GTAm]

I was tempted to go for a set of Avons myself but they did not have the size I needed. I went for Maxxis MA-Z1, which turned out to be a bit of a revelation. They have a higher wear rating so won't expect to last for ages, but at 12400 a piece were a bargain and they grip and they grip! Read the reviews and see what others say as well. My size was 195/55 R15

I would have recommended them to you but weren't sure you would be prepared to put them on an Alfa They are also not available in all sizes and not always in stock as the demand is less. Last I heard the agent had replaced them with the MA-P1.

No one offered me Maxxis. I was offered a tyre called MasterCraft. Supposedly a US brand. 27,500/- which was cheap but I wasn't ready to take the risk. I've used unknown brand before - one I particularly remember is "Alliance" which is made in Israel of all places. No grip at all but it lasted too long. My best value for money decent brand is Kumho. D@mo did not have my size two weeks ago. They are still getting back to me on when they can import a set...

[The Don]

No one offered me Maxxis. I was offered a tyre called MasterCraft. Supposedly a US brand. 27,500/- which was cheap but I wasn't ready to take the risk. I've used unknown brand before - one I particularly remember is "Alliance" which is made in Israel of all places. No grip at all but it lasted too long. My best value for money decent brand is Kumho. D@mo did not have my size two weeks ago. They are still getting back to me on when they can import a set...

Yeah Kumho ECSTA is a fantastic tyre, but alas all they seem to import now is Solus. I actually tried to phone them a number of times but nobody picked up the "hot line".

To get the sporting Maxxis tyres (MA-Z1 and MA-P1), you have to phone up the agents Benedictsons. The sub agents are rarely aware of the range and I actually got the lead from the forum!

[g-unit]

No one offered me Maxxis. I was offered a tyre called MasterCraft. Supposedly a US brand. 27,500/- which was cheap but I wasn't ready to take the risk. I've used unknown brand before - one I particularly remember is "Alliance" which is made in Israel of all places. No grip at all but it lasted too long. My best value for money decent brand is Kumho. D@mo did not have my size two weeks ago. They are still getting back to me on when they can import a set...

MasterCraft is a decent tire machang. IMO better than Maxxis in terms of ride comfort and also wear. Was running Maxxis Bravo Radials on my Hilux and changed to MasterCraft Avenger GT and now on to my 2nd set. Vast difference between the two. Well to me at least. It's owned by Cooper tires and are very similar in sizes and tread pattern. They also happen own Avon tires in the U.K.

[VVTi]

GTAm, try the Achilles brand that I had on the 164.... loads of grip, wears well and was not that expensive also. I was running 215/55/16s, got all 4 for less than 670K in 2010. After some heavy running, they still have a lot of meat left. Indika will know who to contact.

running the same brand on the Punto as well. they performed quite well even at the Pannala track that day...

[mazdaspeed]

GTAm, try the Achilles brand that I had on the 164.... loads of grip, wears well and was not that expensive also. I was running 215/55/16s, got all 4 for less than 670K in 2010. After some heavy running, they still have a lot of meat left. Indika will know who to contact.

running the same brand on the Punto as well. they performed quite well even at the Pannala track that day...

Glad to hear you are happy with the Achilles tyre’s , Im planning to them as budget is a bit tight. The price have gone up though Apx Rs. 10700/- for a 195/60/15.

Hope it handles well in wet condition

[VVTi]

Glad to hear you are happy with the Achilles tyre’s , Im planning to them as budget is a bit tight. The price have gone up though Apx Rs. 10700/- for a 195/60/15.

Hope it handles well in wet condition

It is actually a good tyre. I am running them on both the Alfa and the Punto and they both have had some real rough and heavy use, especially the Alfa's. Rather quiet on teh highway, grip is good and wet weather performance is also great, even on the highway.

[H.C]

I was tempted to go for a set of Avons myself but they did not have the size I needed. I went for Maxxis MA-Z1, which turned out to be a bit of a revelation. They have a higher wear rating so won't expect to last for ages, but at 12400 a piece were a bargain and they grip and they grip! Read the reviews and see what others say as well. My size was 195/55 R15

I would have recommended them to you but weren't sure you would be prepared to put them on an Alfa They are also not available in all sizes and not always in stock as the demand is less. Last I heard the agent had replaced them with the MA-P1.

yes mate, those MA-Z1 victras have amazing grip. Now im nearing 10k mark and no complaints at all.

[GTAm]

Thanks VVTi. Achilles is a good value for money choice. Better than GT for example. But I have my reservations. Had them on my dad's former BM E36 and I did not like them much. Added to this our friend Nimal told me a story of how he spun his Alfa Sud on Achilles recently. Not sure if the tyres are to blame but I can tell you the Sud is not an easy car to spin at all. Anyway they did not have my size.

I have the old tyres on the front end still as they they have some tread left. When I change over in a few months is when I can tell you how the Avons perform.

[GTAm]

Some feedback.

Since my fronts are still the old tyres one excellent Goodyear and one bloody Chinese "Landsail" that came from UK I still cannot give a conclusive review on the Avons especially on grip but I feel the ride is very good.

Recently had a massive puncture on one Avon a quite blunt rod of around 3.5mm diameter managed to punch in. While getting it repaired finally noticed in tiny letters "Made in England". So I'd say for a UK made tyre with that speed rating the price is very good compared with the others I looked at.

[The Don]

Some feedback.

Since my fronts are still the old tyres one excellent Goodyear and one bloody Chinese "Landsail" that came from UK I still cannot give a conclusive review on the Avons especially on grip but I feel the ride is very good.

Recently had a massive puncture on one Avon a quite blunt rod of around 3.5mm diameter managed to punch in. While getting it repaired finally noticed in tiny letters "Made in England". So I'd say for a UK made tyre with that speed rating the price is very good compared with the others I looked at.

GTAm, did your rears wear off before the fronts? I thought the Alfa adverse camber was on the front rather than the back? Also how was the handling after you "corrected" the camber, because I thought the reason why Alfa set the camber that way was to improve handling.

I think its a decent time to buy Avon since they are looking for market penetration rather than margins at the moment.

[GTAm]

Don it's actually the original rears that are now on the front. I know it's not usual to put the older tyres upfront but since they are half worn and two different brands I just want the misery to end faster and then have a nice set of Avons all round. Btw the Good year (German made and Chinese Landsail (what a name) are same age - were replaced by the UK dealer before the car was shipped, although I have no remote idea why they chose two different brands.) the Landsail is more worn than the Good Year. Clearly a quality difference.

I have not noticed any difference in the handling which is as nice and surefooted as ever. I don't know maybe nearer the limit of the chassis this might actually count but I doubt I'll ever go there in SL, this being my daily work horse and all.

[jaga]

Could anybody comment on TOYO japan 205*55*16 DRB91V tyre please?

[GTAm]

Could anybody comment on TOYO japan 205*55*16 DRB91V tyre please?

Hi not sure of the DRB91V but I am on the AROC UK forum actively and most people there love TOYO and rave about them. In fact its their favorite track day tyre. Are you in SL? Never knew they were available here other than for commercial vehicles. I'd Toyo is one of the higher rated tyre manufacturers out there.

[jaga]

Hi not sure of the DRB91V but I am on the AROC UK forum actively and most people there love TOYO and rave about them. In fact its their favorite track day tyre. Are you in SL? Never knew they were available here other than for commercial vehicles. I'd Toyo is one of the higher rated tyre manufacturers out there.

Thanks. I am in SL.

[GTAm]

Finally put the fronts on. So far - a very good feeling. The ride is noticeably better and grip is good too although I've yet to really have a fast enjoyable drive. I'll be monitoring wear but I'm sure nothing will wear faster than the last set of Dunlops.