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Tires for GTI MK7

dosjockey

Go Kart Champion
Location
South
@ dosjockey, Great post! I will look further along the lines you suggest.

The biggest thing to remember beyond that is that tires are part of your suspension system, and given most haven't used too many different vehicles or set up one vehicle in enough ways, this is where asking opinions comes in handy. On this vehicle, for example, you might find more stability with a little less rigidity, or a little more. It depends on how it's set up; but you're after a very specific adjustment; not some mythical "best" tire.

Unfortunately, I can't give an actual opinion on what to buy for a Mk 7.5 GTI, as I've only had one for a little over three weeks. I have a hypothesis in regard to what it needs, but until it's a theory, it's useless for advice.

You know what you want in a tire; the feel of improved steering precision, so you're closer than most tire buyers ever get to buying the right product for their use case. In order to produce that feel, you'll want to look at points where tires deflect; and the two most common places are the tread section and the bead filler area. This is where manufacturers sacrifice precision for comfort, but that doesn't mean you have to give up comfort if you know what you want.

Understanding how all that data goes together will help you avoid purchase mistakes, and land you with something you like. Try to imagine the forces acting on that tire in your head before and after driving around a bit, and you'll sneak closer to being able to determine which aspect of the carcass or tread is letting you down. :)
 

The Fed

Old Guys Rule
Location
Florida
It will start to come down to how much you care to spend. IIRC, I paid a little less than $300 per tire, mounted and balanced, with a 2-year RH warranty. On a smooth road and in Comfort mode, they're very quiet.
 

GTIfan99

Autocross Champion
Location
FL
So much goes into that decision.

Top choices for inexpensive good tires are...

Indy 500 - great feel and dry traction, not fantastic in the rain. A little noisier than the other two. Have them on my son's GTI. Get this if you're looking for the sportiest feel.

FK510- fantastic in the rain, great dry traction, a little soft in the sidewall. I purposely bought them to soften the ride after adding stiffer springs. Run a couple extra psi in the tire and get this if you're looking for a softer commute. Since I have separate wheels and tires for track and a stiffer suspension, it was my choice for those reasons.

G Max RS - side wall somewhere between the other two, great dry and wet traction. This is the best compromise between the other two.
 
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dequardo

Autocross Newbie
Location
America’s Dairyland
Car(s)
‘21 GLI Autobahn GLI
Agree on these. I’ve made my preference known before and don’t wish to repeat it here as the price/performance ratio is off the charts. Oh and they only weigh 20 pounds each. :cool:
 

jimlloyd40

Autocross Champion
Location
Phoenix
Car(s)
2018 SE DSG
Agree on these. I’ve made my preference known before and don’t wish to repeat it here as the price/performance ratio is off the charts. Oh and they only weigh 20 pounds each. :cool:

I don't want to read the whole thread to find that post so what tire are you talking about?
 

dosjockey

Go Kart Champion
Location
South
The Indy 500 has extremely bolstered shoulder tread blocks at the expense of all weather stability. It's going to hook in the dry one way or another, but feel is going to come down to reinforcement.

They're about one step above cheater slicks.

FK510 and the GMax units are more appropriate for everyday street use, and the GMax has an unbroken circumferential ridge for general stability, noise, and higher speed, yet lower G turns.

That General isn't competition for the Indy 500, though. You'll have to move to their sister brand for a proper comparison: Continental; and specifically, the ExtremeContact Sport.
 

SouthFL_Mk7.5

Autocross Champion
Location
South Florida
Car(s)
2019 GTI S
I live in Miami. Currently using a set of Indy 500 on my wife’s car and P Zero on the GTI. Really happy with both tires.

The Firestone are a great value. Nice performance for a budget tire. Good turn in and steering response and grip. A little numb on center.

The P Zero can turn some laps at the track rather well and ride rather quietly and comfortable without compromising feedback.
 

plastermaster

Passed Driver's Ed
Location
Gualala
I was lamenting the lack of comparison (test results) between tires of different categories in an earlier post. Such comparisons would quantify for consumers the trade offs in choosing their category of tire. I found on Tire Rack's testing that for grand touring AS and UHP AS tires, they use the same cars. As expected the UHP tires of course have better stats for stopping, cornering, and track times, but interestingly not much. 100ths of a second wins races, and a few feet in stopping distances can save lives, but for day to day fun driving not quite at the tire's limits, the results seem to indicate the differences to be close. Close is a relative term, so close for one driver might be not so close for another. I might add that on the tests that I compared, the UHP tires were also a little fatter. 245 vs 225. That alone would account for some extra stickiness on the road. Tire racks test results present data in the form of scores, and also actual times and distances. On the scoring there is some overlap between the 2 categories, but not for the same brand of tire. In case anyone is interested the 2 tests are here and here. But, all said, its hard to say how much the data comparison translates to subjective experience behind the wheel.
 

7thVW

Passed Driver's Ed
Location
Florida
The beauty of the vehicle, it is reasonably priced and functional. If you upgrade from stock tires, no need to go wider. The vehicle can probably do more than you can.
Track vehicles with use Michelins b/c they they get to put the name on the wall. Think I run Bridgestones on the VW and I can never get up to speed. Keep in mind a softer tire will wear more quickly. A lot of that people that cant decide like the Michelin A/S 3. Probably lasts longer than a condom. If you want quick response, the Sport Cup is going to be tough to beat.

I have run Goodyear RSAs on vehicles, and they work fine. What is the average temperature and rainfall where you are located?
 

ack_attack

Passed Driver's Ed
Location
IL - Illinois
From my experience, I would go with the DWS06 over the Pilot Spot A/S 3+. To my surprise, the Pilot is quite bad in colder wet temps, they turn into hard plastic and don't grip, pretty horrible even in light snow.

+1

I had both on a mk6 TDI.

IMHO, A/S 3+ have slightly better dry performance, but the DWS06 weren’t that far behind. Overall grip is almost the same, but the DWS06 takes a little longer to take a “set” (probably because of a softer sidewall). But at anything but “oh shit!” speeds, I doubt many people would complain.

DWS06 were pretty amazing in the wet, with A/S3+ not far behind. In fact, DWS06 are my favorite tires for driving in the rain.

In wet, slushy snow, the DWS06 were very good; A/S 3+ started to get a little iffy. In drier snow, usually meaning colder temps, the DWS06 were ok up to about 3” of snow, then they got to be a little slippery, whereas the A/S 3+ were really slippery. Of course, neither will be as good as dedicated snow tires.

DWS06 have the advantage in comfort all through the tread depth. DWS06 were quieter, too. They got louder as the tread depth got to the point of replacement, but still quieter than the A/S 3+.

When it came time for new tires on my mk7.5 GTI, I went with DWS06. They aren’t the best at anything, but do A LOT of things very well (much like a GTI).

Both are very good choices, performance-wise, for a HIPO all-season tire. A/S 3+ have the edge in performance overall. DWS06 a smidge behind in performance (but not by much) and have the edge in comfort and snowier conditions. Pick your priority, and you have your winner.

Just my $0.02 - YMMV
 

MSchott

Go Kart Newbie
Location
Michigan
I had the DWS06 on my 2014 RWD BMW 328 and while they did a lot of things well, the soft sidewalls made for mushy steering feel. I have the A/S 3+ on my GTI and the grip and steering feel is exceptional. They are fine in the snow for a high performance AS but light fluffy snow is an issue. To me, the benefits outweigh that issue.
 

Ital

Go Kart Newbie
Location
Italian in CT
Depends what you are looking for. From my experience
Michelin best performance but loud
Pirelli are the most quiet
Continentals are somewhat in the middle and cheaper

I went with the pirelli because I do a lot of highway driving since mine is a daily driver
 
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