New Tires for Golf

[Bill W]

In the middle of purchasing a 2001 Golf that needs new tires. I have had Pirelli P7s on two previous VWs and loved them but the P7 isn't made in 15" sizes. Intrigued by the P4 but I'm not brand loyal when it comes to good tires.

What is a good 15" all-season tire to run? Looking for a good all around tire with minimal road noise.

 

[BobnOH]

TVs an Tires, loads of good ones for reasonable money.
Use Tire Rack for research.
Avoid purchasing store branded tires, most of the chains will have tires mode just for them, they're generally so cheap they routinely replace them under warranty and still make money.
I like the all season for most parts of the country, if you want a nicer ride, look at some in the touring class.
As a bonus, just about all the major brands are made here in North America.

 

[Bill W]

TVs an Tires, loads of good ones for reasonable money.
Use Tire Rack for research.
Avoid purchasing store branded tires, most of the chains will have tires mode just for them, they're generally so cheap they routinely replace them under warranty and still make money.
I like the all season for most parts of the country, if you want a nicer ride, look at some in the touring class.
As a bonus, just about all the major brands are made here in North America.

I use tire rack for research but many of the reviews do not apply to VWs or the type of driving many people on here do. I've read on here plenty of people reporting 100k miles on a set of tires but that type of info is hardly found on tire rack or similar review sites. I'm interested in hearing what other people driving similar type vehicle/style put on their cars and been happy with. Using the search function on here brings way too many results and I don't have the time to sift through them all, hence the question posted here.

 

[Hwycruiser]

I have bought BF Goodrich Touring T/As for many cars over the years from Sam's Club. They have provided good service at a reasonable price, typically get 60k with no issues. They are made by Michelin and I called them to ask why I should buy Michelin over the BFG TAs, they said no reason to unless I wanted the M name on the tire.

 

[TDIBone]

I had good luck with the Continental ContiSportContact. Just make sure the tires guys spec the correct load rating (89). A lot of them assume it's an 87 for a small car with 15" rims.

 

[BobnOH]

I use tire rack for research but many of the reviews do not apply to VWs or the type of driving many people on here do. I've read on here plenty of people reporting 100k miles on a set of tires but that type of info is hardly found on tire rack or similar review sites. I'm interested in hearing what other people driving similar type vehicle/style put on their cars and been happy with. Using the search function on here brings way too many results and I don't have the time to sift through them all, hence the question posted here.

Well we always have time to help you out. I believe my advice to be better than a random small sample of testimonials. Of course it is a VW.
All the other tire threads have gotten tons of responses, you will too!

 

[1854sailor]

I put a set of These on our Golf. Tried them on the Passat and liked them so much that I went with them when the Golf needed tires.

 

[JB05]

I too have the Continental Pure Contact purchased this past June. I first heard about them from one of the many tire threads here. I like them so far and they seem quiet, but my hearing is poor.

 

[IndigoBlueWagon]

My two sons have PureContacts on their MKIVs. Like them. I have Bridgestone Ecopias on my Golf, which are pretty grippy but not as smooth riding as the Michelins on my wagon. When those are done I'll probably get Contis for both.

 

[Rembrant]

What is a good 15" all-season tire to run? Looking for a good all around tire with minimal road noise.

I'm running a set of Bridgestone Turanza Serenity Plus tires on my '03 Golf and I'm quite happy with them. They're quiet, they're wearing even, and they seem to be lasting really well. I didn't go searching for these tires...but a co-worker of mine lost the timing belt in his '09 City Golf and so he sold me a set of 15" aluminum rims that had these tires installed with about 20k on them.

I'm more or less switching everything over to Michelins...but I'll run these until they're finished.

 

[bobbiemartin]

I have bought BF Goodrich Touring T/As for many cars over the years from Sam's Club. They have provided good service at a reasonable price, typically get 60k with no issues.

When my daughter had the Golf, we ran these for years. Good all around tire, for wear, worked well in the rain, quiet, etc. Hard to beat if you have a Sam's Club nearby. I have been running 16" Ecopias on the wagon. Nice tires, my only complaint is they seem to be noisy on some types of pavement.

 

[Steve-o]

I have bought BF Goodrich Touring T/As [snip] made by Michelin and I called them to ask why I should buy Michelin over the BFG TAs, they said no reason to unless I wanted the M name on the tire.

I don't really mean to be that guy but I'm always leery when people equate brands because the same company owns both brands. It's like saying there's no reason to buy an Audi A4 over a Passat unless you want three more circles on the grille and steering wheel. There may be many parts in common between the cars but the Audi is different enough to command a higher price.

I'm not knocking the BFG; it may be a fine tire with which I have no experience. I'm just saying that, over many years, I've seen manufacturers rebrand products and, 98% of the time, something is different: quality of the components, features, warranty, service,... If the difference(s) are unimportant to pay for then by all means save some dough. But don't let someone else assume equivalency based on just parent-company ownership.

More on-topic, I've been running Bridgestone Ecopias (their discontinued summer-only pattern) for 4-5 years now. My wife has run General's Altimax RT for a couple of years on her Kia; they've been fine and were fairly inexpensive. Both of us run winter tires, so no data points there.

 

[UhOh]

I researched this until I was blue in the face.

One has to really define what one's requirements are. For me it was wet traction as well as long-lasting. I went with Conti True Contacts: 90k mile warranty. Best value, though some tires might be slightly better (not enough so to justify the extra cost). The True Contacts don't match the speed rating that's called out for, but this really isn't an issue with our cars (I'm not running over 120mph!): I got mine from Discount Tire and they said that they had no problems with installing them on my cars- they have the proper load rating, and that's the most important thing they said.

Probably have at least 12k miles on the Conti True Contacts (both cars). So far they're as good as I was expecting them to be. Quiet. Handle really well: my car is awesome because it has all new, and stiffer, suspension. Fuel mileage still seems good: hard to say for sure, but I know it hasn't gone down. Traction in the wet has been great: this was my top criterion. When it comes time to replace these tires I'd like to get the same, but as things tend to go they'll probably be superseded.

 

[gatz]

It would be miraculous if our tires could last 90k.. we get punctures about least twice a year thanks to off road driving in industrial areas. Along with suspension issues that ruined alignment and accelerated wear. I think I got that all sorted finally at least. Currently have Hankook OPTIMO H727 and I would say they're fine, nothing special, reasonably priced and good tread wear. We live in the same town as Tire Rack so with free local pickup its the go to for us.

 

[Bill W]

Thanks all for the recommendations. I was leaning towards the PureContacts and I think that's what I'm going to go with. They're also running a special with Continental on tirerack.com this month where you get a $70 pre-paid Visa card with purchase too!

Thanks again! You guys saved me some time from sifting through hundreds of threads, most of which were irrelevant to what I was looking for.

 

[UhOh]

It would be miraculous if our tires could last 90k.. we get punctures about least twice a year thanks to off road driving in industrial areas. Along with suspension issues that ruined alignment and accelerated wear. I think I got that all sorted finally at least. Currently have Hankook OPTIMO H727 and I would say they're fine, nothing special, reasonably priced and good tread wear. We live in the same town as Tire Rack so with free local pickup its the go to for us.

Tires on my car were wearing perfectly before I did the suspension (believe it or not) and after (with new tires). Tires on the wife's car were wearing a bit off, but I've had the alignment done: need to check tires- waiting to put on the winters.

If you get punctures are you having your tires repaired or replacing? If replacing then cheap tires would probably be the order of the day (if, as you indicated, you have frequent punctures).

Knock on wood, I've been running some 7 years w/o a flat.

 

[Bengoshi2000]

I put a set of General Altimax RT43 on mine. A reasonable set of tires for a reasonable price. I've got about 15,000 miles on them and they are wearing very evenly. They have good wet traction and make for a nice ride to work (30 miles on country roads).

 

[mobetta]

I buy Michellins.
top notch tires.

From the Costco.
top notch service.

 

[mrGutWrench]

I buy Michellins.
top notch tires.

From the Costco.
top notch service.

I recently bought a set of "Energie" Michelin tires. There are two similar tires in the size to fit an '03 Jetta Wagon, one is All-Season and it's only available at Walmart Auto (or maybe Sams or maybe both) and the other is not. The price is about the same but mileage rating and MPG rating are a little better on the non-All-Season.
It took me about 4 days of sending emails to Michelin -- they kept saying the All-Seasons were out of stock, so I bought a set of the non-All-Seasons and then found out that the All-Seasons WERE available but only at Walmart/Sams.
I'm in coastal NC so I almost never see snow/ice, although summer thunderstorms often have heavy rain. I would have rather had the All-Seasons but the others will probably be OK for me.
I don't think that I got good customer service from Michelin but I guess the tires I got were OK. My experience with Michelin tires for about 40 years is that they've been great. I find that the Energies give very good MPG and the saving in fuel is worth the extra price, for me -- but I'm an old guy who drives slow.

 

[Drnknmnky13]

I put a set of General Altimax RT43 on mine. A reasonable set of tires for a reasonable price. I've got about 15,000 miles on them and they are wearing very evenly. They have good wet traction and make for a nice ride to work (30 miles on country roads).

I've ran the General Altimax RT43 for years. I have been very happy with them. Great tire for the money.

I just installed a set of Kumho Solus TA71 on my beetle. They got great reviews and I got a fantastic deal on them. I'll see what i think in a few weeks.