What tires for 02 ALH Tdi?

[Kingkong0193]

I need a set of tires for my car. I've been looking around online and everything looks like junk.

Car is daily driven. Have a jeep to drive in the snow. So don't care about driving it in bad weather. Just good tires for dry and wet pavement and thats it. Prefer not a lot of road noise, good fuel mileage, and that's about it.

I want 215/60/15s.

Any suggestions?

 

[Mongler98]

my best sugestion is to do a search and READ UP. VWvortex and here are both great sources. more than 20 years of good advice and fitment for all sizes big and small.
what do you want to do with your tires? daily drive with weather in mind? autocross? spirited back road BS driving? winter driving? those are 4 different tires all together. most all tires are just garbage but do the job unless you need to do anything in a hurry, like avoid stuff.

 

[Rrusse11]

Tirerack.com, plug in your preferred size and read the reviews.
They do good videos and testing.

 

[Mongler98]

IMO costco is much better for the price (tire rack forced shipping costs) if your going with something they have in stock or can order (Michelin)

 

[IndigoBlueWagon]

General Altimax RT43s. I have them on two TDIs and they're excellent. Ride great, quiet, good in the rain, even in light snow. And they seem to be wearing well, too. And inexpensive. $83.00 in the size you want with free shipping.

But if you have stock VW 15" wheels those tires are too wide. They're better on 7" rims. I run that size on my Koseis.

 

[Rrusse11]

No shipping costs if you're willing to p/u from a distribution center.
For me, Delaware, a no sales tax state. The reviews and data are
what tirerack is really good for.

I'm a big fan of Generals, just got a set for my CRD Jeep.

225/75R-16 General Grabber A/TX XL

For handling on the Golf;

215/55ZR-16 General G-MAX AS-05 SL

Don't know what 16" wheel options you have with the 5x112 lug pattern
you've got, but I've run 6.5" wide wheels with the above 215 width.

The altimax are a good long wearing tire, and relatively light, and cheap.

 

[STDOUBT]

For my '01 I'm cosidering stock sized CROSSCLIMATE+ for the wifey. On tirerack they have pretty good reviews. It gets pretty rainy here.
But these tires for sure don't look like crap ;-)
I guess they don't have them in 215/60 15 though.

 

[jettawreck]

Most places won't mount 215/60-15 for you unless you just bring in the bare wheels and don't tell them what they are going on. (What is what I've had to do when I use 205/65-15)
Had good success with some "generic" offerings from the local Fleet store.

 

[Curious Chris]

I have two stock 195/65 tires and one of the same mounted on a steel wheel. So that is three out of four.

 

[KrashDH]

my best sugestion is to do a search and READ UP. VWvortex and here are both great sources. more than 20 years of good advice and fitment for all sizes big and small.
what do you want to do with your tires? daily drive with weather in mind? autocross? spirited back road BS driving? winter driving? those are 4 different tires all together. most all tires are just garbage but do the job unless you need to do anything in a hurry, like avoid stuff.

I can't agree more with this statement. SO many threads on this...not just in the Club.

General Altimax RT43s. I have them on two TDIs and they're excellent. Ride great, quiet, good in the rain, even in light snow. And they seem to be wearing well, too. And inexpensive. $83.00 in the size you want with free shipping.

But if you have stock VW 15" wheels those tires are too wide. They're better on 7" rims. I run that size on my Koseis.

I'll be going with the General next after extensive research.

 

[sypher9]

I recently replaced the tires on my 03 jetta wagon. I previously had 215 70 r15 on them; but I was having difficulty locating a good set in that size. After searching I found michelin defenders in 215 65 r15 and had those installed. So far I really like them. Really quiet with good dry and wet grip. They are supposed to have a tread life of 80k as well. I originally tried to get tires at costco; but they wouldn't install the size I wanted. I ended up getting them from discount tire. They didn't have any issues installing them on my stock alloy rims.

 

[turbocharged798]

General Altimax RT43s. I have them on two TDIs and they're excellent. Ride great, quiet, good in the rain, even in light snow. And they seem to be wearing well, too. And inexpensive. $83.00 in the size you want with free shipping.

But if you have stock VW 15" wheels those tires are too wide. They're better on 7" rims. I run that size on my Koseis.

I agree, great tire for the money. Their only downside is that when they get worn they like to hydroplane really bad.

 

[IndigoBlueWagon]

Good to know. I tend to get rid of tires before they're completely worn out anyway. I hate hydroplaning.

 

[wonneber]

I personally like Michelin tires.
Never had a problem.
I go to their web site to look up the recommended tire for the ride you want.

 

[IndigoBlueWagon]

Michelin energy savers are the only tire I've taken off my car after a short time (about 8,000 miles) because I felt they had so little grip in all situations that they were unsafe.

 

[Rob Mayercik]

I agree, great tire for the money. Their only downside is that when they get worn they like to hydroplane really bad.

About how worn (approx miles on tires) did you notice this tendency beginning? Were there any early indicators like decreased wet grip accelerating from full stop?

Was considering a set of these as my next set (will probably be due late spring/early summer to replace my WRG3s), this comment caught my attention.

IBW, what sort of mileage have you been getting out of the RT43s before replacing?

 

[TdiRN]

Hankook Kinergy PT H737 - 50 psi tire. 90k mile warranty. I'm had them on for 2k or so miles and so far so good. I drive about 70 miles a day so they will most likely outlast the car....

My local tire chain put them on and they matched the amazon price so no complaints there.

 

[Cptcrnch]

I'll cosign on General RT43's. Have had them on wife's car (non VW) for the last 3 years and 50,000 miles and plan to be able to easily get another year out of them. I rotate them every 10,000 miles and make sure they are properly inflated. They are quiet, ride smooth, and handle well in the rain and light snow. When it came time for the Jetta wagon to get new tires I got RT43's and have been having similar success. They have been on the car for about 1.5 years and 25,000 miles, get rotated every 10,000 miles, are kept at the proper PSI, and look practically brand new.

 

[KrashDH]

About how worn (approx miles on tires) did you notice this tendency beginning? Were there any early indicators like decreased wet grip accelerating from full stop?

Was considering a set of these as my next set (will probably be due late spring/early summer to replace my WRG3s), this comment caught my attention.

IBW, what sort of mileage have you been getting out of the RT43s before replacing?

I don't think I'd worry about the hydroplaning on "worn" tires IMO. I can make my 3/4 ton truck hydroplane with Toyo MT mudders on it. ANY tire is going to hydroplane that's worn.


The hydroplaning thing would be relevant if this characteristic happened when brand new, but like I mentioned, you can make any vehicle get into that situation.


In the hundreds of tire posts pertaining to these tires I haven't come across this "issue" yet in any of them. The majority consensus is they are the best performing bang-for-your-buck tire out there.


Personally haven't installed them yet, but will be doing so!

 

[IndigoBlueWagon]

IBW, what sort of mileage have you been getting out of the RT43s before replacing?

I think I've got about 30K on the ones I have now, and I suspect they're about half worn. Probably go for another 15-20K before replacing.

 

[Skydvr]

You can go pick them up from Tire Rack and save some money if you are anywhere near Bradley.

I did really well with Continental Pure Contact. Actual all season tires. They held up well mileage wise, handled well in the rain and snow, pushed them a bit on windy backroads with no issues, fairly quiet, towed well on some pretty gnarly dirt trails.

I had Bridgestones when I first got the car and I couldn’t make it up my driveway in winter with nearly new tread and they were loud as hell. Those things hydroplaned like they were made for it. I think they were underloaded on the Jetta.

 

[IndigoBlueWagon]

You don't really save any money. Most tires ship free now, and if you pick them up you have to pay sales tax.

 

[macoombi]

I've had Bridgestone Ecopia EP-422 (I think that's the right number) on my car for a few years. Way better mileage than the previous tires (Dunlop Star-Specs) but that's not surprising. Absolutely useless in the snow on the FWD Jetta but I had an AWD Golf rental in Vancouver in January with the same tires and it was a totally different story. I drove up to Revelstoke to go skiing and the roads were ****e especially on the way home. Drove on the Highway Thru Hell famous from the tv series and there was accidents everywhere and I managed to survive unscathed.

 

[Skydvr]

He’ll have to pay sales tax anyway. Shipping them is “free”, but picking them up gets a $40 or $60 discount (I forget the exact value). He has CT as his location, so he may be close enough to the distribution center in East Windsor.

 

[KrashDH]

Just had the RT43 s installed by Discount Tire. After 10% tax @ 119 ea, I was $622 out the door installed (installation fee and tire disposal). I qualified for the $50 rebate from General Tires and 15% spring discount (they had an ad on the Cumminsforum for "spring appreciation"), came outb to about $480.

Worth it so far, like the tires, have had them in about and rain!

 

[Powder Hound]

The easiest is to stick with the stock tire sizes. This keeps the odo working correctly, and the speedo close.

For 15s, use 195-65/15.
For more tread width, go to 16s: 205-55/16. This seems to be the sweet spot for the Mk IV.
For still more tread width you can go to 17s: 225-45/17.
For overkill, you can go to 18s: 245-40/18.

Tires in these sizes will be readily available. Stock wheels will be readily available. For aftermarket wheels make sure you get 5x100 bolt circles, 35-45 offset, 57.1 bore for the hub. (All sizes in mm.)

And, for aftermarket wheels, make sure you get new lug bolts since I've not yet heard of aftermarket wheels that don't use a cone seat, while VW lugs are ball seat.

Don't overthink this, get good tires, and go have some fun.

Cheers,

PH

 

[rwthomas1]

Second set of Continental Extremecontact DWS06 in 225/45-17 on old school Enkei RS6's. I use them as summer tires, have dedicated snows. The wear extremely well considering what they are, and the car handles like a gokart with them on.

 

[PakProtector]

For my '01 I'm cosidering stock sized CROSSCLIMATE+ for the wifey. On tirerack they have pretty good reviews. It gets pretty rainy here.
But these tires for sure don't look like crap ;-)
I guess they don't have them in 215/60 15 though.

I have a set of those on Wolfsburg wheels( 205/60-16 ). Love them. When my son's Jetta gets re-shod it will be with the stock sized you mention. Wish they came in 238/85-16 E10 ply, but they don't have the directional pattern as I need some new shoes for my Dodge too. I'll not be buying anything but CrossClimate's for the foreseeable future.
cheers,
Douglas

 

[garreth5]

Try 4wheelonline also. They have some nice prices on tires. I got my Conti DWS06 from them. These DWS06 tires are quiet on the road. Traction and handling are good. Just check the tire pressure regularly and rotate every 5k miles, and you should be very happy.