Choosing front tyres

[aguiloco]

Hi, is time to replace the front tyres and I can't decide... My car understeers a bit so I want better front grip without breaking the bank. Years ago I had Michelin Pilot Exalto on my Mazda MX-3 and I loved the front grip and durability, but seems like is discontinued (still can be found online).

I'm wondering about your experience on the matter, good tyres with grip and feeling. I'm looking to expend no more than 110 120 pounds per tyre if possible, driving mostly in the dry without killing me in the rain.

My car is a 2001 model with 205/50/15 at the front and back, its supposed to be 185 at front but mine has with 205 registered instead, I dont know why.

Thanks a lot.

[Ekona]

Yeah, that's going to be... interesting!

First off, you need to have the correct stagger front to back else you're going to have issues. On your setup you should be oversteering not understeering, either way it's far from ideal and you need to get it sorted sooner rather than later.

Personally I would bin the lot and get a set of Continental Premium Contact 2 all round, pretty good tyres and certainly well within budget. Sadly the AD08s or MPS3 aren't quite in the correct sizes, else I'd say go for those instead.

[aguiloco]

I just found out that the inside of the front tyres are badly wear, so the toe-in should be really off specs, that could be part of the problem with the understeering, that only occurs at low speeds.

About the Continental Premium Contact 2, I had been researching and not all the comments were good, but seems like a option.

[aguiloco]

I'm from Spain and these are my cheapest and fastest delivery options (I´m kind of a rush) within my online stores:

HANKOOK VENTUS R-S2 Z212: reviews are good, similar to Proxes R888 but a lot cheaper, not too much grip on wet.

PILOT EXALTO PE2: I allready know and love them, the most expensive of my possible choices.

CONTI-PREMIUMCONTACT 2: Good and bad reviews, seems like is not very sporty for the money, but still one of the cheapest.

There are other options like FALKEN AZENIS RT 615 or BF GOODRICH G-GRIP, but I didn't like what I read about them.

[aguiloco]

Finally I got the Michelin Pilot Exalto PE2 and I´m very happy with the results. The wall of the tyre is a bit soft but is a plus in confort and the grip is great.

[aw11rally]

I once had a set of BF Goodrich Profiler-G. From what I can remember they were very good, they had a thick and rigid tyre wall like a Motorsport tyre. I was very impressed. Not seen or used them since. BFGs tend to be expensive these days.

Good luck with your choice. Hopefully with the geometry sorted they should last well.

[aguiloco]

Actually the geometry was right, seems like the previous tyres had a lot of milleage on them or where a bad compound, maybe this car tends to wear the inside of the front tyres becouse of the light weight at the front, only time will tell.