Sponsored by The Tire Rack

[pruettfan]

Yesterday I had a set of Vredestien Ultrac Sessanta's put on my car. I have driven 258 miles since then and I have to share my experiences with all of you. I am a bit of a tire snob so when I first considered conventional tires for my car I didn't look at the Vredestien's because they are, well, cheap and the tread design is pretty much love it or hate it, I am in the latter group. Having bought a 2006 330i lease return my RFT's were in pretty good shape so I spent the last couple of months looking a various options for replacement some time this winter. 10 days ago I drove over a baseball sized rock and sure enough the sidewall bubbled. In my research I read review after review about the Vredestiens and none of them were negative. I even read posts on the G35, 350Z, Dodge Charger and Corvette sites and they all were positive. I even read three posts from guys who had replaced PS2's and said these tires were in that league. I decided to take a chance on these tires, worst case scenario I would be the first guy I knew of to hate them and just take them off an sell them. Here is what my first impressions are:

Loss of turn in sharpness and response was a concern but I must say I don't think I lost anything. These tires are payload rated at 92Y front and 94Y rear versus 88 and 90 for the RTF's. The thicker sidewall appears to make up for most of the rigidity lost in the RFT's. Tire pressure is set at 36 in all tires. I may play with the pressures to see if this changes at a lower setting.

Overall handling- At first the coating from the factory made these tires a bit scary. I knew to expect this so I took it easy for a few miles. I would say it took about 20 miles to get that stuff off. Handling is excellent, I made it a point to drive the same increased speeds around my normal routes and these tires feel more connected and track more smoothly than the factory tires.

Ride quality- This is the area of greatest performance improvement. The ride is very smooth and controlled. Ridges on the freeway and railroad tracks are no longer jarring or abrasive. The suspension still feels very firm and bumps feel the same for the most part, but the tracks, potholes etc are very different.

Noise- These tires are very quite on smooth freeways, Arizona has very smooth and they use special pavement to make the roads more quite. On regular roads that are rougher I would say they are the same as the factory tires, perhaps even a bit louder.

Life span, the tread life rating it 280 which is double the factory tires. I drive 24k per year so tread life is always a consideration.

Cost, not the most important issue to me, value is far more important. These tires represent an excellent value. I was also considering the Continental Extreme Contact DW which was 838 for a set without shipping. I got these on Ebay for 654 shipped to my door. Considering that they last twice as long as the factory they are really 1/4 the cost. There will be an additional cost of the Continental Comfort Kit that has a compressor and TUV approved sealant. Also there is always the possibility of a tire failure that would require a spare or tow, this is not entirely unique to conventional tires as I have seen RFT's have sidewall failures but I always keep in mind the potential to need a tow. I will not put a spare in the car but I may change my mind if I get stranded some day.

Overall the Vredestiens are working very well for me. My only issues are the lack a significant dealer network. I love Tire Rack and would prefer to do business with them versus someone on Ebay, having said that the folks on Ebay I bought from were excellent, tires were manufactered late 2008 and May of 2009 (important to always check to make sure that the tires are not more than three or four years old studies show that old tires are more likely to have sidewall failures) and were on my door step in three days.

Feel free to ask any questions you may have and I will post updates if I learn more.

Tom

[Amir87]

Great review!

I did tons of research too, when I was looking for these. I really haven't seen more than 2-3 bad reviews, and it's mostly people talking about how slippery they are when breaking them in.

I went from General Exclaim UHP to the Vredestien tires and it completely transformed the car. If I were doing a roll at 5mph and go WOT, the Generals wouldn't hook untill 2nd gear. I've yet to experience that with the Vredestiens. Wet handling is amazing too, almost no difference if its wet or dry when it comes to traction in most cases.

+1 on the dealer network, really wish that Tirerack or Discount Tire carried these tires.

[pruettfan]

Forgot to mention the rim protector is very stout, it will actually protect the rim. It almost wraps around the edge. Watching the tires getting mounted it was actually against the rim before inflation, once inflated it pulled back a bit. If you are a frequent curbside parker then this is a good tire for you.

[vortex_tuning]

Excellent information. Thanks for sharing!

[rotaryboy]

Good to hear that the turn-in/response is still there...that's my main concern when I dump my RFT's. Does your car have ZSP? Also did you consider the Hankook V12's? Keep us posted as I will get either the Vredestien, V12's, or Dunlop Direzza.

[pruettfan]

I have ZSP, I did look at the recent magazine reviews of the V12's and Direzza's. I pretty much looked at everything except the tires like Ling Long from China. I was almost ready to get the PS2's because a buddy has a C6 vette and those tires are fantastic. There is a European car magazine that has named the Vreds number one and since the users had great things to say about them I decided they along with the Continentals were tops for me. It is great that there are several great tires to choose from, some of the Japanese cars get designed with odd tire sizes so that the OEM tire company has some exclusivity and you are stuck with the OEM tire only for several years. It was three years before we could buy something other than the GY pieces of crap that came with my wifes Murano.

[Raz335]

I have these on my Audi and love them! Predictable handling, great grip and very quiet and comfortable. I also get comments all the time about the cool tread pattern.

[pruettfan]

I drove another 128 miles today, took a ride up to a section of the mountains that many car magazines and companies like GM, VW and Nissan use for testing. I was very impressed with their handling on challenging corners at high speeds. In this area I would say they are superior to the factory tire.

Also it appears they have less rolling resistance because my mileage is up about 2 mpg in my short time with them. I am going to study this further over longer distances. So far my 80 mile commute shows the improvement and I have been driving harder than usual and still getting better gas mileage. Pretty wierd

Tom

[fnckr]

Excellent review! Thank you!
As temperatures drop into the 40s and 50s would you please comment on their grip and ride. I'm trying to figure out how early it would be necessary to switch out to winter tires and then back again in spring.

[remmib]

I think they're great tires.

[scanboy]

Had them since May of this year, couldn't be happier. I think most of us who have this tire will agree that they are better than RFT, but how does this compare to others like PS2, Eagle F1, Toyo etc. is what I want to know.
Would love to hear reviews of the comparison of these tires from a user stand point.

[pruettfan]

I read a post on the Corvette Forum that they guy said he felt they were better than the PS2's he took off of his car. The G35 and 350Z guys had similar thoughts but I cannot remember what they had on their cars originally. There is a European car magazine that had a test against just about all of the comparable tires from other companies and they ranked them number one. I will try and post it but I need to make sure I don't violate any copyright rules.

FNCKR, The traction is remarkable but I cannot comment on how they would be in cooler climates as I have only had them on days where temps are 90 or above. The guy from Norway can probably help you with traction on cooler days. Where I live we may get one day in the 40's every couple of years unless I go up to the mountains during the winter.

Tom

[TT3 iN NyC]

I currently have these tires on my e92. Simply the best tires out there IMHO. Can't go wrong with them.

[pruettfan]

Here is the test I was speaking of. It is pretty impressive.

[scanboy]

Originally Posted by pruettfan

Here is the test I was speaking of. It is pretty impressive.

...

Thanks, that's exactly what I wanted to see.

[pruettfan]

Update, I have noticed that after the car sits for 15-20 hrs there is slight flat spotting that resolves after a mile or two. It is not as bad as many performance tires that I have had in the past but it nonetheless is worth mentioning.

Tom

[Vudoo4u2]

had these tires for 16k miles now...ive driven them in temps ranging from 5F to 105F. Ive driven in rain, mud, uphill in mud in cold temps...pretty much, every possible combination of awful conditions except snow. I conclude, these are my favorite tires that ive ever used, better than PS2 (overall) to my tastes.

I drove to indiana univ. and went (stupidly) to one of their football tailgates in the hilly grass/mud area...I drove around, had to stop while going uphill in the mud (it was 35F outside) and then resume driving uphil and despite my sweating and fearing sliding backwards into a group of dumb drunks, the car didnt even begin to slip backwards.

I drove in numerous rain storms, on 35F/40F days, on 105F days...pretty much any condition, and these tires have not let me down once.

when you get them, you can get an idea of how stiff the sidewalls are by sitting on them...they will barely cave in. compared to the toyo t1-r's I saw @ the shop (and very embarrassingly tried to sit on....), the vredesteins have very strong sidewalls, which shows in its fantastic turn in response.

the tires come a bit on the big side, my 265's in the back look closer to the 275 size (not quite 275 meaty...but real close, no rolling needed and im lowered on pro-kit w/19s)

the rim guard is very good, and its saved me on a few occasions, as opposed to some other brands which ive used who have the rim protector, but due to their sizing, it becomes fairly useless. driving around on the roads we have here, having a good rim guard and a tire that fits a little bigger w/o sacrificing sidewall strength is a huge plus.

to the manufacturers, thank you, to the vendors that dont gouge the price on these, thank you

if any of you are looking where to buy, performanceplustire.com has them, and ive suggested that to a few people previous. I still recommend it.

I'm getting my second set in the spring because my rears have finally started to wear a bit.

[pruettfan]

Thanks for sharing your experiences. I have been throwing my fob to all of my other E90 buddies and when they come back they all ask "where did you get these?" . All three are going to switch to Vreds when their current tires wear out. One of them is thinking of just switching now even though he has about 50% of the life left in his current factory tires.

Tom

[BillLee]

after reading all these reviews, i'm definitely getting these tires next.

[pruettfan]

Got a little of wet driving experience the other night. Not real wet like we get in monsoon season but enough to make the roads slick. I tried my best to break traction but could not. I am looking forward to a really wet day so I can test the limits a bit.

[pruettfan]

Today I went to an area with some really rough rail road tracks. In the past these things felt like they would tear the car apart. I made it a point to drive over them three times to see how they would feel at several speeds. The difference was shocking. It was literally night and day, still firm but not abrupt like with the RFT's. We are all aware of that wake up shock we get with RFT's but with the Vreds it is much more like every other car I have driven with sport suspension, you feel it but don't worry about potential damage to the suspension from the jolt you used to feel.

I also have been looking at the gas mileage issue and I am pretty convinced that I am getting 1.7 mpg better gas mileage since I switched. What is remarkable about that is I have been driving very hard since I had them but my MPG average is always 1. to 2.2 mpg better.

Tom

[Year's_End]

Can't wait for mine to come in .