Goodyear Eagle F1 problems?

[mboon]

I have always put Eagle F1's on my M3.
Had one split on me before which was a little annoying as you have to replace both (and they had plenty of tred left)

Got the car back from the garage yesterday to be told "Dont beast it as there is a split in your front passanger side tyre" So today i take the wheel off to clean the archs mainly etc and find a bulge plus at least quater of the tyre has come away where the glue holds it together binding the side wall and the tread itself together.

Now this annoys me as the tyres have at least 5mm tread left and this will mean replacing both front tyres which cost me £200 in the first place.

I took the wheel back to the tyre shop (bathwick) who are going to send the tyre off to goodyear and see what they say.

Anyone else had problems with Goodyears? I know they dont last long on the rear but they always seemed good tyres to me until now....

I dont have any pics as I was mad when I seen the state of it and marched it straight down there.

I have some Firestones on the back now which seem to grip as well

[rsnissan]

I had one "split" on me once...........................

luckilly it was only on the back of a RWD car when I was doing 130 in the outside lane of the M1 so it wasnt too bad............................













P.S firestones on the back ................ive seen the road round your way too !

[mboon]

you was lucky there mate, that looked bad!

Are firestones not that good then? they seem to be OK, mind you the car is hardly being driven hard these days

[Dan]

The only thing I've heard about F1's Mark is the rubber degrades if they are sat around for a long time, I.e. on a car that doesn't get used or on the shelf waiting to be sold etc!? That could be pub talk tbh so how much truth there is in that I don't know!

I had Goodyear Eagle F1's (the GSD3's IIRC) all round on my Saph and they were VERY good, both front and rear! Although one got punctured after just 600 miles use and it had to be relaced as the screw was nearly in the sidewall! <-- Real Tears!

[mboon]

OK just been told that they had a dodgy batch come in from china or something, looks like I have these on my car!!! I will be getting a full refund me thinks.

I wish I took pics now of the damage

[mboon]

OK found this, interesting

Problems with Goodyear Eagle F1's Marked MADE IN THAILAND
Just wanting to warn everyone out there that might have recently bought Goodyear Eagle F1 GS-D3 tyres (say within the past 6 months or so).

I know this is a popular tyre with the MX-5 world and hence the reason for this message.

There are some retailers out there selling non-EU approved spec F1’s. These are F1’s that have been manufactured in THAILAND and do not bear the correct E approval stamp on the sidewall.

Not only are these tyres illegal for use on UK roads their performance is shocking (due to compounds designed for countries that are consistently warmer than the UK).

I have been unlucky enough to end up with two of these tyres, which sadly are currently on the back of my mk3!! I ordered them on line recently and had them fitted locally on Saturday. The car has felt exceedingly odd ever since. Suffice to say this is beyond the greasiness new tyres have. On large diameter fast roundabouts the traction control on my car goes berserk, repeatedly braking the rear passenger side wheel as it tries to stop the car going into a spin. This was on an ever so slightly damp roundabout at around 15-20mph, a roundabout that I could previously take with E spec F1’s at 30-40mph. Scary! They’re even worse in the wet, scrabbling for grip in 2nd gear in a straight line. Hence the reason I started hunting on issues, something was seriously wrong.

So how does one tell if you have the dodgy non E spec F1’s. Take a very close look at the sidewall of the tyre. Amongst other things (size, speed rating, etc) there SHOULD be an E with either a 13 or a 5 after it followed by a 6 or 7 digit number. They should also say Made In Thailand, If yours say Made in Germany or China, and have the E marking, then you have nothing to worry about.

The following is Goodyear's response to someone else on one of the other forums:

"Thanks for your e-mail. Please find a link on our sister company Dunlops site to a tyre sidewall.

http://www.dunloptyres.co.uk/ourTyre...ewallMarkings/

The letter F on the link shows you a box or a circle and inside this is an E with a number eg E13 or E5. Outside that box or circle should be a further number. The number outside the box or circle is the E mark. If your tyre does not have the number after the E13 / E5 then the tyre is not E marked and illegal for fitting in this country for use on UK roads.

By clicking on letter F you will find out more information on E marks. Should you need to contact me my number is ***** ********.

If you have a non E marked tyre you will need to advise your dealer who supplied the tyres or trading standards.

Regards

Goodyear
Product Support & Service"

This problem I found out after doing a search on my peculiar handling after fitting new tyres. I came across several threads on at least three different forums with other people concerned about their F1’s. I’ve pasted the links to each of these forums below. Some of the people on these other forums have already got theirs replaced by the suppliers, others have yet to.

If you find you have these tyres, I’d initially contact their local trading standards and at least report it to them so they're aware, before speaking to your supplier. It seems most suppliers will be more than willing to sort the fault as its nearly always their wholesaler that is at fault, plus they no doubt don't want to get into any legal hot water. The more people that raise the issue the more likely you are are get it resolved quickly.

I am due to contact my suppliers tomorrow in the hope that they’ll simply send me some new one’s and pay for the refitting….

NOTE Although there’s some hype on other forums about tyres being made in Germany being the best, this is not exclusively the case. There are a number of these F1’s around that were also made in CHINA. As long as these have the E certification (along with a 1 or 2 digit number followed by a 6 or 7 digit number) then they’re fine. Just as good as the German versions.

Links
Volvo Forum (7 pages)
http://www.vpcuk.org/forums/showthread.php?t=19551

Pistonheads
http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/t...p?h=1&t=386634

Mini Forum
http://www.mini2.com/forum/wheels-ty...-gsd3s-uk.html

Dunlop Sidewall Markings (click the letter F)
http://www.dunloptyres.co.uk/ourTyre...ewallMarkings/