Tires Vredestein or Hifly

Just bought a set of Ultrac Pro XLs for my 2013 Porsche Carrera S. Can't imagine Michelins being any better. Smooth, quiet, and great traction. I haven't really pused it with these tires, but smoothness through spirited corners feels excellent.

These are awesome tires. I have them on my M3P and they don’t give up dry handling much while being a beast in the cold/snow.

The vredestein hypertrac all season was on sale and ratings was on par with michelin and continental. After testing them out i bought another set for the future. 2 sets of 4 hypertrac tires for $1050. Thinking about stocking up and buying a 3rd set.

I have old michelin 185hr15 on mine, but for 14 inch the closest That was cheap and available was HiFly 195/70r14 for $90 a piece

They are quiet and smooth riding. I think they are a bit softer than your standard all season, so in Florida they will wear fast.

I recently put the Vredstein Quatrac pro+ tires on my Golf R and finally got to test them in snow this past weekend and they too were excellent in the snow. The roads were covered in snow and ice and it dumped over the weekend, great tire and they had the right size for my golf unlike the cross climates. These tires seem to be a bit sportier in dry handling as well, with a Y speed rating, wet traction has also been awesome. I don’t have a ton of mile on the tires but based on my experience so far, including in the weather, I’d recommend them.

I think in my case where my Toyota Sprinter is a 5MT 4WD vehicle (with a center locking diff i might add ????), the Vredesteins are my favorite. In the other 3 seasons of the year where there is no snow, they are excellent in the wet, they are relatively quiet and i enjoy how they perform with more "spirited" driving.

I have been running the Wintrac Pro since Nov '23 they haven't come off yet! This tire has been hands down the very best all season tire I have ever run. Excellent rain and dry performance and very good snow performance. They don't hook up as well as Hakka's because they are a harder compound and they do not break as well on snow as Hakka's. But they are exceptional in more areas. I have driven all summer on them and it is almost winter here now in the PNW mountains of Oregon. I live directly north of Mt.Hoodamd I regularly drive the WRX north to the Seattle area randomly all year including winter. Mostly travel the east route or what locals call the 'backside' route which is much colder and see's more snow. I come west on 90 through the Snoqualmie Valley and these tires inspire confidence. I just measured them at 7/32" of tread left and I have put 25k mi on them in one year. I do feel like they have gotten a bit harder than when new but they still perform so I will run them down to 5/32" and purchase a new set.

I had the Vredestein Sportrac 5 previously.

Positives:

+ Quiet and smooth ride

+ Very reliable on flooded highways

Negatives:

- Soft sides, tires looked deflated at the recommended pressure (2.2/1.9 bar - if the car is not loaded, which is most of the time). If I inflate more the drive gets extreme hard and uncomfortable.

I have not driven a lot of tires but wonder if that soft side somehow dampens accuracy?

- Surprisingly bad at braking on the dry, even at low speed in the city, they slide.

My initial impression of the Vredesteins was, "Holy cow, the rear end is going to swap places with the front." The car wagged and bobbed all over the road. It was scary. After a short 5-mile drive home, I adjusted the tire pressure to 41 psi in the rear (they were at 40 and 45 left/right) and drove around a bit more to break in the tires. Once broken in, they drove much better.

Going straight they're fine and don't notice too much difference between the old EP500s and the new Vredesteins. Maybe the ride is slightly better due to the Vredesteins’ softer sidewall. Noise is about the same—they’re quiet tires.

We get a lot of rain here, and the Vredesteins are great in the wet. They’re better than the stock EP500s, likely due to their less aggressive tread pattern and greater tread depth.

However, corners are where it all falls apart. The initial turn-in is great because the front EP500s, despite their poor tire life, handle well. But there’s a slight delay as the rear wobbles into the corner. You can feel the car load up, and you have to counter-steer slightly to keep the car in line as the rear flops over. While the Vredesteins have good grip, the side/slip angle is so large during aggressive driving that the traction control freaks out in fast corners. When you straighten out, the rear flops back and wobbles a bit.

My wife texted me on her way to work this morning, saying, "The car is wiggling so much I think I might throw up."

Any type of turning has the rear bobbling and wagging around. Bumps in the road will also cause it to bounce around. It's just not a pleasant experience whatsoever.

After driving on them for a while, I’m considering whether running Vredesteins on the front as well might correct some of the handling issues.