My daily drive is a Hyundai Elite i20 CRDI Asta (option). I bought my car in March 2017 and covered 38000 km during last 15 months. Elite i20 is a good car which strikes a good balance betweenquality,style,comfort,features,power and reliability.
My ride
Elite i20 comes shod with Goodyear Assurance 195/55/R16 tires from the factory with alloy wheels. Spare wheel is also of the same size but with steel rims. Hyundai recommends (according to owners manual) changing tires when tread depth is below 1.6 mm. After 33000 kilometers my Goodyear tyres were at 2 mm thickness; tread wear in all four tyres were more or less equal. I prefer to change my tires before they are completely worn out and doesn't want to compromise on the comfort/safety aspect.
My opinion about Stock Goodyear Assurance Tyres
1. They are not CRAP as some people think. They are average quality tires when you compare with other OEM tyres offered by similarly priced cars.
2. Road noise (tyre noise) is very high.
3. Ride comfort levels are average (hard compound I think)
4. They lasted 33000 km with my driving style (with at least 5000 km left when I changed them). There are people who reported 45-50k on these tires. So overall impressive tire life
5. Two punctures during last one year. A sharp nail was the culprit both times
Picture of Goodyear tires before the change
All of you are aware that elite i20 is not a performance hatchback. it is a smooth,family hatchback with a brilliant 90bhp engine. Also I am more of a sedate driver who enjoy cruising rather than fast driving. So I was clear about what I want from my tires and started the search accordingly.
For me there are five pillars to evaluate a good tyre (Disclaimer: any resemblance to MKBHD youtube phone review is not a coincidence but purely intensional
![Big Grin](https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/images/smilies/biggrin.png)
)
1.
Visual Appearance (looks):
You might be thinking who cares about how the way a car tire looks; but I do. I like some tread patterns and hate a few.
eg: I like tread pattern of Continental Cross Contact AT and hate Bridgestone Dueller HT
2.
Ride Quality :
Soft /medium compound is preferred
3.
Performance/Stability
Most important Criteria for me
4.
Tire life/Longevity
I don't want my tires to wear out at 20000 km. Minimum of 30000 km life is a must.
5.
Cost
I am a " value for money" kind of person.
Whenever we talk about tires in general the name Michelin comes to mind first. We all know they make some of the finest quality rubber in the industry. So obviously my preferred choice was Michelin and I did not want to consider anything else. But after reading and hearing good feedback about MRF Perfinza tires, I reluctantly added them to my shortlist. So Final contenders were
1.
Michelin XM2 (195/55/R16) : stock size
2. Michelin Primacy 3ST (205/55/R16)
3. MRF Perfinza (205/55/R16 )
4. Continental MC5 (205/55/R16 )
I have Michelin XM2 in my Maruti Ritz (185/70/R14) and they are decent tyres with good tire life. But I wanted to upsize ; so eliminated them first.
Continental MC5 has poor tire life (20-25000). I have never used them but many friends who have used it said even though they are good they wear out fast.
Now the Big decision Primacy
3ST vs Perfinza; To solve that I had to resort to my five pillars of Tire Assessment
1. Looks ; Asymmetrical Pattern of Perfinza over Primacy 3ST anyday. I love Asymmetrical pattern.
2. Ride Comfort:
NO idea I have driven cars (a polo GT/Verna) shod with Primacy 3ST and found the ride to be good. But I had no clue how the Perfinza will fare
3. Performace : I believe Primacy 3ST will be better here (just an assumption; may be I am wrong)
4. Tire Life :
Primacy 3ST usually lasts between 30-45000. They are even members here who has reported 50000 km+ life with these tires.
MRF company recommends these tires for W204 C class (C 200 kompressor model came with 205/55/R16 tires). According to company they are good for 25000 km for C class. My humble i20 being lighter and less powerful than the mighty Mercedes; So I expect at least 30-35000 km life with them
5 Cost :
David Vs Goliath
Michelin Primacy ST : 8400-8600 per tire ( may vary depending on your city)
MRF Perfinza : 7000 per tire
Huge difference. So I was like why don't I give Perfinza a try ( Heck they are even cheaper than 195/55 size XM2 which cost 7600)
2 points which tilted the balance in favor of Perfinza are
1. Distinguished Bhp-ian Nikhilb2008 (our resident tyre expert) has MRF Perfinza installed on his mighty drool worthy vRS. He is very positive about the feedback. So I PMed him and he gave his thumps up.
2. Local MRF dealer is a friend of mine and a fellow petrol head; He encouraged me " Doc, please try this; they are excellent. These are not like stone hard MRF's"
So that is it. I changed my tires to MRF perfinza 205/55/R16 in last week of April at 33000 km Odometer. I have covered 5000 km so far on these tires and my initial impressions are very positive. A few observations
1. Tire noise is very minimal (compared to Goodyear). I am not saying it is ZERO but very very less compared to stock tire.
2. Grip/Performance : Excellent ; They are very grippy and confidence inspiring. I can take curves at 70-80 without any drama. Wet surface performance (tested extensively in Kerala Monsoons) is also very good.
3. Ride quality: Average ; I don't know what is wrong, I expected better ride quality from these. I maintain 32 psi but still ride quality is only marginally improved compared to stock Goodyear assurance.
4. looks nice. I love the stance from the back.
5. No punctures so far. No air loss either.
6. After 5000 km tire tread depth is decreased by 0.7-1mm only. Not bad. (initial thickness was 7-7.1 mm)
7. Only negative point is poor brand recognition among fellow enthusiasts. Usually I advise everybody to change to Michelin tires and now they are making fun fun of me by saying " So, you have become an MRF fan now
![LOL](https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/images/smilies/LOL.png)
"
Conclusion :
MRF Perfinza is a good option if you want to try some thing different. According to me they offer 95% of what Michelin has to offer at 80% of the price. Tire life is a totally unknown entity here; if Perfinza lasts less than 35000 km the cost advantage they have over Michelin Primacy 3ST will be nullified.
I will update this thread and share my long term feed back. Till then a few pictures for you
Lovely Asymmetrical tread pattern
As fresh as it gets (1818) means 18th week of 2018. Early April manufactured
Attachment 1781178
measuring tread depth with my Michelin TPMS/tire depth indicator
Work in Progress
Attachment 1781183
End result
Attachment 1781171
Cheers