Driver feedback on the Avon ZV7 is split: many owners praise it as a great-value mid-range tyre with strong dry and wet grip, low noise and good ride comfort. However, a large portion of reviews report premature cracking/perishing in the tread grooves (often with plenty of tread left), alongside uneven centre wear and shorter-than-expected life. Overall, the Avon ZV7 is often liked for how it drives when new, but is frequently rejected due to durability and wear-pattern concerns.
What owners mention most counted across 141 reviews
I've now ran 3 sets of Avon ZV7's, primarily due to good price and performance, especially with dealer discounting, but also as they were originally made in Britain (though are only "engineered" in the UK now). The tyres have always performed very well and only a noticeable drop off towards end of life. Tyres have always felt comfortable and are quiet given the wide 19in rims. Wet grip was always confidence inspiring with no surprises. Gripped well for a front wheel drive car, dry or wet, towing a large caravan. More spirited solo driving could give a slightly floaty feel but not enough to concern. Surprising performance in snowy conditions, which maybe suggests softer rubber which might be a reason for an excessive wear rate?
Unfortunately I'm now moving away from there tyres primarily due to both wear rate and uneven wear. 12-14k sees the front tyres drop below the legal range, but with heavy wear to the central belt, almost as if the tyres were heavily overinflated (which they are not). The wear results in poor handling for the last couple of thousand miles with the steering tugging side to side. If Avon could improve on both the wear rate and wear pattern I might be tempted back, but changing tyres every 11 month isn't for me anymore when other equally performing tyres last considerably longer.
Now to see how a set of Goodyear 4Seasons Gen3 compare in a switch to all season tyres
Had these on for 16 months, 10k miles and they were finished, never again, only had them because the retailer recomended them. Gone back to Pirelli last set did 16.5k miles with better feel and grip
Check out how the BEST all seasons tyres perform against premium summer and winter tyres!
Just replace Bridgestone tyres with Avon ZV7 225/45/18 to my Audi A3 Saloon 2021, Ride, noise, comfort are all fine, feedback is OK but not as good as Bridgestone. better grip in the dry, however acceptable grip in wet conditions, price was good against its competitors, car feels planted when cornering.
Centres worn down to 3mm outer edges still on 5-6mm. Car had tracking done when the tyres where fitted, suspension all good and tyre pressures definitely not over inflated. Handling is ok, wet grip good enough for what is classed as a mid range tyre but surprised me a few times when i expected to have grip and didnt! Will not buy again.
Second lot of 4 Avon ZV7 tyres, as with my previous tyres all 4 developed cracking in tread wells around entire tread and the off side front tyre developed a single crack across the entire tread but not the sidewalls at all. Contacted DVSA by filling in online form , they need more evidence e.g. photographs ,actual tyres and more complaints to take further action.
Seemingly good tyre, let down by premature cracking around the longitudinal grooves.
I have these on a Mondeo, so not the most demanding car. I have checked pressures fairly regularly and never found them along way off the recommended values, but still within a couple of years have found them to be cracking really quite badly along the tyre grooves, to the extent that the carcass is visible at the bottom of the cracks.
The tyres are less than 3 years old, so age shouldn't really be a problem.
Having to replace these when they are less than half worn - so not best pleased. It looks as though I'm not alone if you check in the various motoring forums.
I like these, good wet & dry grip, when i got my BMW, it was on runflats(Horrible things No Grip) I was so sick of not being able to use my cars power, now shes no Ferrari, but no slug either, 500nm torque will unstick most tyres in the wet, but these ZV7s have made a big difference to my cars handling in the wet, I will admit they can be a bit snappy on the limit, but not unless your arrogant with them, they are on rear axle on my car (RWD). E60 fairly big car, and I like to get on with it, these tyres give good stability at high speed (100mph+) and feel planted. Good tyre sensible price. will buy again as i will be interested to get all 4 tyres the same and see the improvement, I ve got Vredestein on fronts axle, not bad but not good lack feel
Just don't! I had Avon tyres before, they were ace and lasted long. This however, not even sure they did the 9000 as I have winter tyres too and didn't mark the mileage so it is an educated guess. They are good tyres in terms of performance, can't fault them. Love their grip on wet and dry and give a stable cornering experience. I bought my car when it was 1 year old and they came with Michelin Supremacy or whatever it was and they were horrible. I felt I was driving on ice, especially in wet conditions so I quickly replaced them. On my former car I had the Avons and in fact I still have them in the shed as I sold the car with the winter tyres, and that Avon is still solid at 6+ years old, no cracks, and did at least 25 000 miles. However the ones I bought in 2021 for the Berlingo they got cracks all over the place as described by other reviews. Also I didn't check the treads properly just briefly and it was around half way on the sides, never realised that they were almost on the legal limit in the middle until I've read it in the shop report that the tyres were at 6%. We went away for a long weekend and having 3 little children I didn't take any chances, told the local shop to replace them. Since I had only 2 days to sort it out I went for the same again. First I thought I must have had done something to the tyres myself like letting them on for this winter or the high speed travel on the autobahn had its toll or just simply had a bad batch as the other avons were fine. I hope I won't regret this decision, I came to look if it is really fine to have less than 3 year old tyres with all the cracking. I was shocked to see all these reviews with the same issues. I wish I had the time to check around before I had to buy again, I would have avoided it!
I didn't mind the mileage as much as I wasn't particularly soft with them and this is a big box car, probably has a bit more force on the corners than the ford focus I had before but wasn't happy about it either. It is not cheap, it cost me £110 per tyre fitted now. The guy in the shop said it is completely normal to have those cracks on a 3 years old tyre. I guess he said that because he knew I bought those from them too. Anyway, this review is for that faulty set of tyres. Since I normally use winter tyres too I kept the front and back rotating therefore I had all 4 tyres on 6% according to the tyre shop. As many other it was the middle tread which was gone with the sides looking like half way done only.
There is one more aspect that probably nobody noticed, Now that I had the new ones fitted the car is more "bouncy" like the tyres were overinflated. I am yet to check that (was nothing but raining badly since) but I doubt the shop put more air in them than shown on the sticker in the door frame and that's what I usually kept myself with regular checks and adjustments. If the pressure is in the same region it would mean that the tyres are "softening" with time and road feedback changes. However, I must point out that I didn't notice any change in the grip on the worn tyres. I wasn't pushing them to the limits though but in everyday spirited driving they didn't feel different.
I will come back in a year or two and give another feedback on the current set. Hopefully I will be lucky and these will last long and won't crack. Also I have a set of winter tyres they are Avon too, at some point I'll do a review on them as well. In terms of performance they are the same as this so quite happy with those too, but now I am worried about the longevity.
I only usually buy premium tires, but out MG ZS EV is due to go back to the lease company in the next month or so and the Bridgestone Weather control evos on it worn.
The Avons have been a very pleasant surprise.
Great dry and wet handling, good breaking and low noise.
I've been using Avon tyres for upwards of 7 years on my Ford Fiesta, where the past 18 months I moved to the ZV7s as the previous model was no longer available.
The tyres are more than capable in the dry/wet and i have always felt confident driving in any conditions, however i have never tested the maximum capabilities of the tyres, so i can't comment for those scenarios. However day-to-day driving, the tyres are excellent.
Despite saying this, i would not recommend these tyres. 2 out of my 3 Avon tyres (I had the O/S front replaced during an insurance job and they installed a Continental instead), can be seen to have noticeably worn more in the centre of the tyres than around the edges, especially the with the N/S front. This was highlighted to be today during my MOT, where the centre of the tyres are close to the limit, yet the edges have 5+mm left.
The MOT tester said that this can be caused by overpressuring, however i have always regularly checked my tyres, and i have never had this issue during my 8 odd years of motoring. Looking online i can see that others have experienced the same issue with these new Avon tyres, and so i can only put it down to the tyres.
I am fuming to replacing the tyre after less than 18 months, for which it has covered less than 15,000 miles, especially as the previous model of Avon tyres i never encountered an issue.
I'm now replacing the tyre with a continental to match the other tyre which is less than 2 months old, but it is safe to say i won't be returning back to Avon.
