The Goodyear Eagle F1 GSD3 is most consistently praised for dry and wet grip, with steering feedback and resistance to aquaplaning also attracting more praise than criticism. Noise is a recurring drawback, criticised in around one in five reviews. Short tread life is raised in more than a quarter, although plenty of owners report good mileage. The few mid-life and end-of-life accounts are divided on wear, so they do not establish a consistent service-life pattern. Most reviews do not identify a stage of use, and the single returning owner is insufficient to establish how grip or noise changes with age.
What owners mention most counted across 140 reviews
Now on my 3rd set of Eagle F1 GDS3s (even tho they have been discontinued - but you can still buy them) and I am pleased to say they offer a very reasuring and confident drive. The VXR puts 240hp to the front wheels which is an unfair demand for any tyre. It came with Continental Contact Sport 2, which were impressive. However I have found F1's to be much better suited to coping with the demands and longer lasting. In dry conditions they are superb, you couldnt ask for better and provide excellent feedback and road holding. In the wet they continue the impressive grip, just a touch less progressive at the limit, but still provide bags of confidence and can cope well with heavy acceleration and cornering with minimal traction loss. The backs lasted a good 25k miles and the fronts only last about 10k miles. The Continentals lasted 7k miles. As they age dry grip only improves but wet driving becomes a bit more slippy, however only under heavy demands, plus they loose thier ride comfort. Overall a superior tyre and im very satisfied and would surely recommend them!
I bought these brand new for my Prelude Type S (225bhp FWD). Used to use Pirelli P-zeros which were truly exceptional. GSD3 is good but wears very quickly although I do have a more than spirited driving style. Within 4000 miles my fronts were pretty much in need of being replaced and would spin If I floored in damp-conditions. Although a Good tyre, I wouldnt pay a premium for them.
I would rate them above average but definately not a pirelli p-zero. Overall a safe choice of tyre in both wet and dry conditions. Cant go wrong with it but there is better out there.
I Found Avon ZZ3 to be pretty good as a wet weather tyre and a whole lot cheaper.
Check out how the BEST all seasons tyres perform against premium summer and winter tyres!
I've made a smooth wear of the tyres in the first 2500 miles to make sure they were not burnout prematurely.
Afterwards they just lasted quite good.
negative feedback for driving in hot summer days, the ruber just melts down!
I am just about to replace my old Goodyear Eagle F1's with a new set and after looking in my records have just realized that my current tyres have lasted 3 yrs & 9 months and to be fair the only reason i am changing them now is because of wishbone wear i have worn the N/S/F inner edge and they are starting to get age cracks on the sidewalls but i have figured out that in that time period i have driven over 41,000 miles!!! This is on both Motorways and "normal roads" with all the millions of speed humps around too to say im "IMPRESSED" would be an understatement.
I am a true beliver in paying for good quality tyres and you get your money's-worth, performance and road handling.
I would HIGHLY recommend these tyres to anybody that are TRUE petrol heads and prepared to pay the money.....
I guess the tyre's haven't even worn themselves in but even at this early stage, I'm really impressed. I'm a big fan of the traffic-light grand prix and so FWD + 200whp+ means lots of wheel spin, yet the tyre hasn't worn down much at all and it grips very well, even at a lofty 35psi.
Very confidence inspiring on the country roads at speed and even on a track, the car went down the the predictable path of understeering, rather than snapping the back end out, which is impressive because the rear of my is totally stripped out so there isn't much weight over the rear tyres.
All in all, a very good tyre that keeps it's manners in the wet also. What you pay for in price over the T1-R tyre, you will reap back with better quality and certainly tyre wear :)
93%
Anonymous
225/40 R17 W
5,000 miles
A Combination of Roads
Spirited
Without a doubt, one of THE best tyres I've ever used. Had a full set on my Evo (already one of the best 4WD sports saloons) which was modified with HKS suspension. This may have contributed to my very high ratings for the tyre, but I have nothing bad to say at all about F1s. They wore quicker than I thought though...unless that was down to my driving?! ;oP
I've had 3 sets on various cars, the last set, purchased in 2006 were distinctly worse then the previous sets. COuntry of origin changed, so did the tyres in my opinion, for the worse.
I have used Eagle F1's (GSD2) on a number of other cars (MR2, BMW325 and 2 TVRs) and have previously been reasonably happy with the tyres; although they have always tramlined in every car I have had. This is my first set of GSD3's and I had them fitted these to the front of my Jaguar and in about 6000 miles they are worn to the limit. Whilst I drive quickly I do avoid understeer (no fun) and try to avoid squeeling tyres in every corner. The tyres now squirm all over the road and transmit so much noise I thought the bearing had gone. This is enough for me to move away Goodyears. I suspect they are fine on smaller lightweight cars, but on a big super saloon they just can't hack it. Back to the OEM Pirelli's for me.
Usually I buy Yokohama 539 or Toyo T1-R on the front, and while I push on I don't get the tyres squealing and usually get 9000-12000 miles out of a set.
I found the eagles squirmed and while they held on there was no confidence in them. The tyre edges went off quite quickly and they were illeagal at 3500 miles.
On replacement the tracking was out a few degees but nothing that would explain the cheese like quality of this tyre.
I've run Goodyear Eagle F1 GSD3's on both 17" and 18" wheels on my Impreza and whilst I was fairly impressed with the grip in the dry these tyres weren't up to much in the wet, especially under heavy braking.
At high speed cornering the tyre communicates when its on the limit pretty effectively, and when you lose grip it's easy enough to correct, but I do feel that when cornering at speed it's a little too easy to induce a slide.
Other issues include the sidewalls of the tyre being very soft; if you run an aggressive suspension geometry setup, such as Prodrive settings and drive in a "spirited" manner, you'll find these tyres won't last much more than 6-7000 miles before the outer edges have no tread remaining, even if you run them with higher pressures. They also crash a bit over potholes.
In contrast, the Vredestein Sessantas I've just replaced them with are in a different league and seem much much better; given that the difference in price is just a few pounds, I won't be going back to Goodyears in the foreseeable future.
