Best Tyres for the Renault Clio 172 Cup

Bought Clio Cup in 2017 with 2 x Uniroyal rainsport 3 and 2 x Toyo T1R fitted - Then fitted new 4 x new Toyo T1R as they had been recommended by a hard core clio nut. I couldn't resist a bargain (having picked them up for £30 per corner).but was never happy with the performance. The dry grip was OK but in the wet they were lethal. Having already switched from T1Rs on my Accord Type R to Michelin Pilot Sport 4 I decided to bite the bullet and get Michelin Pilot Sport 3 for the Clio. Better grip in the dry and now pretty good in the wet too, a great all year round tyre. After 5000 miles the average usable tread depth remaining is 4.6mm (to the legal limit bars). My main criticism is that feedback from the tyre is a little numb. My next tyre upgrade (for summer and track use only) will be Dunlop DZ03G and reduction in wheel size to 15". Moral of the story, never scrimp on tyres, it only costs in the long run. Buy the best available regardless of cost otherwise you never reach your car's potential.

These came on my Clio when I bought the car. They are a great all round tyre.

They did not last a very long time however, around 9,000 miles on the front. However, they were very good up front, and gripped very well in the dry, with a good subjective feel. Clios don't tend to be great with steering communication and these Contis weren' too bad.

The wet performance was interesting. It felt like it wouldn't grip in the wet at all, especially when they wore close to the limit. However, push on with them and the tyres would surprisingly grip very well in the wet, alot better than the Toyo T1-Rs did with plenty of tread left.

195/45R16 is a size that has a limited choice for tyres, so for that reason, I'd buy these again. I would next try Uniroyal RainSport 3s in 195/50R15 guise and preferred the car on the Contis straight away.

The best tyre we have had on this car, spirited driving from Christchurch to Akaroa over hilly passes shows how good this tyre is. Increadibly high limits in the dry with only mild squealing on the limits. The Clio 172 is a small pocket rocket, but these tyres showed we need more HP - these definitely made the chassis perform!! Wet is very good, with high resistance to wheelspin. A little noisier than previous Pirellis which were not in the same class of tyre. However, we do find the car torque steers more than before, pulling noticably from one side to the other under hard acceleration in 1st gear if the road has uneven camber.

Fitted these to my daily driver 3 months ago and I'm very impressed with them so far. The dry grip is really very good to the point that getting them near the limit requires driving at silly speeds. They surprised me in the wet, having read the negative reviews on here. I live in west Wales so we get a lot of rain and I have only felt nervous in the most extreme conditions when most tyres would struggle to clear the water. Pushing the tyres performance in these conditions is quite frankly lunacy anyway. My only issue is some road noise when they are cold. Other than that, very impressed.

I had these fitted on my Renaultsport Clio 172 Cup, which has about 180bhp.
I'm very impressed with these tyres and would recommend them to anyone.
Just replaced the fronts after 12,000 miles as they were down to around 2.5mm tread(and I have done 2 track sessions in that time), the rears still have 4/5mm tread left, so the wear is good.

My car doesn't come with ABS as standard, and in the year I've owned my car the tyres don't let go when you have to brake hard as I have not locked up once.

The only downside is I found they don't give that much road feedback and if you are driving enthusiastically they do understeer a little bit, but nothing major.

Have Changed to Hankook Ventus S1 Evo's on the front as there as some very good reviews on here for them and they are £18 cheaper per tyre, so I thought I'd give them a go.