[Ron25GTi]

Would anyone know which brand of tyres would have been fitted as original equipment to the 25 GTi? Size is 205/45 r16. Thanks

[GTiJohn]

Likely to have been Goodyear, Michelin or Dunlop back in the day.

It is possible only one or two of the three may have been sourced in that size and the brand is very rarely published by the manufacturer unless it is something super-special.

You can sometimes make it out in publicity photos if you look very carefully.

It's unlikely you'll be able to buy the exact tyre new now but you can usually get the same brand.

[Johnny 216GSi]

The R8 was fitted with Pirelli P4000 tyres from the factory. I still had all mine up to nearly 70K, believe it or not, but they've long gone now. Can't buy them either.

You'd have to find a low-mileage GTi and the tyres will still be on, or the chances are the spare has the original brand & model still fitted.

[GTiJohn]

The R8 was fitted with Pirelli P4000 tyres from the factory.

I knew I'd missed one manufacturer....

[Ron25GTi]

I've managed to get my hands on some press photos and zoom in on the tyres as suggested. The car is a gold 25 gti with a press reg of 688 TFX. Bizarre results!!......the front are Michelin on one photo and on another the rear are dunlop. The car looks identical with colour coordinated handles and mudflaps.

Thanks for your replies, I'm still saving up for a wheel refurbishment and set of new set of tyres so plenty of time to make the decision!

[Cromp85]

The 25 GTI might have been the same as the ZR with Hairpin Alloys, I think those came with Dunlop SP01 tyres when new

[RoverRevival]

in short, regardless of what tyres they were, they are 20yr old tech.

buy new, buy matching, buy branded.

Everything else is irrelevant.

[Johnny 216GSi]

in short, regardless of what tyres they were, they are 20yr old tech.

buy new, buy matching, buy branded.

Everything else is irrelevant.

Yes, in essence. Though I never know if there is anything in the manufacturer's choice of tyre - whether they assess the car's performance with whatever tyres they try (pressumably stopping distance / overall safety, road noise, etc.), then make a decision based on the prices they can lock down given that's a massive supply contract and endorsement for a tyre manufacturer but also effects the car's measured and perceived quality as that's how they'll be sent out to the reviewers first and foremost.

Nothing you can't effectively do yourself though. Just do your homework. Would be nice if you could buy modern-technology tyres with 90's branding - Pirelli might pick up some sales off the back of it!

I'm currently leaning towards the fuel efficient, low-noise tyres from Goodyear and Dunlop. I'm not spending anything until next year though.

[GTiJohn]

Tyre manufactures OEM pricing is obviously massively different to the highstreet because they don't half buy in bulk!

What the tyre suppliers hope to get out of it is brand loyalty in that we, the punter, replace like-with-like when we need to.

As dist says, 20 year-old tyre tech is exactly that , old

[220 GSi turbo]

FWIW, we have two 25 GTis in the family.

First one was bought at 4 years old/37000 miles on the clock and had Michelins all round. (No guarantees of course that any of them were the originals, but we put new ones on all round at about 40,000 miles because the old ones were getting low on tread).

Second one was bought at 17 years old/97000 miles on the clock, but with fully documented maintenance history from the first owner, who had kept it for 15 years. All replacement tyres in the first 15 years were Michelins.

Perhaps original fitment was Michelin?

With the GTi, the spare wheel cannot provide any clues: a skinny space-saver was supplied as standard and there was no option of a full-size alloy spare available. Probably because the spare wheel well is not deep enough (we tried, and the boot mat was sitting far too high!)