Best Tires for the Volkswagen Scirocco 2.0 TDi 170

Grip is absolutely incredible on these tires with both dry and wet conditions however bare in mind they won’t last you all season even if you drive sensibly. Noise levels are great and only thing I’d say is that they are definitely not what’s considered comfortable tire!

I bought some Dunlop Direzza 03g for my scirocco track project.

I fitted them for a couple of trackdays and some varied road driving, mostly in summer of 2016 where it's been pretty good weather, only a few downpours to contend with.

Immediately after my Michelin PS4s (which are also very good!) were removed and these fitted I noticed a huge improvement in feedback coming back through the wheel, for example going over small stones in the industrial estate! Initially it's a very weird feeling but you soon appreciate it. The immediate steering feedback is amazing, the off-center vaugeness that has plauged my car and even with very specific alignment was not resolved, is completely gone. Driving with these tires is simply a joy.


The grip is absolutely mental in the dry - no other word for it. In another level compared to Yokohama AD08R or similar. At a hot Donnington park the car was able to brake very late and still manage to hit Apexs which was very impressive, cars following were trying to follow my line and running wide! If you do push them a bit too hard the breakaway is very progressive for a tire of this type. Coping with a 250bhp nose heavy diesel hatchback they manage very well.

They do need to warm up however, so on the road give it 10 or so miles otherwise they do let go with little warning (however you have to be pushing quite hard to find this limit and you would still be usually warming up the engine before then.

I found track pressures cold of 28psi front 30psi back worked great on my car. On the road I run 34psi all round and this seems to be good.

In the wet they are actually not too bad. I would say that in my limited experience of budget tires, once warm, they will outperform your typical Nankang NS2 or similar road based budget to mid range tire.
Heavy standing water should be avoided, and some finesse is required but in the wet on the roads we should not be pushing that hard anyway :-)

I think as a tire to run April-October they would be more than usable on a daily basis for enthusiast drivers. I would absolutely not recommend using these tires over winter in the UK, I also believe Dunlop say the tires should not be subjected to cold temperatures as this can damage the compound (or some other nonsense).

With regards to wear I have put approximiately 1200 miles on these tires and the tread has gone down from 3.6mm when fitted to 3mm at the fronts and 3.2mm on the rear.

The only real bugbear I have of these tires is the noise - yes I expect track tires to be loud on the road but these really can be horrific and certain speeds have very loud resonations - namely around 40 and 85mph which can be annoying some of the time. Sounds like all 4 wheel bearings are about to fall out. But this is the price we pay for enjoyment through the driving experience and grip.

For track use they are brilliant. I noticed no real improvement over my Michelin PS4 or Vredestein Ultrac Vortis in grip during a standing start (drag racing) - I suspect you need to thoroughly warm the tires up with burnouts or similar for them to be more effective.

I would estimate with my driving I would get about 8-10k from a set of fronts with purely road and 15-16k on the rear.

Given the cost of these tires in my size (around £300 each) I would recommend fitting for spare wheels or on a car used only occasionally.

I would like to try Pirelli Trofeo R next so that may be my next purchase and I will move to Yoko AD08R for daily use.

The primewells were already on the car when purchased, in the dry they are not too bad but gets the traction control kicking in when powering off. Doing the same in the wet, well... I'm still at the lights as the rev's progress through the range and wheels just spin on the spot! Confidence when driving in the rain drops quite quickly as they just about hang on in the dry.

For a budget tire they are absolutely rubbish given that there are better ones available so will be changing these as soon as!