Don't buy federal 595 tyres for your fiesta

geelong festy · 16-09-2013, 12:23 PM

To anyone out there who is considering buying Federal 595 EVO tyres, DON'T!!

I purchased a set of these tyres in a 205/40/17 size, fitted to a lightly modified 2010 Ford Fiesta 1.6 manual, and they have proven to be downright dangerous!

These were recommended to me by a tyre store in Melbourne and from a phone call to the distributers of Federal tyres here in Australia.

I was unaware that these tyres were Taiwanese and was advised that these tyres had a successful history of motorsport and were premium quality. Hah! They are no better than those cheap Chinese tyres on eBay which most motoring magazines declare disastrous and to avoid at all costs!

A couple of months after buying them I emailed the distributers telling them that these tyres did not live up to the hype they use on their website but never received a response. It was only after leaving negative feedback on their Facebook site did they contact me.

Their only pathetic response was to offer a small discount on another new set of Federal tyres, which they then claimed was more suited to small low-powered hatchbacks. I asked for evidence/examples for this but he had none.

I didn't have the money to buy another set of tyres and take up their offer due to illness.

Now, after 12 months, the tyres are diabolical. Despite having a treadware rating of 240 they show very little sign of wear. They are rock hard and getting harder with age. As an example, I slid through a red light recently on a damp road lightly braking from under 30kph. I walked back to the intersection and checked. No oil, no debris, nothing.

As someone who raced cars and bikes for years, I have never, ever, driven/ridden on tyres so desperately bad!

Now I'm a disability pensioner and cannot afford to replace the tyres, but I won't drive the car in the wet unless I absolutely have too.

Despite having a great deal of pride in my little car, which has an excellent reputation good handling, these tyres SHOULD BE AVOIDED AT ALL COSTS!

You Have Been Warned!!

uniacidz · 16-09-2013, 12:35 PM

Yep, not a fan of them.

Especially after some use, they do become a slippery tyre.

Dash_XR · 16-09-2013, 12:38 PM

I had them on my G6E Turbo, they were a bit noisy but I thought they gripped pretty good for the price. Hopeless in the wet but I was aware of that.

uniacidz · 16-09-2013, 01:07 PM

I remember the tyre guy telling me 'drifters use them on their cars so must be good'
However i was thinking 'what the hell do i care if a drifter uses them?'

If they want to use a slippery tyre to do skids, so be it, but i dont do that on the streets.

And as Dash_XR stated, yes they were incredibly noisy, especially after 100km/h.
Certain speeds you can sound like you are driving a 4x4

**Dave R** · 16-09-2013, 01:19 PM

How old are they? There will be a week/year marking on each tyre (http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tirete....jsp?techid=11).

YOB POM · 16-09-2013, 02:20 PM

It's about time Australian Standards for tyres was raised.I bought a couple of cars for my kids recently and the cheap tyres that were fitted to them were useless even when the road was barely damp.

Smoke Pursuit · 16-09-2013, 03:45 PM

Drive to the conditions!!!

I always buy expensive tyre's because I dont believe the crap tyre dealers feed the general public however I have driven other peoples cars on crap korean / chinese tyres and they are okay... Hell I can drive an a brand new XR6 with Dunlops and make it dangerous in the wet too@!

Dash_XR · 16-09-2013, 04:09 PM

Exactly. My daily has the 'Ningnongs' I bought it with and it took me twice in the wet to learn it just won't pull up. Now I leave a decent gap between me and the car in front whenever it's wet.

Same with the XR, anything but dordling around in the wet is pointless so I'm not going to waste my time with "Wet Weather" tyres, just granny around in the wet.

YOB POM · 16-09-2013, 05:42 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dash_XR

Exactly. My daily has the 'Ningnongs' I bought it with and it took me twice in the wet to learn it just won't pull up. Now I leave a decent gap between me and the car in front whenever it's wet.

Same with the XR, anything but dordling around in the wet is pointless so I'm not going to waste my time with "Wet Weather" tyres, just granny around in the wet.

So when some idiot doesn't give way or changes lanes right in front and then slams on the brakes what conditions are you driving to then?This is a ridiculous attitude, when you are faced with an emergency situation you want bloody good tyres.

Dash_XR · 17-09-2013, 08:24 AM

Leaving a decent gap between yourself and the car in front is "ridiculous"? Ok.

BadMax · 17-09-2013, 08:51 AM

[QUOTE=geelong festy;4882305]

As an example, I slid through a red light recently on a damp road lightly braking from under 30kph. I walked back to the intersection and checked. No oil, no debris, nothing.
QUOTE]

I find this statement a little ambiguous. I don't understand your concept of lightly braking and sliding? Was your ABS activated? If not you couldn't have slid, the ABS would have detected the slip of the tyres and activated.

I believe you could stop in under 10 metres if you were travelling under 30kph, even in wet conditions without the use of ABS.

Spammy · 17-09-2013, 10:14 AM

My ute had Firenza tyres on it when I bought it - the previous owner had put them on to sell it. They were bordrline in the dry and downright deadly when it was damp.

XR6T0Y · 17-09-2013, 10:52 AM

Had Nankangs on the XR. Horrible in the wet and dry. Now have Achilles ATR sports all round - amazing the difference!

ebv8 · 20-09-2013, 10:15 AM

I have atr sports up front and old worn goodrides on the back of my fiesta and its great fun, bit of light rain the front grips nice and the back slides all over the place.
if your not driving your car in the wet go and buy 2 decent front tyres at least, get Kumho KU31's or something with decent wet grip and a little bit soft.
your traction control will keep the rear tyres in check if you drive normal.

firko · 03-12-2013, 06:57 AM

G'day All, i got a set of these for my missus car and at first i had the same reaction Crap !! but after i mucked with tire pressure and got a bit of head through them they came up good they are a little slippery in the wet but manage able
yes they are loud but for the amount you pay and what i have done with them they are not bad at all
195/55/16
federal 595
$80 each

Mitch_ · 03-12-2013, 11:16 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dash_XR

Exactly. My daily has the 'Ningnongs' I bought it with and it took me twice in the wet to learn it just won't pull up. Now I leave a decent gap between me and the car in front whenever it's wet.

Same with the XR, anything but dordling around in the wet is pointless so I'm not going to waste my time with "Wet Weather" tyres, just granny around in the wet.

Its normally the best idea to leave a decent gap anywhere - its rediculous how many people leave tiny gaps - I normally leave 2sec gap in dry 4 sec gap in the wet.

Quote:

Originally Posted by YOB POM

So when some idiot doesn't give way or changes lanes right in front and then slams on the brakes what conditions are you driving to then?This is a ridiculous attitude, when you are faced with an emergency situation you want bloody good tyres.

99% of the time you can see if this is going to happen... stupid comment is stupid.

geelong festy · 24-01-2014, 06:56 PM

I don't know where you come from BadMax but done here we a funny thing called "GRAVITY" which does funny things to cars on slippery surfaces! On the corner where Ballarat Road joins Geelong Road, there is a significant on-ramp which is rather steep'ish. Go down that, or any other steep hill and ANY decent in poor conditions and your ABS is not worth sh**. Have you ever driven in snow or sleet BadMax? No, didn't think you had! ABS will not stop you and it won't on any surface that is compromised or any tyre that is as bad as driving on ice. BadMax.....you have no effing idea!

Tyre pressures have been tried and tested on the road and on the track and I can tell you that the factory settings are best (30psi) for cheap tyres and expensive ones. We tried them from 20psi thru to 44psi. 5psi either way made little difference but 20psi caused understeer and 44psi caused bulk oversteer. With the Spax coilovers fitted we run 2 degrees negative camber to help dial out understeer (thanks to Spax UK and Suspension Concepts in Sydney for the suspension tips!) and a small amount of toe-in and reduced the ride-height in the rears.

I recently fitted Bridgestone RE002 tyres and the performance of these tyres are astonishing. Better that the PZero's I've had on prior and the wet grip is amazing. Dry grip is fantastic and break-away is entirely predictable allowing the car to oversteer like a rear-driver but with the front hanging on well.

The best low-dollar trick to significantly improving grip on mk7 Fiestas is to fit a polyurethane rear engine mount. I purchased mine from Pumaspeed in the UK but they are now on eBay. These are affectively solid and your NHV goes out the window but it improves traction off the line and out of the corners greatly. If you mod your Fiesta engine and don't replace the rear engine mount it will tear apart and possibly damage the other mounts.

Ford Racing in the US have a PDF you can download that shows a great $10 mod to improve handling and traction. Believe it or not, this official ford: filling the rear suspension bushing voids with Locktite!

documenthttps://www.fordracingparts.com/download/instructionsheets/FordInstM-FR3-FAEB.pdf

I used a poly-mounts but people in the UK & USA are doing this on the rear engine mount too!

The old truck driver's rule, which is taught in advanced driver's school, is to leave 4 seconds between you and the car in front. For an everyday driver maybe 3 seconds at least. The idea is, not how fast you think you can out-break the guy in front, but if the guy (or girl) in front comes to a halt far faster. Like in an accident. If the person in front smacks head first into the **** of a semi, you aren't gunna out-break him (or her)!

As I said, do not buy Federal Tyres. It doesn't matter which model/series. Do not believe the spin from the national distributor like I did (who offered a partial refund) who try to tell you that they are not cheap 'Chinese tyres' 'cos they come from Taiwan (!!!!) and that they have racing pedigree etc etc. My thongs have better grip :-)

XR Martin · 24-01-2014, 09:57 PM

You buy $80 tyres and expect them to be anything but crap?
Im sure you spend more on shoes...

Oh btw heaps of tyres are made in the 3rd World, and that doesnt automatically made them crap.
Considering its basically an autonomous process what does it matter where they are made? There is no skills involved in making tyres.

Franco Cozzo · 25-01-2014, 01:36 PM

I'd put Toyo TEO PLUS in the same crappy tyre bracket too, I made the mistake of getting them on my Focus, tread wear and noise is good but when they get to about 70% the grip is crap, its easy to push the nose wide or spin a front wheel even in the dry in 1st without meaning to.

Never again.