That sounds really useful thanks, I can't see a link to the list though?

Not sure that manufacturers necessarily fit the best tyres to their cars when they leave the factory, rather the ones they get the best deal on. My Astra has Bridgestones which whilst wearing well are quite noisy on some surfaces. GM fit a variety of brands as OEM, but the Bridgestones are widely regarded as not ideal on the current Astra.

My advice to the OP is to look around for the current best deal on a quality brand.

Here (hopefully) is that link. Just to clarify though, as far as i am aware, this is not reviews for each tyre in that specific size. All the tyres listed are available in your size, but the reviews are for the tyre in general (i.e, different sizes on different cars).

www.tyrereviews.co.uk/Tyre-Size/15-Inch-Tyres/185-...m

I'm not sure what to make of the 'easy to damage sidewalls' as i have no direct experience of that particular tyre. What i can tell you is that my current van (VW Caddy) and previous Van (Transit Connect) both have had Michelin tyres at some stage and i never had any issues regarding the sidewalls. Unless it is something specific to the Energy Saver Plus?.

Regarding buying online and finding a fitter, i'm really not sure why that should cause you any grief at all, even garages which supply tyres will fit ones you supply yourself (not always the case), at least they do where i live. But most (even small) garages will have the facilities to fit and balance tyres, last time i bought a set of tyres off Ebay (for the Connect), it cost me £40 to have all 4 fitted and balanced.

As for a reinforced tyre (presumably this means one with a higher load rating), my advice would be to avoid it for two reasons. 1, the jazz regarded as being fairly stiffly sprung as standard so a reinforced tyre will definitely have a detrimental effect on the ride, to what extent will depend on how big the difference in load rating between what it is and what you should have (i.e, the bigger the difference, the harsher the ride). 2, it is a pretty light car so simply unnecessary unless it is frequently loaded.

I'm a fan of the Michelin Crossclimate which seems to be available in that size. For me - thus far great performance in hot or cold weather and I've found them much better than the Energy Saver especially in the wet! Also I've found them to be really quiet. They also seem to be lasting well.

Edited by Big John on 28/08/2018 at 22:45

That is what i bought for my last van. When buying i do generally go for all season tyres. My current van, the Caddy, came with winter tyres fitted, these are also Michelins (Alpin, i think).

Indeed - on my previous 2003 Superb I had some all season Quatrac 5's(205/55/16) which were good, although not as good in the wet as the Crossclimate. Saying that I fitted them at about 160,000 miles and under new ownership it is now up to 205,000 miles and they are still going strong.

To put in perspective previously I had a set of Bridgestone’s on the same car that only did 18,000 miles - this was a heavy vehicle!

Edited by Big John on 28/08/2018 at 23:02