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vrsmxtb
1,222 posts
26 months
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I just avoid the cheap end of the market, but anything upper mid range with good reviews I would consider. I've had tyres by Uniroyal Barum, Hankook, Goodyears, BFGoodrich, Pirelli, Continental.
To be honest the "premium" Pirelli P Zero Neros I have on the front at the moment feel rubbish. They grip well in the dry but they tramline and fidget a lot over rough surfaces and wet grip is noticeably poorer in the wet compared to some of the lower range brands. My winter tyres are Hankooks and I can't imagine anything being that much better to justify the price difference to be honest.
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LiamM45
463 posts
50 months
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I have never bought premium tyres such as Conti's, Michelin or Goodyear. The most 'premium' I have ever used was Bridgestones on my Ibiza Cupra, and they were downright lethal in the wet, and not so good in the dry, really poor steering feel.
I tend to buy from the upper mid range if that's a group... Avon, Toyo, Yokohama, Falken, etc. I've got some Yokohama S Drives on my car now and I really like them. Really good tyres for the money! Would I notice the difference on some Conti's or Michelins? Maybe not, I don't think I push the car hard enough to tell.
I think there should be much stricter testing and regulations on tyres over here, BUT, would you rather someone driving about on bald tyres or some new Linglong/Champiro/Sunny tyres? My diesel Polo shed runabout has 4 different tyres on each corner, all are random Chinese brands and pretty crap, but I have never yet been in a situation where I thought that the tyres weren't up to the job, and no way will I ever fit a £400 set of tyres to a car worth scrap value!
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valverguy
367 posts
45 months
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Current daily is on Goodyear F1 A2's on the back and conti contact 3's on the front. I normally dont like mis matched tyres but the car came with ditchfinders on the front and the conti's where on a good offer, Handles perfectly well for a daily.
The vr6 is on Rainsport 2's. I always considered uniroyal a premium brand, whether they are or not they make excellent tyres and get my vote as a well priced tyre for some "enthusiasm"
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Fox-
10,038 posts
116 months
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All that jazz said: I had them (452s) on my 330Cd and tbh I thought they were a bit nasty. They're alright for the first couple of k from new but then they go from being decent to utter b  ks overnight and they acquired a very "greasy" feeling to them. I lost all confidence in them as the wet grip in particular just went to s t. Falkens are loved by the BMW forums because they are not Chinese ditchfinders yet cost half the price of all the decent tyres. People put the rose tinted specs on, are properly chuffed at the fact they paid £100 for a tyre not £180, and internet legend begins and suddenly Falken's are some sort of Conti-beater people buy for the performance that happens to be cheap, not a cheap tyre people buy for the price. Then that German braking test came out testing a huge amount of tyres in the wet and the Falkens came 26th..
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jagnet
1,010 posts
72 months
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Fox- said: Then that German braking test came out testing a huge amount of tyres in the wet and the Falkens came 26th.. And that was for their new FK453 tyre, which Falken claim reduce wet braking distances by 8% over the 452. Makes you wonder where the much deified FK452 would have come in the Auto Bild test. Fox- said: Falkens are loved by the BMW forums because they are not Chinese ditchfinders yet cost half the price of all the decent tyres. People put the rose tinted specs on, are properly chuffed at the fact they paid £100 for a tyre not £180, and internet legend begins and suddenly Falken's are some sort of Conti-beater people buy for the performance that happens to be cheap, not a cheap tyre people buy for the price. This, and many times this.
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m8rky
1,553 posts
29 months
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Just to add that during my time as a tyre fitter I saw more blown out Continental tyres than any other make.Several years ago the family of a good friend of mine thankfully survived a rollover motorway crash in a nearly new Focus,the cause a blowout,the tyre Continental.I don't know if it was just coincidence but it is a make of tyre I will never use.
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Patrick Bateman
3,413 posts
44 months
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m8rky said: Just to add that during my time as a tyre fitter I saw more blown out Continental tyres than any other make.Several years ago the family of a good friend of mine thankfully survived a rollover motorway crash in a nearly new Focus,the cause a blowout,the tyre Continental.I don't know if it was just coincidence but it is a make of tyre I will never use. You'd never use them based on that?  They're bound to be one of the most popular makes of tyre in the first place.
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Mr2Mike
9,622 posts
125 months
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blugnu said: The modern world is such that it is entirely possible to be unable to afford expensive tyres at the same time as not being able to afford not to have a car.
If you're lucky you might never find this out by experience. Amazing how these people can often afford to drink, smoke and go on holiday... All a matter of priorities, and most peoples priorities are f ked.
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Fox-
10,038 posts
116 months
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Mr2Mike said: Amazing how these people can often afford to drink, smoke and go on holiday... All a matter of priorities, and most peoples priorities are f ked. Whats most odd is people who rush out and buy enormous alloys with ultra low profile tyres and then bleat about not being able to afford to put decent tyres on? Perhaps if they'd have not gone with 19's in the first place it wouldn't be a problem. Quality tyres are 50 quid each in popular 15 inch sizes.. People don't really seem to look at the affordability of a car beyond its purchase price. I can't afford a 911 Turbo so I don't drive one, I don't buy one anyway and fit 30 quid remulds to it and don't service it properly etc. Whats most amusing is all the 320d Coupes on 19's. £1200 for a set of the factory spec tyres - on a car most people buy purely for the low running costs? You can only imagine the sort of rubber fitted to these in 5 years time, tailgating you on the Motorway in the rain because they had to buy a BMW they couldn't afford to tyre not the Focus that would have made more sense..
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matthias73
1,686 posts
20 months
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Hmmmm.
I go as far as to use all year mud and snow tyres to give extra grip in the wet. Grip in the dry is usually fine whatever the tyre.
Country lanes/motorways + being in a hurry + english weather is a good enough reason for me to spend that weeks paycheck on them, even on my current car which I expect to be scrapping in august.
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Silverbullet767
7,743 posts
76 months
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Uniroyal Rainsport 2's for me.
It already has great dry weather grip but I don't need additional grip in the dry as I don't drive like my hairs on fire, I do however want more grip in the wet.
Living on the west coast means I see more rain than most anyway.
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JonVTR
96 posts
25 months
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Contisport 3's for me! They seem to clean up on most EVO mag reviews.
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Lee540
405 posts
14 months
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I really like the Kumho's as does my wallet.. I feel like they are a good all rounder taking cost into consideration as well.
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Patrick Bateman
3,413 posts
44 months
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matthias73 said: Hmmmm.
Country lanes/motorways + being in a hurry + english weather is a good enough reason for me to spend that weeks paycheck on them, even on my current car which I expect to be scrapping in august. It's in the wet that the differences between good tyres and crap tyres really show.
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alfa pint
3,856 posts
81 months
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Tried Falkens on the Alfa once and they weren't that bad, but at only a tenner or so less than the goodyear GSD3s, I've gone back to them. I've always put premium brands on my own cars for the last 15 odd years or so. So the Alfa runs on Goodyears and the MG B is on Yokohamas. Not so worried about the missus' cars as a) it's a s tter b) she doesn't drive it enough c) she doesn't drive it particularly enthusiastically. At the moment it's still running on winter tyres, despite much tutting from me and nagging her to arrange swapping them back over.
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Glosphil
2,099 posts
104 months
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Falken 452s on my car lasted for 18K miles and were noticably worse in the wet once they were part worn. Replaced with Michelin Primarcy HPs that lasted for 28K (back to front swap when front half worn as were the Falkens) and wet grip hadn't noticably worsened when tyres replaced at 2½mm tread depth. I will willing pay the extra for the Michelins.
My wife's previous car and her present car both shod with Conti Premium Contact 2s and I will happily fit then again.
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Rick_1138
673 posts
48 months
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I have used a fair few brands in the various cars i have owned.
I always avoid the ling long panda tyres like the plague, but after a discussion on the integra forum when i had my DC2 when trying to find replacements for the bridgestone bt010's i found Kumho ecsta's to be very good, used them in all weathers and wet braking and handling were very good, i have a set on my audi a3 and have no complaints.
I got a mk2 MR2 once that was fine until one morning i came off a damp roundabout sideways towards a new 3 series, thankfully i collected it up and avoided a serious clout, but the next day i had all for tyres changed, they were all ditchfinder 3000 type, so got BF goodridge on fronts and yokohama on the rear (yokohama didnt make tyres to fit the front size??
Was a world of difference.
If i had a sports car i would be looking to fit bridgestones or michelins etc.
On my bikes i always fit bridgestone, pirelli or metzlers.
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HeatonNorris
1,649 posts
18 months
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alfa pint said: Tried Falkens on the Alfa once and they weren't that bad, but at only a tenner or so less than the goodyear GSD3s, I've gone back to them. I've always put premium brands on my own cars for the last 15 odd years or so. So the Alfa runs on Goodyears and the MG B is on Yokohamas. Not so worried about the missus' cars as a) it's a s tter b) she doesn't drive it enough c) she doesn't drive it particularly enthusiastically. At the moment it's still running on winter tyres, despite much tutting from me and nagging her to arrange swapping them back over. See, I don't understand this. You insist on being safe yourself, but it doesn't matter if the wife is running around on Chinese teflons?
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petrolsniffer
1,670 posts
44 months
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I've got nexens on my puma and had them on my 205 gti 1.6 an emerging korean brand.
(nexen cp641)£42 a corner
Perform nicely in the dry and offer more than enough grip on my quiet wet roundabout testing.
My brother is also trying out nexen after always relgiously buying conti's says the car feels alot more planted and doesn't skip all over the road.
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Chr1sch
1,577 posts
63 months
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I'm an avid Conti fan, the contisport contact 2's and 3's are great however they are so grippy because they are so damn soft. On a car as big and heavy ad my 5 series they wear out in less than 10k!
I've switched to a new set of the 2012 Dunlop Sport Maxx's and impressed so far. They were only 20 quid a corner less than the Conti's however I'm 5k in and barely any visible wear yet plenty of grip. This is bloody important considering I do 25k a yr at £900 a set of tyres....
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