Accelera tyres, how bad are they?
Discussion
MGJohn said:
kambites said:
There's certainly some serious experts on PH... they can tell whether a tyre is any good without even knowing what model it is. 
Too right. The quality of the nut holding the steering wheel will always have the final say .. 
I have had newish Accelera on used cars bought in the past. Never heard of them before then. Not exceptional but, OK in all conditions except for poor quality nuts holding the steering wheel. Here I have in mind Ditchfinder ... drivers. Playing silly Bs or plain driving stupidly for conditions, I could find a ditch with the best tyres in the world on the car.
Countdown said:
TurboHatchback said:
I've just bought a new car which has a matching set of Accelera tyres on which are in reasonable condition. Having looked on some online retailers sites they are concerningly cheap (£55 for 245/40R18 size) so I presume they must be made of finest Chinesium. Has anyone else had any experience of these? The car is a 350hp V8 Audi A6 quattro so it's big, heavy and powerful. I've not had any issues with them so far but I haven't been pushing hard or driving in bad conditions yet.
Basically am I likely to fall off the road at the first sign of rain and is it worth throwing away a complete newish set of tyres to get some decent Goodyears or Michelins on there?
OP - it's possible to spin off into a fiery pit of doom even though you are driving on Pirelli Super 70000NCT. Equally it's possible to have a long and happy life even though you are driving on LongLing Nakacheepies. It simply depends on how close you drive to the limits of adhesion and how oftenBasically am I likely to fall off the road at the first sign of rain and is it worth throwing away a complete newish set of tyres to get some decent Goodyears or Michelins on there?
Have a go - dont drive like a muppet, see how you feel. It's not rocket surgery
Three years ago, based on on-line car site recommendations, I fitted NEXEN Brand 215/45 17 to my daily driver which at £70 a corner fitted, must be cheap economy tyres. For both handling and grip, they have been very good but the fronts only lasted about 15,000 miles. That is usually the case with tyres that give good grip.
More recently I read a German Tyre survey where the NEXENs figured remarkably well. Given a higher rating overall than some of the so called "premium" brands many would recommend or go for.
Earlier in this thread someone mentioned that cheaper priced tyres have improved recently. Based on the best evidence available to me, that of my own direct personal experience, I have found that statement to be true.
I had a car which started to have a rather "loose rear end" on certain roundabouts which were built with a slight adverse camber on some of the exits. I blamed the cheap brand rear tyres but, subsequent events proved my judgement wrong! There were two MoT failures soon after.. BOTH the main rear suspension bushes were badly worn and perished. Cheap fix and immediate pass on free retest. Guess what.... those cheap tyres were really quite good after all. It was and often is those worn suspension components wot dun it! Talking to my friendly MoT tester, some of the suspension components on even the more highly regarded German marques are prone to excessive MoT fail wear. Can be expensive to renew some of those.
So, do not be too quick of the mark ( hey a motoring pun ) to blame those tyres.
Patrick Bateman said:
kambites said:
There's certainly some serious experts on PH... they can tell whether a tyre is any good without even knowing what model it is.
It's a reasonable assumption given Accelera's usual efforts. As ever, it's the wet that really exposes a poor tyre.
Most budget-branded tyres are pretty rubbish, but there certainly are exceptions.
Edited by kambites on Monday 22 December 19:10
PlayersNo6 said:
Surprised to hear that. Kumhos are usually rated as a decent mid range. Which model were they?
That's what I thought. I had KU31's a few years ago and they were fine but these were KH16 on a hot hatch. Fine in the dry but pretty crap in the wet, understeering long before I'd have expected the car to.Goodyears all round now and it's infinitely better.
I have a set of Accelera PHI's on my 2011 Mustang 5.0. They have been on for two years (18000') and I have successfully avoided all ditches and I am not dead yet.
My 2011 GT was on Pirelli P zero’s from new, I got rid of them at 10000’ fine in Spain but totally unsuitable for UK conditions. Fitted Accelera’s on a recommendation, they were a revelation, quieter and much better grip in the wet. They are in fact based on Continental's, the Phi uses the same tread pattern as the Conti Sport Contact 2.
At their price it means you can change frequently...remember an old tyre or a worn tyre is going to be far worse than any budget tyre.
Why don't you just drive on them for a while and see how you get on?
My 2011 GT was on Pirelli P zero’s from new, I got rid of them at 10000’ fine in Spain but totally unsuitable for UK conditions. Fitted Accelera’s on a recommendation, they were a revelation, quieter and much better grip in the wet. They are in fact based on Continental's, the Phi uses the same tread pattern as the Conti Sport Contact 2.
At their price it means you can change frequently...remember an old tyre or a worn tyre is going to be far worse than any budget tyre.
Why don't you just drive on them for a while and see how you get on?
I've got a set of these on the front of my Alfa 159 1750 Ti in 19" size, they had just been fitted before I bought the car. The problem with the Alfa is you only have a choice of about 4 different tyres due to size, load rating etc so it's either £250 for Conti/Pirelli or £90 PH1.
Couple the price in with the often ridiculous tyre life due to alignment "issues" they have bit of a following on Alfas especially on the diesel models which are frankly a bit overtyred for their output.
Impressions are OK over the last 3K miles and mildly surprised with them in both wet and dry. I'm still here typing this and haven't yet felt the need to rip them off in disgust. They are very noisy though and look to be made of solid granite so guess life will be pretty long on a different application.
A friend who runs a tyre business did however laugh/warned me how rubbish they are when he saw them and he is someone who always extols the virtues of the budget tyre.
I'll be biting the bullet for a set of Contis when I finally wear these out mainly to try them out and see if they really are worth the premium. Tried the new versions of Toyo and Falken on my Fiat with really favourable results so not a tyre snob but think that buying PH1 through choice may be a step too far.
Couple the price in with the often ridiculous tyre life due to alignment "issues" they have bit of a following on Alfas especially on the diesel models which are frankly a bit overtyred for their output.
Impressions are OK over the last 3K miles and mildly surprised with them in both wet and dry. I'm still here typing this and haven't yet felt the need to rip them off in disgust. They are very noisy though and look to be made of solid granite so guess life will be pretty long on a different application.
A friend who runs a tyre business did however laugh/warned me how rubbish they are when he saw them and he is someone who always extols the virtues of the budget tyre.
I'll be biting the bullet for a set of Contis when I finally wear these out mainly to try them out and see if they really are worth the premium. Tried the new versions of Toyo and Falken on my Fiat with really favourable results so not a tyre snob but think that buying PH1 through choice may be a step too far.
My E46 M3 that I bought in March came with a brand new set all round, though not sure which variant unless I go outside and take a look. I've done 13k miles since then and there still seems to be plenty of tread left on them.
However, IMO they are not great at all for grip in the wet...this morning was an example, on a couple of fairly large wet/greasy roundabouts on my route in, a bit of understeer at first, followed by the rear breaking away with a bit more throttle applied. All this at a (relatively) low speed.
Also, I find they are a fairly noisy tyre.
I'll be swapping them for a set of Michelin PSS soon, once Christmas is out the way with.
However, IMO they are not great at all for grip in the wet...this morning was an example, on a couple of fairly large wet/greasy roundabouts on my route in, a bit of understeer at first, followed by the rear breaking away with a bit more throttle applied. All this at a (relatively) low speed.
Also, I find they are a fairly noisy tyre.
I'll be swapping them for a set of Michelin PSS soon, once Christmas is out the way with.
Had a pair of Accelera Alphas on my old diesel Seat Leon and didn't rate the wet grip at all - car would slide at low speeds in roundabouts, etc and I got wheelspin up to 3rd gear.
Replaced with a set of Dunlop SP Sport FastResponse which were way grippier in the rain, despite being narrower (205/55 vs 225/45).
Replaced with a set of Dunlop SP Sport FastResponse which were way grippier in the rain, despite being narrower (205/55 vs 225/45).
Countdown said:
OP - it's possible to spin off into a fiery pit of doom even though you are driving on Pirelli Super 70000NCT. Equally it's possible to have a long and happy life even though you are driving on LongLing Nakacheepies. It simply depends on how close you drive to the limits of adhesion and how often
Have a go - dont drive like a muppet, see how you feel. It's not rocket surgery
As is the norm with these threads, people seem to forget that a good quality tyre helps in other situations, not just when the driver is hooning it like a loon. You could be the most sensible driver in the world, and yet still have to perform an emergency stop when a child runs out in to the road in front of you. That's where the difference between sHave a go - dont drive like a muppet, see how you feel. It's not rocket surgery
t tyres and good tyres tends to become a bit more relevant...I had some on a 406 estate I had as a "beater"; ABS was triggering constantly in even the mildest moisture, where they would also understeer like crazy.
The OH thought I was moaning about nothing until one day we failed to stop and went straight through a red light in the wet even though I was just braking and driving in a normal and reasonable fashion. We ended up in the path of an artic who just about stopped.
They were changed for some Goodyears that very afternoon. Car was transformed - and curiously the steering wheel, whuch with the Acceleras was canted at a sort of "ten to four" angle in a straight line was perfect.
Since then I've become a firm believer in always fitting quality tyres; the government bang on about speed and drink driving, but my personal belief is that you could save more lives than any other measure combined by simply outlawing st tyres. They might be fine in the dry but ask them to do something in a wet weather emergency situation and they're seriously lacking. Sadly this isn't recorded in accident stats - they're not speeding and the tyres have legal tread.
The OH thought I was moaning about nothing until one day we failed to stop and went straight through a red light in the wet even though I was just braking and driving in a normal and reasonable fashion. We ended up in the path of an artic who just about stopped.
They were changed for some Goodyears that very afternoon. Car was transformed - and curiously the steering wheel, whuch with the Acceleras was canted at a sort of "ten to four" angle in a straight line was perfect.
Since then I've become a firm believer in always fitting quality tyres; the government bang on about speed and drink driving, but my personal belief is that you could save more lives than any other measure combined by simply outlawing s
t tyres. They might be fine in the dry but ask them to do something in a wet weather emergency situation and they're seriously lacking. Sadly this isn't recorded in accident stats - they're not speeding and the tyres have legal tread. 
I couldn't see a model name but now you mention it they do have a Phi symbol so that's probably them.
There seems to be a range of opinions. I've always been a tyre snob hence why it's very tempting to get a set of Eagle F1s on there but that would be £500 that doesn't strictly need to be spent hence the debate. I'll give the Acceleras more of a trial and report back my findings as I'm still not sure either way.
There seems to be a range of opinions. I've always been a tyre snob hence why it's very tempting to get a set of Eagle F1s on there but that would be £500 that doesn't strictly need to be spent hence the debate. I'll give the Acceleras more of a trial and report back my findings as I'm still not sure either way.
My 350Z came with a set of Chinese cheapies on, I budgeted to get them replaced with something better but to be honest, they have been fine, but I have never tried the car with the OEM tyres, its a bit slidy at the back but it is a 300 bhp RWD car with an LSD, so whatever it had fitted it would be, I have tried braking hard in the wet from 80 mph, the ABS kicked in, the car pulled up very well, not overly confident in the front end feel but its fine. In the dry they grip further than I push the car.
I just couldn't see the point of spending £600 to replace them, guess I will see when they are needing replacing, which will be done way before they are getting anywhere near the wear bars.
I have found in the past that I have had issues with budget tyres, changed some on the Galaxy, was a "Ford Direct" car, even the wife noticed it, they put "DoubleStar" tyres on the front as they were over fifty percent worn, it would spin the wheels in third, existing a wet junction involved the TCS light flashing and you sat trying to find a throttle position that afforded grip, which was slightly above idle. Fitted 2 Dunlops the same as the rears and it was a lot better.
A Mk2 Golf with Nankangs on, tried to swap ends on me joining the M56, very hairy moment as I went from one surface type to another, I sold the car on and expressly warned the purchaser that the tyres were utter rubbish and to take it easy.
Fiat Coupe turbo, again on Nankangs, dreadful understeering, lolloping dollop of a car, transformed by fitting some Continentals, utterly amazed how much difference it made, was used to it spinning all the power away, barely got any wheelspin in normal circumstances after the change to Contis.
Pug 309 on a set of unknowns, zero grip in the wet, even my mum was sliding it around, quite good fun but not recommended.
So, my thought are, see how the car drives, so many variables at work, in general a premium tyre will be better but not always night and day, if you are buying your own tyres, buy the best you can afford, dont scrimp but dont assume that the cheaper ones will be dangerous, in normal driving they may well be perfectly good.
I just couldn't see the point of spending £600 to replace them, guess I will see when they are needing replacing, which will be done way before they are getting anywhere near the wear bars.
I have found in the past that I have had issues with budget tyres, changed some on the Galaxy, was a "Ford Direct" car, even the wife noticed it, they put "DoubleStar" tyres on the front as they were over fifty percent worn, it would spin the wheels in third, existing a wet junction involved the TCS light flashing and you sat trying to find a throttle position that afforded grip, which was slightly above idle. Fitted 2 Dunlops the same as the rears and it was a lot better.
A Mk2 Golf with Nankangs on, tried to swap ends on me joining the M56, very hairy moment as I went from one surface type to another, I sold the car on and expressly warned the purchaser that the tyres were utter rubbish and to take it easy.
Fiat Coupe turbo, again on Nankangs, dreadful understeering, lolloping dollop of a car, transformed by fitting some Continentals, utterly amazed how much difference it made, was used to it spinning all the power away, barely got any wheelspin in normal circumstances after the change to Contis.
Pug 309 on a set of unknowns, zero grip in the wet, even my mum was sliding it around, quite good fun but not recommended.
So, my thought are, see how the car drives, so many variables at work, in general a premium tyre will be better but not always night and day, if you are buying your own tyres, buy the best you can afford, dont scrimp but dont assume that the cheaper ones will be dangerous, in normal driving they may well be perfectly good.
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