Discussion
Lots of factors to take into account.....I think it's generally accepted that premium tyres are better than budget tyres in the same way that a Bugatti Veyron is capable of being driven faster than a Nissan Micra. However, if you are never going to go faster than 50mph a Nissan micra might be more than good enough for your needs.
I prefer to spend on tyres but not without some research first. There are 3 levels I find: premium, mid, cheap. In the mid range you get some really good tyres so it depends on you and the car to an extent.
I justify buying premium because I like to drive hard and use a lot of very tight and twisty B roads. The price difference is also less than my insurance excess so I use that to justify it, given that in an emergency my stopping distances are far better than cheap tyres, especially so in the wet, so I'm less likely to hit the thing that just jumped onto the road which in my case is mostly wild life.
I have ditched a premium tyre though, that was the Pirelli P6000 which was just as bad as the times I tried cheap tyres. I don't seem to get on with Yokohama road stuff either.
Of the mid range tyres I find Uniroyal Rainsport and Vredestein have given the top stuff a good run for their money.
I justify buying premium because I like to drive hard and use a lot of very tight and twisty B roads. The price difference is also less than my insurance excess so I use that to justify it, given that in an emergency my stopping distances are far better than cheap tyres, especially so in the wet, so I'm less likely to hit the thing that just jumped onto the road which in my case is mostly wild life.
I have ditched a premium tyre though, that was the Pirelli P6000 which was just as bad as the times I tried cheap tyres. I don't seem to get on with Yokohama road stuff either.
Of the mid range tyres I find Uniroyal Rainsport and Vredestein have given the top stuff a good run for their money.
I fitted a pair of "RoadStone" tyres to my MX5 when I bought it as the rear tyres on it were old and very cracked and I had a good set at home, so I just needed to get the car about 250 miles home, and Roadstone were the cheapest tyres Wilco had. It was comical. If you've ever watched an older American film like Dirty Harry and listened to the hugely overdone tyre screeching sounds? That's what it sounded like at every junction. I don't know quite how they managed to make that much noise but it didn't exactly inspire confidence. I drove home very slowly.
Those 2 tyres did the 250 miles and then became planters in the garden, where they still are, so I guess I got my moneys worth as they were cheaper than 2 plant pots and they don't crack in the winter.
On the other hand I also tried Toyo Proxes T1(Rs?), supposedly a brillant tyre, and found them worse in feel and outright grip than any tyre I've ever used, but my kit car has Toyo 888s and they seem great, so who knows.
Those 2 tyres did the 250 miles and then became planters in the garden, where they still are, so I guess I got my moneys worth as they were cheaper than 2 plant pots and they don't crack in the winter.
On the other hand I also tried Toyo Proxes T1(Rs?), supposedly a brillant tyre, and found them worse in feel and outright grip than any tyre I've ever used, but my kit car has Toyo 888s and they seem great, so who knows.
Edited by anonymous-user on Sunday 1st July 06:52
Countdown said:
Lots of factors to take into account.....I think it's generally accepted that premium tyres are better than budget tyres in the same way that a Bugatti Veyron is capable of being driven faster than a Nissan Micra. However, if you are never going to go faster than 50mph a Nissan micra might be more than good enough for your needs.
It's this kind of crap that confuses people.Everyone is at risk of doing an emergency stop, it doesn't matter if you're the slowest driver in the world or leave the biggest following distance, crazy things happen. And when they do it is the tyres that make the difference.
And the difference between cheap and decent tyres is huge. So yes, there's a big difference between buying Budget Ling Longs and on-brand.
http://www.tyrereviews.co.uk/Article/2015-Market-O...
The pattern is that people who try good premium tyres tend to stick with them while people who don’t want to pay premium tyre prices will swear blind that their cheaper tyres are just as good.
That said, there are some premium tyres which are distinctly average and some mid-range tyres are very good, but as a rule, do your homework and you’ll get what you pay for.
And ignore consumer reviews- they’re almost always written by people who know less about tyres than you
That said, there are some premium tyres which are distinctly average and some mid-range tyres are very good, but as a rule, do your homework and you’ll get what you pay for.
And ignore consumer reviews- they’re almost always written by people who know less about tyres than you
PaulGT3 said:
For all round road driving, just get Michelin PS4, they last ages too so worth the extra cost over something like a Uniroyal Rainsport 3 which although aren't bad, don't last half as long.
Exactly my thoughts, my rear Rainsport 3's didn't even last a year. The PS3's I've had well over 2 years and should make it beyond 3 years. PS4's all round next time I'm shopping for new tyres as they are easily worth the extra cashJimSuperSix said:
I fitted a pair of "RoadStone" tyres to my MX5 when I bought it as the rear tyres on it were old and very cracked and I had a good set at home, so I just needed to get the car about 250 miles home, and Roadstone were the cheapest tyres Wilco had. It was comical. If you've ever watched an older American film like Dirty Harry and listened to the hugely overdone tyre screeching sounds? That's what it sounded like at every junction. I don't know quite how they managed to make that much noise but it didn't exactly inspire confidence. I drove home very slowly.
Those 2 tyres did the 250 miles and then became planters in the garden, where they still are, so I guess I got my moneys worth as they were cheaper than 2 plant pots and they don't crack in the winter.
On the other hand I also tried Toyo Proxes T1(Rs?), supposedly a brillant tyre, and found them worse in feel and outright grip than any tyre I've ever used, but my kit car has Toyo 888s and they seem great, so who knows.
Those Toyo's were loved on the MX-5 forums but christ knows why. Absolutely horrible they were/are.Those 2 tyres did the 250 miles and then became planters in the garden, where they still are, so I guess I got my moneys worth as they were cheaper than 2 plant pots and they don't crack in the winter.
On the other hand I also tried Toyo Proxes T1(Rs?), supposedly a brillant tyre, and found them worse in feel and outright grip than any tyre I've ever used, but my kit car has Toyo 888s and they seem great, so who knows.
Edited by JimSuperSix on Sunday 1st July 06:52
There is very little spread in index ratings between premium and budget tyres in dry tests. Let's say the premium tyre is rated as 100.0, then the lowest rating for the budget tyre might be 94.0 - a spread of 6.0.
In the wet it's different, with the caveat that one or two budget tyres can perform really well in one wet test but rarely all of them. The premium will be 100.0 and the budget can be 74.0 - a massive spread which can translate into tens of metres of stopping distance or off the road early in wet cornering.
In the wet it's different, with the caveat that one or two budget tyres can perform really well in one wet test but rarely all of them. The premium will be 100.0 and the budget can be 74.0 - a massive spread which can translate into tens of metres of stopping distance or off the road early in wet cornering.
If you hunt on Google, there's plenty of car magasines that run tyre tests every year, measuring stopping distances, maximum cornering loads, aquaplaning speeds, rolling resistance, etc. under various different conditions. People like to put things into categories but the idea that there's "premium tyres", "mid-range tyres" and "budget tyres" is a over-simplistic; it's a continuum at best and it's actually a multi-dimensional continuum because a tyre which is good at one thing may well be poor at another.
So to directly answer the OP's question - there is some correlation between price and performacne of tyres, but it is by no means a one to one correlation.
So to directly answer the OP's question - there is some correlation between price and performacne of tyres, but it is by no means a one to one correlation.
JimSuperSix said:
On the other hand I also tried Toyo Proxes T1(Rs?), supposedly a brillant tyre, and found them worse in feel and outright grip than any tyre I've ever used, but my kit car has Toyo 888s and they seem great, so who knows.
They were never "brilliant" tyres, but when they were introduced maybe 15 years ago or more they were good value compared to most other choices available. They are now, at best, a mediocre mid-range tyre.when i bought my cooper s the garage put an mot on it. it failed on the front tyres. The garage fitted landsail tyres and while they grip 'ok', the car wheelspins too easily and in the wet they are downright scary with the amount of aquaplaning. Never had a car aquaplane this often before. As soon as i finish refurbishing another set of alloys i'll be fitting decent tyres on the car.
This is open to debate, but I have found the only real difference is the longevity of the premium tyres.
For driving on-road, cheaper tyres are fine IMO.
I tend to buy mid-range as a compromise.
People changing from worn <insert Chinese brand> tyres to new Michelins will obviously feel a difference. Quite often far east branded tyres (Nexen , for example) perform better than premium rubber in back-to-back tyre tests.
For driving on-road, cheaper tyres are fine IMO.
I tend to buy mid-range as a compromise.
People changing from worn <insert Chinese brand> tyres to new Michelins will obviously feel a difference. Quite often far east branded tyres (Nexen , for example) perform better than premium rubber in back-to-back tyre tests.
Gassing Station | Suspension, Brakes & Tyres | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff