budget tyres

[rgn2]

Quick question

I looking to replaces 2 of my tyres, and i'm think of getting 4 new budget tyres and I am wondering if they are worth it or not, what the best brand etc.


Thanks in advance

p.s And can anyone recomend a good cheapish place in Derbyshire or Nottinghamshire

[Munter]

Depends if you are prepared to drive around their limitations or not.

If not don't buy them as you'll find they are crap. If you are, buy them and accept you need to take a bit more care.

If you;re buying budget tyres the best brand is the cheapest one.

Or did you mean mid-range tyres like Falkens?

[rgracin]

I always go on the basis of buy the best you can afford. Never skimp on tyres they are your only contact with the road. You get what you pay for (usually).

[Gio G]

I understand that allot of the unbranded budget tyres, are in fact made by some of the big branded tyre companies, not sure who makes what though...

[Andrew_M]

My wife's Grand Scenic had x2 new tyres on when we bought it in Jan '09. FEDERAL. They are the worst tyre I have had the misfortune to experience. AVOID!

HTH

[Puddenchucker]

There's budget tyres and there's cheap and nasty tyres.

If you go for one of the subsidiary brands from a brand-name manufuacturer, e.g. Dayton (Bridgestone) or Klebber (Michelin), then you'll probably be OK. If you go for some of the Chinese brands you'll probably end up in a ditch.

[lordlee]

Falkens and Kuhmos are good tyres. Though the Kuhmos seem to wear out pretty quickly, though that could well be down to my driving!

[K87]

I had heros on my 306, they were pretty horrendous, although I do seem to have developed a pretty good ability to handle a powerful front wheel drive car in the wet!

[thunderbelmont]

I can recommend Toyo's. They work, and very reasonable on price.

[forty-two]

I will never cease to laugh when I see the phrase 'ditch finders' while talking about cheap tyres.

The other half used to have a beetle convertible which is a not car renowned for its handling characteristics. It had a set of 'Regals' on the front which I had replaced with Michelins and the car felt so much better.

Cheap Firestones and Dunlops are also good, I found Klebers to be noisy on motorways.

[Fox-]

Gio G said:

I understand that allot of the unbranded budget tyres, are in fact made by some of the big branded tyre companies, not sure who makes what though...

So what?

People cite this all the time as if it actually matters. It doesn't. Mercedes make the Smart, doesn't mean it'll drive like an SL63 does it?

[ymwoods]

Being the cheapo student I am I have run budgets pretty much all the time up until the last year or so. Have had pretty much all the budget brands from Admirals to Regals and I have to say they are BAD! At least when comparing them to other tyres even just 30-40 more.

I have found that they also only last a fraction of the mileage too, all my budget tyres lasted around 4-5 months and although I do drive them hard, not THAT hard! To put it in perspective, my last set of Toyo tyres lasted me almost 11 months and only cost about £100 more than a full set of budgets. (I do around 100-150 miles per day due to work)

The last set of budgets were particularly bad, I went to a different garage than normal and actually paid a little bit more for budgets that were absolutely shocking. Showed them 1 or 2 hard corners and the next 20 corners they would try and kill you. It was like driving on ice once they had heated up to even more than a couple degree over normal driving temps.

In short, unless you really can't afford the extra £100-150 extra for a full set of Toyo tyres (which are absolutely brilliant by the way for the price based on the use and grip they give) then don't go near them as they really are just that pants.

Another way to go if you really cannot afford is to find a garage that does part-worns, although you will find that (obviously) they do not last as long, they will be 100 times better than buying budgets and usually around the same price as them as well for a good brand.

Edited by ymwoods on Tuesday 24th November 01:20

[Red Devil]

lordlee said:

Falkens and Kuhmos are good tyres. Though the Kuhmos seem to wear out pretty quickly, though that could well be down to my driving!

+1 for Falkens.
Falken is a brand of Sumitomo Rubber Industries of Japan. Sumitomo and Goodyear formed a joint venture back in the 1990s to manufacture tyres for each other's markets. So in Europe Falken is effectively Goodyear's budget brand.
Kumho is a South Korean company part of a conglomerate which also owns the country's second largest airline.

[hardcorehobbit]

K87 said:

I had heros on my 306, they were pretty horrendous, although I do seem to have developed a pretty good ability to handle a powerful front wheel drive car in the wet!

I had one Hero on my 306 due to a puncture and my inability to replace two tyres at the time.

Therefore, I have the ability to control oversteer whilst turning right. Oversteer while turning left, I couldn't tell you what to do.....


Also now why I agree with the philosophy of 4 identical tyres. Or at least matching on each axle.

Edited by hardcorehobbit on Tuesday 24th November 02:49

[Dale19]

From my experience, not worth it.

The dry grip on most tyres ive tried hasnt varied massively, but in the wet is where the real difference shows, some really are horrendous.

[crofty1984]

Fox- said:

Gio G said:

I understand that allot of the unbranded budget tyres, are in fact made by some of the big branded tyre companies, not sure who makes what though...

So what?

People cite this all the time as if it actually matters. It doesn't. Mercedes make the Smart, doesn't mean it'll drive like an SL63 does it?

No, but it DOES mean that it can use some of the lessons learnt from the large R&D budget that Mercedes has.

[Howard-]

No, if you can't afford to run your car, i.e. buy reasonably priced branded tyres then get off the roads IMO. How companies can get away with selling £20-per-corner crap I don't know. Someone driving around on cheap nasty Ling Longs with 1.7mm of tread isn't breaking the law and it saddens me

[HellDiver]

I put 4 Hankook Ventus Prime on my Dad's Mazda. Replaced two OE Bridgestone ER30 and two Falken ZE-512. The Hankook are without a doubt one of the better tyres I've used, they're very good.

[Gio G]

crofty1984 said:

Fox- said:

Gio G said:

I understand that allot of the unbranded budget tyres, are in fact made by some of the big branded tyre companies, not sure who makes what though...

So what?

People cite this all the time as if it actually matters. It doesn't. Mercedes make the Smart, doesn't mean it'll drive like an SL63 does it?

No, but it DOES mean that it can use some of the lessons learnt from the large R&D budget that Mercedes has.

Exactly, seems to be a known fact in the industry, that a budget tyre could have the same quality as a branded. You are clearly a brand snob...

[Kentish]

Another + for the Falkens.

I have them on at the moment.

They are hard wearing so take a few hundred miles to reach optimal grip but for a hard tyre the grip is very impressive.

They are fitted to a 270bhp car with haldex quattro system so mainly FWD until grip is lost at the rear but you have to push the car really hard to lose grip.
After they are scrubbed in they are very impressive in the wet. They are pretty much as good as the Michelin Pilot Sport 2 I had fitted before them.

The best part is that they were only £61 each whereas the Michelins were £175 each.