Tyres. Do you go premium?
Discussion
seopher said:
True story, old Uni housemate needed new tyres for her Fabia VRS. She said she had no money, I urged her to get the best tyres she could afford to.
Instead she opted for £30/corner chinese things I'd never heard of.
6 weeks later she's stuffed it into a brick wall at the first hint of icy conditions.
Whether it's a shed or an Enzo, I always recommend (to anyone who will listen) to get tyres fitting for use. Hell, I don't want someone to appear on my side of the road having lost traction.
She more than took your advice - if she had no money, £120 is a lot to spend.Instead she opted for £30/corner chinese things I'd never heard of.
6 weeks later she's stuffed it into a brick wall at the first hint of icy conditions.
Whether it's a shed or an Enzo, I always recommend (to anyone who will listen) to get tyres fitting for use. Hell, I don't want someone to appear on my side of the road having lost traction.
If it was that close to being icy you should have recommended some part worn winters ...
CoolHands said:
blugnu said:
Don't imagine that worse tyres necessarily mean more accidents. It just means going slower.
not really, as they're dreadful in the wet. So even at a reduced speed they will f
k you up, in plain english.Changing tyres at 4mm rather than 1.6mm
Having your car serviced every 6 months
Doing IAM /ROSPA
Driving at 30rather than 40
I put £50/corner tyres on my 1.8l family saloon. I have activated the ABS once in 10 years and that was at 5mph on sheet ice. By all means get the most expensive tyres you want but bear in mind they are not the most important factor in road safety.
PugwasHDJ80 said:
I always buy good mid-range- Falken, Toyo, Kumho etc
my experience is that they are as comfortable, just as good as in wet and dry, and seems to last about 90% as long.
I think a lot of people get the smaller / less well known 'mid range' brands and the real budget junk mixed up.my experience is that they are as comfortable, just as good as in wet and dry, and seems to last about 90% as long.
I'll happily run the above, and maybe even Nankang, as they're fairly well established brands and have done reasonably well in tyre tests.
I wouldn't go anywhere near Triangle, Sunny, LingLong, etc., though.
I'd be interested to hear experiences of Maxxis car tyres, though - as they're gaining a reputation for making decent bike tyres (I have Maxxis on my BMW).
There are three reasons why you fit st tyres to a car. Ignorance, stupidity or thriftiness.
None of which will help you when you end up in a ditch wondering how it all went so badly wrong.
I cannot put into words have bad the four tyres are that came with my Saab. Lets just say I am reluctant to drive anywhere in the wet.
Braking distances are multiplied. Pulling away swiftly from a standing start is impossible. Cornering at anything above 15-20mph is virtually impossible.
The difference between the 'premium' tyre on my 306 and the death traps on my 9-3 are gargantuan.
The 306 with 120bhp less is the faster point to point car in damp conditions (by a large margain). Go figure.
In the dry there isn't an issue, but then why would there be. You could substitute car tyres for over-sized plastic tennis balls in the dry and the difference would be minimal unless at more than 7/10ths.
No one is asking you to spend £200 on a tyre but please make sure you do the research and fit something that is proven to work.
Tight bds.
t tyres to a car. Ignorance, stupidity or thriftiness.None of which will help you when you end up in a ditch wondering how it all went so badly wrong.
I cannot put into words have bad the four tyres are that came with my Saab. Lets just say I am reluctant to drive anywhere in the wet.
Braking distances are multiplied. Pulling away swiftly from a standing start is impossible. Cornering at anything above 15-20mph is virtually impossible.
The difference between the 'premium' tyre on my 306 and the death traps on my 9-3 are gargantuan.
The 306 with 120bhp less is the faster point to point car in damp conditions (by a large margain). Go figure.
In the dry there isn't an issue, but then why would there be. You could substitute car tyres for over-sized plastic tennis balls in the dry and the difference would be minimal unless at more than 7/10ths.
No one is asking you to spend £200 on a tyre but please make sure you do the research and fit something that is proven to work.
Tight b
ds.When we got the Impreza (a 123bhp non-turbo model) it had four Champiro GT Radials on it. They were utterly dire, poor in the dry and awful in the wet, just no grip. I binned them, still with plenty of tread left on them, and fitted four Vredestein Quatrac 3s. The difference between the ditchfinders and even an all season compromise tyre was shocking. So don't go thinking that cheap tyres are no longer nasty, I'm afraid they are still junk.
Puddenchucker said:
Whilst I don't necessarily agree with everything written above, I have noticed that there does seem to be a tendency to over specify tyres on this site. e.g someone asks “Recommend me some tyres for my daily driver Focus 1.6 LX,” and things like Goodyear F1 and Michelin Pilot Sports get suggested. Tyres like that are, IMHO, overkill for a humble family hatch/saloon.
Why exactly? If you drive a humble family saloon are you immune from ever having to perform an emergency manoeuvre? If you are carting your family around in a car, why wouldn't you want to make it as safe as possible?Simply because you don't push your car to it's limits is absolutely no excuse to have crap tyres. In fact I can't think of a single justification for fitting the chinese crap that has infested the tyre market. Being skint is not a good reason, it simply means you can't afford to run a car properly.
I'm not suggesting you fit the most expensive tyres you can find, there are very good mid-range tyres available that offer near premium levels of performance. It's the Wan Li's, Sunny, Nankang and Triangles that shouldn't even be imported.
Edited by Mr2Mike on Thursday 12th July 21:50
Generally stick with Falkens etc on most of the cars, except the Porsche which always has Pirelli's or Michelins, and the Legacy turbo which I have just stuck some alloys on that I got given with some unknown tyres on, I've had budget tyres before, and not really ever had a problem with them (Nankangs and the like) but these things on the legacy are just fking scary. in the wet there is no grip, at all!
Syaing that, put some marangoli's on my missus much newer legacy, and been very impressed for the price.
king scary. in the wet there is no grip, at all!Syaing that, put some marangoli's on my missus much newer legacy, and been very impressed for the price.
I always do my research and look for tyres with good reviews and/or recommendations from owners' forums etc. but I always buy good quality tyres. I also don't assume a tyre will be good because it's made by a well known company.
Currently we're running Vredestein on both cars (I haven't taken the winters off my wife's Seicento this year), but previously have bought Goodyear, Nokian (winters), Avon, and Bridgestone. I'll probably put either Uniroyal Rainexpert or more Vredestein Sportrac on my Saab when it needs new tyres.
All my cars have been at the cheaper end of the market, but the value of the car doesn't really affect my tyre choice. Even the £150 Peugeot 309 I had at uni was fitted with a set of decent tyres.
Currently we're running Vredestein on both cars (I haven't taken the winters off my wife's Seicento this year), but previously have bought Goodyear, Nokian (winters), Avon, and Bridgestone. I'll probably put either Uniroyal Rainexpert or more Vredestein Sportrac on my Saab when it needs new tyres.
All my cars have been at the cheaper end of the market, but the value of the car doesn't really affect my tyre choice. Even the £150 Peugeot 309 I had at uni was fitted with a set of decent tyres.
Mr2Mike said:
I'm not suggesting you fit the most expensive tyres you can find, there are very good mid-range tyres available that offer near premium levels of performance. It's the Wan Li's, Sunny, Nankang and Triangles that shouldn't even be imported.
Funny you should say that, as my car with it's second winter Nankang SV-2s (which had been on all summer too, as it happens) was the only car to make it up the hill of our street on the first snowy day this winter. But of course my neighbour has really expensive tyres, so had he managed to move his car, it would undoubtedly have been much safer because of the branding. It was just a shame he couldn't generate enough traction to get going.
Or, it's horses for courses and your blanket statement is pretty meaningless.
Vixpy1 said:
Syaing that, put some marangoli's on my missus much newer legacy, and been very impressed for the price.
Marangoni are at the premium end of mid-range, but very competitively priced. I've used them on and off for years.They're very well known in Italy and fitted as OEM on some Fiat group cars now.
Like Nokian, people commonly confuse a relatively unknown brand with Chinese ditchfinder.
Countdown said:
There isn't any "will" about it - if you do not drive to the conditions you will crash regardless of the tyre. Tyres are one of many many factors that reduce the possibility and severity of an accident.
Changing tyres at 4mm rather than 1.6mm
Having your car serviced every 6 months
Doing IAM /ROSPA
Driving at 30rather than 40
I've never heard of changing at 4mm, 3mm sure but 4mm is taking the piss.Changing tyres at 4mm rather than 1.6mm
Having your car serviced every 6 months
Doing IAM /ROSPA
Driving at 30rather than 40
Don't see what the second point has to do with anything though.
Mr2Mike said:
...I can't think of a single justification for fitting the chinese crap that has infested the tyre market. Being skint is not a good reason, it simply means you can't afford to run a car properly.
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.
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