Tyres. Do you go premium?

[Garvin]

Joe Osborne said:

Running 4x Sunteks, £50 a corner. So far they've lasted 35k miles, still got plenty of tread left. Great grip in the dry, questionable ability to do anything in the wet.

Premium tyres for me are only needed if you are driving on the limit, otherwise they cost more to buy and need to be replaced more often.

So, you will never need to deploy 'all anchors' in the wet to avoid that child* / vehicle* / potential road kill* that's just careered into your path?

*delete as appropriate

[Balmoral]

Sometimes you can't win though, even with premium. I put a set of Goodyear Eagle F1 asymmetric on my car, and immediately regretted it. They were nothing like as good as the previous tyres, and they spoilt the car by a fair degree. A few years pass by, and I read about the new F1 assy 2's, and they said they had fixed all the faults of the assy 1's, and listed the complaints, and I recognised every one of them. So thinking they had listened and fixed the issues, maybe they were worth another punt. So I put a set of assy 2's on, and they're even bloody worse! It's like driving a jelly they're so wobbly.

Everyone and their dog reckons they're the danglies, I bloody hate them

[Caulkhead]

I've got Uniroyal Rainsport2 on the 6 MPS - not sure if they count as premium or mid-range but they are far better than the Bridgestone RE050A that the factory fitted.

I've also tried Falken 452 which OK but nothing more and Hankook V12's which were about equivalent to the Bridgestones.

[s m]

Balmoral said:

Sometimes you can't win though, even with premium. I put a set of Goodyear Eagle F1 asymmetric on my car, and immediately regretted it. They were nothing like as good as the previous tyres, and they spoilt the car by a fair degree. A few years pass by, and I read about the new F1 assy 2's, and they said they had fixed all the faults of the assy 1's, and listed the complaints, and I recognised every one of them. So thinking they had listened and fixed the issues, maybe they were worth another punt. So I put a set of assy 2's on, and they're even bloody worse! It's like driving a jelly they're so wobbly.

Everyone and their dog reckons they're the danglies, I bloody hate them

Had same problem with T1-Rs a few years back - they ruined the feel of the car. In the end I took them off and got some Contis.

Not sure I'd risk the T1-Rs again even if they have fixed the sidewall issue - I know a few people that found the same - it's an expensive business if you find out they're still not suited to you

[KB_S1]

I got the best I could for my Impreza.
Very difficult to get suitable tyres for it now on the original 205/50/16 W fitment.
Ended up with Uniroyal Rainsport2s which have been great.

[Caulkhead]

Joe Osborne said:

Premium tyres for me are only needed if you are driving on the limit, otherwise they cost more to buy and need to be replaced more often.

I was driving on the limit last Friday. It was wet and I was doing 30 in a 40 zone when a girl cycling on the pavement fell off her bike just in front of me. I just stopped in time with very sticky Rainsport2 tyres, large vented disks all round and ABS.

I buy decent tyres because I can't see into the future.

[Balmoral]

s m said:

In the end I took them off and got some Contis.

My last three company cars had Conti's on, Contact II's and latterly Contact III's. Excellent tyres.

I've just put a set of Toyos on my 2CV, and they're great, so much grip (Yes, I know it should be on Michelin X, but they are three times the price! and anyway, the Toyos are the 2CV racing control tyre).

[Debaser]

velocemitch said:

Not sure that applies with main stream cars, if you look at what they come out of the showroom with you will find it's going to vary on what they can get the best deal on in the month it was manufactured.

The tyres fitted to a new car will have been through a long development process and tuned to match the car. It's not whatever is cheapest that month.

[Kwistof]

I always buy premium tyres on my car....

Started of being a Pirelli man going from Rosso to Nero's - was hooked on them for a couple of years but moved over to Michelin, currently running PS3's and cannot fault them.....
I am possibly going to change to Goodyear F1 A2s as I to have also heard everyman and his dog sing its praises and the reviews I've read up on also back this up. Interested to see a few of you don't like them....is it because you were expecting more? Buy the XL's and get them nitrogen filled to solve that jelly feeling lol

Edited by Kwistof on Thursday 12th July 19:36

[fozzymandeus]

When I got my car it was on a mix of falkens and kumhos.

They wore out and I replaced them with Dunlop Sport Maxx GT MO (OE tyres).

I was annoyed when they first went on, because they were so noisy. About 800 miles in and they quietened right down and they have: improved the ride, improved grip, improved fuel economy.

I'm going to try OE spec tyres in future. At £200 each they were only £30 more per corner than Falkens. WELL worth it as I never liked the Falkens.

To people who've fitted ditchfinders and find they last something insane like 35k miles, remember that tyres made out of plastic aren't going to wear! No grip - no friction - no heat!

[BrewsterBear]

I wouldn't put Pirellis on a pram. Utter trash and mid-range Falken 452 tyres out perform them. Sometimes you are just paying for the name.

[redgriff500]

I won't drive on Waneli / Linglong etc but some Toyo, Kumho, Falken are very good tyres.

I'll agree they tend to last fewer miles than premium tyres but I have many cars and I don't cover many miles so they are more likely to degrade with age than wear out.

[Joe Osborne]

Garvin said:

So, you will never need to deploy 'all anchors' in the wet to avoid that * / * / * that's just careered into your path?

*delete as appropriate

Not so far in my driving life (200k). As I said unless your really on the limit then I don't think the extra grip from premium tyres will help a great deal.

[OllieC]

Cheapo tyres on all my cars, Falken's on the Crapi, 'Tigar' (made in Serbia don't ya know) on the pug and some chinese brand I cant even remember on the Focus.

For me it is not worth spending silly money for big brand tyres, especially on the 2 fwd shopping trollies.

how much of that premuim price goes on marketing etc

I do make sure there are matching pairs at minimum on my cars though...

[Fartgalen]

Daily hack - good, reasonable tyres, but not the best, nor the cheapest.
Everything else - good tyres.

[redgriff500]

Dave Hedgehog said:

tyre tests pretty much show you get what you pay for with rubber

http://www.tyrereviews.co.uk/Article/2012-EVO-Max-...

But it shows the Hankook in 2nd beating all the other "Premium" tyres

[kambites]

The Lotus, I put OEM tyres on. Anything else, I use good "midrange" tyres on.

[Kwistof]

BrewsterBear said:

I wouldn't put Pirellis on a pram. Utter trash and mid-range Falken 452 tyres out perform them. Sometimes you are just paying for the name.

Yeah I forgot to add I will never be going back to pirellis again on anything! Lol

[davetibbs]

With a lot of the type of cars on this forum, spunking cash on the tyres is understandable, justified, and in many cases essential.

But by GOD there's a lot of brand snobbery when it comes to tyres even when it comes to "normal" cars and I just can't understand it.

We all hear the terms "Taiwan Ditchfinder" etc banded about, but does Old Mrs Goggins really, REALLY need premium (or even dare I say it mid-range) tyres on her Nissan Micra? Do my retired parents need premium tyres on their EK Honda Civic, which hasn't seen VTEC since it was sold to them? If they fit budget tyres, are they GUARANTEED to crash headlong into a ditch at the slightest sight of rain?

Are they fk.

But you try even thinking that on a car forum without being shot down in an inferno of indignant contempt.

When I was going through a poverty-stricken period I ran £40 a corner WingWong specials on my 406 coupe a few years ago. And do you know what? Compared to the Bridgestones I had fitted previously at three times the price, they absolutely, 100% handled better in the wet AND the dry, were quieter, and wore down a hell of a lot slower. So what am I supposed to make of that?

[Patrick Bateman]

BrewsterBear said:

I wouldn't put Pirellis on a pram. Utter trash and mid-range Falken 452 tyres out perform them. Sometimes you are just paying for the name.

I can't fathom why people say things like this.

The differences between different tyres of the same manufacturer can be huge.