Anybody else shocked by budget tyres.

[seabod91]

So, the tyres on the mk1 focus school run, tip run, shopping run ect had to be changed ( starting to perish ). Had a set of Michelin’s on there before the Change and due to being a short journey car I decided to just stick some budgets on there. I have ran both budgets and premium tyres before on my other cars and I know there is night and day between them when it comes to outright grip and road handling ect. Budgets have always felt a bit twitchy especially in the wet and under hard braking. Not conference inspiring at all which is to be expected. Well having put a set of budget autogreen sport chaser 5’s ( the cheapest option) I’m honestly shocked how they feel, grip, hold, ect. Even in the soaking rain today they felt amazing, did a little emergency brake test and compared to other budgets and even the previous mitches, there is a massive notable difference, even around a wet roundabout where I’d feel a bit of the under steer these just grip. So has anybody else been surprised by a budget tyre ?. Can’t wait to get mps4’s on the other.

[320d is all you need]

Any budget tyre I've tried has always been substantially worse than any other tyre

This has been backed up by the Independent data on Tyre Reviews.

Ive never seen any budget tyre do even nearly as good.

Maybe you have found benefits by going from very worn tyres to new budgets

[Rozzers]

So they’re OK compared to a set of rock hard perished worn premium tyres?

I had Accelera’s years ago as nothing was in stock in the size and the car was near lease return. They were OK too in comparison to P zero’s but the sidewalls were weak and both ended up with ‘eggs’ the only time this has ever happened to me.

[seabod91]

I’m not saying these are a budget mps4 or r888 ect I’m just shocked how good they are compared to the usual budget tyres. As said iv never ran semi slicks or any top range performance tyre and I can not see why everyone would pay that extra for them as I know they would be night and day between this tyre and them.. it was just a question weather if budget tyres have ever suppressed anyones expectations. I should have guessed posting it on PH was a mistake though. A commoner like me asking the powerfully built directors of the have been surprised by the performance of a pheasant tyre.

[Mave]

320d is all you need said:

Any budget tyre I've tried has always been substantially worse than any other tyre

This has been backed up by the Independent data on Tyre Reviews.

Ive never seen any budget tyre do even nearly as good.

Maybe you have found benefits by going from very worn tyres to new budgets

I don't know, I think there's a lot of overlap between budget and midrange in tyre reviews. There's occasionally an outlier which is clearly worse, but i don't think it's as black and white as budget tyre = much worse.

Edited by Mave on Saturday 8th May 20:36

[mikeyr]

You might have been peasantly surprised

I would say that I had accelera phi on a 206 GTI and theyv were totally fine, seemed a good match for a small commuter car.

But already you can see this thread becoming thirty pages of arguments...

[SkodaIan]

In my experience, budget tyres come in two versions:

Version 1 : Have so little grip every journey becomes an 'interesting' adventure

Version 2 : Perform similarly to a mid-range tyre but wear out really quickly, so not actually as good value as they seem

I suspect you've got some of the version 2, and will be worn out after about 5000 miles.

[ToastMan76]

Lets be honest, if youre in an S3 and driving like a lunatic, of course budgets will cause you issues. By the same measure if youre in a boggo Mazda, they will be perfectly fine. Ive used nothing but Rikens on mine since whatever branded ones were on from new and lasted less than 10k. Now I do 25k a year and they are fine, no worry in the wet, or snow of the Yorkshire Dales.

[buy_cheap_pay_later]

I’ve got Landsails all round on my vRS (sacrilege, probably) and they’ve never caused me any drama. I don’t Lewis-Hamilton it round the B roads, but I do like to use the torque from time to time.

I haven’t yet had to do an emergency stop in the pouring rain to avoid a young child collecting a ball from the middle of the road...

[Chris32345]

SkodaIan said:

In my experience, budget tyres come in two versions:

Version 1 : Have so little grip every journey becomes an 'interesting' adventure

Version 2 : Perform similarly to a mid-range tyre but wear out really quickly, so not actually as good value as they seem

I suspect you've got some of the version 2, and will be worn out after about 5000 miles.

I've never known any tyres wear out in any of that sort of range
If you wear even cheep tyre out in 5k I'd be looking at your driving first

[320d is all you need]

Mave said:

320d is all you need said:

Any budget tyre I've tried has always been substantially worse than any other tyre

This has been backed up by the Independent data on Tyre Reviews.

Ive never seen any budget tyre do even nearly as good.

Maybe you have found benefits by going from very worn tyres to new budgets

I don't know, I think there's a lot of overlap between budget and midrange in tyre reviews. There's occasionally an outlier which is clearly worse, but i don't think it's as black and white as budget tyre = much worse.

Edited by Mave on Saturday 8th May 20:36

Maybe. I would say the data is pretty clear on Tyre Reviews website.

No budgets outperform premium tyres.

You may get some budgets doing better than the lower end mid range in certain cases but by and large you do certainly get what you pay for.

One thing I don't skimp on is tyres.

[SlimJim16v]

So

[Mave]

320d is all you need said:

Mave said:

320d is all you need said:

Any budget tyre I've tried has always been substantially worse than any other tyre

This has been backed up by the Independent data on Tyre Reviews.

Ive never seen any budget tyre do even nearly as good.

Maybe you have found benefits by going from very worn tyres to new budgets

I don't know, I think there's a lot of overlap between budget and midrange in tyre reviews. There's occasionally an outlier which is clearly worse, but i don't think it's as black and white as budget tyre = much worse.

Edited by Mave on Saturday 8th May 20:36

Maybe. I would say the data is pretty clear on Tyre Reviews website.

No budgets outperform premium tyres.

You may get some budgets doing better than the lower end mid range in certain cases but by and large you do certainly get what you pay for.

One thing I don't skimp on is tyres.

Not out-performing premium tyres isn't the same as being substantially worse than all other tyres is it?
First tyre review article I looked at had "Maxxis Victra Sport 5" holding its own against Vredestein, Dunlop and Goodyear. Second one I looked at had Maxxis placed first, beating Goodyear and Continental.

My car had Acceleras on it when I got it, I wanted to hate them to justify putting something decent on, but they were surprisingly good.

Edited by Mave on Saturday 8th May 21:24

[sean ie3]

I have a pair of Matadors on the back of the E-Class they seem fine wet or dry for day to day driving and are lasting well at 10 or 12k miles are half worn. They were €80 each 225/55/16. I haven't any horror stories of the sort I've seen regarding Landsail ditchfinders or if Matadors have any reputation in UK.

[Ice_blue_tvr]

I've been really impressed with performance of budget tyres tbh.. They don't last as long but grip really really well in all conditions and in straight lines as well as bends.. The crv came with some hifly's and is currently only some winruns.

The tradeoff seems to be that they don't last a huge amount of time.. But for £50 a corner, I can't complain.

Have never tried budget tyres on anything with more than 150bhp, mind.

[SWoll]

sean ie3 said:

I have a pair of Matadors on the back of the E-Class they seem fine wet or dry for day to day driving and are lasting well at 10 or 12k miles are half worn. They were €80 each 225/55/16. I haven't any horror stories of the sort I've seen regarding Landsail ditchfinders or if Matadors have any reputation in UK.

When you can pickup Uniroyal, Kumho or Hankook tyres with far better grip, wear and noise ratings for the same price why would you buy Matador?

Buying the cheapest tyres available is only going to save about £60 for the pair. Even on a shed it's a false economy IME.

[anonymous-user]

It's horses for courses with tyres, your expectations have been exceeded and good for you.

Tyre comparisons I think are quite subjective when it is one opinion v another as there are too many variables, the tyre tests give a better comparison as the conditions of the tests are controlled.

The tests confirm the differences between budget, mid range and premium tyres, your experience shows the effect that age and condition has on a tyre and that it's performance has gone from premium level to budget in a few years which I think is the 'take-away' from your post.

[MikeM6]

My wife puts some budgets on her car once, she had a puncture on the way to work and thought she would sort it herself.... They were ok in the dry, but in the wet they were really poor.

Since then its always been decent tyres on both cars.

[stevensdrs]

Choice of tyres is directly related to how you drive and the useage of the vehicle. On a bog standard car which is only used lightly and kept within the speed limit, budget tyres are a good choice. On a performance car which is driven like it has just been stolen, budget tyres are not adviseable. I reckon I have driven about 300,000 miles on budget tyres over the years without any problems apart from one tyre which was written off by a puncture on the way home from the tyre fitters. It lasted 5 miles. At £45 that was annoying. It would have been a lot more annoying if it had been a premium branded tyre. My 4x4 is on Continentals and if they ever wear out I will replace them like for like. Horses for courses with it.

[thebraketester]

Nope. Never had budget tyres.