Tyres - Budget or known brand?

AdrianHi

Bridgestone make tyres which excel in warm mediterranean weather conditions on smooth good quality tarmac, which is a good description of their test track south of Rome in Italy and a good description of most Formula 1 race circuits.
Put the same tyre in wet, cold Britain with it's broken road surfaces and yet get a car with poor grip (looses it on bad road surfaces), more road noise and a rougher ride compared to other tyres better suited to these conditions. To car enthusiasts the problem is so apparent this make of tyre earns the nick name "Brickstones".
Firestones are often older pattern Bridgestones.

Falkens are a bit of a "best kept secret" at the moment. Falken 452's are a sports tyre highly rated by enthusiasts for it's near best in class performance and very good price. ZE912's are new and highly rated as a touring tyre. Not so sure how good the other Falkens are.
Here is a Falken option direct from Falken, you would have to arrange fitting yourself, ex-fitting price £27.05. It's an "SN" numbered tyre, presumably the Sincera's.
http://www.falkentyres.co.uk/product.asp?numPageStartPosition=8&strPageHistory=cat&strKeywords=&strSearchCriteria=&PT_ID=49&P_ID=114

I would echo the don't skimp too much on tyres advice, but when considering tyres for a car of modest weight and performance there's no need to over do it.

DCFC79

AdrianHi wrote: »

Bridgestone make tyres which excel in warm mediterranean weather conditions on smooth good quality tarmac, which is a good description of their test track south of Rome in Italy and a good description of most Formula 1 race circuits.
Put the same tyre in wet, cold Britain with it's broken road surfaces and yet get a car with poor grip (looses it on bad road surfaces), more road noise and a rougher ride compared to other tyres better suited to these conditions. To car enthusiasts the problem is so apparent this make of tyre earns the nick name "Brickstones".
Firestones are often older pattern Bridgestones.

Falkens are a bit of a "best kept secret" at the moment. Falken 452's are a sports tyre highly rated by enthusiasts for it's near best in class performance and very good price. ZE912's are new and highly rated as a touring tyre. Not so sure how good the other Falkens are.
Here is a Falken option direct from Falken, you would have to arrange fitting yourself, ex-fitting price £27.05. It's an "SN" numbered tyre, presumably the Sincera's.
http://www.falkentyres.co.uk/product.asp?numPageStartPosition=8&strPageHistory=cat&strKeywords=&strSearchCriteria=&PT_ID=49&P_ID=114

I would echo the don't skimp too much on tyres advice, but when considering tyres for a car of modest weight and performance there's no need to over do it.

tyres or anything safety importance is something i wont skimp on, its just not worth it

Milford_Cubicle

I'm also a big fan of Goodyear Eagles. Also consider Avon ZV3 and ZZ1 when National Tyres do a BOGOF deal (currently on now) and Toyo T1-R and T1-S are also an excellent tyre, but reasonably priced from mytyres.

I echo what others say, it's just not worth the risk buying cheap tyres if it's the main thing which has contact to the road and can mean the difference between staying on the road and ending up in a ditch when it's not bone dry.

I'd perhaps consider a budget brand if I were pootling to the shops twice a week in my Fiesta, when it's not raining and I'm not going any quicker than 30mph.
You put your life in your hands everytime you drive anyway, so why make the odds of something adverse happening poorer?

Pilotbloke

There's a lot of smoke and mirrors with tyres - you can buy some awful "top brand" tyres (step forward Pirelli p6000's) and some really excellent budget tyres. I have a 1991 Porsche 968 which I always put Toyo Proxes T1's on for their handling and sheer durability. I used to put them on an A6 estate too but that's gone and I'll be trying Toyo Proxes CF-1's on My Nissan Primera estate when the present tyres are a little more worn.
Just my couple of bob's-worth.