Tyres - What is the Truth?

bigjl

My car feels all squidgey on the budget Sava tyres I had fitted a week or so before the Costco 20% off offer started.

They are safe, grip ok, but you can feel through the steering at slow speed that the tread is soft and widely spaced. There is a hint of harshness.

Though i was walking past a car with Goodyear tyres from a few years ago on it and the tread pattern was similar if a bit more open.

Somebody has posted on, i think, tyretest? That they were good in the snow. Don't doubt it the compound is soft and tread is widely spaced.

This is the last time I save a couple of quid on tyres. I should have waited the three days for the £5 more expensive Vredestiens to come back in stock.

I will hold my hands up, they have certainly changed the way the car drives slightly. More comfy over uneven roads though. Maybe that is due to them being designed for Slovakian roads as that is where they are made.

Bongles

vikingaero wrote: »

Just my 2p worth on the tyres to the rear argument favoured by the tyre industry:

I believe that this argument is weak and nothing more than a ruse to increase short term tyre sales. Let's say you buy a brand new car with new tyres. You drive 12k, the fronts are worn to 1.6mm but the rears still have 60% of their tread. Go to a high street tyre dealer and they will fit the new tyres to the rear and the tyres with 60% tread to the front. In 7,000 miles you'll need another set of tyres on the front - kerching! And so on.

Assuming we're talking FWD...

Whatever the pros and cons of putting new tyres on the rear, I think cost is a spurious argument. Over time, you will have the same total expenditure on tyres either way. The only difference is in the cashflow. If you always move the part-worn rears to the front and put the new tyres on the back, you will of course visit the tyre shop more often for new front tyres. But this will be exactly balanced by the fact that you will never, ever visit them for new rears. Doing it this way the cashflow is smoother.

Eliminating the possibility of ever having to suffer the cost of four tyres at the same time is the main reason I favour putting the new tyres on the back.

mikey72

bigjl wrote: »

My car feels all squidgey on the budget Sava tyres I had fitted a week or so before the Costco 20% off offer started.

They are safe, grip ok, but you can feel through the steering at slow speed that the tread is soft and widely spaced. There is a hint of harshness.

Though i was walking past a car with Goodyear tyres from a few years ago on it and the tread pattern was similar if a bit more open.

Somebody has posted on, i think, tyretest? That they were good in the snow. Don't doubt it the compound is soft and tread is widely spaced.

This is the last time I save a couple of quid on tyres. I should have waited the three days for the £5 more expensive Vredestiens to come back in stock.

I will hold my hands up, they have certainly changed the way the car drives slightly. More comfy over uneven roads though. Maybe that is due to them being designed for Slovakian roads as that is where they are made.

Sava make Goodyears in the same factory in Slovenia, so they probably are the same.

jase1

sunshinetours wrote: »

I agree with this in part. Tyres like the Conti Sportcontacts may not last better than cheaper brands but they certainly perform during their life hugely better in all conditions than the cheap end models.

Totally agree -- I was just trying to put the "lasts longer" idea into perspective.

Even Michelin only claims 30%. If their tyres genuinely were lasting 2-3 times longer than other brands, cheap or otherwise, they'd be singing the fact from the rooftops. Therefore I don't buy it.

Yes, Continentals are a very good tyre, but you pay for that performance with a reduced lifespan. Rather like the Toyos, really.

It's all about compromises, and selecting the best tool for the job. Personally I'll choose grip over wear-rate every time -- but I'm a cheapskate, so I buy the cheaper but comparable T1Rs instead.

mikey72

d.ross wrote: »

I wouldn't assume they are the same, just because they are made in the same factory.

bigjl said that they feel squidgy on their car, which isn't what you usually get with Goodyears.

I was told that India's were the same as Dunlop, but they were obviously a softer compound, and wore out quickly.

"Sava – Powered by Goodyear Technology The Sava production facility in Kranj – Slovenia, is among the most advanced tire production plants in Europe. Not only does this facility produce predominantly high-performance and winter car tires for Sava, but for other Goodyear mid and premium brands also using state-of-the-art technology. "

2004 - Goodyear becomes 100% owner of Sava tires.


(They were a joint venture since 1997)

They were Semperit, and Continental before then.

It's surprising where "premium" tyres are actually made, and how the budget tyres technology is tied in to them.

mikey72

Seriously, you think Goodyear will manufacture Goodyear tyres one day, then change the spec, change all the processes, lower the quality, and churn out Sava's the next?

Even though Sava is a brand of Goodyear?

mikey72

The other reason all the "budget" tyres are getting much better, is all the reverse engineering that's done from the "premium" brands. Most premiums are now made by a factory in china, or the premium brand owns a rubber company in china or similar, and as they are made there, all the processes are established, and used to made a very good copy now.
Toyo own Toyo Tires Zhangjiagang Co, in china and Silverstone Berhad in Malaysia.
They manufacture there to keep the cost down, so even if their quality doesn't suffer, the manufacturing processes are given away.

Lum

bigjl wrote: »

I think the most common goodyear was the nct tyre and a couple of the older Astras had Excellence, which suited the Astra the best.

I had Goodyear Excellence tyres on my Volvo 940 and they suited it very well indeed, good handling and good stopping.

They were very reasonably priced too compared to the premium tyres I fit on my Nissan (Goodyear Eagle F1 GSD3).

They seem like a sensible option and are from a good well known trusted brand rather than faffing about with Chinese copies that may or may not be good and may or may not have varying levels of quality control.

I'd definitely fit them again to a "normal" car.

mikey72

I always used NCT's, but don't rate them very much anymore.
Maybe there're one of the ones made in the Slovenia factory now?
(You'll have to have a look at yours, and post up what it says they were made!)

mikey72

d.ross wrote: »

Probably not. They most likely have more than one production line in the same factory. This is how the manufacturing industry works. Although with smaller manufacturers some of the processes may overlap occasionally, for example multiple lines may use the same ovens.

Don't be fooled into thinking you have a Goodyear standard tyre just because it is made in the same factory. Marketing relies on people being fooled like this.

Don't be fooled into thinking the same tyre is better, because it's got a different name moulded into the sidewall as well though.

Budget tyres are getting much better, now premium brands have been buying them out, and transfering production there to use cheaper labour.

There are still some poorer ones about, Linglong is 100% chinese I believe, and they don't get good reports.