Tyres - What is the Truth?

sunshinetours

d.ross wrote: »

Personally I prefer RWD. I find it far easier to control a rear end slide. If you loose traction on your front wheels, then you have lost your steering. But by skilled use of the accelerator you can steer with the back end on a RWD.

I agree but most people driving on UK roads are not suitably experienced/trained/qualified to cope with that and front wheel drive and underteer are inherently safer in many conditions for most people

bigjl

I have mentioned before that due to my initial choice of Vredesteins not being in stock I stuck on some Sava tyres.

Comfy enough, noisy at slow speeds, drop in economy, compound very soft and noisy when turned sharply at slow speed, such as when turned at a busy junction.

They are however predicatable in the wet, grip well in the dry and when I had to brake hard the other week, in the rain, when are car pulled out a side road without looking, the ABS didn't cut in and the car pulled up straight in a short distance.

Certainly not a "ditchmaster" of a tyre, but if I am being honest i wish I had waited for the Ved's to come into stock again or wish I had the extra money on the day to go for a more premium tyre

I have used Toyo for several years mainly due to the cheap prices and the fact that they performed an awful lot better than much more expensive tyres.

An example of me not following my own advice.

Back to premiums for me from now on. Or at least a more known quantity like Vredestein or Toyo. If car is a keeper then Michelin.

red_eye

Wig wrote: »

If you don't drive like an idiot, then go for the cheapest tyres you can find, they will last just as long and you will notice no difference whatsoever.

reported mpg increases are a load of pollocks and certainly not going to give you a return anything like approaching the amount of extra money you had to pay to buy the expensive brands which claim better mpg.

budget are the worst tyres you can buy they handle crap in the wet, are they really worth the £10-20 a tyre saving? sure they will last but at the expense of grip.

for cheap tyres blackcircles.co.uk

vikingaero

red_eye wrote: »

budget are the worst tyres you can buy they handle crap in the wet, are they really worth the £10-20 a tyre saving? sure they will last but at the expense of grip.

for cheap tyres blackcircles.co.uk

So true. For example the Michelins for Mrs V's Corsa are £80 per corner and they last 30,000 miles. Most of the budget rubber in my experience wears quickly - 12-15k - so for a £10-20 saving it just doesn't add up.

jase1

Are you suggesting that the cheapest tyres are £60/corner for a Corsa? Or are you telling us that a £60 Falken is a bad tyre and only lasts half as long as a top-5 brand tyre?

Either way I totally disagree with the comment above.

vikingaero

Looking at say Etyres for example, the cheapest 185/55/15's are £57 for an Economy Brands May Vary tyre, so you could get a ditchfinder. The Falken is £72. And a Continental Sport Contact is £84. I'd rather spend £12 more than the Falken. But that's my opinion as much as we disagree with each other.

red_eye

broxiebear1 wrote: »

let me guess the garage you went to was kwick fit , great scam in the tyre trade get you in the door yes we have them in stock when you come o sorry someone has just sold them but you are there.
then the dumb blond sry joke , most women will be fooled into buying something they know nothing about a well knowing trick by a certain garage

Well you cant get better then a kwik !!!! shitter:D

jase1

vikingaero wrote: »

Looking at say Etyres for example, the cheapest 185/55/15's are £57 for an Economy Brands May Vary tyre, so you could get a ditchfinder. The Falken is £72. And a Continental Sport Contact is £84. I'd rather spend £12 more than the Falken. But that's my opinion as much as we disagree with each other.

That is very, very expensive for a budget tyre -- it should be around £40 or so at that size. The cheapest at mytyres without fitting are £35 -- the premiums (Continentals) are £67 (the Falkens being £55) -- so etyres are charging £20 a corner just for fitting. That could be skewing your perception somewhat.

You might well prefer to spend a little more for a Continental over a Falken, but the difference between the two would be a mighty sight narrower than the difference between the Continental (or the Falken) and the cheapest. Indeed I'd go so far as to say that the difference wouldn't be perceptible.

"A tenner less" gets you a very high quality Japanese tyre, not a ditchfinder.

Wig

Wig wrote: »

If you don't drive like an idiot, then go for the cheapest tyres you can find, they will last just as long and you will notice no difference whatsoever.

reported mpg increases are a load of pollocks and certainly not going to give you a return anything like approaching the amount of extra money you had to pay to buy the expensive brands which claim better mpg.

red_eye wrote: »

budget are the worst tyres you can buy they handle crap in the wet, are they really worth the £10-20 a tyre saving? sure they will last but at the expense of grip.

for cheap tyres blackcircles.co.uk

So you obviously "drive like an idiot" that you have to "handle a car" in the wet. I simply drive at an appropriate speed/position in the wet or dry according to conditions and type of road I am on. I never have to "handle a car" in the way that you mean.

rodenal

I agree with the above - it's not about driving like an idiot or otherwise. Sure, on a FF car you will likely get away with budget tyres round corners in the wet as long as you're driving carefully - but what happens when the guy in front slams on the anchors in his car with bigger brakes and wheels clad in premium rubber? You're going straight into the back of him or having a very close call even if you are maintaining an appropriate gap.

If you were ti drive a FR or even worse MR car in the wet (and I mean proper winter temperatures and wet) on budget tyres then in my opinion you're only asking for trouble - can be like driving on glass and it's much, much harder to recover if the back goes.

I can confidently say that in the wet if the back end of my mr2 went and I managed to catch it then that would be much more to do with the car and luck than any skill on my part. It's on toyos btw, about £10 more expensive per corner than budgets and a world apart in terms of performance despite not quite being up there with the real premium tyres