Tyres - What is the Truth?

bigjl

Think about it like this when you talk about those who prefer a more premium tyre. And tgose that say they must drive like an idiot.

The Ambulance service and Police in London only use premium tyres. Was Goodyear for most now it is more Michelin. This isn't due to driving like idiots but is simply stacking the deck in your favour if the worse happens and you need every bit of grip the tyres have. You will get better performance from a more premium tyre. Maybe in some cases the difference isn't huge but there will be a difference.

Note I am not talking about Vredestein, Toyo or other similar well priced brands but rather the really cheap end.

Wether the person driving can actually.percieve a difference is a different discussion.

s_b

The Ambulance service and Police in London only use premium tyres. Was Goodyear for most now it is more Michelin

dont they just pay by mileage like bus companies do though? so it has to be someone like michelin who are set up to do this

Wig

There is no comparison between an emergency service vehicle and a civillian vehicle.

If you drive well, 99.9999% of the time you will have no problems on the cheapest tyres. On that extremely unlikely day when something happens that gives you no opportunity to take any action to avoid an impact - !!!! happens and I am 100% happy to take that day when it comes and possibly use an extra 4 metres of tarmac than other cars or whatever....

On a risk assessment basis it makes no economic sense to pay extra for tyres.

Otherwise you would never cross the road or leave your house or have gas supplied to your house etc etc etc.

I also never buy additional warranty on electrical goods,
I have no life insurance or medical insurance
I never buy travel insurance, unless it makes sense, which is dependent on destination
I never have break down insurance

Paradigm

C'mon guys, surely it's horses for courses!

My wife has an old Polo diesel & it's only used for the commute to her work (8 miles in rush hour traffic) + other local stuff. I bet it never sees the other side of 30mph so it's fitted with the cheapest tyres I can find. IMO top of the range Michelins would be overkill. So far no dramas.

Mine has to travel 30 miles each way to work on m/ways & dual carriageways + all other long distance/family travel. Linglongs would be a liability under these circumstances so I buy a better tyre but still shy away from the crazy money asked for Michelin/Conti/Pirelli etc.

bigjl

Wig wrote: »

There is no comparison between an emergency service vehicle and a civillian vehicle.

If you drive well, 99.9999% of the time you will have no problems on the cheapest tyres. On that extremely unlikely day when something happens that gives you no opportunity to take any action to avoid an impact - !!!! happens and I am 100% happy to take that day when it comes and possibly use an extra 4 metres of tarmac than other cars or whatever....

On a risk assessment basis it makes no economic sense to pay extra for tyres.

Otherwise you would never cross the road or leave your house or have gas supplied to your house etc etc etc.

I also never buy additional warranty on electrical goods,
I have no life insurance or medical insurance
I never buy travel insurance, unless it makes sense, which is dependent on destination
I never have break down insurance

I somehow doubt you have made many dynamic risk assessments recently if you think any properly considered risk assessment would result in the decision to put cheaper and less safe tyres on any vehicle.

The simple fact is tyres for most people are purely an economic decision.

D.ross is right in so far as the tyres on Emergency Service vehicles are only relatively rarely pushed to their true limits. Indeed most blue light runs will not involve them being pushed to their limits.
However they can be pushed to their limit at any time in the event of a need to brake or steer around a hazard. Hazards could present themselves at any time wether on the blues or not.

Though I don't agree that the emergency services treat their tyres worse than buses. The emergency services don't routinely clip kerbs all the time causing visible damage to the sidewalls. Something that is fairly common in London at least.

I also doubt that bus drivers properly check their tyres at the start of a shift either.

poppasmurf_bewdley

last year Auto Express car magazine did an excellent article comparing different tyres and their characteristics.

See:

http://www.autoexpress.co.uk/products/total_tyre_guide/259477/tyre_test.html

Wig

As I said, talking about emergency service vehicles is irrelevant to this thread, they are regularly driven hard and will have a higher likelyhood of needing hard braking and will need top end equipment. A civillian car will not (should not) need any hard braking or cornering and will not need top end equipment.

I never have to brake hard (so hard that the brand of tyre will have a significant effect), never have to swerve as I said 99.9999% of the time nothing untoward happens and the cheapo tyres are fine and dandy. And I disagree about wear rate, I did use firestones once and got the same mileage out of them. Anyway mileage is related to rubber hardness, the harder the rubber the more miles you get but the worse it will handle, as all you guys are shouting from the rooftops about "handling" the last thing you need is a tyre which lasts longer!

Any risk factor which is virtually non existant 0.0001% chance of happening is not worth bothering about, as I said, if you took the same attiude to everything you wouldn't cross the road or even leave your house.

Why is there always someone who mentions the children or the family members? 0.0001% is not worth getting in a tizzy about, if they are in an accident, I certainly would not be enquiring as to what make the tyres were! :rotfl:

bigjl

And your opinion is based on how long driving Emergency Service vehicles?

Unless you have done so you will have realised that contrary to popular belief we don't just "drive it like we stole it".

And the PTS vehicles and fitters vehicles are also fitted with top spec tyres.

But as you will never listen to a more informed opinioned why does anybody on the forum even bother

Wig

bigjl wrote: »

And your opinion is based on how long driving Emergency Service vehicles?

Unless you have done so you will have realised that contrary to popular belief we don't just "drive it like we stole it".

And the PTS vehicles and fitters vehicles are also fitted with top spec tyres.

But as you will never listen to a more informed opinioned why does anybody on the forum even bother

I don't have to have driven one to know that you are comparing apples with pears. :wall: I'm talking about private cars, and you come along and talk about the emergency service vehicles as if what they do has any bearing on what I do in my Corsa! Give me strength.

rodenal

I find it really hard to believe that you don't seem to know the real world difference between a decent tyre and a budget tyre, the difference in levels of grip available is massive.

You might not believe you will ever need anything other than a budget tyre, and that's fine - they do conform to a minimum level of safety and will stop you, wont hurl you into a ditch for no given reason and are cheaper. I simply won't use them, I've driven a rwd performance car on budget tyres in winter time (as well as on decent rubber) and after that experience I simply won't do it in any car ever again as the difference, as I've already stated is simply massive.