Tyres - What is the Truth?

andy8442

Go for premium brand, but don't pay premium prices, simple!

Stay away from the big name tyre fitters and find a nice local outfit who order from the net hopefully will give you much better advice than us idiots on here.

pitkin2020

It always makes me laugh how many people skimp on rubber, its the only thing keeping your car on the road and can be the difference between stopping in time or a collision. I'm not saying you need to put the most expensive tyres possible on the car, you have to balance performance against driving style. I would only put the real cheap tyres on if I only intended to keep the car on the drive, same as I would only consider putting the premium tyres on if I drove the car to its limit!!. Mid range tyres are adequate for most peoples cars and driving style

missile

Are you are happy with the tyres on the car? Shop around for the best price.

RichGold

Has the world gone mad???

Tyres are the only part of the car that keeps you on the road.

Buy good tyres, the is no other way of saying it.

You have an Eos, you could have bought a cheaper cabriolet, but you didn't. You get what I'm saying.....

Horizon81

It's worth bearing in mind that no one tyre is all things to all people. I've been through a few sets of premium Bridgestone Potenzas as they were the OEM tyre fitted to the car when new. Stiff sidewalls, loads of grip in the dry but they have always been very poor in the wet. I've read many tyre reviews where other users have experienced the same. I've gone down to a mid range brand now, about half the price. I certainly wouldn't go for no-names/ditchfinders on any car, not least your Eos, but I'd say a mid range alternative such as the Uniroyal Rainsport 2 as mentioned above would be worth a look.

I wouldn't bother asking any garage/tyre place as they'll only try and sell you whatevers in stock. Much better to look on black circles for your choices, then go to 'tyrereviews' website and see how they're rated by real drivers like you and me.

SueC_2

RichGold wrote: »

Has the world gone mad???

Tyres are the only part of the car that keeps you on the road.

Buy good tyres, the is no other way of saying it.

You have an Eos, you could have bought a cheaper cabriolet, but you didn't. You get what I'm saying.....

Frankly, I bought an Eos thinking it was a premium brand and would be a reliable and quality drive. After three and half years of nothing but problems with it, I am now questioning my logic and realise it is probably no better quality than a lot of cheaper cars, it just has a 'better' badge.

You can't blame me for wondering whether the same applies to premium brand tyres. But thanks for your patience and understanding anyway.

RichGold

What I meant was that an Eos is not the cheapest cabby you could have bought. I would imagine you bought it aside from its looks due to a perception of Volkswagen quality and high residuals.

The cheapest tyres you could buy will only introduce you to a hedgerow one night after a light shower.

For my money, try Continentals.

vikingaero

SueC wrote: »

Frankly, I bought an Eos thinking it was a premium brand and would be a reliable and quality drive. After three and half years of nothing but problems with it, I am now questioning my logic and realise it is probably no better quality than a lot of cheaper cars, it just has a 'better' badge.

You can't blame me for wondering whether the same applies to premium brand tyres. But thanks for your patience and understanding anyway.

The problem with VW is that the marketing pitches it as a premium quality product but the reality is a very average product in terms of reliability. This is why VW never does as well as expected in the JD Power type rankings - people get very disappointed when the expensive car they bought fails.

As to tyres. Buy a decent mid range tyre at least and avoid the Chinese ditchfinders. We had a family communal runaround that was fitted with Debica tyres from Kwik Fit under their 4 tyres for £80 campaigns years ago. Everyone who drove the car commented on how appalling the new tyres were. Then Auto Express published a test which featured premium tyres and the Debicas. The Debicas needed something like 75m more to stop from 70mph than the premium tyres. Indeed when the premium tyres had stopped, the Debicas were still travelling at 25mph.

SueC_2

RichGold wrote: »

What I meant was that an Eos is not the cheapest cabby you could have bought. I would imagine you bought it aside from its looks due to a perception of Volkswagen quality and high residuals.

Yes, and my perception has been proved utterly wrong. I was purely asking whether my perception of quality tyres was also likely to be proved wrong.

From the answers so far, apparently not, so it's good to know something about the car is quality!

Strider590

SueC wrote: »

I've heard it said that there is no point buying 'premium brand' tyres, as the cheaper equivalents are exactly the same but without the label.

I've also heard it said that 'premium brand' tyres last longer and improve mpg.

What's a girl to do?

It's the tyre/exhaust fitters that come out with this non-sense.

Tyre/exhaust outlets (crapfit etc) get cheap unknown brand tyre's at silly low prices.
Lets say for example they buy a Bridgestone tyre at £80 each and sell it for £120. They buy the same size "ditch finder xl" for £20 each and sell it for £75.
You think it's a bargain, but they're making more profit. But also they don't want you going away and telling people they charged you a fortune.

So it's better for them to sell the cheap rubbish.