What happened to cheap tyres?

Weird_Nev

It's Darwinian theory in practice:

People who buy the cheapest possible tyres inevitably die when they wrap their cars round a tree literally yards up the road.
Therefore, the pool of people looking to buy budget tyres is vastly reduced.
So, all tyres now available are at least "mid-price" or premium.

Simple.

(Real reason: Rubber is a scarse resource. I've been to indian rubber plantations and to think that every rubber thing in the world comes from people tapping trees for a half litre of rubber is simply incredible. Combine that with the ever increasing demand, and tyres getting bigger and bigger, and you have your answer. Check out the price of rubber over the last decade for an indicator of the market).

UncleZen

2 reasons
1) We dont make tyres in the UK, all tyres sold in the UK are made in europe and the exchange rate has pushed up the price.
2) Rise in the cost of raw materials from Asia

mgdavid

OP - trying to avoid the sarcasm and petty squabbles that seem to arise ;-)
you probably don't need an H rated tyre on an Almera unless it's a GTI model, you can get an S or T rated tyre which will be cheaper. Do some ebay searches to get a feel for cheap brands that do your size then ring around local independent tyre places - don't go near QuickRip or any other national chain!
Your target should be just under £50 I think.

vax2002

Funny most of the cars I see wrapped around trees, lamposts, upside down on the verge of the motorway nearly always have super duper high performance tyres.
Probably because the people driving them think they are super duper high performance drivers.
Which would you rather have behind you ?
a steady driver on budget tyres keeping a safe distance and good watch on the road ahead or Kevin in his astra SXI with his super tyres 2 inch from your back bumper because he thinks he is a better driver than anyone else and can not see the road in front of you.

Notmyrealname

jase1 wrote: »

The cheapest tyres are not inherently unsafe, and no more relatively so in winter.

Yes they are. They have poorer grip in the wet and the rubber compound doesn't cope with the cold as well. I once got a set of those £130 for 4 on special offer from National Tyres. They were so bad even in the dry that 2 weeks later I went and got a full set of Conti Eco 3s, prefering to throw the £130 down the drain than end up in a ditch.

Certainly in the slush and snow I'd far, far rather have a brand-new set of Autogrip F101s (the cheapest tat available I believe) on my car than Pirelli P7s with 2mm of tread -- having tried the latter with 5mm last winter I'm still left with the mental scars!

I'd rather have a new set of the Pirellis. If you can't drive in winter with 5mm of tread you need to examine your driving because an extra couple of mm will not make that much difference.

mikey72

Notmyrealname wrote: »

Yes they are. They have poorer grip in the wet and the rubber compound doesn't cope with the cold as well. I once got a set of those £130 for 4 on special offer from National Tyres. They were so bad even in the dry that 2 weeks later I went and got a full set of Conti Eco 3s, prefering to throw the £130 down the drain than end up in a ditch.

I'd rather have a new set of the Pirellis. If you can't drive in winter with 5mm of tread you need to examine your driving because an extra couple of mm will not make that much difference.

If you can't drive on budget tyres, you should do us a favour and post your licence back now to be honest.

jase1

Notmyrealname wrote: »

Yes they are. They have poorer grip in the wet and the rubber compound doesn't cope with the cold as well. I once got a set of those £130 for 4 on special offer from National Tyres. They were so bad even in the dry that 2 weeks later I went and got a full set of Conti Eco 3s, prefering to throw the £130 down the drain than end up in a ditch.

I'd rather have a new set of the Pirellis. If you can't drive in winter with 5mm of tread you need to examine your driving because an extra couple of mm will not make that much difference.

The rubber compound on one budget tyre is no more like another than one premium tyre is like another. The Maxxis tyres I have on my second car are relatively soft, and although they wear fairly quickly they don't do too badly in cold conditions -- certainly much better than a Michelin Energy for example.

The problem with the Pirellis had nothing to do with my driving, it was simply that the tread pattern afforded no traction at all in the snow. If the wheels just spin you ain't going nowhere. With 2mm of tread this only gets worse. Many premium summer tyres are like this, and the budgets are not -- they almost universally still have more of an all-weather tread pattern which affords more traction in the snow when new than a lot of premium models.

And I was making the point that *any* new tyre is an improvement over one that is barely legal. Yeah new P7s might be better in the wet (not snow) but that isn't the point.

I would throw your comment back at you -- if you couldn't cope with your budget tyres "even in the dry" you need to take a look at your driving!

jase1

mikey72 wrote: »

If you can't drive on budget tyres, you should do us a favour and post your licence back now to be honest.

I don't personally much like ultra-budget tyres; they do have a deleterious effect on handling, deter the driver from driving spiritedly and force caution in heavy rain, but to say they're unsafe is silly. I advocate spending the extra tenner on something half decent, but you pays your money and you takes your choice.

mikey72

Any decent driver should know the limit of the car they're driving.
If they need to rely on having "decent" tyres to cope with driving too hard into corners, or poor braking, or lack of observation, they shouldn't be driving.
Expecting to end up in a ditch doesn't inspire any confidence in their abilities.

avantra

vax2002 wrote: »

Funny most of the cars I see wrapped around trees, lamposts, upside down on the verge of the motorway nearly always have super duper high performance tyres.
Probably because the people driving them think they are super duper high performance drivers.
Which would you rather have behind you ?
a steady driver on budget tyres keeping a safe distance and good watch on the road ahead or Kevin in his astra SXI with his super tyres 2 inch from your back bumper because he thinks he is a better driver than anyone else and can not see the road in front of you.

I agree 100%. I never had money for premium brands so for the last 20 or so years of driving I always used the cheapest ultra budget tyres I can put my hands on (bar remoulds/part wear). Never had an accident or was even close to having one, and I drive around 15k miles a year.

If you drive sensibly not half a sleep/texting/putting lipstick/playing your xbox or simply having your hormones taking over your brain you can drive 15k-20k miles on a set of budgets.

Keeping the correct distance from the vehicle in front and accelerate smoothly will save you ££ and all the hassle of unwrapping one's motor off a lamp post and other vegetation.