Tyres: Budget/Remoulds? Price?

BaconandEggs

Thanks guys.

Going for the kumho's £65 fitted. Going direct to the local garage here for them (pretty much the same price as on Blackcircles).

Will most places check balance as well. Or will they charge more for this.

It's the front 2 tyres I'm changing. What do you think about putting the new tyres on the rear and putting the older tyres on at the front?

That's just made me think - in future, since the fronts wear faster I could swap them with the rear tyres/wheels before the tread gets too low.

mikey72

New tyres fitted should include a new valve and balancing.

Their are varying opinions on where the new tyres go.

I always swop mine around, but it does mean you end up buying 4 at a time when they wear out together.

fivetide

BaconandEggs wrote: »

Thanks guys.

Going for the kumho's £65 fitted. Going direct to the local garage here for them (pretty much the same price as on Blackcircles).

Good stuff. That's what I generaly do with retailers, find a good online price and get them to match it. Often you find with blackcircles et al that the fitting place is your local garage anyway!

5t.

Notmyrealname

BaconandEggs wrote: »

It's the front 2 tyres I'm changing. What do you think about putting the new tyres on the rear and putting the older tyres on at the front?

That's just made me think - in future, since the fronts wear faster I could swap them with the rear tyres/wheels before the tread gets too low.

The advice is always put the tyres with the most tread on the rear.

jase1

mikey72 wrote: »

I was going to suggest part worn, but if you're keeping it, I'd go for a £55 new tyre, and avoid the remould, but preferably something like a Federal or Nankang from mytyres for £50 to £55, then another tenner each to get them fitted locally.

Something I've recently discovered is that the private brand "Provato", which is the latest ultra-cheap name to start appearing on the shelves, is buying their tyres in from Nankang.

I don't recognise the tread pattern but if they are as good as the NS2s then the silly prices I've seen for them could be well worth paying (£35 each retail, a good tenner less than the Nankang-branded tyres).

I'm almost tempted to grab a pair as these are clearly being sold at a loss to attempt to break in to the market.

GolfBravo

jase1 wrote: »

I don't recognise the tread pattern but if they are as good as the NS2s then the silly prices I've seen for them could be well worth paying (£35 each retail, a good tenner less than the Nankang-branded tyres).

There is more to a tyre than tread pattern.

£35 retail? OK, lets subtract VAT, shipping to and within the UK, import duty (made in Taiwan), retailer margin, distributor margin, manufacturer margin. So how much is left for raw materials (steel, rayon, nylon, rubber, silica), manufacturing, engineering, quality control? How do they grip in dry/wet, what about wear/noise/rolling resistance?

It is just not worth the risk.

Have a look at this ADAC tyre test. Nankang NS2? Even worse.

jase1

GolfBravo wrote: »

There is more to a tyre than tread pattern.

£35 retail? OK, lets subtract VAT, shipping to and within the UK, import duty (made in Taiwan), retailer margin, distributor margin, manufacturer margin. So how much is left for raw materials (steel, rayon, nylon, rubber, silica), manufacturing, engineering, quality control? How do they grip in dry/wet, what about wear/noise/rolling resistance?

It is just not worth the risk.

Have a look at this ADAC tyre test. Nankang NS2? Even worse.

I know there is more to a tyre than the tread pattern -- I mentioned it simply because it's clear that these aren't NS2s.

I've run NS2s before and found them to be OK. It should also be noted that the bottom tyre on that test is a Falken, and the NS2 is barely any worse than the mid-range Avon tyre.

It may well be that the tyres I mentioned are terrible, I don't know, but Nankang as a manufacturer are OK.

mikey72

Chinese and taiwanese tyres are getting a lot better in every test they appear in now.

They make tyres for a lot of the big names, (Avon being one) so I would expect them to be up in there with them, as we're starting to se in tests like thiese now.

fivetide

Ones that can be good are things like Barum which is Continental's budget brand and Kleber which are Michelin by another name and price tag.

5t.

GolfBravo

jase1 wrote: »

It should also be noted that the bottom tyre on that test is a Falken, and the NS2 is barely any worse than the mid-range Avon tyre.

Let's look at it this way:
Nankang NS2 is a "ultra high performance tyre"
Falken ZE512 is a "budget summer tyre"

So in this particular test the ultra high performance Nankang tyre is only marginally better than an ancient budget Falken tyre.

The Falken tyre recommended in previous posts is ZE912 "premium touring summer tyre".