'Budget tyres' as opposed to pricier ones?

mikey72

Avon, owned by Cooper, made in China.

Plain_Lazy

I always had continentals on my Mondeo. Was always very happy with them.

puddy

GolfBravo wrote: »

From the above we don't know which particular Continental tyre the dealer recommends - Continental have over a dozen different models.

Is the car still on the original factory tyres? If it is I would recommend that you write down the brand (eg. Continental), model (eg. PremiumContact) and size. This would give us a very good idea of what type of tyre Nissan would use on Note, and then you could buy something similar or even better.

My guess is your car comes with Continental EcoContact 3 185/65 R15 88H. It is a good (eco = fuel saving, low rolling resistance) tyre, with excellent wet and dry grip. Blackcircles sell them for £76 fitted.

I highly recommend not to buy budget tyres. Most of them are very unpredictable in wet are noisy - and especially since you have good tyres now, you could be for a nasty surprise with cheap tyres.

yes, they are the ones he has and what we have ordered. they were 90 odd at nissan

Plain_Lazy

At the end of the day that bit of rubber is your only contact with the road so it makes sense to have decent ones.

jase1

But, as I mentioned the 'budget' tyres mentioned by the OP are good enough to be fitted in the factory by all the Korean car manufacturers.

Do you really think they would risk their reputations over £20 of rubber?

Nexen are the next Hankook/Kumho. Maybe not the last 2% of performance you'll get with the very best Continental or Bridgestone but good enough for 99% of customers.

These things are hardly the very cheapest on the market.

But still, repeat the same old mantra like a parrot...

thefishdude

another vote for nexen tyres here, i had nexen on my fiat punto were amazing in the snow i was like a mountain goat lol

michaelvintner

I have had cheap tyres, gone down a pothole and ended up with a puncture. Learnt my lesson years ago. I have Michellins and had Continentals before and they were both superior to any of the budget rubbish both in the way they stuck to the road and dealt with going down potholes and driving over junk in the road. I drove over a wheel cover a couple of days ago and as far as I can tell my tyre is fine. If it had been a budget one I would have had to go straight to Kwik S*it to get another one. My car is worth £5000 I am not going to scrimp on the only thing keeping it on the road.

Horseunderwater

When buying any tyre as a replacement - go out to your car and write down all the rubber sizing and speed ratings from rim of tyre rubber. So for mine it is 175/R14 70. Make not too readable at moment in dark. Have better quality tyres on the drive wheels. So front wheel driven cars, better quality or rear wheel driven cars better quality. Those are the real important ones.
Regardless of whether the tyre is budget or not, a softer rubber will grip better, but will wear faster, and a budget tyre will wear a bit longer - may be noisier or handle different. But if there is any difference, adjust your driving accordingly. Stop doing handbrake turn skids around corners or taking them too fast. Believe it or not you can save loads of dosh, by driving better and making parts of the car last longer. Too much hard braking, new pads more often, new tyres more often, I may be in my late 40's now, but in my time I have done my fair share of hard and fast driving. And I have seen many accidents where people do not drive according to conditions.
Oh and pot holes can puncture any type of tyre not just budget ones. Take any pot holed road with a posh car tyre at speed and if any area slightly more worn from hard braking, that will be it. A front tyre under or over inflated, tracking out, uneven wear. And if it is a front one, you will probably not be able to control the car at all. I had it happen to me, hit a hole under a puddle of water, so it could not be seen. Was doing 30mph, so not fast. Front tyre blew and we went all over. I dread to think what could have happened had I been driving faster at time. So now when I drive on any road I am looking for wear on road sides. And at the time I had my 10 month old child in the car. But that is now a long time ago. 1997 I think that was. I drive buses for my Job by the way, so know a lot more about vehicles than many. Oh and I am female as well! And cars since 1982.

swift1_2

I've had Nexen tyres on a Porsche Boxster - got tired of paying an arm and a leg for the so called premium tyres which cost at least twice as much. What I noticed the Nexen tyres lasted a hell of lot longer than the premium tyres which wore out very quickly. Didn't notice any real difference in performance either. They looked just as good too - the tyre pattern.
I've stuck to budget tyres ever since, I currently drive a 3 litre Lexus.
Just check the tyre rating is suitable for you car.

Tremour-88

I also agree, spend a bit more cash on the tyres, its your only contact to the road and you'll regret it if you go cheap!

I had budgets on my last car and it just slid everywhere, even during the dry there was no grip if I went over 30mph, had to replace them. Also budgets are noisey as hell.