Best Budget Tyres?

theloft

pulliptears wrote: »

Any recommendations for a reasonably priced tyre for mostly motorway miles? Other half is commuting 150 mile round trip 5 days a week so as you can imagine tyre wear is now a big consideration.

The tyres you should look at are Barum Bravaris 2. They are made by Continental and get a really good rating in Reviews and Auto Express recommended them as the best budget tyre. The best prices by far are obtainable through Tyre Shopper who I have used without problems. Their price includes fitting at a location near you and includes valve, balance, old tyre disposal etc. I ordered tyres through Tyre Shopper and had tyres fitted at a local National Tyres depot. You are able to choose the date for fitting and am. or pm. National also have a deal on at present for 50% off on Wheel Alignment (Tracking) (£15 instead of £30). An absolute essential with all these potholes around. mine were well out. Superb service all round. www.tyre-shopper.co.uk
http://www.national.co.uk/special-offers.aspx

scotsbob

theloft wrote: »

and get a really good rating in Reviews and Auto Express recommended them as the best budget tyre.

They came 11th out of 20 which doesn't count as good in my book. They don't seem to be very popular with other people either.


http://www.honestjohn.co.uk/forum/post/index.htm?t=37858

Mr_Ted

I had a Nissan 200SX a little while back and I used Alpha Accellera and found them great in all weather and very good on wear and the ride was better than the Pirrelli's that were on it originally!
Have used them again on my latest car although it not as hot as the Nissan was?

Bit hard to find them though but did eventually find them brand new and cheap through an Ebay supplier.

Nine_Lives

pulliptears wrote: »

I'll pass that on to him thanks. Probably looking at all weather, I did beg him to put winter boots on as I was worried about travelling up and down the M6 twice a day, but costs were off putting so its going to have to be all weather.

Probably looking at 2 new ones before the end of the month To be honest we are planning on moving because it's costing more in fuel than the mortgage at present and adding in the costs of servicing and tyres etc its madness.

Problem with winters is you need the space to store them once the winter months pass. If you have this then great.

The irritation is - a lot of people think we don't need winter tyres in the UK. I was called mad at work for shelling out. These people should see the performance tests between winters & non winters. They may re-think their attitude.

Anyway, winters work best at 7c & below (i don't know if you know this). Once you start getting above that (certainly considerably above that - such as in summer), then they're really not designed for it at all & you're better off with summer tyres otherwise the winter tyres will wear much quicker.


Source of info: tinterweb & various tyre sellers/fitters.

flashg67

theloft wrote: »

The tyres you should look at are Barum Bravaris 2. They are made by Continental and get a really good rating in Reviews and Auto Express recommended them as the best budget tyre. The best prices by far are obtainable through Tyre Shopper who I have used without problems. Their price includes fitting at a location near you and includes valve, balance, old tyre disposal etc. I ordered tyres through Tyre Shopper and had tyres fitted at a local National Tyres depot. You are able to choose the date for fitting and am. or pm. National also have a deal on at present for 50% off on Wheel Alignment (Tracking) (£15 instead of £30). An absolute essential with all these potholes around. mine were well out. Superb service all round. www.tyre-shopper.co.uk
http://www.national.co.uk/special-offers.aspx

But AFAIK, Tyre shopper are owned by the same company as National tyres. I believe Axle group (run by an ex-tyre fitter) bought National from Continental a few years back?

NB Bursting your bubble, but Barum are a budget tyre, not made by Conti, but made by a company owned by Conti - not the same thing. I used to work for a major tyre retailer, owned by Michelin and our sales patter went along the lines of 'try these - they're made by Michelin', except they weren't, and I wouldn't have hung them over the side of my boat TBH

jase1

K_P83 wrote: »

Anyway, winters work best at 7c & below (i don't know if you know this). Once you start getting above that (certainly considerably above that - such as in summer), then they're really not designed for it at all & you're better off with summer tyres otherwise the winter tyres will wear much quicker.

The balance of evidence says that this is true, and I won't argue with it. However I've run a set of Marangonis now since October, and the front tyres are only worn down by around 2mm, to 6mm, after nearly 7000 miles. This isn't bad -- the Toyo T1Rs I had on before only managed 11,000 miles to 3mm and in the skip.

It's not as if I've been driving like a nun on them either :rotfl:

scotsbob

flashg67 wrote: »

and I wouldn't have hung them over the side of my boat TBH

:rotfl::rotfl::rotfl::rotfl:

I shall be using this line myself in the future

:T

theloft

scotsbob wrote: »

They came 11th out of 20 which doesn't count as good in my book. They don't seem to be very popular with other people either.
http://www.honestjohn.co.uk/forum/post/index.htm?t=37858

The tests you refer to were in 2005 and Honest John - 2006.
A lot of water under the bridge since then and tyre development ? This gives a different view:- http://www.tyrereviews.co.uk/Tyre/Barum/Bravuris-2.htm

Also www.tyretest.com. says 'top marks for tyre performance in this category'. I saw another quote that said in an Auto Express reoport the Barum out performed more expensive tyres, but cannot find that one.
However time will tell and if I get any negative performance, will say so. So far they are excellent.

theloft

flashg67 wrote: »

But AFAIK, Tyre shopper are owned by the same company as National tyres. I believe Axle group (run by an ex-tyre fitter) bought National from Continental a few years back?
NB Bursting your bubble, but Barum are a budget tyre, not made by Conti, but made by a company owned by Conti - not the same thing. I used to work for a major tyre retailer, owned by Michelin and our sales patter went along the lines of 'try these - they're made by Michelin', except they weren't, and I wouldn't have hung them over the side of my boat TBH

OK. Most of the major brands own a budget tyre company and I am sure they interface with technology etc. The lady did ask for budget tyres and I researched quite a bit before going for the Barums. Barum have been manufacturing tyres since 1934 so that tells you something. You did not mention the brand of Michelin owned tyres that 'you wouldn't hang over the side of your boat' but as a boat owner myself I wouldn't hang any make of tyre over the side as they mark badly! If money was no object I would have fitted Michelin, but you 'pays your money and takes your choice' ! My previous post also gives a couple of sites where there were favourable reviews, but can you trust any review site these days ? As I said before - time will tell and I will report back honestly.

mikey72

I've read reviews giving Barums a good name.

This is the website I tend to use to get a feel for tyres.

http://www.tyretest.com/summercar_tyres/barum/bravuris_2/index.html