High Price vs Low Price Tyres, what's the difference?

DBGage

So I need to get 4 new tires soon however my payments stop in October (for the car) so not long before I change the car anyway.

My question is if I buy cheaper tires does it mean they will only do say 10k?

As oppose to the more expensive ones?

Safety wise I would assume that all tires need to be of a certain standard to be sold by a main dealer anyway.

DUTR

DBGage wrote: »

So I need to get 4 new tires soon however my payments stop in October (for the car) so not long before I change the car anyway.

My question is if I buy cheaper tires does it mean they will only do say 10k?

As oppose to the more expensive ones?

Safety wise I would assume that all tires need to be of a certain standard to be sold by a main dealer anyway.

Chances are depending on the car, it could well be the more expensive ones that last less time, part of the price will be for the advertising of the brand too.
Yes tyres have to meet a minimum standard (which they will), there are different compount textures, which will offer varying grip rates in the wet and in cold temperatures.

Iceweasel

More expensive tyres may not last longer, but will give more grip and therefore shorter braking distances, especially in the wet.

Cheaper tyres will possibly last longer but will slide off the road on corners where the more expensive tyre will have almost the same grip as in the dry.

Tyre life is more important to some people than safety.

There are people who think - "I don't drive very fast so I don't need expensive 'grippy' tyres."

These are the folks who will probably run over the nun carrying a basket of kittens - or the small child who may run out into the road in front of them.

Personally I'm not much bothered about the nuns or the children, but I love cuddly little kittens.

So I buy expensive tyres.

What price safety? - and protect the kittens at all cost.

tberry6686

have a look on car forums for the best tyres for your car. The best are not always the most expensive.

forgotmyname

Cheap tyres are usually labelled ditchfinders on most car forums.

Mid range tyres can be a good compromise. You get tyres that grip very well but may not last as long.
Or a harder tyre that has less grip but lasts much longer.

Joe_Horner

Just to put a little context on the "ditchfiinder" label, in nearly 30 years of driving now I've just used the tyres that are on a car whe I get it and any replacements have been the cheapest I can get at the time - whether that be part-worn, Chinese budgets or even remoulds.

I've averaged around 15k miles a year overall and have been known to hit triple leptons when appropriate. I drive a lot of rural roads with mud, oil and assorted crap on them as well as fairly regular DC / motorway and I'm certainly not afraid to reach the speed limits.

In that time I've never fallen off the side of a corner or failed to stop for a procession of nuns. I've also managed to either stop or steer round every single mistake that other drivers have thrown my way. Maybe I'm just lucky or a true Driving God, but I'm honestly not conceited enough to believe that, which leaves the conclusion that cheap tyres are fine unless you're one of the idiots who pass me occasionally doing 90+ in the 60 limit across the sand dunes round here

DUTR

Joe_Horner wrote: »

arJust to put a little context on the "ditchfiinder" label, in nely 30 years of driving now I've just used the tyres that are on a car whe I get it and any replacements have been the cheapest I can get at the time - whether that be part-worn, Chinese budgets or even remoulds.

I've averaged around 15k miles a year overall and have been known to hit triple leptons when appropriate. I drive a lot of rural roads with mud, oil and assorted crap on them as well as fairly regular DC / motorway and I'm certainly not afraid to reach the speed limits.

In that time I've never fallen off the side of a corner or failed to stop for a procession of nuns. I've also managed to either stop or steer round every single mistake that other drivers have thrown my way. Maybe I'm just lucky or a true Driving God, but I'm honestly not conceited enough to believe that, which leaves the conclusion that cheap tyres are fine unless you're one of the idiots who pass me occasionally doing 90+ in the 60 limit across the sand dunes round here

Just to add to that, when I had my previous car the car was wearing continentals, and I always replaced them with conti's the one year I put sport contact 3 on them, which were supposed to be better than the SC2, they only lasted 12K vs the usual 17k on the front, on a new years eve I got tired of a slow puncture in the rear which became a little more than slow, the fitters had some Event tyres which were budget, my plan was to put them on the get me through until about spring, they were just under £100 for the pair vs £110 each for the SC2, I was surprised that the Event budgets were somewhat more pleasing than the conti's, when the front wore down, I was going for the Events but the fitters never had any and I put some Altenzo tyres on, once again they were on par with the conti's , and on a GTI even with the moments of 'madness' the budgets were absolutely fine, my current car is wearing some bridgestone potenza, but when they wear I shall certainly consider some budgets again.

IamNotAllowedToUseMyName

There are so many different characteristics to tyres. If you are pootling along in a base model car then you have a different set of considerations from buying for a high performance car driven in a spirited way.

The best choice for me on my old Merc C Class was putting on All Season tyres - Kleber Quadraxer. The Merc was a heavy car with pretty infamous winter handling, rear wheel drive, all momentum and no sense of direction. Was recommended them and it not only could be driven in snow, which was a first, but the general road conditions we get it made a big difference - the traction control stopped coming on in wet weather and worn out roads.

They were a bit noisier on the road, but seemed very hard wearing.

The point of them in part is that they have a rubber compound that works in cold weather below 7c. Most UK tyres for some reason are not designed for that temperature yet most of the year we get those temperatures (think about driving early morning or at night as well as autumn and winter).

On that car, Dunlop were fitted new and were terrible and short lived (10k) and I generally found Goodyear worked well and Firestone always became mis-shaped. The C Class ate front tyres even though it was rear-wheel drive as the very tight turning circle meant that it was easy to scrub the outside of the tyres.

On the motorway, the difference in stopping distance from 70mph between a good and a bad tyre is the length of an HGV - that can make a difference.

scotsbob

At 70mph on a wet motorway your tyres are the only contact with the road. Makes sense to go only on cost and get the cheapest possible........doesn't it?

IamNotAllowedToUseMyName

scotsbob wrote: »

At 70mph on a wet motorway your tyres are the only contact with the road. Makes sense to go only on cost and get the cheapest possible........doesn't it?

The trouble is that as a novice, you can't tell what the difference between them is.

To me, wet weather braking performance is the key one for the UK (remember some of the cheap and cheerful tyre may be that because they aren't designed for the UK). From tests I've seen, most tyre are similar in dry weather tests, it is wet weather, and especially cold wet weather that make the biggest difference.

If the tyre are for granny doing 2 miles to the shops every week, just about any old tyre will do as granny will be so far away from the limits of the car and tyre.

Going back 30 years, I had friends who bought remoulds because they squealed going round corners.

zappahey

I'm really surprised that, in the best traditions of answering a different question, this didn't raise any eyebrows.

DBGage wrote: »

my payments stop in October (for the car) so not long before I change the car anyway.