Budget tyres or Premium tyres?

Horizon81

Jeez this must get asked once a day, along with winter tyres, 2 vs 4, mixing different makes front to back, tread patterns, rotational vs asymetric yaddya yadda yadda.

I say this - do you buy the cheapest food/clothes/furniture etc that you can?? Probably not, so why buy the cheapest 'budget' tyres?!

bowlhead99

A wise man once said, don't try to scrimp and save a few pennies on something that's going to spend a lot of time between you and the ground. Good shoes, tyres, a mattress, etc - all worth having.

Horizon81

bowlhead99 wrote: »

A wise man once said, don't try to scrimp and save a few pennies on something that's going to spend a lot of time between you and the ground. Good shoes, tyres, a mattress, etc - all worth having.

I like it. Same goes for the wife!

EdGasket

Horizon81 wrote: »

I like it. Same goes for the wife!

Except I could get many sets of premium tyres for what she costs per-annum to run.

bowlhead99

Well, quality rubber is expensive.

N1AK

Horizon81 wrote: »

I say this - do you buy the cheapest food/clothes/furniture etc that you can?? Probably not, so why buy the cheapest 'budget' tyres?!

Do you buy the most expensive food/clothes/furniture you can?? Probably not unless you're eating caviar that costs more than gold, and wearing the GDP of a small country, so why buy the most expensive 'premium' tyres.

Hopefully you can tell the above is a rubbish, straw man argument... and it's exactly the same argument you made but flipped.

The choice isn't between just the "cheapest budget tyres" and premium tyres. Only a fool unthinkingly assumes price means quality, so there's nothing wrong with people asking if it's possible to get decent tyres at non-premium prices.

N1AK

bowlhead99 wrote: »

A wise man once said, don't try to scrimp and save a few pennies on something that's going to spend a lot of time between you and the ground. Good shoes, tyres, a mattress, etc - all worth having.

Is that why you have a gold plated bog seat

DUTR

[quote=[Deleted User];69919774]Sure it wasnt more like 15m? I saw one report saying this.

All well and good of course, but I've also seen reports as you say where expensive tyres are as bad if not worse. It seems a bit of a lottery.[/QUOTE]

It is a bit of a lottery, I along with others have been in the same dilemna, with my previous car I always used OEM Conti's on there, the one winter I replaced 2 with some Event tyres, were they any worse? I found them to be better (ok it was old vs new) they were quieter then when the fronts were low, I replaced them with some Altenzo, I'd say those were not quite as good on my car, remember the premium tyres will have a price loading to cover marketing costs etc.
The lower cost tyres tend to be summer tyres not winter or all season which cost a little more than summer tyres.
This time I did replace with the OEM spec again, but only as they were well within my budget.
Only you can decide, with the current UK weather then perhaps all season or winters would be wiser for the money.

bowlhead99

N1AK wrote: »

The choice isn't between just the "cheapest budget tyres" and premium tyres. Only a fool unthinkingly assumes price means quality, so there's nothing wrong with people asking if it's possible to get decent tyres at non-premium prices.

I absolutely agree. Of course there are good tyres that don't cost the earth. But the OP was literally asking if there was a discernable difference between budget and premium. Which, generally, there is.

The step between mid and top end, or mid and good budget might not be so great. But if you pay for premium brands over cheaper ones you don't really risk getting something crap, you just risk wasting money on alleged "performance" you might not value. Whereas if you buy a random cheap one you do risk getting something crap if you haven't done your research.

[quote=[Deleted User];69919758]
BTW - noticed tyres are ZR rated. Who decides this?[/QUOTE]
ZR means that based on the manufacturers tests showing the design should be good for "240kmh or more", basically it was the old top of the scale ; now superseded by (e.g.) W for 168mph or Y for 186. They would do this in a lab pressing the tyre against a big metal drum to simulate appropriate load levels and run it to make sure it didn't go pop.

If you had a vehicle with a top speed of 120mph,probably best not to to put it on L tyres which are only designed for 120kmh/75mph.

[quote=[Deleted User];69919735]To be honest, I've had goodyear on there before and they wore appallingly quickly. Seemed to be decent tyres but I assumed they were slightly softer and thus wore quicker.

In the past, I've had a merc with continental tyres and they just did not last.

I'd rather have a safe tyre that lasts than a super duper one that I've got to keep buying.[/QUOTE]
That's why lots of different designs exist, everyone has a preference.

On my main car I have Michelin Pilot Super Sport which are great: Y rated and expensive but much grippier than the (similarly Y rated) Dunlops they replaced.

On my second car which is more of a lightweight toy that doesn't do many miles I have Toyo Proxes T1R. Much cheaper and decent handling but a low score for rolling resistance. Which is good for sticking to the road but not so good for tyre wear, or for fuel economy. But 6-8k miles would still last 3 years so I'm happy with those compromises for decent grip and wet handling from an affordable tyre.

N1AK wrote: »

Is that why you have a gold plated bog seat

Thermal properties of gold are quite good compared to other metals. I found the brass monkey used to freeze my balls off.

bigjl

Even the cheap tyres are pretty decent.

But there will always be a compromise somewhere to reach the lower price point imho.

Wether that be lifespan or maybe wet grip, maybe they will be noisier.

I have not experienced a tyre as scary in the wet as the Kelly tyres my Mum had fitted to her Renault 14 TS back in 87.

Though she found them perfectly acceptable doing regular runs to Dumbarton for work meetings.

My Dad however would only ever fit what came with the car. If it came with Michelin XZX that is what it got, when they were superseded then he went with the newer ones as axle sets.

If I have the budget I would tend to buy Michelin but there isn't always that much money in the budget.

This year I am about to order Nokian Weatherproof.

Like bowlhead99 I am fan of Toyo Proxes having had many sets of both T1Rs and the older T1S tyres.

I personally preferred the tread pattern of the T1S from a purely aesthetic perspective but the T1R was quieter and probably a bit better in the wet, they certainly lasted longer.