"Rapid" brand budget tyres - anyone use them?

neilmcl

takman wrote: »

I've never had to swerve in my car so I wouldn't know what they are like in that respect. But the grip is more than good enough for the way I drive my car.

That's fair enough, but it's when you go outside the boundaries of your normal driving behaviour is the time you need the tyres to behave in the way you need them to. So for me, I'd rather spend that little bit extra and get a tyre I know and trust for that rare occasion rather than take a chance with my life with one of these cheapo budget brands.

At the end of the day it simply is a case of risk management.

tygar2

takman wrote: »

Yes it was emergency breaking in the wet. I was only going 30 and I didn't completely stop but I wanted to see how the outfit would react in an emergency situation. It performed well enough that I'm confident in the tyres.

I have also had to do a proper emergency break from 60mph on the motorway when a car in front suddenly slowed down for some apparent reason, but that was in the dry. I also didn't hit the car in front so I would say that was a definite pass!.

I've never had to swerve in my car so I wouldn't know what they are like in that respect. But the grip is more than good enough for the way I drive my car.

Thanks Takman for sharing your real life experiences with a brand of tyres. To me, this is more informative/educational than (made up?) statistics I don't quite understand.

Considering the number of brake applications that occur during day to day driving, I'm quite amazed the difference between a budget and premium tyre would makes a difference between crash or no crash 1% of the time. I just visualised my route to work, 5 miles away, and estimated I would do about 30 brake applications each way. If you are applying emergency brakes that often (1% of the time) then you need to go to Specsavers - and go through another driving test! :eek:

While I accept that there are poor budget tyres, I think it is also unfair to tar them all with the same brush and nothing but propaganda from tyre manufacturers to back it up.

I'm sure a £60 tyre would be rubbish on an M5 BMW but most of us on here are not driving super high performance cars. It would be more beneficial to highlight the budget/unknown brands that have proved themselves good performers so we can all save money.:beer:
Just checked and my 11 year old Ford Focus...tyres on it are branded Triangle CNTT.
Have had them for approximately the last 4 years/30 000 miles and they have been adequate. Over the life of the tyre road noise could have been a bit quieter but wasn't terrible.
Wet weather proformance was also good enough but not spectacular but I also drove within the limitations of my vehicle. The few occassions I have had to hit the emergency brakes over the last 4 years the tyres have worked satisfactorily in conjunction with the cars ABS system.
Tread is now getting low but still legal but they are now occasionally a bit slippy. Will be replacing shortly. Though they have served me well I will be look for something different as repalcements.

takman

neilmcl wrote: »

That's fair enough, but it's when you go outside the boundaries of your normal driving behaviour is the time you need the tyres to behave in the way you need them to. So for me, I'd rather spend that little bit extra and get a tyre I know and trust for that rare occasion rather than take a chance with my life with one of these cheapo budget brands.

At the end of the day it simply is a case of risk management.

But the problem with that is how do you know what tyres are going to be better. Jinyu may be priced as a budget tyres but from my experience they are far better than other similar priced tyres.
You could always go by the ratings on the sticker, but that only shows wet grip. Plus I've read that some manufacturers had issues with these stickers because tyres they produced with top notch handling score low in the wet grip test and the testing doesn't fully show how good the tyre really is.

bigjl

In all honesty most Chinese tyres are greatly improved from the Ling Longs etc that entered the market about 10years ago.

Chinese brands are widely used in Africa where road conditions are less than ideal, though there are also a fair few accidents when the roads get wet!

I wouldn't be surprised if a lot of the R&D on the current Chinese manufActured tyres is either a straight copy of more mainstream brands or has been done in partnership with tyre experts from the West, or indeed from Korea or Indonesia.

tygar2

takman wrote: »

But the problem with that is how do you know what tyres are going to be better. Jinyu may be priced as a budget tyres but from my experience they are far better than other similar priced tyres.

Looked up the Jinyu tyres you suggested. They seem to have decent reviews - thanks.

On a side note, I had a wierd experience when getting a price from Costco. I want to change from runflats to normal tyres on a mini.
Guy said they will only fit non runflats for me if I bring them the wheels without the car. Apparently the car suspension was designed for run flats so non runflats would make the car "dangerous" - really??

vikingaero

tygar2 wrote: »

Looked up the Jinyu tyres you suggested. They seem to have decent reviews - thanks.

On a side note, I had a wierd experience when getting a price from Costco. I want to change from runflats to normal tyres on a mini.
Guy said they will only fit non runflats for me if I bring them the wheels without the car. Apparently the car suspension was designed for run flats so non runflats would make the car "dangerous" - really??

Costco are a bit anal regarding tyre fitting which isn't necessarily a bad thing. For example they will only fit new tyres to the rear (yes that argument!). Some tyre fitters claim that MINI rims can only take run flats despite thousands of people safely driving on non-runflats on OE runflat equipped cars

bigjl

vikingaero wrote: »

Costco are a bit anal regarding tyre fitting which isn't necessarily a bad thing. For example they will only fit new tyres to the rear (yes that argument!). Some tyre fitters claim that MINI rims can only take run flats despite thousands of people safely driving on non-runflats on OE runflat equipped cars

It is not uncommon for BMW owners to go for non run flats aswell, much more comfortable.

The 116D I had for a while last year had non run flats, and had only ever been serviced by the Main Dealer Network even brakes where done there.

I would not be surprised if BMW fitted the tyres. Ride comfort was much better than on another 1 Series I have driven, though that one had 17" wheels and mine 16" which may have helped.

AdrianC

Bear in mind that, if your vehicle was supplied new with runflats, it's unlikely to have any other provision for a puncture. If you then have a puncture, most of the breakdown services will not cover you, since their terms & conditions almost universally state that the manufacturer's provision - or an alternative - needs to be present.

bigjl

AdrianC wrote: »

Bear in mind that, if your vehicle was supplied new with runflats, it's unlikely to have any other provision for a puncture. If you then have a puncture, most of the breakdown services will not cover you, since their terms & conditions almost universally state that the manufacturer's provision - or an alternative - needs to be present.

Ford Galaxys have not had spare tyres for years and hey don't have run flats. Not even a place for a spare.

My Jaguar XJL had no spare and no run flats, had space for a space saver though as you could option one.

The Picanto has no spare and no run flats, I think there is space for one.

All these cars have tyre sealant with a tyre inflation pump.

And that is just the cars that I have owned or driven in the last three or four years.

AdrianC

bigjl wrote: »

Ford Galaxys have not had spare tyres for years and hey don't have run flats. Not even a place for a spare.

My Jaguar XJL had no spare and no run flats, had space for a space saver though as you could option one.

The Picanto has no spare and no run flats, I think there is space for one.

All these cars have tyre sealant with a tyre inflation pump.

And that is just the cars that I have owned or driven in the last three or four years.

And if you take that sealant/pump out, the breakdown services won't help, because you'll have got rid of the manufacturer's provision, without providing any alternative...