Are these Identical Tyres?

EnglishMohican

Just looking to buy a pair of new tyres. The Halfords website came up with 4 tyres intended to meet my requirements. One tyre was rated BCC, the second was BAA, the third BBC and the fourth was BAA. All tyres were the same size, same speed rating and same load rating, specifically, 205/55/R16 91V. The puzzle to me is that all the tyres were Dunlop BluResponse tyres.

So same make, same tread pattern, same size, same everything, yet different ratings and very different prices. The one with the best ratings was the cheapest tyre.

I could not find anything that told me they were different (other than rating and price) so there is no way that I could go to the manufacturers website to confirm what I was buying,

Is Halfords mad or am I? Are those tyres different or are they the same tyre with some sort of marketing ploy in play.  Any other explanations?

Just to add, Kwik Fit had a similar sort of thing with two different options for these tyres, but there I think they may be differentiating on the date when they will fit them.

Mildly_Miffed

Dunlop's own website only lists one tyre in that size/load/speed combo.

Sport BluResponse - and it's B fuel, A wet grip, A noise.

https://www.dunlop.eu/en_gb/consumer/tires/summer.html?width=205&height=55&rimsize=16&loadindex=91&speedindex=V&rof=false&season=summer

There are other SportBluResponse listed in that size, but with different speed ratings - W and H - but both are also BAA.

I wonder if the production date on the two that didn't meet the same specs was different, older, or if they were parallel imports intended for a different market.

Personally, I wouldn't use either Halfords or Kwikfit - I've always had good prices and service from small local fitters booked via BlackCircles.

QrizB

Mildly_Miffed said:

Personally, I wouldn't use either Halfords or Kwikfit - I've always had good prices and service from small local fitters booked via BlackCircles.

The last three or four times I've needed rubber, ASDA Tyres have beaten everyone else that I've looked at. Again, they use various fitters.

tacpot12

Another vote for Asda Tyres. I've been running Dunlop BluResponse until the last change when I switched to Michelin CrossClimate 2s, which I think are much better than the Dunlops. 

fatbelly

The cross-climates are all-season tyres so will trade dry performance for grip in snow, ice and mud.

If the op is happy with a summer tyre then the dunlops are a reasonable choice.

As you gave the full spec, i put it into tyre runner


It showed those dunlops at £64 with blackcircles being the best supplier. The price for fitted is 82.99. You can get cheaper but not really better and cheaper.

If you are doing a high mileage you might get more life out of the Goodyear Efficient Grip 2, which is around a fiver more per tyre

EnglishMohican

The cheapest price on KwikFit is £75 fitted. That is why I want to be very sure I am not confusing apples and pears.

Mildly_Miffed

Just looking at BlackCircles, the Dunlops wouldn't be where my money would go anyway.

£67/ea for Toyo Proxes Comfort, with a tenner back on a pair? Bargain.
Or the Yoko BlueEarth for a few quid less than the Dunlops.
Or Mich Primacy 4 for £101 but £20 back from a pair, putting them to less than a tenner more than the Dunlops.

£75 ea from KF is a very good price - but given what other junk they have around that price (£6 cheaper than Arrowspeed, fgs, three quid more than Matador, or a fiver less than whatever random-non-brand-junk "Giti" is), I'd be very concerned about them doing a bait-and-switch or simply living down to their upselling reputation. Then there's their proven inability to do the basics like use jacks or fit tyres correctly.