Quality* tyres

[Noel Tidybeard]

maxxis screwed with the fule economy on my primera and were showing cracks after about 2 years

my bro=in-law used to swear by sime monzas i just used to swear at them!

[Richard]

Marshall and another one I can't remember used to have the same tread pattern as Stomil. I remember Marshalls being half decent, but I was comparing them with second hand remoulds.

[IanMacfarlane]

I've got Falkens on one and a half Mazda's and find them excellent, good grip, quiet and last well. The other half has Landsails on the back due not checking before MOT day and just taking what the garage offered. Can tell the difference but not too bad.

[Skoze]

We had some Maxxis' on the Scooby a few years back, that loved them even with 250bhp but I guess the 4wd helped. 

 

Bought the Capri with Securons, proudly made in West Germany. If that wasn't an indication to their age, the choice between going straight on or completely broadsiding it around roundabouts when there was so much as a cloud on the horizon certainly was. 

 

Hateful tyres. Greatly enjoyed the Toyos until I killed it. 

[Taff]

slight thread tangent but I hope its accepted.

 

On the tyre leader website, some tyres are described as "passenger summer" & some described as "passenger all season". I'm assuming all season is a general all-rounder of a tyre? I don't want to be stuck with something that is fine for when it's lashing it down but not much cop in the dry.

 

[Essex V6]

We had some Maxxis' on the Scooby a few years back, that loved them even with 250bhp but I guess the 4wd helped. 

 

Bought the Capri with Securons, proudly made in West Germany. If that wasn't an indication to their age, the choice between going straight on or completely broadsiding it around roundabouts when there was so much as a cloud on the horizon certainly was. 

 

Hateful tyres. Greatly enjoyed the Toyos until I killed it.

 

I stuck a set of Toyo Proxes on my S and reckon they are fantastic!

 

[gordonbennet]

Genuine all season tyres are snowflake and mountain symbol stamped, which means they are properly rated for cold weather use and have a different compound in at least part of the tread which comes into its own as temps drop below 7'C....they are a compromise between full summer and full winter, not the best at either.

 

Tyres aimed at the US market are sometimes called all season but may not be snowflake marked so some sites can be confusing here.

 

M&S marked is misleading, whilst its supposed to be mud and snow the compound and temp suitability is not taken into account, M&S refers to the tread pattern where there is a more aggressive tread, it's worked out in a percentage of tread basis the  figures of which i know not....so M&S tyres might not be officially all season tyres.

 

 

A good all round all season tyre is the Vredestein Quatrac, our family have used many and they are seriously good, GoodYear Vector's get good reviews too...having said that previous generation Uniroyal Rain Expert's whilst classed as a summer tyre are more than acceptable for snow and ice grip, how the new Rain Expert 3 performs in the cold we'll see.

 

There, thats clear as mud innit.

 

TyreReviews.co.uk is a very useful site, on there you will find links to lots of european tyre comparison tests too, i'm sure all seasons have been tested so well worth an hour or so poke nosing.

[cms206]

I'll have a nosy round our fleet tomorrow morning for shite boots. We ran Wanlis on a Merc 709D minibus which delaminated after about half a shift, and at one point every one of our Volvo B10M service buses were shod with Triangle tyres.

 

At the moment we're generally running GT Radials on the steer axles and Bandag remoulds on the drive axles though we had some howlers in the past.

Had a nosy just round what stuff we had in the depot this morning... I can now add to the list the following:

 

Kormoran, Rockstone, Hanksugi, Sailun, Doublestar, Torque, Longmarch, Antyre, Fullrun, Agate, Lassa, Barum, Hifly, GTRadial, Basoon, Winrun, BCT, NextTread, Goodride, Doublecoin, Double Happiness and Triangle.

 

[jonathan_dyane]

You win (again!)

[catsinthewelder]

I've been meaning to put some better tyres on the Cherry for a bit as it's currently fitted with 1 of each;

 

Passio Debica

Lee Conquest Sprint

BF Goodrich Excentia A/S

Barum Brillantis

 

They are all really old but weirdly don't seem to have an adverse affect on the handling.

[Dajazar]

Lassa's are great. They are a budget Bridgestone and manufactured in Turkey. They are my budget tyre of choice but aren't particularly cheap any more because they have a good rep.

[Asimo]

Anyone else make tyre choices based on the coolness of the tread pattern?

 

 

 Yep. I do like a good tread pattern. Michelin TRX is a favourite.

 

My Connect had new "Mayrun" tyres when I bought it, which I expected nothing of (I am a tyre snob) but they have been fine, never given me a moment wet or dry and are only half worn at 15000 miles. Doesn't say anywhere on them where they were made.

[dugong]

My Amazon had a set of 1978 Goodyear Grand Prix C800Ss fitted when I bought it. In 2006. 

 

[sporty-shite]

No Chinese tyre can ever beat that all-time great of the shite car world, the STOMIL. These eastern-bloc death rings were description-defyingly shit, with no grip to speak of, impossible to balance properly and a 100% chance of going egg-shaped or getting a big swollen blister on the sidewall within a year of purchase. Utter bollocks.

When I was garage monkey at a rental place in the early 90s we used to fit stomils to the hire cars. we used to have to blow an inner tube up inside the tyre and leave it overnight to stretch the walls out,otherwise they wouldn't go on the rim. They were rock hard and scary to drive on. But our boss was tight as cramp, and they were cheap.

[gtd2000]

I've had mixed results with tyres over the years. Brand names have had the worst characteristic of poor grip, including Michelin, Continental & Firestone.

 

I've had great results with Sunfil (Chinese and cheap but will be dismissed as lethal death traps by many).

 

I've got cheap shit tyres on my Chinese built Super Cub made of nylon but they do the job just fine....

 

I tend to try to buy "as new" tyres that come off unused spare wheels at the local scrappies in general for motoring use but these days the scrappies are asking prices that are way beyond it being a sound choice....much like most parts these days...which can besoruced cheaper on eBay brand new in many instances

 

I normally only buy two tyres at a time, if the new tyres are any good they go on the front, if not they go on the back...

[Vince70]

Does anyone else remember Pneumant tyres from East Germany?

I've got a brand new one one the front of my Audi A3 as I needed a new tyre and alloy wheel last month after driving through a bomb crater on a drive back from Ramsgate very early one morning and my tyre and wheel ended up a bit square it also ended up needing a wishbone arm/top mount and track rod end but that might of been due to a previous bodge repair on the car.

 

http://pages.ebay.com/link/?nav=item.view&alt=web&id=150833519193

I've got to admit I hate driving on mismatched rubber and lately I've had to change 3 tyres at short notice because of punctures and potholes and now have ended up with two different types of Goodyear a Firestone and now the Pneumant but to be honest it seems to handle ok but the problem is I wouldn't know whereabouts I could find another one to having a matching pair on the axle.

 

But I once had unbranded Chinese shite on front of a golf cabriolet I bought and I really thought something was up with the car and a couple of mates had a look underneath for signs of wear or damage to the car also as the car would wander all over the place and in the end I changed the tyres over for a set of Avons and it transformed the car so it does pay to run at least some decent midrange if you can afford it..

[Jamie]

Just seen these beauties on a potential gumtree purchase 

[Fraz]

The Octavia I’ve just bought has a smashing set of “autojoy” tyres in the rear.

 

once it’s on the road I’ll update as to how much of a Tokyo drift machine they make the car ?

[DaveDorson]

I'm still happy after more rain last night with my HiFly tyres  

[They_all_do_that_sir]

Can't remember the brand but the fronts on the roomster haven't worn noticeably in almost 8000 miles and they are scary in the wet. Nightmare to get balanced too.

In my defence they were on the car when I got it.....

Sent from my TA-1012 using Tapatalk

[Datsuncog]

Nice to see so much love* for Stomils on here.

My Viva HC came fitted with a set; in combination with the abysmally inadequate brakes (same tiny front pads as a Mini) it was no surprise that most acquaintances who drove it regarded it as a total deathtrap.

I eventually raided the piggy bank and fitted a set of Uniroyal Rain Experts to it, which were great for two months until I got a blowout while going at full chat (56mph) on the A27.

Turns out Kwik Fit had put an inner tube on one wheel as they couldn't get the valve to seal... which had rubbed the inside of the tyrewall away.

Back to three Uniroyals and the Stomil spare...

That made the handling interesting*.

[Split_Pin]

My Clio 172 came a set of 4 'Constancy' tyres. Fine in the dry but try and apply a wee bootful in the wet and you get some savage torque steer. Who fits tyres like that to a higher powered car? Saying that I've had tje car a year and done nowt about it yet!

I bought 4 Riken tyres for the Mini on eBay. It says they are made by Michelen and for £145 for 4 I'm prepared to take their word for it.

[Tadhg Tiogar]

On 5/19/2015 at 2:44 AM, Noel Tidybeard said:

maxxis screwed with the fule economy on my primera and were showing cracks after about 2 years

my bro=in-law used to swear by sime monzas i just used to swear at them!

I'm stuck with Maxxis on the CX, as they came with the car, and show little sign of tread wear. Taiwanese brand, apparently, not to be confused with the similar-sounding Maxis who created the SimCity computer games.

I used to hear good things about Falken tyres.

On 5/22/2015 at 7:31 PM, cms206 said:

.... stuff we had in the depot this morning... I can now add to the list the following:

Kormoran, Rockstone, Hanksugi, Sailun, Doublestar, Torque, Longmarch, Antyre, Fullrun, Agate, Lassa, Barum, Hifly, GTRadial, Basoon, Winrun, BCT, NextTread, Goodride, Doublecoin, Double Happiness and Triangle.

Interesting brand names, seemingly mostly Chinese..... Sailun hails from Qingdao/Tsingtao (same as the beer of that name), an area which for a while was colonised by the Germans - fancy that!

Hanksugi started as Japanese but made in China.

I've also seen "Farroad" tyres, a brand owned by Shandong Fengyuan, which operates in much the same province as Sailun.

1 hour ago, Datsuncog said:

Nice to see so much love* for Stomils on here.

My Viva HC came fitted with a set; in combination with the abysmally inadequate brakes (same tiny front pads as a Mini) it was no surprise that most acquaintances who drove it regarded it as a total deathtrap.

I eventually raided the piggy bank and fitted a set of Uniroyal Rain Experts to it, which were great for two months until I got a blowout while going at full chat (56mph) on the A27.

Turns out Kwik Fit had put an inner tube on one wheel as they couldn't get the valve to seal... which had rubbed the inside of the tyrewall away.

Back to three Uniroyals and the Stomil spare...

That made the handling interesting*.

List of some of the brands and their owners. Stomil started as Polish, but is owned by Michelin!

[Datsuncog]

30 minutes ago, Tadhg Tiogar said:

 Stomil started as Polish, but is owned by Michelin!

Heh, these Stomils were very much original Commie-hoops with an odd 'block-pattern' tread, ... I bought the car in 1997 with a verified 43k on the clock, and the tyres seemed far from new even then. But they just didn't wear down... I eventually binned them off in 2003 because they were becoming really hard and shiny, and even to my hapless eyes they clearly presented a bit of a danger.

PRL over-engineering, hey?

 

EDIT: should mebbe read 'bloc pattern', hey?

 

I'll show myself out.

[JimH]

CoaB, I'd forgotten about Stomils. Some much fun poked at Korean Ditchfinders these days we tend to forget it was once possible to buy some genuinely pot luck quality tyres. I recall a "puncture" I had on one only to find that once I'd got the tyre off the rim it had completely delaminated and the inner section was flapping around inside.

[Tadhg Tiogar]

1 minute ago, Datsuncog said:

.....they were becoming really hard and shiny....

Might have polished up well for static show displays!

[Datsuncog]

1 minute ago, Tadhg Tiogar said:

Might have polished up well for static show displays!

I spent about a year being really pleased, as I thought all my applications of Turtle Wax Wet 'n' Black were finally paying dividends... then realised the whole tyre had the texture of a waxed floor.

Luckily the wheezy 1256cc engine lugging that big body around meant that engine braking was ferocious, so I rarely had to rely on brakes or tyres to slow down... just ease off the throttle and it soon came to a halt.

I'm actually feeling a bit weird, thinking about it all now!

[Spottedlaurel]

I've just put a set of Toyo Nano Energy tyres on the Sunny, classic 155/80x13 size. They were just over £40 each fitted, and I was surprised to see they were made in Japan.