Pleasantly surprised by the cheapest new tyres I could find on ebay

[DaveDorson]

So as you know, probably, I've got a Magnum Grey Mondeo ST TDCI Estate as a daily driver, and these things do have quite the appetite for front tyres.

Well, after spending all my spare income on the T4, and moving the ST220 to the workshop to get it done, I found myself in a bit of a pickle, my Nexen front tyres (I run 235 45 R18's on this car, the additional sidewall is nicer on pothole addled roads) were a bit.. well they were well beyond their best, showing signs of significant scrub on the outside edge and even wear across the main body down to the wear markers.  This is in no small part, I'm sure, to my enthusiastic driving style.

I was perfectly happy with the budget Nexen tyres, they've performed really well, very hard to unsettle even in the wet, unless you're being a proper pillock of course, but then we're talking about me.

Someone told me that Roadstone Tyres are the same as the Nexen, but a bit cheaper, so i was going to buy a set of these, but for £20 a tyre less, there were some HiFly Tyres that would get me out of a pickle, snappily named the HF805 

So I did it.  I went with a total unknown Chinese tyre, to get me out the shit until I'm less of a financial disaster.

OK, OK, it's very early days, they'll probably wear to snot in a few months of abuse, but I've noticed so far, my fuel economy has started to creep up, the car feels a bit more cushioned over bumps, they don't seem to unsettle or try and throw me into a hedge or ditch and the road noise is less than the worn out Nexens were by some way.

The tread pattern is nigh on identical.  They were a bit more of a struggle to get on the rim, as they seem a bit more stiff than the Nexen was, and yes I'm yet to try cold and wet horrible weather performance on them. (although there was a bit on the drive home where I had some wet leaves and mud on a corner, thanks to a considerate farmer.., but no drama), but right now, I think I've saved myself £40 and I've kept my car legal.

Tune in next week, for Dave dies in a ditch after Chinese OMG WTF Tyre failure.

[Crispian_J_Hotson]

I put cheapies on the 635 whilst it's sitting around for months at a time, long enough for spiders to lay egg bags in the tread... Dieyung or some shit like that. National tyres dinked my rims when they fitted them so I got them for free after a moan up. They do no favours to the front end performance though on a car that relies heavily on good condition suspension and tyres. When the car gets back to regular use, they are coming off.

Hows the tread on your cheapies? Is the tread cut deep or do you think it'll wear halfway and you'll just have 3 bands of tread left?

[DaveDorson]

5 minutes ago, BoggyMires said:

I put cheapies on the 635 whilst it's sitting around for months at a time, long enough for spiders to lay egg bags in the tread... Dieyung or some shit like that. National tyres dinked my rims when they fitted them so I got them for free after a moan up. They do no favours to the front end performance though on a car that relies heavily on good condition suspension and tyres. When the car gets back to regular use, they are coming off.

Hows the tread on your cheapies? Is the tread cut deep or do you think it'll wear halfway and you'll just have 3 bands of tread left?

Thread looks fine, decent cut, 8mm all the way around them, the only real criticism I have at this point is that they don't look too well trimmed following removal from the mould.  I pulled a few feathers off before I fitted them, but they're £45.00 a tyre, and a quick drive will probably see most of the edge feathers from the mould removed anyway.

[Kiltox]

You’ve done well there, in my experience of various death rings, I really rate HiFly. I wouldn’t put them in the same category as stuff like HAPPYGALOP 

[tooSavvy]

LandSail (...ing across wet roundabouts) are doing me OK atm.

*alright, snow was 'focussing!' ?

[sierraman]

It hasn’t rained yet...

[UltraWomble]

Im running Kingpin M&S tyres from TreadX ( they supply banger boys and are cheap).

Generally £50 an axle for a pair and last about 12 months with normal driving

[DaveDorson]

18 minutes ago, sierraman said:

It hasn’t rained yet...

Well it rained a bit on Saturday and it hadn't fulled dried out as a lot of my route between the workshop and the house goes through some forestry commission wooded land, which means it doesn't dry out too well.  I've not hit standing water in them or experienced horrible rain in them yet, but I'm also not the sort to try and get 9/10th out my car in the rain either. :).

 

We shall see how they fair up in the wet stuff.

[brickwall]

23 minutes ago, UltraWomble said:

Im running Kingpin M&S tyres from TreadX ( they supply banger boys and are cheap).

Generally £50 an axle for a pair and last about 12 months with normal driving

I run Kingpin M&S too. Very cheap and noisy on the tarmac. They have lasted well, as I'm on my 2nd year with this set.

Edited July 15, 2019 by brickwall
I'm a dick at spelling.

[tooSavvy]

Cormoran popped up @Kingpin.

Polish..... Ex Stomil factory (Michelin operated)

Not Chink!

[martc]

1 hour ago, UltraWomble said:

Im running Kingpin M&S tyres from TreadX ( they supply banger boys and are cheap).

Generally £50 an axle for a pair and last about 12 months with normal driving

These aren't just any old ditchfinders, they're M&S ditchfinders.

[wuvvum]

3 hours ago, tooSavvy said:

LandSail (...ing across wet roundabouts) are doing me OK atm.

*alright, snow was 'focussing!' ?

I had Landsails on one of my Mondeos, never had any cause for complaint apart from slightly high road noise.

[Tadhg Tiogar]

5 hours ago, BoggyMires said:

.....National tyres dinked my rims when they fitted them so I got them for free after a moan up.....

National Tyres did far worse than that to my 635 back in 2000. They changed the rear tyres, then forgot to properly tighten the wheel bolts on the n/s/r wheel. This resulted in the wheel unbolting itself at 50mph approaching Elstree South roundabout. I managed to bring it to a halt just before the stop line, with the wheel fully detached and the wheel arch sitting on the tyre tread.

Naturally they had to pay for the repairs at a BMW main dealer. Set them back about a grand, as the entire hub, brake disc, and brake disc protector plate had to be replaced as well, plus a new metric tyre.

[DaveDorson]

28 minutes ago, Tadhg Tiogar said:

National Tyres did far worse than that to my 635 back in 2000. They changed the rear tyres, then forgot to properly tighten the wheel bolts on the n/s/r wheel. This resulted in the wheel unbolting itself at 50mph approaching Elstree South roundabout. I managed to bring it to a halt just before the stop line, with the wheel fully detached and the wheel arch sitting on the tyre tread.

Naturally they had to pay for the repairs at a BMW main dealer. Set them back about a grand, as the entire hub, brake disc, and brake disc protector plate had to be replaced as well, plus a new metric tyre.

See it's stuff like this that made me go out and get a tyre machine.

[Mally]

How does a tyre machine remind you to tighten the nuts up?

[DaveDorson]

29 minutes ago, Mally said:

How does a tyre machine remind you to tighten the nuts up?

When you're doing the work yourself, you KNOW it's been done because you did it.

[big_al_granvia]

very true dave, been looking at those cheap hand tyre changers and hand balancers, the amount of times flat4 changes tyres it would pay for itself in no time... dont have a compressor or space for one 

[Mally]

2 hours ago, DaveDorson said:

When you're doing the work yourself, you KNOW it's been done because you did it.

I've got a tyre machine. Now and then I forget to tighten one up.

But I always check again and find it.

You can have tyres fitted and check them yourself. The machine does not make you foolproof.

[martc]

14 hours ago, Mally said:

How does a tyre machine remind you to tighten the nuts up?

He has a note-it stuck to it saying 'remember to tighten the nuts'.

[DaveDorson]

12 hours ago, Mally said:

I've got a tyre machine. Now and then I forget to tighten one up.

But I always check again and find it.

You can have tyres fitted and check them yourself. The machine does not make you foolproof.

No it doesn't.

And yes, you can check yourself, but really, who would, when you've PAID someone else to do it?

I've never forgotten to do it myself when I'm the one who's changed the tyre.

[DaveDorson]

15 hours ago, big_al_granvia said:

very true dave, been looking at those cheap hand tyre changers and hand balancers, the amount of times flat4 changes tyres it would pay for itself in no time... dont have a compressor or space for one 

I spent the outlay on a Hoffman one, with a balancing machine and compressor too.    They do take up a monumental amount of space, not ideal if you don't have workshop space available.

[sierraman]

17 hours ago, DaveDorson said:

When you're doing the work yourself, you KNOW it's been done because you did it.

Anyone can make a mistake...

I’m quite a fan of Rovello Tyres, the Focus needs a pair on the back. £78 fitted for the pair.

[New POD]

4 hours ago, martc said:

He has a note-it stuck to it saying 'remember to tighten the nuts'.

You've worked in aerospace? That's normal practise on most flight critical assemblies. 

Just put it on the method sheet. 

 

[sierraman]

My mate was in the RAF, working on Helicopters, I usually have my tools all over the floor, working in mess. On the other hand he works like they do it the RAF, counting all the tools back at the end of the job so none are left on the job.

[DaveDorson]

We've had rain and I've not died yet.