Cheap tyres you were impressed with?

[sierraman]

I’ve got Autogreens fitted, they’re alright, spin a bit easily on a greasy road but they’re useable enough. £50 a corner fitted. The Michelin’s were £140 a corner. I think not...

[sierraman]

19 hours ago, Kiltox said:

Autogreen and Hifly are both alright as ditchfinders go.  Didn't die in a fireball, contrary to popular belief.

Yes I’ve had Hifly, they were ok. A lot of the comments about budgets being death traps amuse me, you could have  a pair of Continentals on and some dickhead come round a blind bend and go head on with you, no amount of Michelin Crossclimates are going to prevent that. 

[Metal Guru]

I seen tyre tests ( yes, I know they’re sponsored by the big tyre companies etc etc), where the difference in wet braking from 60 ( I think) , was 28 m.

That’s easily the difference between not a scratch and being dead. Sure the dry tests were pretty close but then in dry conditions , completely bald tyres(slicks) will grip well. 
It’s a nonsense argument to say someone could collide with you so it doesn’t matter what tyres you have. 

I think the problem is , a lot of people buy cheap cars which may have a decent brand but very worn, so next to useless. They then go and put the cheapest new tyres they can find and tell everyone how great they were. Of course they are , comparing a poor tyre with 8mm with a good tyre with 1mm.

The other thing is , cheap tyres never last very long, so you’re saving much less than you thought, while adding to your risk while driving.

[Mrcento]

35 minutes ago, Metal Guru said:

cheap tyres never last very long, so you’re saving much less than you thought, while adding to your risk while driving.

Depends on the cheap tyres. Some of them (especially things like nankangs from 15 years ago) are like plastic and will still be like new long after premium tyres need to be changed.

Not that that is inherently a good thing, if they're not wearing, they're not gripping either.

When the cost difference isn't much, then absolutely, get the top ones. But that's just not the case for a lot of sizes, and the mid range ones are every bit as good to the point that i'd actively go for something like a uniroyal rainsport over something like a Pirelli. The fact they are £20 a corner cheaper is just the icing on the cake.

On 4x4 tyres (as i mentioned Insa Turbos earlier), it's £70 a corner v £155 a corner for a BF Goodrich TA/KO2. £280 for a full set v £620. For what is fundamentally the same tyre to be used on a low speed vehicle.

[Shite Ron]

I have always liked Goodyear or Pirelli when they did them in proper sizes, I now only have the option of Vredestein or  Uniroyal (185/70R13) so need to decide soon. I have never liked Michelin and have had several cars with them fitted and found them too hard which has compromised the handling. I have just ordered two Avon’s for the front of the Mercedes which should be fitted Saturday so I hope they are good. When I could opt out of a company car and could have a car allowance I bought Mondeo’s for work as they were cheap and reliable but extremely dull, I kept telling myself that as they  were so dull to drive I would not be pushing them anywhere near their limit so cheap tyres would be more than adequate. I still mostly bought decent brands though and have a full set of Goodyear efficient grips on the Mondeo, I went to swap two onto the Mercedes but although they look like new and are only 6 years old they have gone hard and have bulges in so I would not be keen to buy Goodyear again. I did buy a set of Fulda’s a few years ago and was very impressed with them.

[Parky]

I fitted a pair of Ceats to an old Corolla.  Kwik Fit reliably I formed me they are Pirelli’s budget brand using older Pirelli moulds in an Indian factory.  Seemed legit.  The car performed nicely on them, never noticed any wayward behaviour or dodginess in the rain or snow.  All in all I thought they were pretty good cheapies and would use again on an older runabout.

Looking at their website they seem to be a pretty impressive concern with lots of Oem connections in the Indian car manufacturing industry.  

My go to recommendation is always the same - Falken Ziex 310’s.  A rated in the wet, reasonably fuel efficient and very quiet.  Usually a little cheaper than the premium brands too.  Had these on a Fiat 500, my old Seat, and an R56 Mini and they suited them really well.

 

[Parky]

On 11/2/2021 at 12:32 AM, Wack said:

Tyres definitely deteriorate with age , I had a car with falken tyres on that were close to the limit , couldn't pull away at all in the wet without spinning and the tramlining on the motorway was awful , changed to michelin PS4 and driving home it was like a different car

Mrs P’s Fiat 500 had Contis.  Plenty of tread but they had gone hard and plasticky so wet weather roundabouts were an extravaganza of comical understeer.  Put me off Continentals to be honest.

[Liggle]

I've picked up an old Clio recently with Davanti's on, better than I was expecting

[sierraman]

14 hours ago, Metal Guru said:

I seen tyre tests ( yes, I know they’re sponsored by the big tyre companies etc etc), where the difference in wet braking from 60 ( I think) , was 28 m.

That’s easily the difference between not a scratch and being dead. Sure the dry tests were pretty close but then in dry conditions , completely bald tyres(slicks) will grip well. 
It’s a nonsense argument to say someone could collide with you so it doesn’t matter what tyres you have. 

I think the problem is , a lot of people buy cheap cars which may have a decent brand but very worn, so next to useless. They then go and put the cheapest new tyres they can find and tell everyone how great they were. Of course they are , comparing a poor tyre with 8mm with a good tyre with 1mm.

The other thing is , cheap tyres never last very long, so you’re saving much less than you thought, while adding to your risk while driving.

I don’t doubt Michelins last longer/perform better etc etc but it’s not always as straightforward as ‘buy the best’. Perhaps for some people fitting budgets might be difference between getting some new tyres and not, £100 a pair as opposed to £280, I’d be interested to know what you would suggest someone in such a position might do? 

[Metal Guru]

3 hours ago, sierraman said:

I don’t doubt Michelins last longer/perform better etc etc but it’s not always as straightforward as ‘buy the best’. Perhaps for some people fitting budgets might be difference between getting some new tyres and not, £100 a pair as opposed to £280, I’d be interested to know what you would suggest someone in such a position might do? 

In my experience the price range isn’t as wide as your example. In the sizes I’ve ever bought, cheapest are about 60% of the price of premium. That’s fitted price , add ons included in the fitted price like valves, balancing and environmental charges are the same for any tyre, the price range may be greater for supply only but who fits their own tyres?

I do appreciate people are strapped for cash, and it’s probably better to fit two new cheap tyres than use very worn ones, but the point I’m trying to make is if you work out cost per mile, the poor wear on cheap tyres, renders the difference negligible, so you get superior performance almost as a bonus.

[Shite Ron]

14 minutes ago, Metal Guru said:

In my experience the price range isn’t as wide as your example. In the sizes I’ve ever bought, cheapest are about 60% of the price of premium.

The Avon’s I have bought are £77 each, the cheapest tyres available are £60 each, I believe Avon are ok but will see, I would also be interested in opinions on Avon. Pirelli are £135 each and would be my choice if I won the Euromillions. Michelin are £121 each and may last longer but there is a compromise between hardwearing and grip, I prefer grip. I am a skinflint but always like good brakes and tyres. When I was 19 I bought a very tatty 2.3 Cortina for £125, then immediately fitted new brakes and a set of Pirelli P4’s for £150. Although I used to drive at well above the speed limits I never crashed. I am more sedate now but still like to have decent tyres and brakes.

[sierraman]

34 minutes ago, Metal Guru said:

In my experience the price range isn’t as wide as your example. In the sizes I’ve ever bought, cheapest are about 60% of the price of premium. That’s fitted price , add ons included in the fitted price like valves, balancing and environmental charges are the same for any tyre, the price range may be greater for supply only but who fits their own tyres?

I do appreciate people are strapped for cash, and it’s probably better to fit two new cheap tyres than use very worn ones, but the point I’m trying to make is if you work out cost per mile, the poor wear on cheap tyres, renders the difference negligible, so you get superior performance almost as a bonus.

Cost per mile isn’t that relevant though unless you have a tyre fund you deduct 28p a week into. For the vast majority of people it’s the immediate cost for tyres, fitting - I guess a tiny tiny percentage of people buy their tyres and fit themselves. 

As an aside I did once sell a car, that long ago can’t remember what it was, maybe a Fiesta or a Focus. Again, can’t recall how much but let’s say it was £6-700. The guy that came was wanting to chip the price based on it not having premium tyres on ‘He’d have to get those changed and factor it into price’. Naturally I told him to hit the road, second hand cars obviously weren’t for him.

[Metal Guru]

2 hours ago, sierraman said:

Cost per mile isn’t that relevant though unless you have a tyre fund you deduct 28p a week into. For the vast majority of people it’s the immediate cost for tyres, fitting - I guess a tiny tiny percentage of people buy their tyres and fit themselves. 

As an aside I did once sell a car, that long ago can’t remember what it was, maybe a Fiesta or a Focus. Again, can’t recall how much but let’s say it was £6-700. The guy that came was wanting to chip the price based on it not having premium tyres on ‘He’d have to get those changed and factor it into price’. Naturally I told him to hit the road, second hand cars obviously weren’t for him.

You can’t be fussy at £700 but it annoys me when people put cheap tyres on decent cars just to sell.

The last car I bought was a mini for £13500 and they’d put a couple of HiFlys on it, especially as it was an All4 model that should really have matching tyres Dealer agreed they were crap and swapped them for Dunlops.

[sierraman]

I guess its down to profit. If it saves you £80 then that’s money in your pocket. 99% of people wouldn’t know/care what make the tyres were, Joe Bloggs isn’t going to think ‘what a smashing bloke, he’s fitted a set of Goodyears - I’ll buy from him again’. 

[twosmoke300]

One brand I wouldn’t buy now are Avon 

Seeing loads perished enough to see cords and fail mot despite only being 2/3?years old . An absolute arse ache to balance too .

 

[lisbon_road]

On 11/19/2021 at 3:50 AM, Parky said:

 

My go to recommendation is always the same - Falken Ziex 310’s.  A rated in the wet, reasonably fuel efficient and very quiet.  Usually a little cheaper than the premium brands too.  Had these on a Fiat 500, my old Seat, and an R56 Mini and they suited them really well.

 

I just got two of those on my wife's Zafira (195 65 15).  Seem very good and quiet too.  2021 tyres, £24 fitted at Silverlake so part worn but only just.  Can't complain.

[Metal Guru]

48 minutes ago, lisbon_road said:

I just got two of those on my wife's Zafira (195 65 15).  Seem very good and quiet too.  2021 tyres, £24 fitted at Silverlake so part worn but only just.  Can't complain.

Falken  are decent tyres, not Chinese rubbish, but then they are only marginally cheaper than the premium brands.

[sierraman]

3 hours ago, twosmoke300 said:

One brand I wouldn’t buy now are Avon 

Seeing loads perished enough to see cords and fail mot despite only being 2/3?years old . An absolute arse ache to balance too .

 

Avon used to be the dogs bollocks years ago, standard fit to Rolls Royce, Jaguar etc. I’d probably class them as budgets now maybe. 

[Bren]

2 hours ago, sierraman said:

Avon used to be the dogs bollocks years ago, standard fit to Rolls Royce, Jaguar etc. I’d probably class them as budgets now maybe. 

I remember Avon turbospeeds used to be very good.

[sierraman]

14 minutes ago, Bren said:

I remember Avon turbospeeds used to be very good.

Probably, the XJ6 they were fitted to dissolved before the tyres cracked.

[Parky]

Whenever friends tell me about tyres blowing out or developing bulges it always seems to be Avon’s 

[Barry Cade]

16 hours ago, twosmoke300 said:

One brand I wouldn’t buy now are Avon 

Seeing loads perished enough to see cords and fail mot despite only being 2/3?years old . An absolute arse ache to balance too .

 

Agreed. Had problems with their bike tyres too.. 

[maxxo]

Bought some new wheels for my C5 with 2 "Delinte" 1 "hifly" and 1 "hero" tyre

i managed to get understeer at 20 mph on a slightly damp roundabout, which then led to exciting oversteer the moment i tried to correct it

very bad vibrations, they felt rock hard and i'm not even sure they were actually round

they lasted a day

got a brand new set of Bridgestone all seasons on there now, absolutely wonderful with actual grip!

they seemed bargain basement levels of cheap tyres.....not keen

usually happy to try different tyres, but i was surprised at how poor they were, god knows how old they were too!

oh and i could very easily activate the ABS during normal braking when damp which was exciting too

[Metal Guru]

1 hour ago, maxxo said:

Bought some new wheels for my C5 with 2 "Delinte" 1 "hifly" and 1 "hero" tyre

i managed to get understeer at 20 mph on a slightly damp roundabout, which then led to exciting oversteer the moment i tried to correct it

very bad vibrations, they felt rock hard and i'm not even sure they were actually round

they lasted a day

got a brand new set of Bridgestone all seasons on there now, absolutely wonderful with actual grip!

they seemed bargain basement levels of cheap tyres.....not keen

usually happy to try different tyres, but i was surprised at how poor they were, god knows how old they were too!

oh and i could very easily activate the ABS during normal braking when damp which was exciting too

No doubt you’ll get replies from people telling you Chinese “Wenogrips” are the greatest tyres ever , and in any case if you drive carefully , why buy decent tyres? 

[AnnoyingPentium]

I've got Matador Hectorra's on my Fabia at 195/50/R15. Spin a wee bit in the wet if you're a lead footed oaf like myself but they're quiet and sticky in the dry.

[Mrcento]

The Civic currently has Goodrides on....which is a laugh, i wish the spaceship had a 'good ride', it's a jiggly mess at low speeds.

They are typical budget fare i think. Totally acceptable in the dry (i'd even lean towards saying pretty good), but definitely verging on pretty shit in the wet but not so shit they are in imminent danger of firing you off into a tree unless you drive like a knob.

Was out in freezing rain/sleet earlier and that really highlighted how shit they actually are.

Around me there are a lot of uphill T junctions and getting out of some of them without lighting up the tyres was impossible. In fact one was so bad it was even difficult to get going at all. Very poor traction. Wasn't much better braking downhill into a corner at low speed, took a second to even bite on one.... you know that 'shit' feeling for a fraction of a second when you turn the wheel even at a mega low speed and the car keeps going straight?, yeah.....

If i was keeping this thing much longer, i'd definitely be looking to replace with something better.

[Metal Guru]

1 hour ago, Mrcento said:

The Civic currently has Goodrides on....which is a laugh, i wish the spaceship had a 'good ride', it's a jiggly mess at low speeds.

They are typical budget fare i think. Totally acceptable in the dry (i'd even lean towards saying pretty good), but definitely verging on pretty shit in the wet but not so shit they are in imminent danger of firing you off into a tree unless you drive like a knob.

Was out in freezing rain/sleet earlier and that really highlighted how shit they actually are.

Around me there are a lot of uphill T junctions and getting out of some of them without lighting up the tyres was impossible. In fact one was so bad it was even difficult to get going at all. Very poor traction. Wasn't much better braking downhill into a corner at low speed, took a second to even bite on one.... you know that 'shit' feeling for a fraction of a second when you turn the wheel even at a mega low speed and the car keeps going straight?, yeah.....

If i was keeping this thing much longer, i'd definitely be looking to replace with something better.

You’ve hit the nail in the head. Cheap tyres are ok on dry roads. After, best tyre in dry is a slick, so tread pattern is not so important.

In the wet, the cheap stuff is terrible. Even in the driest parts of the U.K. , is difficult to justify cheap tyres by saying , “ it hardly rains here”.

[Daviemck2006]

My bosses vw caddy had toyo van tyres on it, and they were utterly crap in the wet. He got 4 apollo all season tyres fitted a few weeks ago, and it made a tremendous difference to the van, wet and dry. So much so that I then went and got two fitted to the front of my caddy last week. It had pirelli p7 on the front which had a measured 4mm left on them, dated 1717 but starting to perish and hopeless in the wet. I have only once had a blowout at speed and it was a relatively new pirelli, so they had to go. The apollos were £90 each fitted, in 225/45x17 size which I thought was reasonable. And yes, it is not the standard caddy wheels on it! I usually only buy vrediesten or uniroyal tyres, so it will be interesting to see how these ones work as they wear. I will find out on the bosses one first, it's doing about 600 miles a week, where mine probably womt do that in a month!

Sent from my SM-T585 using Tapatalk

[Metal Guru]

5 hours ago, Daviemck2006 said:

My bosses vw caddy had toyo van tyres on it, and they were utterly crap in the wet. He got 4 apollo all season tyres fitted a few weeks ago, and it made a tremendous difference to the van, wet and dry. So much so that I then went and got two fitted to the front of my caddy last week. It had pirelli p7 on the front which had a measured 4mm left on them, dated 1717 but starting to perish and hopeless in the wet. I have only once had a blowout at speed and it was a relatively new pirelli, so they had to go. The apollos were £90 each fitted, in 225/45x17 size which I thought was reasonable. And yes, it is not the standard caddy wheels on it! I usually only buy vrediesten or uniroyal tyres, so it will be interesting to see how these ones work as they wear. I will find out on the bosses one first, it's doing about 600 miles a week, where mine probably womt do that in a month!

Sent from my SM-T585 using Tapatalk
 

Toyos aren’t cheap but I’ve only had them once. They were on a hybrid , so presumably low rolling resistance = low grip. Also , I’ve noticed they seem to be the tyre of choice for drifters, so that tells you how they grip.

Pirellis are premium tyres but very overrated and are mid range in performance at best.

Hope your Apollos are fine. (Indian tyre company which is worrying but they do own Vredestein who are excellent). However I paid £105 for Michelin PS4 in that size which is generally regarded as the best tyre around. I think the extra £15 was worth it.

[Missy Charm]

The garage I use does a good deal on Falken tyres, so they are presently what is on my car.  The Falkens have been pretty good; they aren't expensive and don't tend to wear that quickly.  They seem to stick to the road well enough too, other than the fronts being prone to spinning in the wet.