Budget tyres any to avoid?

[capsuleboy]

Thinking of buying some super cheap tyres from ebay, just over a £100 for the set of 4 delivered...

155X13's by either

Sonar

Maxxis

Evergreen

To go on a very low performance Renault so high speed cornering not an issue.

Any thoughts....

[Guest Leonard Hatred]

http://www.tyretest.com/

[shite_meister]

Renault have started supplying tyres under their own Motrio name, they're cheap and supposedly made by a big name although I can't confirm this, would be worth seeing how much your local Renault dealer wants, having worked for a Renault dealers in the parts dept a couple of years ago I could be quite flexible with the price especially if a set of four were being purchased.

[Richard]

Federal are to be avoided at all costs. Some people rate Vredstein tyres but they're on my shitlist too.

[dollywobbler]

Tyres are about more than cornering. I keep well away from shite tyres after a hairy moment trying to stop a Pug 306 on what felt like Teflon tyres. I've had good experiences with Hankook (not that budget) and Goodyear's Sava Perfectas.

[Richard]

The Hankooks on the back of my van lasted well. One had plenty tread left when it had a blowout at over 75k miles. I was hoping to see 100k out of the other one but it looks like the useless garage fitted somebody else's tyre when they were doing the service. Twats. Vredsteins are incredibly soft- 7-9k on the front of the transit, compared to the 30k the original Hankooks managed.

 

My criterion for an acceptable tyre is being able to pull away briskly on a wet road. Federals fail on that count in my experience. Marangonis, which I think are marketed as a semi-premium tyre are also fairly close to useless.

[shite_meister]

Tyres are an often underated purchase, my own personal favourite is Toyos because they seem to have (to me anyway) a good compromise between price, performance and longevity. Unfortunately exceptional grip comes at a price i.e softer compounds wear quicker. I've had all sorts of makes over the years but I'd say the only tyres I'll comment on are the ones like Barum; Budget tyres that to my many experiences are utter shite, I find the sidewalls crack very quickly too, Falken; I want to like them but my experiences are that they're 'fuckin shit' especially in the wet stuff.

[richardthestag]

I found Avon A/T's to be a bit on the scary side on the front of my Range Rover.

 

I thought - "Avon, there is a name you can trust, stuck them on Rollers and that."

 

Then I heard the brandname is being used to big up cheapo tyres... apparently

 

Avon it would seem is no longer Avon I won't bother again

[Mr_Bo11ox]

You're not a real shiter unless you're running STOMILS, at least one of which has had a couple of puncture repairs done on it previously.

[Richard]

  richardthestag said:

Then I heard the brandname is being used to big up cheapo tyres... apparently

 

Avon it would seem is no longer Avon I won't bother again

 

Happens a lot these days, and not just with tyres.

[Mr Lobster]

I really wouldn't bother with cheap tyres tbh. You can get decent ones from BlackCircles for very little more.

[Guest Leonard Hatred]

Used tyres, FTW

[worldofceri]

What Len said.

 

Also, try searching ebay for wheels with tyres already fitted. A little while back I got four Renault alloys fitted with part-worn Pirelli P6000s for £150.

 

I've had even better bargains in the past...

[Negative Creep]

Yep, I'd rather have decent part worns than new budget tyres. Falkens are a good choice as well

[Mr_Bo11ox]

Save DOLLAR by fitting your own tyres!! All you need is a couple of big hammers and some tyre levers. I keep meaning to do a 'how to' thread on this but foget every time.

[CreepingJesus]

Part worns ftw +1000. Just had a couple fitted to the front of the Meg, this afternoon. Much better than getting some of the really cheap brands, which feel like driving on teflon coated concrete.

BTW I have Barums on both ends of the CZ - the original 1976 ones. I might replace them with new Barums, just for Bloc win.

[worldofceri]

  Mr_Bo11ox said:

Save DOLLAR by fitting your own tyres!! All you need is a couple of big hammers and some tyre levers. I keep meaning to do a 'how to' thread on this but foget every time.

 

Do this please. Thx.

 

PS. Don't you still have to pay to get them balanced?

[stoterstangen90]

Omsk Matador for the win.

[Guest Leonard Hatred]

  CreepingJesus said:

Part worns ftw +1000. Just had a couple fitted to the front of the Meg, this afternoon. Much better than getting some of the really cheap brands, which feel like driving on teflon coated concrete.

BTW I have Barums on both ends of the CZ - the original 1976 ones. I might replace them with new Barums, just for Bloc win.

 

The newer Barum are good tyres, I've had a few (part worn). I think they're owned by one of the 'premium' brands.

[binboy]

Had a new pair of Hero tyres fitted to our Golf, they were chinese rubbish that lasted less than a year. I have good part worns fitted now as there only a tenner each.

[gtd2000]

I had Sunfils fitted to my Hyundai Coupe and expected that they would be absolutely shite - particularly in the wet - as it turned out they were brilliant in the wet

 

I put Michelins MXV's on my mums old Mazda 121 Bubble and they were terrible - turn the wheel and the car would understeer to a frightening extent in the wet - swapped over to rear axle duties immediately Worst tyres I've ever experienced I believe!

[mk1_4dr]

Im a huge advocate for partworns. Get matey with your local tyre place and you might get to pick and choose.

 

Also down with the picking up wheels+tyres from ebay etc, Ive just got a set of standard steels and mint wheeltrims for the Prelude for £60. They just happened to have 4 brand-spanking ContiContacts on them

[Des]

Not a fan of partworns, don't want to be condescending but I'm not happy they're legal. If you never stray from 30 MPH zones then fair enough, but anyone using them for motorway speeds is just callous. There, I said it. I meant it, I'm here to represent it.

Price of a tank of fuel = 1 or 2 decent tyres, if they're some weird expensive size and buying new is unfeasible then get another car, a blowout is a very very unpredictable dangerous thing to yourself and others, depends a bit on the car, you might have a scary weave, spin around a bit, get rolled up tightly inside your car like a roach, even kill a load of randoms.

It's the unknown history of the things that's a problem, and considering that so many people drive like absolute shit, bouncing up kerbs at angles torturous to sidewalls, inattentive to avoid potholes, never maintaining pressures, it's really not worth risking.

[Richard]

Yes, but you get four partworns every time you buy a second hand car.

 

I'm not a huge fan of second hand tyres, but only because they are often dubious value. It's too easy to find yourself paying more than half price for less than half a tyre, especially after you've paid for fitting.

[Shep Shepherd]

  Leonard Hatred said:

  CreepingJesus said:

Part worns ftw +1000. Just had a couple fitted to the front of the Meg, this afternoon. Much better than getting some of the really cheap brands, which feel like driving on teflon coated concrete.

BTW I have Barums on both ends of the CZ - the original 1976 ones. I might replace them with new Barums, just for Bloc win.

 

The newer Barum are good tyres, I've had a few (part worn). I think they're owned by one of the 'premium' brands.

 

I've had a set of Barum 'Brilliantis' boots on The Volvo since early 2009, and they've been really good - I'm led to believe that they are Continentals in disguise

[Station]

  Leonard Hatred said:

Used tyres, FTW

 

I've had a few good ones from part worn garages (Toyos, etc). I've never bought new ones, it seems pointless if you can get ones for a fraction fitted missing 2mm of tread. The worst is when they bung winter tyres on at random, but I haven't had any horror stories driving on ultra cheap tyres yet.

I've got Camac's and Dunlops on the Metro, I think either were the original tyres (20 years old), and they are cracked to buggery. Camacs are meant to be horrible, I will upgrade to some decent ones when it goes on the road in the very far future.

[seth]

  worldofceri said:

  Mr_Bo11ox said:

Save DOLLAR by fitting your own tyres!! All you need is a couple of big hammers and some tyre levers. I keep meaning to do a 'how to' thread on this but foget every time.

 

Do this please. Thx.

 

 

+377723.6

[barefoot]

  Shep Shepherd said:

I've had a set of Barum 'Brilliantis' boots on The Volvo since early 2009, and they've been really good - I'm led to believe that they are Continentals in disguise

 

I've put Brilliantis 2's on the front of the Scirocco & the Falkens that came with it on the back this very morning.

I've only driven it a couple of miles since so I can't comment yet,

but there was a bloke in the tyre place with a Pug 308 just coming up for it's first MOT & he was buying used tyres for it.

 

Mmm, that looks a good buy, owned since new & not spent a penny on it yet!

[Rusty Pelican]

Part worn FTW , Camac tyres are the pits , avoid at all cost

[Guest]

Firestone Firehawks are HORRIBLE. Had them on my Ka (because apparently Ka 3s have 'strangely sized tyres') and that's all the tyre fitting bay in Bournemouth (long story) had available. Either that or they were taking the piss. Yes, probably the latter. I know better. They weren't cheap either. Because of this experience I am also avoiding the F560 despite it being one of the few tyres still left available in 165 \ 80 R15. Conti Sport Contacts for the Volvo at the moment. I might try some Vredestein Sprints when the wide 5.5" wheels turn up. I am gutted that Gislaved have stopped production of the Speed 313 - they were OEM fitment on the Amazon and improved the ride massively. Michelin ZXs FAIL on Amazons.

 

Ambassador tyres are also rank, along with most of Kumho's output. Heard varying things about Falkens, ran a set on the 306 for a bit with no trouble to the car or my wallet.

 

Lots of people slate the economy Michelins but I can get 'em cheap and sometimes from the local Costco. They don't shoot the ride of the C4 to shit and in grip terms aren't that much of a change from the Eagle F1s I used to run on it.