Budget tyres any to avoid?

[gtd2000]

The best tip with "part worns" at the scrappies is to cherry pick the selection of unused spare wheels that are on the racks.

 

Normally kept dry in the boot and without UV light exposure = as new tyres for a fraction of the new price in my experience.

[Richard]

I found Camacs quite acceptable on the SAAB.

[Gompo]

  Richard said:

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

 

What's wrong with Federal? Do you mean all their tyres or just budget ones? I've been considering some RS-Rs which seem to get good reviews.

[Mat.T]

I got new 'Events' cheapy tyres on the saab didnt cost much and seem to grip ok. I managed to get 4 part worn Goodyear GT2s for my Triumph from the local partworn place usually they find some rubbish chinese tyres for my cars, but they seemed to like the triumph so spent ages rummaging about in there stores until they found a matching 4

[CIH]

  Gompo said:

  Richard said:

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

 

What's wrong with Federal? Do you mean all their tyres or just budget ones? I've been considering some RS-Rs which seem to get good reviews.

 

I fancy some of the go-fast federals on my S12. I'd rate them along with Falken and Toyo and not absurdly expensive.

Would like to try Maxxis as they sponsor the British drift championship but they're suspciously cheap.

[Richard]

  Gompo said:

  Richard said:

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

 

What's wrong with Federal? Do you mean all their tyres or just budget ones? I've been considering some RS-Rs which seem to get good reviews.

 

I expect it was their budget ones I had but they won't be getting a second chance with me.

[Renault18]

Partworns or Non-worns always for me. I'd rather have Michelin or Continental partworn everytime. On both Meganes I picked the unused spares out of the boots myself. Meganes have a proper spare with a real tyre. I've Continentals on one and Michelin on the other - tyres were between a tenner and 15 quid each and have never been used, no repairs, no cracking and I trust them. The Contis replaced a set of Nexen(?) which were on the Megane hatch. I've never driven a car which handled so badly and which pulled to one side just because of the tyres. It's fine now.

 

Bought two 155 13s for my Renault 5 off a tyre place on Ebay last week - I actually know the place anyway. They cost £7.50 each for Michelins (looks as though they were made 2008) with 6mm left. I'm happy that I'm safe.

 

Had a Laguna which had a pair of Camacs on the front - that was fun in the wet.

 

Incidentally, the Motrio tyres available from Renault are apparently made by Continental.

[CreepingJesus]

Kumhos - I was trying to remember the brand I fitted to many a car in my garage days, that I wouldn't touch with a bargepole. I remember fitting a set of 4 to a Sierra, and almost crying on the roadtest, so bad were they. Ruined the ride, fucked the handling/roadholding.

As for Des's point: new tyres aren't guaranteed to be perfect either. Luckily, I've never had a blowout myself, on car, bike, or truck. But I do recall my dad having a very bad run with Pirellis years ago, and a bad patch with Goodyears too. All on company cars, so it was sorted without question. Still, scary on the outside lane of the M6 at speed, and a pain getting a new one in Warrington on a Saturday afternoon!

Then there was Ford's issue with the Explorer's exploding tyres (Firestone iirc) in the USA a few years back. There's probly more, but my answer remains.

The part-worn place I use, find me tyres I want (economy types for the Meg, sportier ones for the Mondy), and let me inspect them, before they're mounted. Mounting, balancing and leak testing are done in my sight, and the wheel studs/nuts are torqued properly with a torque bar. That's why I use them, and would hesitate to go anywhere else - everything's above board, and they don't advertise much, so they stand or fall on their reputation. Their busy forecourt would suggest I'm not alone in my judgement.

Given that the tyres come from places with a 3mm tread limit (Germany/Scandinavia isn't it?), they've had a lot less 'life' than an equivalent tyre here. Today, I've been to Elgin and back on my 'new' pair, including some fairly spirited driving up the A95, heavy rain and freezing conditions. They've been great, as I'd every expectation they'd be. I feel no differently about them, than I would brand new tyres. I do see your point tho' - I felt the same before I tried part-worns. Now, if I'm a bit low on funds, I'll happily get some, and still put the kids in the car.

Might still have a look out for Barums, as I too understand they're Continental's budget brand. And I like Continentals. But only when I'm flush...

[skattrd]

For budget tyres I get Kumho's, got a set of 4 from Camskill last year for my 'zato for £100, good grip and wear is ok, not great, but better than proxes.

 

For general cheap tyres though I usually buy wheels with tyres off ebay. I bought a set of alloys with decent tyres for a golf a couple of yrs back for £30, sold them on for £45 when the tyres were worn

[ashmicro]

Interesting comments on the Kumhos. When I had the S Type, it came with the standard Prelli P6000 tyres, which I found to be aquaplane-prone, and wore quickly. I replaced then with Kumho Ecstas, and no more 'planing, quieter and as good dry grip. About £30 a corner less too.

 

There seem to be more part worns and non-worns around the scrappies these days, and one guy explained to me that this was in part due to newer cars being written off simply due to the cost of replacing 134 airbags and associated trim.

 

The new boots I got for the Rover are Goodyears, Eagle NCT5. £40 a corner in 185/55/15 82V. Very good, I have to say, wet grip is first class.

[warren t claim]

Can you still buy remoulds?

[barefoot]

  ashmicro said:

Interesting comments on the Kumhos. When I had the S Type, it came with the standard Prelli P6000 tyres, which I found to be aquaplane-prone, and wore quickly. I replaced then with Kumho Ecstas, and no more 'planing, quieter and as good dry grip. About £30 a corner less too.

 

I was interested to read this because I ran Kumhos on the 944 for a short time.

8,000 miles to be precise by which time they were completely knackered.

 

I didn't realise that a car could be so amazingly heavy on tyres. Now I run it on Continental ContiSports with an N1 harder compound.

[skattrd]

I find Kumho's are ok on light cars, on heavier cars I think Falken ZE912's last better.... Still quite cheap from Camskill/Mytyres.

The worst tyres I've ever had were Avon ZV3's, had them on my Scirocco briefly and they were horrendous to drive on.

[Lankytim]

Does anyone have an idea on what part worns go for these days? I'm after a pair of decent 175/70/14's and have spotted a pair of michelins with 6mm's worth of tread on the correct steel rims for a shade under £60. Does that sound a good deal? Its not much cheaper to buy similar tyres minus the rims, but then i''d have to pay to have them fitted and balanced.

[Guest Leonard Hatred]

  warren t claim said:

Can you still buy remoulds?

 

http://www.kingpin-tyres.com/index.htm

[Burnside]

Nankang's, absolutely useless in the wet Avoid!!

[gtd2000]

  warren t claim said:

Can you still buy remoulds?

 

They used to be false economy - half the price and a fraction of the mileage from what I remember...

[whiskeyonesix]

I've got 5 195/60/14 Kenda Komets on the ovlov 360.... only because the 185/60 pirelli P4's I had on were getting low and I couldn't afford them ( 150 dollars each???). Mind you, 7000 kms later there's hardly any wear so that's good.

 

 

.... Kingpin I had a set of them on my Cortina years ago

[worldofceri]

I thought I'd read years ago that remoulds had been made illegal (at least for cars). Obviously I R rong.

 

Last set of part worns I bought were £30 each for a matching pair of Continentals (185/60 R15). Same ones brand new are £74 each fitted from Blackcircles.com.

 

I went to a rough looking place near where I live - sort of place I'd normally shy away from, but I thought 'what the hell'. The fella showed me to the racks and left me to it while I picked through the selection of the appropriate size - there was only about 6 or 8 to choose from so I guess I was lucky to get a matching branded pair. I was able to inspect the tread and sidewalls (which are unmarked).

 

Price included fitting and I could hang around and see what they were up to. Only thing I wasn't too happy about was they did up the wheels nuts with the air gun... Still, the car's on ebay now so hopefully it shouldn't be me that has to undo them next.

[Rusty Pelican]

As long as you check the date codes on part worns and they arnt 10 years old or more then its a cheap way to get half decent tyres , im more worried about age on tyres than make ( except Camacs of course )

[Negative Creep]

I don't know why some people get so worked up about part worn tyres. Presumably said people buy 4 new tyres for any car they get in before driving off?

[cms206]

The company I work for have started fitting Firestones to the buses, they seem to make an incredible difference compared to the Volvo B10Ms we have running on 22.5in Triangle and Wanli tyres, and the Dennis Dart still running Ling Long rubber all round...

 

I think the last set I had on the Cavalier were Dragonstar which were really rather pants, though it latterly had a pair of Durons on the front end. I think the Proton has something different on each corner, but the spare and the n/s/f are both Continentals.

[dieselnutjob]

I have been running around on part worn Michelin Pilot Alpin winter tyres this winter. I think that they are imported from Germany because they have to get rid of them at 4mm, at least that's my understanding.

Anyway these tyres have been fine.

I'll have to swap back the summer ones soon.

My wife has a habit of ruining tyres so I think her car will get part worn from now on. A few months ago she ruined a nearly new tyre.

[Mr_Bo11ox]

  cms206 said:

 

I think the last set I had on the Cavalier were Dragonstar

 

Never heard of these!!!! I reckon the company is owned by Bruce Lee.

[Andrew353w]

  Negative Creep said:

I don't know why some people get so worked up about part worn tyres. Presumably said people buy 4 new tyres for any car they get in before driving off?

 

Good point well made BUT the important difference is that if you've bought tyres from new (as I always do) than the chances are you'll know how they've been used or abused and you'll have a periodic look at them once in a while. I'd ask the opposite question: IF these so called "part worn" tyres are so good, why did the original owner or driver get rid of them in the first place?

 

Sorry to be uncharacteristically serious for a moment, but one's life ( and that of other drivers and pedestrians) relies on 4 areas of rubber, each about the size of one's hand (about the "footprint" of the average tyre); do you really want to compromise & fit tyres the history of which you are totally ignorant? A tank full of unleaded is about £50 these days, and we all pay up-why compromise on one's safety for the sake of a few quid saved?

 

Rant mode now off-I'm off to the shops!

[155V6]

  Rusty Pelican said:

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

Agreed,had them on my Metro GTi.Absolutely no grip in the wet,& they were so hard that they hadn't worn at all in nearly a year .I've got Accelera Alphas on the MG,they're ok although I'm always a bit wary in the wet.

[Pillock]

I've only bought one new tyre in my life, after a blowout and realising my spare was pretty flat - I was 100 yards away from a Kwik Fit so took it like a man, walked in and asked for the cheapest tyre they did.

 

Despite being young (in my younger days at least) and liking nippier cars, I don't think I push tyres to the limit so I'm not fussed that one brand lets you pull 2.5G around corners but another will let you do a 11 sec quarter mile. I aim to keep them legal, I'd rather replace them when they get to 3mm with another 6mm "part worn" than try to eke out every last penny from the £100+ per corner new tyre by running it down to 1.600001mm and then finding it pitches me into the armco on a wet motorway.

 

I had a nice friendly tyre specialist that did partworns, and he knew his tyres so wouldn't fit winter tyres, low speed ratings etc. A large chunk of his stuff was from local dealers who upgraded wheels and tyres on cars they sold, I got a pair of 225/45R17s for the Mondeo for £25 a pop - Pirellis, with the moulding marks and coloured bands still on.

[Formula Autos]

Buy any used car and you're more than likely buying four (possibly five) part-worns at the same time. Unless you buy a three wheeler. All most people would do in that situation is to do a cursory check of the tyres on the car. If you're buying part-worns to put on your car they've probably been checked far more thoroughly than that.

 

I would happily buy part-worns, but living in a rural(ish) area means that there are no part-worn dealers nearby, so driving a distance to get them would mean the fuel costs would no doubt negate the savings. One garage round here tried selling part-worns about ten years ago, but got nowhere with the venture, supposedly as the Health and Safety culture at Sellafield* (the major employer round here by a looooong way) meant that the majority of potential customers saw them as 'unsafe' and wouldn't touch them.

 

* A bit of a source of amusement to those of us around here who don't work on the site. Don't get me wrong, a culture of health and safety at a nuclear site is a GOOD thing, but it's seemingly taken to stupid lengths. When my wife briefly worked for them an e-mail was circulated around her office warning of the danger posed by stapling documents together, and asked for the use of plastic paper clips from that day forward. I also know someone who was carpeted by their manager for carrying his cuppa up a flight of stairs. This apparently constituted a 'scalding risk' to him and those around him, and he should have used the lift to convey himself and said cuppa between floors.

[Pillock]

  Formula Autos said:

 

* A bit of a source of amusement to those of us around here who don't work on the site. Don't get me wrong, a culture of health and safety at a nuclear site is a GOOD thing, but it's seemingly taken to stupid lengths. When my wife briefly worked for them an e-mail was circulated around her office warning of the danger posed by stapling documents together, and asked for the use of plastic paper clips from that day forward. I also know someone who was carpeted by their manager for carrying his cuppa up a flight of stairs. This apparently constituted a 'scalding risk' to him and those around him, and he should have used the lift to convey himself and said cuppa between floors.

 

We've had the same rule put in. They've taken out a coffee machine from the reception area (citing "lack of cleanliness" and bizarrely, "risk of creating a non-specific canteen area") so now for the folk that work downstairs the only coffee machines are up either one, or two flights. One flight up is free Kenco crap, two flights is 28p quite nice coffee with lids.

Cue memo "Under NO CIRCUMSTANCES must coffee without a lid be carried up the stairs as this presents a distinct health and safety risk. Anyone not complying with this will be subject to the standard disciplinary process". So then, pretty much saying you have to pay for the coffee instead of drinking the free stuff.

 

In the same week, they bought in thousands of mugs with the new logo as promotional items. Non-lidded mugs.

[gtd2000]

I used to work for Intel in the past and they were very anal about the safety stuff, lids on coffee cups at all times and if you didn't put your hand on a handrail when going up or down the stairs you could expect somebody to shout at you