Ever heard of DIAMONDBACK ditchfinders?

[Luxobarges_Are_Us]

I've seen a set of Scorpio wheels on ebay and am thinking about buying them because my spare is a different size from the rest of the wheels, and because I still haven't replaced my rear tyres, one of which must be pretty near the legal limit. According to the seller, two of the wheels have 'nearly new' Diamondback tyres on them. I've come across a lot of shite tyre brands, but this is a new one on me. Anyone ever had any experience of them? Are they REALLY shit?

[Albert Ross]

Compound like coal. Hard. Until it gets cold, then it just turns harder. So, not ideal for the winter. Or anything RWD... These really are "budget" tyres, normally fitted by people because "I'm going to sell it soon" or "It's just to get it through the MOT" or "I had a puncture miles from home so decided to fit something more slippery than a bar of fucking soap in the wet"............... Most of the ones I see are unevenly worn or have wires hanging out of them.

 

Are you sure you could swap the wheels over though? I mean, that's 16 nuts to remove and replace..... How many small sockets do you own?

[scaryoldcortina]

Scorpio spare is usually a different size to the rest because the boot floor pressing is a mk3 granada and the 16" wheels don't fit in the hole. Ford solution - 15x6J spare that puts the ABS light on when you use it...

 

Never heard of diamondback - our current "cheapest one please" make is the amusingly named "MOHAWK". I'm waiting for them all to come back bald at the sides....

[autofive]

Are you sure you could swap the wheels over though? I mean, that's 16 nuts to remove and replace..... How many small sockets do you own?

 

ooooh you are awful.........

 

[Luxobarges_Are_Us]

Sounds like fun. Guess I should leave them alone, then!

 

Scary, that sounds like fun. You have to wonder about the sanity of the person who fitted the LPG conversion and chose to fit a 70 litre tank behind the rear seatbacks. No bigger than a doughnut tank, neatly helps you avoid having to fold the seats if you need to carry something big, AND the spare wheel remains inappropriate!

 

I'm only going to be swapping the rears, and I even have the locking wheelnut key. Failing that, I will just pierce the LPG tank and set fire to the thing!

[gtd2000]

It's hard to say how good tyres will be as they are normally produced in batches - some might be terrible others good.

 

I had some great tyres from Sunfil on my Hyundai Coupe - much to my disbelief...

 

And some utter shite Michelin MXV's on my mothers Mazda that were possibly the worst tyres ever experienced in the wet!!!

[dollywobbler]

Last budget tyres I fitted where HERO ones on the CX. Cue comedy understeer, though they were terrific in the snow. So, good for about 5% of the time in Wales then...

[chaseracer]

Last budget tyres I fitted where HERO ones on the CX. Cue comedy understeer...

My second XM arrived with the proper Michelins astern and a pair of Regals at the pointy end. These had all the adhesion of a plank of polished wood, which was invigorating in a car with 60+% of its weight over the front wheels and made roundabouts a particular challenge. Rapidly replaced by a pair of M. Bibendum's finest, the South African cheapo-Dunlops were retired to the back of my mate's Vectra B, where they kept the rear end from making sparks for some considerable time...

[Mat.T]

my mates got a set of part worn 'triangles'on his bmw e30 325! result, understeer oversteer every kind of steer bar the direction you want to travel. Turns out the LSD works though! He has ordered some new decent brand tyres and is getting lifts to work atm

[Cavcraft]

Can't ever recall having a problem with mingebag tyres on any car. In fact some really cheap ones lasted for thousands of miles, including one set I had on four different BXs because they never seemed to wear out.

Probably different if you have a fast car and hammer it round corners though to be fair.

 

*In fact the only problem I can recall with shit tyres were fitting some brand new 'Victoria' 750x16s on a (TK, iirc) horsebox years back. Every bloody one had a nasty bulge in the sidewall so got sent back to the manafacturers.

[Stixy]

Diamondback ditchfinders

 

i like that , i will add it to the ebay listing

[scaryoldcortina]

my mates got a set of part worn 'triangles'on his bmw e30 325! result, understeer oversteer every kind of steer bar the direction you want to travel. Turns out the LSD works though! He has ordered some new decent brand tyres and is getting lifts to work atm

 

I tested a 53 mondeo this morning with a full set of new "triangles" fitted! Car trader brought it in, I noticed a £1695 price sign in the boot. He was very pleased with his plain paper MoT with the advisories on the ticket too. I just laughed at him.

[Luxobarges_Are_Us]

Diamondback ditchfinders

 

i like that , i will add it to the ebay listing

 

Haha, are you the seller then?

[Stixy]

Diamondback ditchfinders

 

i like that , i will add it to the ebay listing

 

Haha, are you the seller then?

 

Unl;ess theres 2 sets of diamondbacks Yes

[504GL]

Last budget tyres I fitted where HERO ones on the CX. Cue comedy understeer, though they were terrific in the snow. So, good for about 5% of the time in Wales then...

 

My 406 came with some Tigar's. If you've ever been to Prestatyn you'll know about the sodding great big hill. Well, going up one day I experienced comedy understeer so comedic it was scary. I ordered myself a part of Michelin Pilot Primacy's when I eventually got to work that day. They are the worst tyres I've ever had on a car, so bad that when I put the two new ones on the front and powered out of a roundabout near work in the wet the car had power on oversteer. The front tyres gripped and wanted to go around the corner but the rears weren't having any of it.

[jonathan_dyane]

Why do people buy shit tyres?

 

My XM came with a lovely pair of Wanli's on the rear, which resulted in comedy understeer which nearly resulted in brown trousers.

 

My 190 had a lovely set of Admiral's, which were twitchy as fuck in the wet. Still got a pair on the front where they are less troublesome.

 

I once bought a BX which had a lovely set of Arrowspeeds. The car had a vibration which appeared at 65 mph, but was gone at 80. On examination this was caused by every tyre having a massive split and corresponding bulge in the inner sidewall.

 

I'm not adverse to buying secondhand tyres of known brand from the scrapyard after inspecting them, but would never consider buying a budget brand; there may be the odd exception (eg Kumho are good but wear badly) but generally they're a dangerous waste of money IMHO...

 

PS, Michelin have gone right down in my estimation over the last few years; my brand of choice is Vredestein.

[504GL]

PS, Michelin have gone right down in my estimation over the last few years; my brand of choice is Vredestein.

 

Agree about Vredestein's. My 500 currently has some rusty steelies with some nice skinny (compared to the tyres it came with) 175/65 R14 Vredestein Snowtrac 3's and they really are fantastic. I wouldn't usually have them on so early but Mr Nail paid a visit to Mr Potenza last sunday afternoon when all the tyre places were closed and I didn't fancy running on the space saver.

 

You really do get what you pay for in my opinion. I've had a few cars come with some really crap tyres and even miles and miles later when the new tyres were worn they weren't nearly as bad as the cheap tyres. I've got Bridgestone summer tyres on the 500 and Vredestein winters and a pair each of Conti's and Vredestein's on the Subaru.

 

Wouldn't buy a cheapie unless I had a puncture miles from home or needed to get it through an MOT etc etc.

[Luxobarges_Are_Us]

Why do people buy shit tyres?

 

Apart from the fact that a lot people have no clue about them and view them as a commodity (Aldi brand spaghetti isn't much different from Napolina), it's because premium tyres have gotten really expensive. If I want to fit a set of new Michelins to my car, I have to spend upwards of 600 quid. That's almost as much as the car is worth. Even Hankooks are 100 a corner. Diamondbacks are half that!

 

Michelin have gone right down in my estimation over the last few years; my brand of choice is Vredestein.

 

It depends. Without having extensive experience of every tyre, I think that, in broad terms, the Pilot range is pretty good while the Energy one is shit. However, I don't think that even the Pilot one is worth the 50-70% premium over decent mid-range stuff such as Kumho/Hankook/Vredestein/Uniroyal.

[Albert Ross]

Try Land Rover tyres for prices. I could use some real chod..... they're about £55 all in for a brand called Flamingo. Or "Flaming O" as I call them. Instead, I use Goodyear G90. A bloody tough tyre, and although they can be a touch twitchy in the wet, I slow down a bit. The sidewalls are 10 ply. Made in South Africa. The should be around £220 a piece, my supplier gets them to me for £120 plus the dreaded. I paid £45 for 6. 2 were slightly part worn, but the rest were new, even had stickers on. I prefer to get home. The Michelins I like (XCL and XS) have been out of production for nearly 10 years. The last set I had cost me £40 on the rims... for 6...... The last known new retail price was £190 at ATS who had some old stock ones in in 2004.... And of course, you need to keep wear/diameters/sizes broadly similar on a 4x4 to avoid transmission damage.

[ashmicro]

I had Pirelli P6000s on the S Type (Jag spec tyres) and they were poor. Driving over the Queen Elizabeth bridge in Belfast on a wet day had me sideways, so they got sacked off in favour of a set of Kumho Ecstas, which were cheaper AND better AND less noisy.

 

Cheapo tyres: Technic (like Pirellis) were GR32 for the money, Courier Steels were cheap as fuck, rock hard and lasted forever. I had some East German tyres once that were 80% vinyl. Barums were OK and cheap. I used to get Colway remoulds free gratis from the company, as they sponsored some of the rallycross events we used to run. Not a long-lived tyre, but gripped OK in the wet, and quite acceptable all round due to being free.

 

Quite the worst tyres I've ever experienced on a car were some type of Avons, on a 1.1 mark 4 Escort. Not a quick motor, but it handled like a hovercraft on these tyres.

[Justin Case]

Ok, here it is, a list of who makes what:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_tire_companies

 

No mention of Diamondback though

 

Mrs A's Almera has a pair of Debicas on the front (Polish subsidiary of Goodyear) and they seem to grip ok in all weather conditions. They don't seem to have worn much in 7,000 miles so perhaps the cheaper tyres made by the big manufacturers may be a good compromise. The only drawback is a limited range of sizes and speed ratings, I gather that they don't make the rubber bands for Audis, BMWs etc with the large wheel options, but I don't think that will concern many here

[chaseracer]

...Michelin Energys are shit...

Interesting. I've never had a problem with them; grippy, quiet and relatively long-lasting. That said, they are fitted to a diesel Blingo, which possibly does not challenge their performance parameters too hard...

[scooters]

I had Kumhos on the 940 Sport which seemed to suit it pretty well - put the sale on the 535i and they also worked pretty well.

 

Firestones - last about 5 minutes

[504GL]

Why do people buy shit tyres?

 

Apart from the fact that a lot people have no clue about them and view them as a commodity (Aldi brand spaghetti isn't much different from Napolina), it's because premium tyres have gotten really expensive. If I want to fit a set of new Michelins to my car, I have to spend upwards of 600 quid. That's almost as much as the car is worth. Even Hankooks are 100 a corner. Diamondbacks are half that!

 

Michelin have gone right down in my estimation over the last few years; my brand of choice is Vredestein.

 

It depends. Without having extensive experience of every tyre, I think that, in broad terms, the Pilot range is pretty good while the Energy one is shit. However, I don't think that even the Pilot one is worth the 50-70% premium over decent mid-range stuff such as Kumho/Hankook/Vredestein/Uniroyal.

 

You're looking in the wrong places then. Have a look on http://www.mytyres.co.uk and you'll find premium tyres at far more reasonable prices. Although you will still find some sizes where Michelin's are outrageously overpriced. The fact is that the name sells.

 

I have to say i've never really been all that keen on Pirelli's. I had a set on my 504 and they used to love to lock up in the wet.

 

The Bridgestones on the 500 are really good tyres if a bit noisy and completely useless in the snow. The Conti's and Vredestein's on the Subaru are both excellent. Had the same Conti's on the 406 as well as a pair of Michelin's and the Conti's were probably the slightly better of the two.

[504GL]

Ok, here it is, a list of who makes what:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_tire_companies

 

No mention of Diamondback though

 

Mrs A's Almera has a pair of Debicas on the front (Polish subsidiary of Goodyear) and they seem to grip ok in all weather conditions. They don't seem to have worn much in 7,000 miles so perhaps the cheaper tyres made by the big manufacturers may be a good compromise. The only drawback is a limited range of sizes and speed ratings, I gather that they don't make the rubber bands for Audis, BMWs etc with the large wheel options, but I don't think that will concern many here

 

They seem to be made by Triangle tyres.

 

http://www.camskill.co.uk/m61b771s323p5 ... _TL_/RS_GB

http://www.performanceplustire.com/prod ... taID/23935

 

Sounds a fantastic company with an illustrious history of producing top tyres

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Triangle_Group_(Company)

[Luxobarges_Are_Us]

You're looking in the wrong places then. Have a look on http://www.mytyres.co.uk and you'll find premium tyres at far more reasonable prices. Although you will still find some sizes where Michelin's are outrageously overpriced. The fact is that the name sells.

 

Mytyres aren't much better than anyone else, unfortunately. Kumho/Maxxis £75, Hankook £92, Michelin £159, and that's without fitting and balancing. I'm most likely going to buy something part-worn (with or without wheels) off e-bay.

[The Moog]

What size are you looking for in tyres?

 

I have got a set of brand new (literally done68 miles) goodyears which are 195 65 15 goodyears..

[overheadvalve]

Cool, if your running a 50's yank tank.....http://www.dbtires.com/

I have just bought a set of Kleber winters (175/65/15) for the wifes Bini, from Oponeo,

http://www.oponeo.co.uk/?gclid=CIPtpsOBhqwCFUsZ4QodKDtZ9g

I think they are based in Poland. Delivery was free and took just under 5 days. The price? £42 each

Kleber are owned by Michelin which means nowt i guess but they shouldn't be shite even if they are cheap. Mytyres had the same ones for ...... £68.80 free post http://ssl.delti.com/cgi-bin/rshop.pl?details=Ordern&cart_id=88764979.110.32605&typ=D-114235&ranzahl=4&Breite=175&Quer=65&Felge=15&weiter=30&Ang_pro_Seite=10&Transport=P&dsco=110&sowigan=Wi

[garbaldy]

I have to say i've never really been all that keen on Pirelli's.

 

 

 

I have to agree with you on that one as i have just had to replace the rears on our family hack £154 per tyre and they have only done 8942 miles

 

thats on a par with the collway remoulds that managed to eat themselfs after a weekend and 700 miles on an old tina many moons ago (with no help from me i might add )

[Luxobarges_Are_Us]

What size are you looking for in tyres?

 

I have got a set of brand new (literally done68 miles) goodyears which are 195 65 15 goodyears..

 

225/50/16. Helpfully, that bit less common than 225/55/16 in order for the price to rise by an extra 15%!