Decent but cheap tyres?

[Milford Cubicle]

My 405 has cheapy 'Arrowspeed' tyres fitted all round, they all have decent tread but make for terrifying understeer in the wet if I push the car even mildly. Any suggestions? Falkens seem to be well rated despite being cheap.

[monzaE]

I think that the tyre manufacturer has little bearing in banger motoring. How old are the tyres? How old are the shockers? When was the tracking last done? What are you comparing the handling with?

[andrew e]

Cheap tyres make a hell of a difference, try BFG's or Firestone firehawks.

[monzaE]

Cheap tyres make a hell of a difference, try BFG's or Firestone firehawks.

What I'm saying is how do you know? You would need to drive the same car with a set of cheap tyres on and then the same car with something decent on. The expensive ones may be marginally better but no way a "hell of a difference". Decent new tyres are £60 each. £240 on a £300 banger? You do the sums.

[Albert Ross]

I thoroughly recommend a make called Nexen. We get them through Stapletons Tyre Services, branches all over the UK. Wholesalers, but you may find they tell you your local dealer!What size/speed rating are you after??

[Ratdat]

Actually this is true. Many cheapo tyres provide dismal performance particularly in the wet. Going from some quality Yokohams to some federals on out 323 GT for example, made a tremendous difference. With the Yokos you could drive it hard and it's road holding was very competent even in the wet. equipped with federals you actually had to be quite careful in the wet as the level of grip was greatly diminished. Even in the dry to reduction in grip was very noticable. But of course the price difference between the two says it all. You do get what you pay for at the bottom end of the market.Some cheepies seem to be better than others though. I found Firehawks good enough to even do a track day on in the wet. Quite remarkable wet weather grip I thought, but on a dry track they were hopeless.

[r.welfare]

I would say that a set of Michelin's are the best thing to have on a 405, but neither of mine have them on. The saloon currently has a set of 185/65R14 "Wingros" on the back, and a set of 185/70R14 (whoops) "Road Champs" on the front. The wet weather performance is not great - but then the 1.9TD is quite a torquey lump on-boost and will push the front wheels wide whatever the tyres. When they all wear out (probably in about 9k miles time, so 3 months the way I am going) I will be chopping them in for a set of Michelin's in the correct size.The estate has a pair of cheapies on the front - can't remember the brand - but Dunlops on the back.As part of a marathon servicing session on the saloon last December, I had a set of four new shocks fitted, plus all the bushes in the suspension replaced. It now drives beautifully - in the dry - and I reckon a decent set of tyres will make all the difference.Of the cheap brands I reckon Barum are probably the best, as they are a Continental brand. BF Goodriches tend to be the cheapest of the well-known makes at my local tyre depot, for some reason.I would assume your 405 has either 175/70R14s or 185/65R14s? The wheel rim size is exactly the same in both cases (5J), so I'd go for the latter given that it's probably a more popular size these days.

[Guest]

What sort of difference in price are you lot getting between the budget and nice brands? I recall the Charmant tyres (Yokohama) were about £40 a corner, but the absolute cheapest budget ones were something like £25. Similar story with the Galant. Maybe I just have nice sizes!

[Ross_K]

Kleber or Barum are the best cheap-ish ones I've found.Avoid Nangkang, Goodride and all other Chinese ditchfinders

[pompei]

When I had my CRX, I put a set of Goodyear Hydragrips on, and it totally transformed the drive - I was previously on cheapo rubber. Without wanting to sound like an old git, I reckon that it's true all that stuff about the contact patch being only as big as the palm of your hand, and you shouldn't skimp on safety ...Mr Sensible.

[pompei]

What was that character called who appeared in the public information films about bald tyres? Ex Top Plod I think. Lots of p*ss takes at the time.

[Jazzy Jeff]

I have some Pov Brand tyres (I forget the exact generic make) and though they were fine, until yesterday. It had been pissing it down for about a day and half and naturally the roads were a little wet. Well I was doing 40 in a 40 zone, I see a car about 1000 yards ahead put on his brakes and indicators, I lifted off, slowed down a bit, touched the brake pedal and instant DRIFTIN GR8 4 AQUAPLANIN' antics followed. Thankfully for only about two seconds. But it was to say the least slightly disconcerting.

[vicsmith]

Prices can vary wildly between sizes - I had Uniroyal "rain tyres" fitted to my Galant as in that particular size (195 60 14 without going outside) they were strangely cheap.Of course it helps if you have a tyre price list like I do. Tell me what the size is and I`ll tell you if there are any unexpected bargains on the list - it`s a trade list and I would expect trade prices will be the same all over the country. (it`ll probably be the weekend before I get back to you)

[M'coli]

What was that character called who appeared in the public information films about bald tyres? Ex Top Plod I think. Lots of p*ss takes at the time.

Sir Robert Mark.Go for part-worns if cost is an issue - we all buy shite with internally uninspected part-worns, so I see no problem in sticking them on mine.185/55r15 Continental with 5mm tread sir? £25 as opposed to £68 new...

[pompei]

That's him! I'd have had a sleepless night trying to rememeber his name

[reallyloud]

I've found putting tyres more commonly seen on a side of barge effect the handling of modern cars far more than the older stuff - my old 205 had some pretty dismal brand on them, but the handling wasn't too bad. But generally when it comes to tyres, I'd say always buy the best you can afford - after all it is the main source of contact from the car to the road! I picked up a set of yokohamas for less than £130 not long ago - someone like mytyres, blackcircles, etyres - usually have deals to be done.

[outlaw118]

My Astray's got Marangoni's on and I've got no complaints at all - lifetime guarantee as well (terms and conditions etc etc)

[andrew e]

Cheap tyres make a hell of a difference, try BFG's or Firestone firehawks.

What I'm saying is how do you know? You would need to drive the same car with a set of cheap tyres on and then the same car with something decent on. The expensive ones may be marginally better but no way a "hell of a difference". Decent new tyres are £60 each. £240 on a £300 banger? You do the sums.

£160 auction 340 backwards so the Firestones went on from memory about £8 dearer a corner, had a blow out in a maestro van with a colway too - 85 in the 3rd lane of the M11.... Each to there own fair do's - though nobody would contemplate sticking on a pair of unbranded brake pads would they?

[Milford Cubicle]

The car does have a dodgy wishbone bush which won't be helping, but it handles fine in the dry, it just gets a bit worrisome in the wet...

[Spottedlaurel]

We had some cheapo brand (Trayal maybe?) on the front of the Carina E (my choice at the time ) and they were dreadful, drove like they were out of balance at low speeds. Changed them to Avons at the last MoT even though they weren't dead in terms of tread depth, absolutely transformed it.My local place do the Avons at a good price, I stuck a pair of them on the Accord too to replace some ancient Michelins with cracked sidewalls. If you're only buying a pair the price difference is not so great, so definitely worth doing then.I've had several cars with Michelins where the tread depth was fine but because they last so long had cracked sidewalls.

[Richard]

I've had some excellent cheapo tyres but I've had some dreadful ones too. It's a bit of a gamble. Nowadays I tend to fit the cheapest tyres I've heard of, and they usually don't cost much more than the oddly named budget ones.If somebody tries to sell you Vredstein T-Trac tyres just smile and walk away.

[r.welfare]

The car does have a dodgy wishbone bush which won't be helping, but it handles fine in the dry, it just gets a bit worrisome in the wet...

Check the rear subframe bushes too. Basically if you jack up the rear end and the rear beam makes a bid for freedom, they've had it too.

[carlo]

My local friendly tyre people put something called Hankook tyres on my 405, they seem to rate them and the car handles well on them whilst still being comfortable, which is actually more important to me. Come out about £32 per tyre.

[r.welfare]

Looks like Michelin Energy's come in at about £50 per tyre. £200 for a full set is probably 100% more than a full "budget no name" set, but if you're doing a decent mileage in the thing then I'd go for the more expensive ones meself.Don't forget to get the tracking done at the same time, usually a very very good £20 (or so) investment.

[Marty]

I had some Chinese stuff on the Yamaha when I bought it - OKish in the dry, but in the wet or even mildly damp both back and front had bog all grip.£120 later and I now have Dunlops on which are a LOT better and mean I can corner again in the wet. The 'lops are a softer compound, so probbaly wont last as long.I have Michelins on the rear of the Bling and Tigar on the front and its OK in the wet & dry - though being as aerodynamical as a chicken coop top speed is nothing to write home about!

[MrRegieRitmo]

During my recent MOT nightmare with the 146 (passed on 3rd attempt, 2nd retest) I required 2 front tyres as part of the list of jobs that needed doing. I was recommended a place called R&L Tyres by my sister's boyfriend where I picked up two barely used Pirellis for £40. Unfortunately in preparation for the 1st retest we over-inflated one of the rear tyres that was fine treadwise & was no problem for the original MOT but had always slowly lost air over a period of time. We must have put too much air in it to compensate because during the retest it went all lumpy & distorted. So I caused myself to throw another £64 down the drain unnecessarily because I then needed a 3rd replacement tyre at short notice so I had to plump for what they had at Kwik Fit. I went for a £64 'cheapest that they had' Powermax. To have a Pirelli like the front two would have been £109 which I wasn't prepared to spend!Still at least only one 'Courier Delivery' brand tyre remains of the original four the car had & that one is also near the limit so not long for this world!

[Ratdat]

My local friendly tyre people put something called Hankook tyres on my 405, they seem to rate them and the car handles well on them whilst still being comfortable, which is actually more important to me. Come out about £32 per tyre.

Hankook are actually pretty good quality. The do a lot of sponsorship within drifting and any tyres that can hold up well to that are pretty robust. I once made the mistake of using some Maxxis ditchfinders for a drift event and they disintergrated after about 30 seconds Nangkangs were always rubbish for that too. Some of the best I found was a Michelin Primacys and Avon ZV3's. They could really take some abuse and would last for ages. Not strictly relevant in terms of this discussion but it's a fair indicator of how tough and hardwearing a tyre is if they hold up to the extreme heat and wear of smoking them up continually.

[Milford Cubicle]

The car does have a dodgy wishbone bush which won't be helping, but it handles fine in the dry, it just gets a bit worrisome in the wet...

Check the rear subframe bushes too. Basically if you jack up the rear end and the rear beam makes a bid for freedom, they've had it too.

It's the one on the front n/s wishbone. If the rear subframe bushes were killed to bits wouldn't they make an obvious impact in handling? Thrashing it over bumpy single track roads the other day the only thing I noticed was that clonking, ragged front nearside.

[r.welfare]

I hadn't noticed any deterioration, but then I didn't have a "fresh" 405 to benchmark! Yep, my 'P' bushes in the front wishbones were also dead, best to change both at the same time.

[Milford Cubicle]

How hard are they to replace? I see someone's doing two of them on eBay for less than half the price of one genuine Peugeot item.