Decent but cheap tyres?

[FredTransit]

On a side note, I found a use for our barely legals, save em for shooting out in stunts! BUT I mustn't forget to change em back to good tyres after, cos we had 2 flats in 2 weeks from the remainder of the crap set, one on the M1. Back on topic I tend to just go to my favourite tyre place and get the budget commercial tyres. We can never get the tracking done on twin wheelers, so often end up with the outside edge bald whatever tyres you buy....

[dollywobbler]

2CV tyres are a pain as even the budget tyres tend to be about £40 a corner. That said, many of the budget tyres are really, really good.With modern cars, I always have the dilemma that I don't want to shell out for pricey rubber as I rarely keep the cars that long.Sadly, I always pay the price as inevitably, I find that the car becomes very reluctant to go around bends in the wet.

[AlsoMike]

Apart from the hall-of-shamers already mentioned, keep away from Falkens. I had them on the 128 as they were the only vaguely name brand which made tyres in the size I wanted (175/60 14s). They're shite - crap feel and zero wet grip.

I'm running Falkens on my Golf at the moment (albeit in 195/45/14 flavour) and I've found them to be great so far, I drive the car pretty hard too. I guess the different tyre size/vehicle can really make a difference.

[Negative Creep]

Do they get nicked much? I can't imagine a part-worn Arrowspeed on a rusty Peugeot steelie being worth too much.That 'paragonpug' fella has 0 items listed and I can't find anybody else selling them.

Mine went west at some point - not sure if this was previous to my ownership though.Drop that paragonpug guy a message, he might well have stopped listing stuff as part of this revolution against eBay thing going on. He's a genuine Pug parts seller rather than some bloke operating from his mum's back bedroom.

Having worked at a Citroen garage, I can confirm they get nicked all the time.On the subject of tyres I once had some Semprits on my Alfa. Noticed a slightly odd knocking so was going to take it to the garage to get it checked. Some time in the night the tyre exploded, ripping itself in half, bending the wing and destroying the arch liner. God knows what would have happened if I'd been driving at the time Only time I've heard of a tyre blowing whilst the car was stationary as well

[Guest]

I've never had problems with Falkens, had fancy directional ones on the Galant at some point and it had absolutely loads of grip. Even the more conventional smaller size ones seem good - my mate fitted a set of more conventional Falkens to his Mira a while back and it drives great with them. They're usually laughably cheap too, surrounded by Stunner/Linglong-esque toss.

[CortinaDave]

I always just buy budget tyres on the old stuff as I tend not to rag them about much anyway so cheap tyres are well up to the job. Theres a tyre place near me that does great deals on Barum tyres which ive found to be pretty good.I did grudgingly put half decent rubber on the cougar though as it gets a fair bit of abuse especially when I'm late for work!

[Mr Lobster]

I go with the buy the best you can afford theory here. I tend to go with Michelin or Yokohama normally. Before we sold the Alto I found a dead Alto in a local breakers with two virtually brand new Yokohamas on it which were mine for the princely sum of £20 As long as you are careful and inspect them properly then I see no problem with used tyres, and anyway the car was only used for going into town once a day so wasn't subjected to high speed driving or anything too taxing.

[mouseflakes]

Nothing wrong with part-worns. Every used car comes with a set fitted as standard. Reduce, re-use, recycle!

[dollywobbler]

If you've got power, then good tyres are a must. I had a Pug 306 DTurbo that came with some Goodyears on it. In the wet, it'd wheelspin in third. Crunch point almost came when an old lady stepped out in front of me in the wet. I had no chance of stopping but luckily the front end skidding slid the car out of her way. I went straight out and bought a set of Avons. The difference was incredible. It's not just going around bends that's important - stopping is too.

[FredTransit]

Nothing wrong with part-worns. Every used car comes with a set fitted as standard. Reduce, re-use, recycle!

That's a fair point, never looked at it like that. I suppose it's always the case that you don't know how they have been driven or how old they are. Not that I would just throw away a full set of legal tyres that come with a car ot van though.

[gtd2000]

That's a fair point, never looked at it like that. I suppose it's always the case that you don't know how they have been driven or how old they are. Not that I would just throw away a full set of legal tyres that come with a car ot van though.

You'll find most tyres have a manufactured date on them - not that this really matters as they could be 30 years old and perfectly serviceable if kept away from ultraviolet light which breaks down the "rubber".Part worns all the way for shitters in my book - epseically new ones from the spare wheels complete with bumfluff that have never seen daylight

[Mr Lobster]

You'll find most tyres have a manufactured date on them - not that this really matters as they could be 30 years old and perfectly serviceable if kept away from ultraviolet light which breaks down the "rubber".

But then Practical Crappics seem to regularly get all worried and OMG DONT USE DE OWD TYRES OR U WIL DIE. TO DEATH every few months with grave warnings of using tyres older than about ten minutes. Do they carry a few adverts for sellers of tyres perchance?

[dollywobbler]

To be fair, and because we've also run OMG DEATH IZ CUMIN! stories about tyres, there have been some real horror stories, and the source has been the FBHVC rather than tyre manufacturers. Personally, every time I see a low mileage classic for sale with the proud line "still on original tyres!" I cringe...

[Albert Ross]

Absolute bollocks all the "replace at 7 years" nonsense. I am running a set of genuine 1970s Avon Ranger Crossplies on my Land Rover. Exactly what would have been fitted when new. Sure, it's a bit twitchy in the wet, but you slow down. They feel like the wheels are loose after being parked up for more than a few days, but give it a couple of miles, and all goes smoothly. Only a few cracks in them, and they have probably been there since the 80s..... The wife's car gets W rated Michelins though, as it gets used on Motorways etc. The Sapphire gets a new set this year, I'm toying with the idea of Michelins, but period classic ones from 1989/90 in case it's needed for film work. Just needs 2 doors, 2 sills, and MOT to be legal.

[dollywobbler]

Absolute bollocks all the "replace at 7 years" nonsense. I am running a set of genuine 1970s Avon Ranger Crossplies on my Land Rover. Exactly what would have been fitted when new. Sure, it's a bit twitchy in the wet, but you slow down. They feel like the wheels are loose after being parked up for more than a few days, but give it a couple of miles, and all goes smoothly. Only a few cracks in them, and they have probably been there since the 80s..... The wife's car gets W rated Michelins though, as it gets used on Motorways etc. The Sapphire gets a new set this year, I'm toying with the idea of Michelins, but period classic ones from 1989/90 in case it's needed for film work. Just needs 2 doors, 2 sills, and MOT to be legal.

Well, I certainly wouldn't replace tyres just because of age, but this "well, just drive around the issues" doesn't sound like an ideal way to proceed. What if a kid runs out in front of you while the tyres are hard? Don't forget that most numpties know nothing at all about car control either, so having good rubber is probably the more sensible option - unless we all get to play on skidpans as part of our driving tuition...

[pompei]

My old Honda CRX had various budget tyres for a while. I replaced them with Goodyear Hydragrips after reading a comparison test somewhere (Auto Express?) and the difference really was astonishing - not that much more cash, and they lasted longer too. I tried to replace them when they got worn but no-one seemed to do them.

[Guest]

I think everything needs to be judged on a case-by-case basis. I was driving my Mira around on its factory-fitted Bridgestones (1997) until around 2007 and it drove brilliantly on them - still had good tread, grip was fantastic, the only worry was some very small cracks in the sidewall which never amounted to anything.On the other hand, the Charmant has a set of Runways from 2004 or so and I wouldn't trust them as far as I could throw them despite having loads of tread. Absolute toss!I reckon the worst tyres you could run about on are ones that have been allowed to go flat for a long time.

[Albert Ross]

Dollywobbler, I was referring to the way ALL avon Crossplies drive, not this set. I removed a set of Chinese crossplies to fit these. I know which I prefer. It can only do approx 45/50 top whack downhill, and keeping up to traffic speed is an art in heavy traffic. I already drive extremely defensively due to the single circuit drum brakes all round, and the non-assisted recirculating ball type steering with 6 track rod ends. It's vague, but you get used to it. That coupled with a 4 speed crash-box, a 2 speed splitter (laughingly called an overdrive), and only 67 horses from a 3 bearing diesel make it a very hands on drive. When cold, it only has a very small powerband, which you need to stsay in to make it go anywhere. Come over and try it.....you might be surprised how it drives TBH. It's quite a good one considering it's 40 years old. I also, sitting high up, have the ability to see a good thre/four cars ahead of normal car drivers, so I am prepared before the car in front is. My eyes are glued to the road, don't you worry. They weren't designed to run on radials, but I do have a winter set, which needs the rear pair replacing, but at £200 a corner new, second hand ones are cheaper, and that's what it's going to get.

[andrew e]

STOMIL CROSSPLIES 4 DA WIN

[Station]

Someone said this, but tyres have faced a lot of 'recycled internet bollocks'. Supposedly, Toyo Proxes are the best, but some magazine did an ultimate test in wet/dry/rwd/fwd/etc and they came in at about 14 out of 20.Apparently, Vredestein (dutch) make the best, although I can't remember which brand.I've lived on 'ditch finders', I've only had expensive tyres on when I get part worns, I've never bought a new tyre. I did once get part worns with 8mm tread left and they were decent and I didn't notice the difference until I replaced my entire suspension. the difference was unbelievable. I could take a certain bend on the M53 motorway at 80, instead of a brown trousers 50.

[Parky]

I have used Ceat tyres on my old Corolla (now Parky Seniors old Corolla) and they were pretty good. As I recall, they are Pirelli's budget tyre and I was told by the fitter that that they are effectively Pirelli's tread pattern from 10 years ago made out of harder rubber in a factory in India. Having checked Wikipedia on that he wasnt a million miles off the truth. Grip is good, wear not bad and I think I paid £32 each for a par of 165/14's (I think)In New Zealand I used Bridgestone Enduro's. Havent seen them here in Europe but I liked them. Worst tyres ever were a set of cheap Firestones I put on a Mark 2 Cavalier which had very deep tread and the car seemed to move around on corners as if the treads were bending. Wierd that was.Tight Budget - I'd go for CeatMoney no object? I'd go for Continentals

[Negative Creep]

My Almera has a lovely blend of Kwik Fit budgets and Sava tyres. Despite being almost new, they are truly shocking and promote understeer very easily. Am half considering getting some decent part worns instead