Khumo here too, used them on my 90 and the range Rover now wears them.
Toyo on the Focus though, only because I got them cheap from a friend on a set of wheels.

I think the answer here is “good” tyres, not “branded or not” – there are a few cheaper tyres that are very good despite not being Contis or such like. Likewise there’s some brand name rubbish, I’ve never met a michelin I liked. Don’t go off what the local tyre seller tells you – mine ALWAYS try to sell me some rubbish plastic guff that the taxi drivers buy – last 60K easily but have the cornering capability of a train. I can only assume the majority of people just go and buy whatever is offered to them – there’s about 10 local tyre places and they all seem very confused when I ask for a specific *model* of tyre. One even ordered in a random tyre from the same manufacturer because “they’re all the same”. 🙄

Personally I’d go with uniroyal rainexperts, conti sport contacts are /ok/ and expensive but grip well, toyo proxes 4 are not a bad cheap-ish tyre and good in the wet. Their T1-S are not bad but not as good as the Federal SS595 which are classed as budget tyres, though the federals will wear faster. T1S better in the wet, 595 better in the dry.

All above advice gathered from 215 40 17s and 185 50 15s, if that helps.

One of the tyres blew out on the way to the Alps

More likely to be casused by under-inflation than the brand of tyre. A lot more likely……

Tyreshopper.com cheapest for my tyres

If you live in Surrey there is a fitter in Knaphill that is as cheap or cheaper than the mail order places, with fitting and balancing as well.

paid 99 a corner for Goodyear Eagle F1 asymmetrics which I realy like. Also liked some Dunlop sports I had previously. Never liked any of the Michelins (P6000/7000/ZeroNero) I have had (the zeros seemed to be dodgy in the wet), nor the Bridgestone Potenzas.

I also find that the tyres pressures in the car manual are not too much of a guideline – so best to experiment. Probably better to run a cheap tyre at the right pressure than a good tyre at the wrong pressure.

i put 4 cheap tyres on my car last time they needed it as i was going to sell it shortly afterwards, but ended up keeping it.

Anyway, i cant tell any difference between them and the Pirellis it had on before. But i dont drive like a loon!

Fronts were Sava, and cant remember the rears but they were random unbranded cheapos from Black circles.

Tyretest.com

Useful site started years back in Germany.

Personally I stick to the premium end of the market. That said, many of the ‘lesser’ brands seem just as good but the real test can often be in an emergency situation. Not sure I’m comfortable finding out how good my tyres are when needing to avoid an accident.

I needed 4 new ones recently and ended up getting 2 Radar and 2 Nexens for 40 quid each fitted, quite a difference from the 120++ a corner on previous cars.

I’m used to driving pretty quick cars but now have “transport” in the shape of my HRV. I drive 60 miles a day on motorways and A/B roads.

I cannot notice a major difference between what I have now and the Dunlops they replaced. I have needed to stop quickly in the wet and had no issues, cornering is fine and well suited to the car and wear seems good.

I think that were I in a faster car I’d most likely spend a little more on Toyo or Yokis but for this car they are working perfectly well.

Replaced 2 of my usual Michelins with some Nexen CP641’s ( Half the price) – All I can say is, so far so good. Can’t say I’ve noticed any issues in the last 2 thousand miles – But, then again, I don’t drive like a boy racer.

Chris

On the one hand it’s your connection to the road, fairly important don’t scrimp, on the other all the cars I’ve had have had cheapo tyres fitted I’ve never heard of and I’ve never ended up in a hedge.

Those who say “XXX has no grip” what are you doing and how does the lack of grip manifest itself? just wondering, can’t say I’ve ever really found the limits of my tyres, with the exception of a little spinning on heavy footed starts….oh and that exit slip road near sedbergh with a cattle grid halfway along, whoops! ABS didn’t like that.

+1 for Prestivo, got them on my Focus*, 10k in and they’re looking good for 30k+ easily on the front.

*Which I was told would eat front tyres.

Aquaplaned once, but that was during one of those balmy summer days we had so many this year this year where 2inches of rain fell in an afternoon. Can’t blame them, there were 3 cars in the barriers/ditch on that bit of DC when I passed it on the way home!

Firestone F-590 are fun tyres for the midget, which definately doesn’t get 30k from a set of tyres :-p

Those who say “XXX has no grip” what are you doing and how does the lack of grip manifest itself?

Understeer on wet/damp corners at a fraction of the speed of dry cornering, fast braking situations caused by leaving braking a tad late for the tyres (people pulling out on me on a 60 zone after pausing until I’m 40ft away – even having slowed to 40 when they pull out and slowly amble up to 20mph it really only leaves heavy brakign and swerving as an option). Had one entertaining incident where I was coming off a motorway onto an A road in a large traffic procession, at ~30mph (a sliproad and stretch I’d normally happily cruise at 50 in my other car) and while everyone else went round teh corner nicely I was slowly drifting outward due to the poor fronts. Same car with new tyres will do it at 40 in the wet without blinking. Ultimately you can say someone is driving too fast, but any speed is too fast if you have ice tyres. It’s about time someone came up with a minimum grip standard for all tyres on sale.

However you don’t have to be driving “fast” to require good grip – the cheapo plastic nonsense I had on my car when I bought it was so poor it triggered the ABS left right and centre just slowly approaching lights and later was found to be disintegrating /inside/ – the tyre rattled when shaken! Going from a nippy car with nice tyres to a normal car with normal tyres does tend to leave you expecting too much of it but really highlights the poor performance of cheapo tyres. Switching from the no-name trash on the 306 diesel (heavy nose) to Proxes 4’s was night and day different, especially in poor weather, and the ABS rarely triggers these days unless a grid is present.

Those who say “XXX has no grip” what are you doing and how does the lack of grip manifest itself? just wondering, can’t say I’ve ever really found the limits of my tyres, with the exception of a little spinning on heavy footed starts….oh and that exit slip road near sedbergh with a cattle grid halfway along, whoops! ABS didn’t like that.

Pretty easy to find the limit of grip on an empty roundabout – if you are so inclined! People pulling out of side junctions often has you testing the limits of your tyres under braking too.

IMO good budget tyres are Khumo, Vredstein (amazing), Fulda (German).

Bad ones- too many to name. Shop around OP. I’ve had a couple of cars that came on budgets and they were unpredictable.

People pulling out of side junctions often has you testing the limits of your tyres under braking too.

On the bike hell yes, people don’t seem so inclined to pull out on me when I’m inside a big metal box – even when in the wife’s rollerskate.

You wouldn’t put some nasty cheap tyres on your road or mountain bike would you?

I got Halfrauds to put some hoops on the front after my Goodyear summer tyres finally failed. The Goodies were awesome, even in snow. The Avon replacements are shite. Me and the missus have both had it hugely sideways in the damp. ‘it’ being an exciting diesel Vectra. ‘exciting’ meaning very dull but comfy.

This winter will be fun 🙁

I always buy branded ones. I can feel the difference in grip and road noise.

Balfour Beatty who run a very large fleet of cars only lets you put premium tires on as they think there is a large difference

@akysurf, what kind of driving will you be doing?

I haven’t decided on my car yet, but today got my wife’s car (Yaris) fitted with 2 Ovation’s on the front and got it MOT’ed also – I’d never heard of that make before but they were the cheapest the garage had – I feel a bit guilty now!

Partworns. I got some Goodyear ones for £35 each with only 1/4 less tread than an new one.