Not read all of the above, but after 33 years of driving and 50+ cars, I have learnt not to skimp on tyres, after all they are the only contact your vehicle has with the ground! Braking, cornering, power transfer etc.
You may be able to drive around the inadequacies (did I spell that right ?) of a cheap tyre, but in an emergency STOP! you don't get that option !!!!
Any thoughts on Lassa tyres? We got Impetus revo's for £55 each, sold as 'mid-range'.
Been running a set on or car and they seem Ok, however I don't really have anything to comapre them too, I guess they're Ok cos they've never noticed any major problems, only the fronts seem to be wearing a bit quick. Think we'll get about 15k miles out of them.
Our VW Sharan (standard 1.9 tdi) takes re-enforced tyres. There were some cheap ones on when we bought it and they were sh!t scary as they fell apart (tread was fine but they sort of separated in between treads).
I feel much happier with the proper ones on and the car drives loads better
Lassa are one of the bigger names in really cheap tyres, Impetus are budget tyres nowhere near mid range.
Many, many years ago I was skint and put a set of budget tyres on a 309GTI to get it through its MOT - it transformed the car, from superb to shit.
Now, I use Avons on my cars, and have done for the last few cars - 18k miles from the last set of rears (535i).
The wife gets Michelins on hers - last set managed 45k miles (4x4).
I get a pair of tyres for the price of one of hers...
Michellin Premacy's for our Galaxy were £198 each.
After regaining consciousness they offered me some Avons for about £100 each.
(Apparently they are reinforced tyres)
((Because of the car's weight, not mine)).
They seem to be wearing ok, but are a lot noisier than the Michellins. Grip wise they seem ok, but the Wife doesnt approve of me Tokyo drifting the Galaxy on the school run.
Back in the 80's I remember replacing the Pirelli P6's on my XR3i with some cheapos. The fronts lasted a tyre squealingly appalling 8 months. Cue a late night - multi-storey car park wheel swapping meeting with a mate before the MOT.
On a serious note, I had a pair of budget tyres put on my Rover 25 about 18 months back. On the way back from shopping with my two young sons the car had a blow-out & rolled at 60mph. I know it can happen on any car, at any time, but I cant help but think my opting for a cheap brand nearly cost us dearly.
Michellin Premacy's for our Galaxy were £198 each
I was quoted £200 for Pirelli Scorpions for my XC90 (slow but extremely heavy). Shopping around, I managed to get them for £130ish each inc fitting. Given that I get 35k out of a set, the cost differential (maybe £100 across all four tyres) between the best tyres I can get and some cheap ones is just not worth it.
£800 for tyres? Judas Priest 
all you guys saying no good in emergancy stops - in all honesty how often have you found your self doing emergancy stops ?
ive done 2 since i started driving - it was in the lesson before my test - ok ive not been driving as long as half of you.
just drive my car like i ride my bike - looking well up the road and anticipating dangers ok aint always that simple but its working for me
im just back from 7 weeks working/driving in west africa - and in all honesty coming back here onto the roads shocked me - ok the cars out there are shit and people are reading newspapers and on the phone i still felt safer out there than i do in this country - everyones in such a rush here - slow the **** down people
Four HOURS to fit my two rear tyres yesterday. The had to have their machine serviced - hmm - good timing...
Also got the wheels laser aligned - they were well out of line (toe and camber)! New tyres and nice and straight too.
FOUR HOURS!
Your car must be awesomely hard to work on.
The main reason that stops me getting to the point of an emergency stop isn't the IAM bollocks or consideration for conditions etc but..
I don't want to flat spot my tyres and have to shell out for new ones 
Nick - no, their machine needed awesomely calibrating.
So slight thread hijack,
I need to replace the tyres on my Leon FR, I'll do the two fronts this month and the two rears next month.
I've been using Goodyear Excellence which have had good grip but wear rate has been pretty high.
As replacement I'm considering Toyo T1-Rs, Conti Sport Contact 3 and Eagle F1 Assy, there is only a few quid in between the three tyres, Toyo cheapest and Goodyear most expensive.
Any Thoughts
Can't comment directly on the tyre choice, but my experience of Toyo T1-R was that they wore very quickly. I was only getting 12k or so from the front tyres on a Mondeo 2.0
My Toyo's had seriously soft tyre walls and unless I ran high pressures they 'squirmed' alot.
Any other choices to consider?
Yep - Toyos wear too quickly.
Pretty even between the F1 and the CSC3- I use the latter so slightly prefer them. Wet grip is unbeatable, dry grip will be similar. Contis should last slightly longer too.
I reckon get a two or three season tyre - ideal time of year to pick up the fronts in that flavour.
If you can get them at a similar price to the above I've found Michelin PS2 or PS3 are the best for performance and allround wear on a quick car. I get at least 20-30% more out of them than the Eagle F1 Assy or pzero nero's on my sti.
CSC3s are better in the wet than PS2s/3s but the PSs edge it in the dry.
Hmm, Unbeatable wetgrip from the Conti's you say...
Living in Glasgow that pretty much seals the deal!
Dunlop Sport Maxx and Falken FK452 are also around the same money (as are Pirelli P6000s but I like to steer clear of tyres nicknamed "ditchfinders")
Michelins are excellent in the wet and the reviews show it.
http://www.tyrereviews.co.uk/Tyre/Continental/Sport-Contact-3.htm
http://www.tyrereviews.co.uk/Tyre/Michelin/Pilot-Sport-PS2.htm
Pilot Sports are indeed great tyres but they are £25 more a corner, I think I'll go for the Conti's
Good cboice - CSC3s won a big Evo tyre test not long ago - they thrashed everything else.
Yeh the do usually cost more but you get what you pay for. Have you had a looky at Camskill's site price wise? Thats where i get mine but i'm local to them so you'd have to get someone to fit them.
CSC3s won a big Evo tyre test not long ago - they thrashed everything else.
PS2 or PS2 not in that test so the didn't thrash them so to speak!!
1. Continental Contisportcontact 3
2. Uniroyal Rainsport 2
3. Vredstein Ultrac Cento
4. Bridgestone RE050A
5. Michelin Pilot Exalto
6. Yokohama Advan Neova AD08
7. Kumho Ecsta KU39
8. Hankook Ventus K12 EVO
9. Zeetex HP103
Real customer review always tell the true story PS2 91% CSC3 78%
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