[Closed] Are higher end car tyres worth the cash?

Do you put Halfords Bike Hut specials on your bikes? R&D costs money, and in my experience is worth it. Cost effectiveness is one thing, but handling and performance count for cars as well as bikes.

you do appreciate the difference between a vehicle with 2 wheels ridden to its (my) limit and a vehicle with 4 wheels driven to the shops?

Stopping distance is where the budgets fail you, right when your need them..

independent (non manufactrer) stats please.

doubt there's all that much in it most the time, and if there is i'd wager the softer compouds used wont give either the fuel economy or wear rate you'd ideally like.

Stopping distance is where the budgets fail you, right when your need them..
independent (non manufactrer) stats please.

Report: Budget Tyres Could Kill, But at Least They’re Quiet

http://www.tyrepress.com/News/1/22/20196.html

if there is i'd wager the softer compouds used wont give either the fuel economy or wear rate you'd ideally like.

LOL, I'll take your bet. I'd rather not endanger myself, family or others..

I can't talk for anyone else but I bought a MX5 and it came with 4x SA tyres. Boy were they lethal. Going into a damp bend you'd have over, then under then oversteer. Wierd. Then one day just driving normally the rear snapped out- not stepped out but snapped out. Binned them and fitted Goodyears alround. After that the car was beautiful.

ps. New tyres always feel better than old tyres that are past their best.

Report: Budget Tyres Could Kill, But at Least They’re Quiet

tyrepress dot come?

not exactly peer reviewed that one is it?

Those event tyres on the transit killed several pairs of my pants tracknicko!!!

[i]Event tyres...where every journey is an event[/i].

That should be their advertising strapline..

Conti sport contact have been on my cars for the last few years.
Load of grip, but they do wear quite quickly.
Seem cheap tome compared to anything biking.
I will put four new ones on soon, as lack of tread in the rain is what is most dangerous.

tracknicko - Member
Report: Budget Tyres Could Kill, But at Least They’re Quiet
tyrepress dot come?

not exactly peer reviewed that one is it?

[url= http://www.tyrereviews.co.uk/Article/2012-Autobild-50-Tyre-Braking-Test.htm ]Tyre braking results[/url]

[url= http://www.tyrereviews.co.uk/Article/Premium-VS-Budget-Tyres-Real-World-Performance.htm ]Premium Vs Budget Comparison[/url]

[url= http://tyretest.com/ ]Tyretest.com[/url]

Started in Germany for real user data/reviews.

I decided to save money a few months back by sticking some top-end Falkens on my car rather than the Continentals it came with - the difference was so noticable that I have swapped the half worn Conti's from the back to the front to get decent grip/handling back.

tyrepress dot come?

not exactly peer reviewed that one is it?

There's none as blind as those who won't see! Sources below are not peer-reviewed, true, but the information sources are reputed motoring magazines (Autocar and What Car).

The big difference seems to be wet grip, and specifically, the stopping distances. My personal experience is that there's very poor lateral grip and stability, but that's rarely tested.

http://www.tyrereviews.co.uk/Article/Autocar-Tyre-Test-Budget-Tyre-Performance.htm

http://www.tyreblog.co.uk/2010/information-safety-risks-buying-cheap-budget-tyres-517

The video below (again, What Car data) makes the point very well.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a_j-2W2uZ8c

This one comes about pretty much monthly. Buy decent quality cheaper tyres and you'll get the benefits of great performance at medium price. Cheap ones are death traps waiting to happen (even if you don't drive like a nut, I've had them fall apart internally and collapse) and really expensive ones don't seem to offer any benefits for the price (I've run some high end continentals that performed just as well as the cheaper ones and wore at the same rate). There's one or two exceptions to this but generally "good quality" tyre is more important than brand name. There's plenty of review sites though these need to have the chaff sorted out of them too.

Just out of (genuine) interest, how do you notice the difference in grip?

I can see how in a bike tyre you would but in a car it is extrememly rare I ever take the car to the limit of it's grip to find out how much better one tyre set would be over another.

Real user reviews are pointless though. Almost every time someone chnages old tyres for new they'll be loads quieter and better grip. It'd have to be a very discerning user to make a decent comparison, preferably a track dayer too.

I wonder how many people fit new tyres and then say hit a patch of diesel, thereby causing them to think the tyres are rubbish? Not accusing people on here specifically.

Just out of (genuine) interest, how do you notice the difference in grip?

Hard acceleration out of junctions.
Acceleration away from wet junctions while turning.
Whether the ABS gets triggered early on hard braking to roundabouts I regularly use.
Hard braking into wet roundabouts (ie. braking and cornering)
Hoofing it round roundabouts and seeing whether they drift earlier or later than expected.
[all of the above where and when safe I might add, so with good visibility, no pedestrians or other traffic on wide roads with run-off in case you get a nasty surprise, around here there's plenty of places this can be done without risking others which is of paramount importance of course]
Generally after a few hundred miles of driving I find a safe and convenient spot and test them to their limit at lower speeds (closed car park with a known surface), which gives me a reasonable estimation of how they will deal with "problems" on road at higher speeds.

Real user reviews are pointless though. Almost every time someone chnages old tyres for new they'll be loads quieter and better grip. It'd have to be a very discerning user to make a decent comparison, preferably a track dayer too.

You can generally tell that from the reviews. Discard them if they don't look sane. I've not fallen foul of this method before and generally agree with the folk I think are making a reasonable call in the review so I am willing to keep making those judgements.

Always had Pirelli or Michelin on my Leon FR and found them good, if a little quick to wear. Always put it down to it being FWD diesel so a heavy front end. Got some Hankook Ventus' on at the moment, bottom end of the pricey tyres I would normally get and they are excellent. Grip like puppy excrement to a mattress when cornering hard in wet or dry. They were about £40 a corner cheaper than the top notch stuff and potentially, better performing. Quieter too.

jonba - Member
Just out of (genuine) interest, how do you notice the difference in grip?

I can see how in a bike tyre you would but in a car it is extrememly rare I ever take the car to the limit of it's grip to find out how much better one tyre set would be over another.

With most (front wheel drive) cars, understeer will be more pronounced, stopping distances greater & wheelspin easier.

Just out of (genuine) interest, how do you notice the difference in grip?

I realised one day 3 of my tyres could do with changing as they had worn on the inside, took it to a local (but not my normal garage) the guy fitted his cheapo equvilant of what I normally buy 'Barums' they cost the same as the barums and the grip was horrendous, (I went to pull out at a junction and the front wheels started spinning) I had hardly ever spun that car in the 3 years previously, car was traded in 3 months later, Buy Kumho Barum etc and do not drive like a knob and you will be fine.

I normally buy 'Barums' they cost the same as the barums and the grip was horrendous

Holey jesus, worse than Barums - that takes some doing. Barums are bloody aweful hard-compound junk. 6 years they were on my other halfs car, they were shocking from the start and I wanted to change them but she didn't. After changing them to winter tyres during the winter she noted how much better the winter tyres were in the dry, in the summer. And this is from someone who literally never pushes the car. Nothing on earth would make me buy a barum again.

The instructor on my, er, safety camera non-optional learn-in session was insistent on decent tyres and changing well before the legal limit.

Summed up rather well below - I'm paraphrasing only a little.

"And if you can't find an extra tenner or so per tyre to have something reasonable fitted, remember that the difference for all four tyres is probably less than a tank of fuel. Drive a bit less and find the money."

this one does come up every now and then. unless you're getting the suspension system refreshed every 40k or so on your car, the ability to stop and manoeuvre is compromised, and many, many folk seem to think that this is ok, or at least happy to overlook it. by extension, spend a 'reasonable' amount on tyres if it makes you feel better, but you'd be better off driving to the conditions and paying attention. unless you're driving a powerful sportscar you'll never notice the difference in a run of the mill car unless you fit some real shockers or you have incorrect ( high ) pressures in them.
go to a decent independent tyre place, tell 'em you don't want to spend the earth, but you don't want cr4p either. you'll probably come out with something marginally more expensive than the bottom of the line, but not much more.
i saved between 80 or 100 quid a corner on my fast car by going from bridgestones to toyos, which gripped better and rode better, in all conditions. expensive does not equal better.
x7 and Sektors or Pikes BTW. 😀

wah loads of replies, cheers one and all. Will stick with the michelen's and have a google for the best lasting.

ta!

Which tyres are best for four-wheel drifts in my turbo diesel sport estate? I need predictable break-away characteristics coupled to good feel at and beyond the limit. Any suggestions? Should I stick with Barum or would I be better with a tyre I saw which just has Chinese characters on the sidewall? If the latter, how can I tell what size it is? 😐

Buy Kumho Barum etc and do not drive like a knob and you will be fine.

This is a narrow-minded conception. There will be one event, just one in your life of driving that a good quality tyre will either save you or stop you hitting another.

Plus- good wet weather performance- you'll be doing 70 on the motorway at somepoint, why not have that little bit extra in your arsenal?

Be tight on other things, not the things that make contact with your road.

Unless you ride on budget tyres for mountain biking of course.

just put a pait of toyo proxes T1R on the front of my leon FR (petrol). Had budget tyres on when I got it and I'll admit they were better than I thought they would be, but wore out fast.

Toyos seem a good hlafway house - and the tread pattern is ace which satisfys the tart in me

😆 I'm a real tart for matching tread patterns on cars 😆

havent read most of the above but im never buying budgets again.

this time last year i put 2 budgets on my fiesta (Mohawks)and 2 mid range falkens on the wifes (same model of car), shes done about 6k miles ive done about 3k and mine are nearly bald and theres a good bit of tread left on hers!

you can to the touch, feel the difference in the compound, the falkens are soft mine are like rock.

if you actually look at the cost of tyres and as said above there is only about a tenner jump from budget to half decent.

I got three new tyres on our Citroen c4 last MOT; fourth had recently been replaced. I chose budget tyres because I was on a budget. Dreadful things, noise like a WWII jeep.

Can't wait for them to wear out. At 20k+ miles a year, shouldn't take too long

I drive like an old man so exceeding their limits shouldn't happen very often

I drive like an old man so exceeding their limits shouldn't happen very often

and if you ever had anything adverse happen you'd probably over react or panic? (Understandable reaction).

Better tyres give you confidence.

Same with mountain biking.

[url= http://www.focus.de/auto/ratgeber/sicherheit/reifen/tests/tid-21473/adac-sommerreifentest-2011-20-meter-weniger-bremsweg-fuer-20-euro-mehr_aid_602843.html ]For those that want independant tests you can do worse than ADAC[/url]

20 metres less stopping distance for 20e is what the headline translates to.

Page 2 (Seite 2) has the results by tyre. The Conti, Michelin and Uniroyal fans will be reassued their money was well spent.

Better tyres can give you overconfidence.

Same with mountain biking.

Maybe we should have a Jedsexi for driving?

FWIW I find Uniroyal Rain Sports are excellent and they are cheaper than Michelin / Conti / Goodyear.

They have grip when you need it for scottish roads - in the wet.

The car (Leon FR) came with Goodyear Excellence which I stuck with for a while. While grippy and predictable they wore quickly and were a bit fragile - esily damaged sidewalls. I tried Falken FK452's decent in the dry okay in the wet but the wear rate was horrendous. I switched to Uniroyal Rain Sports. Good in the dry - almost as good as the Goodyear, excellent in the wet and the wear rate seems very good - well for me! £100 a corner from black circles on 225/45 R17

whilst i agree that spending a bit more on tyres can make sense,

I would just like to add, the roads are for getting from a to b on if you feel the need to race go on a trackday. A "fun" road with lots of corners could equally be seen as a road where cyclists/pedestrians/horses try and escape the wannabe racing drivers. only to find a **** coming round a blind corner at 60mph.

this one does come up every now and then. unless you're getting the suspension system refreshed every 40k or so on your car, the ability to stop and manoeuvre is compromised, and many, many folk seem to think that this is ok, or at least happy to overlook it. by extension, spend a 'reasonable' amount on tyres if it makes you feel better, but you'd be better off driving to the conditions and paying attention. unless you're driving a powerful sportscar you'll never notice the difference in a run of the mill car unless you fit some real shockers or you have incorrect ( high ) pressures in them.

In a bog standard 306 diesel I can tell the difference and cheap tyres nearly led to me having a very pricey accident (carcass delaminated as I hit the brakes a LONG long way away from the traffic and left me with fabric to stop on, which triggered the ABS and left me vibrating my way down the road - ended up having to ditch into the grass verge for the last few feet). Even ignoring catastrophic tyre failure they were really quick to lock up in the wet even with 4mm of tread left. Makes a difference when a kid runs out from behind a hedge or fence, or someone pulls out on you.

you'd be better off driving to the conditions and paying attention

It's kind of expected that you do that all the time, not just to justify buying cheap car parts.

I would just like to add, the roads are for getting from a to b on if you feel the need to race go on a trackday. A "fun" road with lots of corners could equally be seen as a road where cyclists/pedestrians/horses try and escape the wannabe racing drivers. only to find a **** coming round a blind corner at 60mph.

How people drive is a completely different argument. This is about tyres and whether to buy cheap ones or expensive ones. Whether to drive without due care and attention is a whole other debate and the two should not be related but some people choose to assume the moral high ground in order to justify their cheapskate poor maintenance and choices.

When a kid runs out in front of your car from a hidden location and you kill it even though you were driving very carefully you will give your life savings to go back and change the outcome, when a little more expense at new tyre time can drastically reduce the likelyhood (though of course not eliminate it, nor be an excuse for taking less care).

When it comes to cars there are only three things that I care about:

Tyres
Oil/oil filter
Coolant

Everything else is peripheral/frm-frammery for the annual service really.

You might want to ensure the suspension parts replaced are good quality too, rather than euro-car-parts cheapest.

not diagreeing coffeeking, just reading some of the comments you would think that the roads are a racetrack, which they are not. If you want to race go to a track and show how good you really are.

And for exactly the reason you mention about kids and the like running out it makes sense to spend a bit on tyres.

Wouldn't it be better to spend the money on NOS?

You might want to ensure the suspension parts replaced are good quality too, rather than euro-car-parts cheapest.

exactly. in fact by not fitting vented carbon ceramic discs are you not equally risking the child who's face it could have been?

http://www.motorcaravanning.com/vehicles/tyre_test.htm

see the first table, it's why i always spec. decent tyres on the van. cheap van tyres (aren't even that cheap) and are scary, especially that the van is 2 t empty and happily carry another t.

exactly. in fact by not fitting vented carbon ceramic discs are you not equally risking the child who's face it could have been?

No, as those take too long and cannot retain enough heat on the road to work as efficently as your standard steel brakes and OEM fitments.

You might want to ensure the suspension parts replaced are good quality too, rather than euro-car-parts cheapest.

Agreed.

At my last MOT (May) it failed on one tyre just below the limit. So I popped round the corner from the testing station to the local tyre place expecting to get stung for an ad-hoc tyre request. I asked for a mid-range tyre and the guy suggested a Nexen N8000 - £65 fitted, which I went for. Some googling back at home showed this to be a reasonable tyre/price so I went back a few days later and replaced the other (less worn but nearly gone) side with the same.

http://www.tyrepress.com/News/1/22/25012.html

All good so far 🙂