MegaSack DRAW - This year's winner is user - rgwb
We will be in touch
Been a while since i last bought some car tyres, and it seems the prices have gone up a bit! I am after a set of decent cheap tyres.
So who is cheap and what are the current recomended brands
195/55/15 if it matters.
if all you are after is cheap, been black and round is handy 🙂
After all the "it's your only contact with the road", "it could be a child's face next time", etc etc scaremongering I bought uniroyal rain-experts. Then this happened within 500 miles.
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And they're the only tyre I've even managed to (accidentaly) skid on a dry corner at normal speeds.
So on that basis I'd buy either Prestivo Sport (what was garage I bought the car from put on it) which were fine and didn't kill anyone, or Arrowspeed something or others that the missus has on her Fiesta, which again, haven't kiled anyone.
if all you are after is cheap, been black and round is handy
If all black round things are decent then fine, but are they?
prestivo seem ok to me. accidental damage warranty as well.
got a nail through one after 1000 miles and only paid 30% replacement cost.
I've been running Hankook Ventus V12 for the past few sets and I've been very happy with them
Vredsteins. If I can ever afford a decent car again I'm going to buy 4 of these. No mucking about. I had a Legacy with 4 of the Sportrac's on and it was amazing.
On a budget- Kumho's.
I also liked Fulda's (German brand).
These Kumho Ecsta HM KH31 seem to get good reviews and seem relatively good value for money.
Another vote for Kumho. Great tyres and every bit as good as Continental or Michelin that I normally use. Quite, good grip in rain and about 2/3 the price of the big EU made brands.
Kumho or Falken.
I went to a tyre place for a specifically recommended Kumho, ended up with a cheaper version (I should have complained but they were cheap and I was skint), they scared me silly... by all means get some but make sure they aren't the cheapest budget version
(use this theory with any brand TBH)
BlindMelon - MemberI've been running Hankook Ventus V12 for the past few sets and I've been very happy with them
Quite impressed too, better than my Kumho Ecstas were (better grip despite being on a bigger, heavier, more powerful car), and quieter. We'll see how the wear rate goes though.
Kumho, Vredestein and dare I say it, Matador...!
Yeah, I was a bit sceptical of Matador tyres, but ended up with a pair as I needed some fitted sharpish & it was all the local tyre place had that was reasonably priced. I got the mp44, and since then the mp46 which is the new version. They grip well in the wet & dry, seem to last for ages & are fairly quiet.
I think that Matador are owned by Continental.
If you have a local garage who will fit tyres you supply then I recommend camskill (google it). The website is a little rubbish, but they are generally cheaper than other websites & delivery has always been prompt.
Michelin, Kuhmo and Pirelli in that order for me, don't know why Pirelli cost more the Kuhmo tbh...
Toyo.
+1 for Toyo tyres.
put a set of Michelin PS3's on Mine few months back, so far so good! 🙂
Nokian. All their tyres are energy saving compounds. For me, improved fuel economy by about 10% over Dunlop Sport, and they look to be lasting twice as long as normal tyres. Grip is great, handling is better than the Dunlops too.
I doubt there's much harm in sticking a set of "ditch finders" on a runabout or motorway drudgemobile, but you'll probably want to stick with the big brands if you have a a performance-oriented car. Or not, I don't know, I guess all tires have to pass a minimum CE standard?
I doubt there's much harm in sticking a set of "ditch finders" on a runabout or motorway drudgemobile,
Until it's wet and you need to stop in a hurry. I'd be a shame if your last thought was 'bugger I wish I hadn't skimped on tyres'
Hmm.
I can't recommend Kumhos personally. I got four and they were noticably poorer up front than the Primacys they replaced or the Contis which have now replaced them. Wearing OK on the rear. But grip was poor up front.
im also looking for 2 new rears for my octavia. i did hear that they were cheaper if you ordered from blackcircles.com or something, and they still get fitted by the local dealer. is this right?
and any other alternatives to blackcircles?
cheers
Just google for tyres. There's mytyres.com, pneus online, and more.
Until it's wet and you need to stop in a hurry. I'd be a shame if your last thought was 'bugger I wish I hadn't skimped on tyres'
[url= https://maps.google.co.uk/maps?hl=en&ll=55.364061,-2.494159&spn=0.001994,0.005203&t=h&z=18&iwloc=lyrftr:h,8523814867131304556,55.338518,-2.25769 ]I see your argument's logic, but when trying to go round this corner, in the dry on a set of expensive tyres that do really well in all the reviews I was thinking......................................................'bugger I wish I'd not believed the hype and scaremongering and bought some cheep tyres that actualy worked and weren't falling appart'[/url]
Do you now think that all uniroyal tyres are really really bad? Do you think that's more likely than a manufacturing defect?
Do you now think that all uniroyal tyres are really really bad? Do you think that's more likely than a manufacturing defect?
Uniroyal aren't talking to me, well that's what I'm assuming, it's been a week and no reply. I'm giving it a week before I start randomly loging into motoring forums/facebook and posting that pic to see if that gains a quicker response.
If they don't reply to their emails, they probably aren't monitoring the social internet!
FWIW every time I try and email a 'traditional' manufacturing or engineering company, it's taken weeks. Michelin replied to me after about a month, by which time I'd found my answer independently.
If all uniroyal tyres did that, no-one would sell them because they'd be replacing them under warranty all the time. Plus I'm sure they would be prosecuted or something as not fit for purpose.
I've got the Uniroyal Rain Expert tyres on my car and so far in 20,000 miles no problems and there's probably a couple of thousand miles left.
As hora said, vreds are awesome, had 4 ultrac ssesantas on the scoob. Absolute phenomenal grip, had it on three wheels a coupla times 😕
Continental here. Wearing well, feel good.
10k miles on my nokians, about 10% gone!
I've just done about 1000 miles on some toyo 1cs tires and like them very much, a lot better feel than the falkens they have replaced.
michelin all the way here. they do last a long time, and also grip when it rains, which is nice. i run an older car with non fashionable small sizes, which helps with the cost.
If they don't reply to their emails, they probably aren't monitoring the social internet!
Within about 10min of posting those pics to their facebook I got a response 🙂
OK the response was that they'd forewarded them onto customer services, who I'd original e-mailed, but it's a response.
In this day and age any independent fitter will match an internet price.
In the Bury area I strongly recommend Ainsworth Road garage, 0161 723 2793, ask for Chris or Hedley Hill. Very good and very competitive.
bug
Martin's near Woking in Surrey were cheaper than the internet mail order guys last time, and that included fitting.
[url= http://www.autoinsider.co.uk/local/tyre-dealers/ai_1715.php ]martins reviews[/url]
They put two new tyres on and did a back-to-front swap with the other two tyres in about 12 minutes. I felt like I had my own Formula1 pit crew!
Last November I put a pair of Conti Premium Contacts on the front of my focus diesel at 51k. They're quiet and handle well but we're now at 60.7k and down to 3mm. Not impressed. The prevoius set of budget Wanlis lasted 23k but were noisy.
Love Toyos, but they're no longer a budget tyre (this is not a criticism). Also have good experience with Yokohamas, Bridgestones and Goodyears. Suspect match between vehicle, driving style and budget is key.
195/55/15 - not a 306 is it?
i have Khumos Ecsta sports on the back of the estate - been impressed with them so far.
Have a set of Vredestein Sportrac 3 to go on as I am putting wheels and tyres on Kates car so I can have the winter tyres back.
195/55/15 - not a 306 is it?
No, current generation VW Polo.
Best tyres I've had were in the OP's size 195/55/15. Vredestein Sportrac 3, on the front of an old MR2. Never let go once and it's hardly a car reknowned for it's front grip (or any grip for that matter).
Vredesteins on the front, Toyo Proxes T1-R on the back, and I had a good 10,000 miles out of all of them with very minimal wear.
Think they were about £70 a tyre.
ahh that should make tyres for my car cheaper then. Was quite an expensive size as not many cars had it. 306 and MG-F seemed to be the most common.
Avon ZV5 on a mondeo, don't last long, but nothing goes much beyond 12k on the front of it. They have performed better than a lot of other stuff, especially when the tread depth is getting marginal they still hold out on the wet.
Got some Toyo T1R on the girlfriends MX5, cheap and require a fair bit more to get sideways than the previous Admirals it came with.
Do some of you have .... Tracking issues ?
stay away from Wanli tyres no matter how cheap you are
noisy as f***!
and I don't want to get anywhere near the limits on these. thankfully I drive like an old fart so probably never will
! I took the car (2006 Citroen C4 1.6 petrol) in to the garage for emergency oil diagnostics recently. After changing the oil & oil filter, they did a test drive & thought the wheel bearings were well & truly fubarred, so they checked - no problem with wheel bearings, just noisy tyres
Yeah, Wanli's are noisy 🙂 Still got one on the back though it's time is nearly up. It's done 33k on there though...
On the Toyos I thought they were quite mushy on my mx5 had to run them at a higher psi
I have run Falken ZE912 on mine with good results, good performance all round and cheaper than the 'big' brands.
After all the "it's your only contact with the road", "it could be a child's face next time", etc etc scaremongering I bought uniroyal rain-experts. Then this happened within 500 miles.
Track use by any chance? If so did you remember to increase pressures to support the sidewall (it's only stiff sidewall R rated tyres that have pressure reduced as they heat up).
Otherwise I'd go with the tyre compound being/going off for some reason (storage conditions, manufacturing issue).
Remember tyre performance is weight and drive specific, what works well on a heavy RWD may not suit a light FWD (chooose your own comparions). As a decent middle of the road (hee, hee) tyre I've used Yokohama A-Drive's before with great results on light-medium weight FWD cars.