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I need to get a set for the front of my Puke'got 406 Estate. 195/65R15 is the size. Want them cheap (reasonably), quiet, good in wet. Any suggestions?
Toyo's or Khumo.
Not Toyo or Khomo - rubbish in anything but dry weather.
Go to your local fitter and ask him for a deal on something decent. I founf Conti's okay, Michelins not bad, Pirelli good but soft so don't last long, Firestones pretty good, Vredestein used to be great not sure now though...
Goodyear? I really like the logo 😉
Found Goodyear to be well sketchy - avoid.
After shredding two Bridgestones at 180 quid a pop,one of which was only a month old.I plumped for Kwik-Fit's own brand at £85 each & can't tell any difference tbh....
Look for a V patten in the tread if you want wet weather performance over everything else, lots of goodridge F1 copy's out there since they ditched the design.
Personally I find conti's the best overall compromise, but they aren't cheap.
I've been running Toyo Proxes on 2 cars for years & the work great in the wet or dry.
Uniroyal rainsports??
Bit's of metal & nails on the motorway don't care what brand they are & how much they cost when they punch hossin great holes in them so the funkin' things can't be repaired...
<I'm still a bit miffed about it>
Pay a bit extra. Otherwise ditchfinder and ditchwitch will mean something!
Well, yes. The car was bought for under a grand so it's hard to justify spending £90 per tyre IMO.
http://www.tyrereviews.co.uk/Tyre/
I went for Falken FK452's last time which are meant to be pretty good. Lets ignore the fact that the garage decided that ZE912's would be better and fitted them instead, but in hindsight they arn't directional which gives you a few options for rotating the wheels.
Believe it or not there is a review site [url= http://www.tyrereviews.co.uk/ ]tyrereviews.co.uk[/url]
Zedsdead - Member
Not Toyo or Khomo - rubbish in anything but dry weather.
Must be your driving mate, I have raced for 10 years in all conditions with both these brands and they are fine!, he said cheap btw.
I'm happy with either Michelin Pilot Sport or Michelin Pilot Primacy, seem to last forever and got rid of the tram lining problem on the accord.
"have raced for 10 years in all conditions with both these brands and they are fine"
You never won though did you. Now you know why. 😉
In that case Khumo if the car was less than 1k. I had them on a Volvo S40. The rear nearside was punctured (felt slightly odd) but it held up round two very large and fast roundabouts before I realised it was actually punctured. Felt an ok allrounder as well.
Zedsdead - Member
You never won though did you. Now you know why.
😆
me too. looking at [url= http://www.farmerautocare.com ]Farmer Autocare[/url] who seem reasonable.
Pirelli 195/65T 15 P6000 POWERGY anygood, anyone??
May be of interest?
[url= http://www.autoexpress.co.uk/products/total_tyre_guide/213177/tyre_test.html ]http://www.autoexpress.co.uk/products/total_tyre_guide/213177/tyre_test.html[/url]
Go to [url= http://www.blackcircles.com/ ]http://www.blackcircles.com/[/url] for a quote for whatever you buy, I can refer you if you wish and you'll get an extra discount.
B
Thanks bruneep, but they don't seem to have what I need (or a pint of G&T works).
I see plenty of choice. 😕
I've found pirelli's to be a bit crap in the wet. Michelins for me. Seem awesomely grippy in just about anything, as long as you get a decent pair.
2unfit2ride - Member
Look for a V patten in the tread if you want wet weather performance over everything else, lots of goodridge F1 copy's out there since they ditched the design.Personally I find conti's the best overall compromise, but they aren't cheap
wrong.....lol. the best allround wet weather pattern is an assymetric pattern as the water gets pushed out from the wheel stopping it fromn aqua planeing. and yes i would agree on the conti premium 2's in that size as it has the pattewrn i mentioned earlier.
(can you tell i used to work for a tyre wholesaler??)
sorry for the spelling...........
After some research and asking on here i was recommended Vredestein's. Im currently using the Sportrac 3 and im finding them very good way better than eagle F1's.
Will definitely be replacing with more of the same or possibly ultrac's.
Without wanting to sound rude, it's a <£1K 406 estate, so I'm guessing it's more "slow lap of the one way system" than "sub 9 minute lap of the Nurburgring" Why not just nip along to the local backstreet tyre place, state your size, ask the prices and go for whatever's cheapest that isn't a blatent HandWánk Ditchfinder remould?
if you dont want to spend too much but dont want a shite tyre then there is always a falken ziex 912 or the marshal kh35. both are assymetric and believe it or not the marshal beat michelin in the auto express tyre test last year for wet road handling...........
I replaced all 4 of my shocking pirellis on my WRX with Falkens and they have been superb - grippy in wet and dry and lasting well despite my enthusiastic attempts to remove all the tread 😉
Why not just nip along to the local backstreet tyre place, state your size, ask the prices and go for whatever's cheapest that isn't a blatent HandWánk Ditchfinder remould
Because regardless of the price of the car it's your body/friends/family when you have to stop quickly on the motorway from 70? If you look at some of the comparative tyre tests the wet stopping distances for cheap tyres can easily exceed the length of a car. That's the difference between stopping in time and burying your car in the back of the one in front.
There are places to save money on a car by buying cheaper parts; tyres aren't one of them.
[url= http://www.mytyres.co.uk ]My Tyres[/url] are also worth looking at to save money on branded tyres.
As it's a diesel, a 1.9 td with only 90 horses under the bonnet, 150+mph isn't an option. There seems to be a local Falkens dealer so I'll pay a visit.
lol! How true! The "car" floats along the road rather than drives, the steering wheel seems attached to the wheels with some chewy instead of metal, it's more of a boat than a car handling-wise. Nurburgring? More like IKEA-ring 🙂Jimbo - Member
Without wanting to sound rude, it's a <£1K 406 estate, so I'm guessing it's more "slow lap of the one way system" than "sub 9 minute lap of the Nurburgring"
I've just had spent a bit more than usual to have Continental Eco 3 tyres fitted.
I had cheapy rock hard Goodyear ones on it before and the car would understeer savagely in wet or greasy conditions. Unbelievably better with the Contis, like a different car to drive.
I got mine based on the recommendations of Which magazine.
i dont think you need to spend a great deal on tyres - my sister had some Uniroyal something or others on her honda civic recently @50 quid a tyre. they seem pretty good wet or dry
my dad's leggy has birdgestone potenza's on i think. they seem nice 🙂 but then it is 4 wheel drive! they were about 90quid a corner i think.
the michelin energy ones my sister had on before were ok in the dry, but damp pant inducing in the wet...
£90 a pop? It's almost 50% of my car value, hecking fell!
aye, i was giving them as an example of a 'luxury' tyre! dont think you need to spend more than 50quid a corner - your 405 will have a fairly common tyre size i'm sure. i'm running 15 quid part worns on the front of my 205, and they're ok.
Vredestein Sportrac 3.
Best budget choice in this size.
If you don't believe me & speak German try
[url= http://www.adac.de/Tests/Reifentests/Sommerreifen/195_65_R15/default.asp?ComponentID=209466&SourcePageID=8772# ]ADAC Tyre Tests[/url]
I'm going to try some of the new Michelin Energy ones next time. £80 per corner online (not from Kwik Rip mind), and they are apparently good for 50k miles. Mixed reports on how good they are in the wet.
Vredestein Hi-Tracs are great and won Auto Express tyre test a couple of yrs in a row a few yrs ago. I had them fitted to my old car and they were good in wet or dry, fairly quiet and lasted ages.
They don't make them in the size I need for the car I have now, so I have got Kumho Ecsta SPT KU31s. They are pretty similar to the Vredestein in terms of grip and noise.
Symmetric patterns tend to be quite noisy with higher rolling resistance than asymmetric.
And just because the design looks like it should grip well (cheap Goodyear copy or whatever) it will probably be a completely different rubber compund and internal construction that will give different results.
It never ceases to amaze me how many people say 'just go to kwik fit and get the cheapest you can'. It doesn't matter on the value of the car, as to how much you spend on tyres, nor does it matter the cars performance potential. If you need to stop urgently in the wet at 70mph you will be thankful for decent tyres - and I would guess that 99.9% of cars on the road can do 70mph.
Marge, you mean those:
[img] http://www.camskill.co.uk/products.php?plid=m4b753s418p12312&rs=gb [/img]
Aren't asymmetrical threads better?
BTW I got quoted £75 per wheel all inclusive for Falkens. Good? Bad?
Conti Vert Pro
[url= http://ssl.delti.com/cgi-bin/rshop.pl?details=Ordern&cart_id=28713905.110.1368&typ=R-132842&ranzahl=4&Breite=195&Herst=Vredestein&Quer=60&Felge=15&weiter=0&kategorie=6&Ang_pro_Seite=12&Transport=P&F_F=&dsco=110&sowigan=So&Achse=&LoadRange= ]Vredestein Sportrac 3[/url]
Falkens - sorry but don't do it. (that is not cheap either!)
How about Avons? They're £50 each fitted etc locally.
Another vote for Vredestein here.
I have Vredestein Ultracs (not the Sessantas) on my Octy VRS, and I'm very impressed - much better than the Bridgestones they replaced, and only £60 per corner.
Vredestein Sportrac 3 - good price too. Have you used them yourself? How long for?
I've just fitted some bridgestone ER300, as recommended here:
and here:
http://www.autoexpress.co.uk/products/total_tyre_guide/213186/tyre_guide.html
Not quite as good as the Vredestines in the wet, but less noise and better fuel economy.
The guys from Auto Express do a pretty good job with their tyre test.
Of course we all have differing usage (mileage / driving style / type of car / roads type) but testing is fair & their summary is clear & informative.
The only 1 in that test you wouldn't expect to see is the Vredestein. The remaining 4 are the big players in the tyre industry and top quality product though normally with a matching price tag.
For the price you won't beat the Vreds....
I did this on my car in december but decied that i would go for th ebest i could afford as it is the only point of contact and i want to be able to control my car. I got Michelin piolt primacys which have very good reports and so far i haven't any reason to complain. ATS are currently offering 30% off 4 michilens as well.
P.s. was rather unimpressed with the Bridgestone ER300 when they first went on, but then I pumped them up to the correct pressure (which the fitters had failed to do) and handling + grip improved significantly, and I got 10mpg more!
I read that fancy tread patterns don't make any difference. They just bring out new ones to make them look cool/different to last year's/like F1 tyres.
If it did make a difference then surely every tyre would have fancy designs? After all it doesn't cost any more to make the mould differently does it?
For sure pattern has an effect but it certainly isn't everything....
If you look at Conti, Mich, GY, BS, the latest asymmetric patterns are all really quite similar to one another.
[i]I read that fancy tread patterns don't make any difference. They just bring out new ones to make them look cool/different to last year's/like F1 tyres.[/i]
I've heard the same...apparently its easy to make a grippy long lasting tyre, but it doesn't look very exciting so they have designers make them nice deep V groove jobbies until they look sporty.
The Vredsteins look symmetrical though.
Cheap and apparently really good if a bit noisy, so it'll probably be them (Bridgestones aren't available locally and I like to support the local guy if I can).
I'm obviously missing something here. Tyres have a rating and the car will require tyres of that rating. So the fact that it isn't a terribly sporty car will mean that you can put lower rated tyres on. However, you can still get a vast difference in quality and price of tyres. The price of the car is irrelevant - a tyre is it's main contact with the road so it's more how much you value your safety. I've used cheap tyres in the past and I just don't think they are worth it. Day to day driving there feels little difference, but it's that one time when you make a mis-judgement and need to stop quickly. Plus the fact that I have found economy much better with decent tyres.
Ring round a few local tyre places. See what they recommend and get some prices. Try haggling and get the best you can afford.
Asking on a bike forum for a load of names of car tyres is just going to confuse you.
A lower rated tyre doesn't mean it will necessary be worse.
The 'rating' is a speed rating, so theoretically the faster your car goes, the higher speed rating you should need. You can get the same model of tyre across different speed ratings.
I am not sure if the rating system is quite as simple as that though, as my Ibiza can apparently do 128mph, but requires W speed rating tyres. There are lower rated tyres that still accomodate 128mph, so i don't know why it has to be W, but that's the gist of it anyway.
One good reasons for designing & manufacturing asymmetric tyres is that in the case of OE supply to car makers, that you don't have to differentiate between individual tyre & wheel assemblies for each side of the car.
Indeed asking on MTB forum is perhaps normally not the best source of data but tyre engineering is my (nerdy) profession so I have more knowledge than your average joe and at the very least you can put value the on tests (linked here) published by groups such as ADAC or magazines Auto Express.....
Which is precisely why I provisionally have chosen the Verdsteins. Very good reviews, ok price and I know their road bike tyres. Thanks, guys. Marge - where else would a greeney like myself have found you and your expertise if not here? 😉 CHeers, much obliged.
I use Dunlops - pretty cheap, last a long time and have good grip in all conditions.