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I asked a question about Hankook tyres some time ago, because I had seen favourable ratings on mytyres.com. It seems nobody knew of them, or had any interest in them, as I got not a word of comment about them, yet I believe that Ford now fit them to their cars.
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I had a set of Striker (Stryker?) tyres on my last car. V good at much less cost - and also made me think of the spoof Swedish rock group off the rather underrated Armstrong and Miller show a few years back
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My partner bought some cheap tyres for her Rover 218 some years ago and they were awful. Half the price of known brands and half the life, plus loads os squaling on dry roads and not much grip on wet ones - Kumho I seem to recall.
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Quite a lot of these 'unknown brand' tyres are actually produced by the big tyres companies as budget brands - using older tyre designs that are no longer state of the art.
Recent tyres from the Koreans (Khumo, Nankang) seem to be OK and are fitted as OEM to Fords and VW's, amongst others.
I would steer clear of Eastern European brands though...
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Quite a lot of these 'unknown brand' tyres are actually produced by the big tyres companies as budget brands - using older tyre designs that are no longer state of the art. Recent tyres from the Koreans (Khumo, Nankang) seem to be OK and are fitted as OEM to Fords and VW's, amongst others. I would steer clear of Eastern European brands though...
A customer of mine takes s(crap)rubber to Poland to a tyre manufacturer.
MD.
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Scrap rubber to a Polish tyre manufacturer?
Interesting - the Bridgestone Potenza RE050A tyres on my Astra have 'made in Poland' on the sidewall.
JS
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Personally I do not feel people who are happy to cut corners on tyre purchase to save a few quid should be driving.
Why? Well...
In the various magazines performance tyre tests, I was absolutely staggered to notice the difference in braking distance between the winning tyre and the losing tyre from 70mph in the wet was a massive 7 car lengths.
This is easily the difference between stopping short and having an accident if you round a corner on the Motorway to find a lot of stationary traffic. And this was just the difference between the best and worst well-known tyre make. I shudder to think how poorly a set of Wan Tan Li Super Stunner's would have performed.
I certainly don't want to be sharing the road with people who think ultra cheap tyres are acceptable.
I always fit Goodyear Eagle F1 GS-D3 tyres to my car - not becuase I need performance tyres, but becuase the one time when I might encounter an emergency situation and need to stop as quickly as possible, I might just need them.
If I never do, great. If I do, however, it's good to know with quality tyres, I'll have a much better chance.
I also question the validity of opinions which say 'I had a set of cheapies and they were fine'. How do you know? Becuase you didn't crash? You probably never got into a situation whereby you needed the performance the tyre could give. This is why when chosing tyres, I'll only listen to user opinions on wear rate and tyre noise. For actual performance, I'll stick to advice from professionals in the form of proper, structured tyre tests.
Becuase everyone loves to tell us how the Kumho Ecstas they got with their blinging cheap 18 inch alloys sticks like whatever to a blanket, when in reality they've got absolutely no idea becuase they've done no back to back comparisons.
Cheap tyres - not worth the gamble.
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Oh, and another thing. It always amuses me how many tyre depots try and sell me cheap tat when I'm ringing around for new tyres becuase 'They are made by Goodyear'.
'Hi there, im after a set of Eagle F1's'
'We dont have those but we do have Wan Ti Widdle I Po, these are made by Goodyear!'
Would these same people recommend a Smart ForTwo to a customer ringing up about ordering an S65 AMG becuase 'They are both made by Mercedes'?
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Fair comments MR. I freely admit that cost is more prominent in my thinking than it probably should be when I'm presented with the choices. Can anyone link to a recent test feature that weighs up the various brands?
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The German motoring club, ADAC, test tyres and many other things
www.adac.de/Tests/default.asp?id=686&location=2
(trouble is, the site's in German...)
Click on Tests/Reifen, Sommerreifen (summer tyres, as opposed to Winterreifen, winter tyres - not so difficult...)
Choose tyre size, click on 'Alle Testgebnisse im Uberblick' to get a summary, with star ratings.
(Trocken = dry
Nass = wet
Komfort = comfort (ride + internal noise)
Aussengerausch = external noise
Rollwiederstand = (guess: economy/rolling resistence)
Verschleiss = wear)
(Also have a look at the crash tests, including rear end people carriers. My big dictionary is still packed away, but my rough translation is that luggage behind 3rd row of seats = rigid (ie no) crumple zone...)
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I have heard that Hankook and Kumho are fine, there is another cheaper make begining with M, name escapes me, made by Conti that are also supposed to be OK. However there is clearly a lot of carp out there.
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Personally I do not feel people who are happy to cut corners on tyre purchase to save a few quid should be driving.
You might as well criticise people who don't buy the car with the best braking performance then.
All tyres should be produced to minimum standards but there will always be variations in performance. Some perform better in the wet and some perform better in the dry.
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Which? March 06
225/45/17
Lots* rated top marks for wet and dry braking though Michelin Pilot Sport PS2 had top marks for wear as well so given best buy rating.
*Bridgstone Potenza RE050 / Conti Sport Contact 3 /BF Goodrich G-Force Profiler / Pirelli P-Zero Nero
185/60-14
Bridgestone Turanza E300 was the only tyre to be given top marks for wet and dry braking. also best buy.
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You might as well criticise people who don't buy the car with the best braking performance then.
Tyre choice is something everyone can easily make. Braking performance on the actual car is very different - if you want a supermini, chances are you've no real way of getting the best possible braking performance.
But given that you CAN select any tyre you wish, why go for cheap and nasty rubbish which won't give you the best chance in an emergency situation?
All tyres should be produced to minimum standards but there will always be variations in performance. Some perform better in the wet and some perform better in the dry.
When it comes to safety, minimum standard just isn't good enough.
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Tyre choice is something everyone can easily make. Braking performance on the actual car is very different - if you want a supermini, chances are you've no real way of getting the best possible braking performance.
No, but you can select the supermini with the best braking performance.
But given that you CAN select any tyre you wish, why go for cheap and nasty rubbish which won't give you the best chance in an emergency situation? >> All tyres should be produced to minimum standards but there will >> always be variations in performance. Some perform better in the >> wet and some perform better in the dry. When it comes to safety, minimum standard just isn't good enough.
Cheap doesn't always mean nasty (see my post on Hankook tyres). You would condemn Hankook tyres when they are good enough for Ford? Seems to me you would condemn anything but your own choice then, if you think it is the best.
Minimum standards are there to ensure there is some yardstick that the public can rely on. However, minimum standards will always be exceeded.
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if you want a supermini, chances are you've no real way of getting the best possible braking performance.
I disagree, a modern supermini will stop very well by any standards, larger cars have large brakes though they are also much heavier.
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I certainly don't want to be sharing the road with people who think ultra cheap tyres are acceptable.
Unfortunately we do share the road with people with cheap tyres. But as long as they are CE marked they have passed some standard test and are fit for purpose, and are legal for sale. A new cheap tyre could well be safer than an expensive tyre worn down to its wear indicators. I often walk through 3 car parks as a short cut on my lunch hour, and you would be surprised how often I see one or two cars with hardly any tread on the tyres.
And theres reaction times, someone may have the best tyres money can buy, but if they are not concentrating when they approach a hazard, the extra braking power may be no use to them.
3 years ago I needed a stopgap car to run for 4 months, and I bought a v. cheap 175k mile H-reg Saab 9000. This needed new front tyres so just to keep it roadworthy I had a pair of £20 remoulds fitted (CE marked and perfectly legal), and they were brilliant! Excellent grip in dry and wet, and seemed to wear well too, good ride comfort, and quiet. I expected them to be awful, a mate had some years ago that used to squeal on corners at 20mph.
Having said all that I normally prefer not to skimp on the only thing that connects my car to the road; on my current car I have Dunlop Sport 9000's which cost a lot more for the set of 4 than the Saab 9000 cost me.
;o)
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In the various magazines performance tyre tests, I was absolutely staggered to notice the difference in braking distance between the winning tyre and the losing tyre from 70mph in the wet was a massive 7 car lengths. This is easily the difference between stopping short and having an accident if you round a corner on the Motorway to find a lot of stationary traffic. And this was just the difference between the best and worst well-known tyre make. I shudder to think how poorly a set of Wan Tan Li Super Stunner's would have performed.
Actually, the tyres I mentioned did rather well in such circumstances. And better than a set of (Famous brand) tyres which once sent me into a ditch, and were later withdrawn from sale in this country, due to their lack of grip in anything worse than bright sunshine...
And there is always a bit of give-and-take concerned - a tyre with a serious footprint which gives great braking in a straight line might not be that good in the wet, or on cornering, or on sudden swings as might be experienced as the ABS kicks in.
If I never do, great. If I do, however, it's good to know with quality tyres, I'll have a much better chance.
Again, the 'quality tyre' which sent me into a ditch was SOLD to me as a 'quality tyre' (and extensively advertised as such).
Eventually, there was a general recall, the company concerned re-imbursed everybody, paid a fortune to the insurance companies, and settled a fair few lawsuits.
I also question the validity of opinions which say 'I had a set of cheapies and they were fine'. How do you know? Becuase you didn't crash? You probably never got into a situation whereby you needed the performance the tyre could give.
As mentioned, i could have shoved on a set of Pirellis (Oh, did I ever tell you about the delaminating set I bought?) or Firehawks (Lovely!) or Slide-you-into-a-ditches ... but I liked the tyres which came with the vehicle, and they were sufficient for my needs, and performed admirably in adverse situations and conditions.
Thisis why when chosing tyres, I'll only listen to user opinions on wear rate and tyre noise. For actual performance, I'll stick to advice from professionals in the form of proper, structured tyre tests.
Professionals like who? We don't all drive the same cars, we don't all drive on the same type of roads in the same weather conditions. A test done at high altitude on one type of road construction may prove to be totally skewed when done at low altitude on another type of road. What works for you may not work for me. Or do I go for the OE tyres every time? (which won't happen, as the OEs become 'obsolete' well before the car is scrapped)
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>Becuase everyone loves to tell us how the Kumho Ecstas they got with their
>blinging cheap 18 inch alloys sticks like whatever to a blanket, when in reality
>they've got absolutely no idea becuase they've done no back to back comparisons.
What utter twaddle.
Do I detect sour grapes here? Did you buy a set of F1s only to discover that you could have bought Kumhos and they are just as good but £50 less per tyre?
I can compare the Kumhos to your beloved Goodyears and my comparison is over thousands of miles in the same 'performance' car (~300bhp and enough torque to pull up tree stumps).
www.honestjohn.co.uk/forum/post/index.htm?v=e&t=28...4
www.honestjohn.co.uk/forum/post/index.htm?v=e&t=29...1
>Cheap tyres - not worth the gamble.
Are you going to stop flying?
Around 80% of the world's commercial passenger aircraft are fitted with.. (shock! horror!) remould tyres.
Kevin...
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The latest Kumho ECSTA (KU32 or something??) has a pretty good reputation I gather. It rated 2nd to a Pirelli in a German magazine tyre test I read a few months back (can't find link ATM).
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>>>Around 80% of the world's commercial passenger aircraft are >>>fitted with.. (shock! horror!) remould tyres.
Yes but they have got about 18 wheels, and for most of the time the wheels are tucked away in the wing. They have also got reverse thrust from the engines to help the brakes.
A barmaid from the local pub was very pleased with her new alloy wheels on her MX5. I noticed that the tyres were made in China, and a make that I had never heard of. No way Chow Mein.
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>Yes but they have got about 18 wheels..
18 wheels to carry how many tons and at what speed? Compare that to your average car tyre.
>and for most of the time the wheels are tucked away in the wing..
Tucked away in the wing, they are subject to serious sub-zero temperatures for prolonged periods and then expected to cope with a huge instantaneous change in load and temperature on landing.
>They have also got reverse thrust from the engines to help the brakes.
By the time reverse thrust has been applied the tyres have already suffered their worst trauma.
>I noticed that the tyres were made in China, and a make that I had never heard of.
>No way Chow Mein.
If you are averse to anything made in China, I'm sorry to have to tell you that you're gonna have a real hard time shopping over the next 10 years or so.
BTW, the purpose of my earlier post was simply to expose how ridiculous the "I only buy Goodyear Eagles" attitude is. I'm pretty fussy about tyres and have my own favourites, (GY Eagles are one of them), but not to the extent that I dismiss anything made in simply because they cost less than another brand.
Kevin...
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"I certainly don't want to be sharing the road with people who think ultra cheap tyres are acceptable"
"I dont like sharing roads with people so skint" (another thread)
So, only rich people then?
Unfortunately, most big 4x4's have lousy braking performance, too!
Edited by J Bonington Jagworth on 07/11/2007 at 09:06
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My partner bought some cheap tyres for her Rover 218 some years ago and they were awful. Half the price of known brands and half the life, plus loads os squaling on dry roads and not much grip on wet ones - Kumho I seem to recall.
Never ever had a bad Kuhmo.
MD.
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>>I asked a question about Hankook tyres some time ago>>
Michelin has a stake in Hankook, which have been around for many years in the UK, and the company is allowed to use some Michelin technology.
Ford does indeed fit Hankook tyres, amongst other brands, to its new vehicles.
The brand is good enough to be named as the official tyre for the F2000 Championship Series. See:
tinyurl.com/g2seg
The company's history can be found at;
tinyurl.com/zvmqb
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'brand is good enough to be named as the official tyre'
the cynic in me says that they are the brand that paid most. plus race tyres are nothing like road tyres.
that said I have had khumo ecsta which were easily better than P6000 which many people seem to think is a good tyre.
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>>personally wouldn't touch any other make with the proverbial bargepole>>
I'm sure that the safety of racing drivers would not be compromised by the F2000 organisers for the sake of a few dollars more.
Furthermore racing tyres development must eventually be applied to the road tyres that we buy.
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I am a renown tightwad but I would never economise on tyres. The most essential items for safety the bit that connects you to the road and it rains a lot in this country.
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>>and it rains a lot in this country.>>
Not in the south of England it would seem...:-)
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>>Furthermore racing tyres development must eventually be applied to the road tyres that we buy.
I'm not sure that logic stands up to inspection.
Race tyre technology may find its way into road tyres, but I can't see why it must, or indeed why it would automatically be desirable for race tyre technology to be applied to road tyres.
Number_Cruncher
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I agree with most of the posts, ie. buy best quality tyres. I always buy Michelin, Goodyear, Pirelli etc., but I shop around to get the best price.
Just because Ford fits a certain tyre, it doesn't mean that they are good quality, look at the Focus spring thread.
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The Focus spring thread points out that all manufacturers especially VW and MB have had failures;in fact if you check German Gov. sponsored reports on car reliability Ford are best.
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I back-packed around Turkey a few years ago and noticed how the coaches I traveled on were well equipped Mercs and the like but they were all running on (what appeared to be)local made cross-plies! Eek!
:-)
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I back-packed around Turkey a few years ago and noticed how the coaches I traveled on were well equipped Mercs and the like but they were all running on (what appeared to be)local made cross-plies! Eek!
Most commercial tyres are cross ply, Bridgestone manufacture in Turkey.
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>>race tyre technology to be applied to road tyres>>
Well Dunlop for one in the case of motor cycle tyres:
tinyurl.com/zao6z
and Avon:
www.formula-ford.co.uk/avontyres.htm
and Bridgestone:
tinyurl.com/zub4d
Many other examples...:-)
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I think this link on everything and anything to do with tyres has been posted before but, if not, it's very interesting:
www.carbibles.com/tyre_bible.html
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Auto Express did their yearly mega test a month or two back, subjecting a wide range of manufacturers' offerings to a varied range of wet/dry/hot/braking/cornering etc. tests. The make that came out tops was Vredestein, a Dutch company I believe.
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I bought some Michelin Pilot Alpins for our annual jaunt to the ski slopes.
Not only did they do the business in the snow and ice (no need for 4x4, but they were sooo much more grippy back here. They are noticeably softer and you can squish the tread with your fingers, so they won't last as long, but I've swapped back to my 'summer' tyres now.
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>>The make that came out tops was Vredestein>>
I've bought this brand in the past. They were OK and came at a good price at the time, but don't seem to be many places where they are available in my area.
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I fancied getting some Vredestein Ultracs on my car; the tread pattern is styled by Giugiaro, so IMO the best looking tyres you can buy (!), and get good test results apart from snow grip. Mytyres.net sell them but I found them difficult to get hold of anywhere else. In the end I couldn't be bothered and got Dunlops instead.
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3,000 miles on my Kingstar tyres and no complaints yet. They grip just fine when I take roundabouts much faster than I should, and no aquaplaning during heavy rain even at motorways speeds. I am keeping my eye on an upcoming track day at Bruntingthorpe when I can really put them to the test should I go.
The name sounds cheesy, but then I bet a lot of people laughed the first time they heard the name "Goodyear" 8-)
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I always assumed that tyre design doesn't really make that much difference on a dry road, although I suppose that a really expensive one might deform in a positive way.
Bet those tyre tests were done in the wet, though I'm not criticising them. My car runs on Toyos at 50 quid a corner, though in truth I only bought them because I was after quiet tyres.
Have never pushed my car to the point of losing traction on a corner, except the once when I seriously misjudged something and even then I was surprised at how sticky they were.
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Same here - more or less. Local dealer didn't have Vreds so I ended up getting Pirelli P6000s again.
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We were discussing this subject over a few ales this lunchtime.
Somebody raised the following:
In 1970, would you have bought a motor car from the following companies?
Toyota
Honda
Subaru
Daewoo (recall their advertising when they entered the UK market? "the biggest car company you've never heard of)
Hyundai
?
Or would you have bought tyres called Bridgestone, had you been offered them in 1985?
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But how many cars are fitted with remoulds? tinyurl.co.uk/mg07
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L\'escargot.
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Speaking to my local garage, re Vredestein tyres.They say they are dificult to get hold of,due to low production volumes.They order them every week,but are often let down by the supply.
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Was once supplied with a tyre made by Flamingo in the place of one that they couldn't mend a puncture on, which just so happened to be made by Pneumant - another tyre company I'd never previously heard of.
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Pneumant are supposedly owned by Dunlop who are in turn owned by Goodyear.
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Pneumant originally were East German tyre company
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At the speeds we can now travel at legally I wonder how much difference so called good tyres make as long as they are made round enough to not cause vibrations. In the recent past I have had to scrap premium brand tyres due to unrepairable punctures. This makes them very expensive.
Peter
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At the speeds we can now travel at legally I wonder how much difference so called good tyres make as long as they are made round enough to not cause vibrations.
I've read an article about tyres only suitable for agricultural trailers, and not safe above about 30 mph. I just wish I could find where I read it.
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L\'escargot.
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"Second hand tyres are dangerous as you don't know how they've been treated before." Quote from an above link.
So when you buy a second hand car, you change all the tyres, 'just in case'.
And when you hire a car, you change all the tyres 'just in case'.
And when you lend the car to somebody else, you change all the tyres afterwards, 'just in case'.
Twaddle.
If you're driving so hard that you need higher performance tyres, then you're probably breaking the law.
Either that, or you've swallowed marketing drivel. I have no doubt that some tyres have better performance than others under different circumstances. Some tyres are definitely designed to squeegee water away more efficiently. Michelin 'Energy' are designed not to stick to the road, but to save petrol. I doubt very much whether we ever take our cars up to those limits.
I have driven all sorts of cars with all sorts of tyres. Some premium, some budget, some new, some illegal. I have never noticed any difference in driving.
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I have driven all sorts of cars with all sorts of tyres. Some premium, some budget, some new, some illegal. I have never noticed any difference in driving.
Then you've never driven on, say, 1960s crossplies.
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L\'escargot.
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>> I have driven all sorts of cars with all sorts of >> tyres. Some premium, some budget, some new, some illegal. >> I have never noticed any difference in driving. Then you've never driven on, say, 1960s crossplies. -- L\'escargot.
I had an NSU in the early 70s that was fitted with Continental crossplies. They were lethal, as they tramlined on uneven surfaces and had absolutely no grip, even in the dry. They led to the worst crash I have ever had, when I lost the rear end on sharp bend and went into an uncontrollable spin. I was very lucky that there was no other traffic about.
There but for the Grace of God.....
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>Then you've never driven on, say, 1960s crossplies.
No, but I've never driven on wooden wheels (no tyres); iron-rimmed wooden wheels; or solid rubber tyres either.
If this is relevant to this discussion on 'budget' tyres, Mr Snail, which tyre-fitting place sells crossply tyres more cheaply than Continental/Ho chi ming tyres? If you're going to go out of your way to downgrade the performance of your car there are easier and cheaper ways than going to the effort of fitting crossplies.
If it comes to that, I've never travelled on a moist pad of slime either.... ;)
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"Ho chi ming tyres?"
If these really exist and they make a size for my car I want some!!!! 8-)
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I used to use Michelin crossplies on a Morris Minor 1000 in the 1960s - got at least 35k out of a set and the ride and handling attributes seemed OK at the time.
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which tyre-fitting place sells crossply tyres more cheaply than Continental/Ho
tinyurl.co.uk/t15g
If it comes to that, I've never travelled on a moist pad of slime either.... ;)
As Roy Jay used to say "Slither, you'll all be doing it tomorrow." !
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L\'escargot.
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>>>> which tyre-fitting place sells crossply tyres more cheaply than Continental/Ho
>>tinyurl.co.uk/t15g
Aha! From that well-known pile-em high & sell 'em cheap high street firm Longstone Tyres (Veteran tyres, Vintage tyres & Classic Tyres)
As I said, if you want to go out of your way to reduce the handling characteristics of your car, then go ahead.
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No, but I've never driven on ....... iron-rimmed wooden wheels .......
You've never driven a pony and trap? What a sterile life of limited experience you must have led.
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L\'escargot.
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Got Vredesteins on my car from MyTyres, could not get them locally asked many places with no luck.
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I suppose the simple answer is to fit the same kind of tyres that were on it when the car was new
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Got Vredesteins on my car from MyTyres, could not get them locally asked many places with no luck.
I replaced worn original Michelins at 30K on my Berlingo Multispace with Vredestein Quatracs having read the reports from Germany. Astonishing difference in reduced road noise and better wet road grip, still enjoying the experience with nearly 4k on them. I got quotes from suppliers in Inverness and Dingwall but hit the jackpot at Invergordon Tyre Services who quoted me £50 less for a set of four!
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THANK YOU LOADS CORRIB 12 FOR YOUR COMMENT 1yr and seven mths later you have save me £56 on my Vredestein tyres for my Punto cheers
Edited by Dynamic Dave on 06/11/2007 at 12:50
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as I got not a word of comment about them, yet I believe that Ford now fit them to their cars.>>
I can recall posting, on at least two occasions, the fact that Hankook commenced an agreement with Michelin four years ago; Michelin acquired a stake in the business and Hankook some of its tyre technology in return.
It's also well known that Ford fit them on new Mondeos..:-)
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Back to the old chestnut - are you a motorist or a car-user? Obviously for some people a tyre is simply a large black doughnut which fits to a wheel, while for others it is a seriously-thought-about purchase, with comparisons of wear, traction, etc etc etc.
Well said ! Most of the people with bargain basement tyres on their car either never do any serious driving, or are so removed from the handling characteristics of any car they wouldn't notice what they had fitted.
In my experience over the years, cheap tyres often wear out or perish twice as quickly, are difficult to balance sometimes, and are prone to bulges and lumps appearing for no reason.
That said, there are some little known makes that are good such as Kleiber, but these are the exception rather than the rule. You are much better off shopping around for the best price on a quality tyre, than buying cheap tat at the first tyre service you come to.
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What do you mean by serious driving, track days?
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I had a set of dunlop SP sports once. Donald Cambells bluebird boat had more grip in the wet than those did.
But in the mean time can someone point me to a set of tests that show how well each tyre currently on the market performs in every circumstance, on every type of road we have, in the car I have, with similar weights and loads to mine.
No? I thought not. So how I am supposed to buy the best performing.
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TourVanMan TM < Ex RF >
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So how I am supposed to buy the best performing.
The vehicle manufacturer will doubtless have carried out extensive testing on tyres before making their choice. Buy the same tyres as those which are/were originally fitted.
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L\'escargot.
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All tyres sold in the EU must bear an "E" mark;this is issued by the certifying authority who check samples of the tyre for grip(wet and dry),wear,maufacturing quality and facilities.Production is also checked regularly.Someone mentioned agricultural tyres(50kph. max)this restriction was burnt into the tyre wall and were tyres which had faults in the manufacturing process.Use the same tyres as originaly fitted-yes-but most manufacturers will be fitting upto ten or more brands over a relatively short period but they will all be "E" marked and must meet the same basic requirements.
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Given that it may be fitted with tyres only available in germany, what then?
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TourVanMan TM < Ex RF >
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Given that it may be fitted with tyres only available in germany, what then?
Cross-channel ferry?
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L\'escargot.
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Don't know whether this helps, but the Auto Express 2005 tyre test is available for free download tinyurl.com/f6gsr . It's about 10Mb though, so if you've not got broadband, it will take a while to download.
Toby
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I had a set of dunlop SP sports once. Donald Cambells bluebird boat had more grip in the wet than those did. But in the mean time can someone point me to a set of tests that show how well each tyre currently on the market performs in every circumstance, on every type of road we have, in the car I have, with similar weights and loads to mine. No? I thought not. So how I am supposed to buy the best performing. ------------------------------ TourVanMan TM < Ex RF >
There is a pretty good guide on mytyres.co.uk, for the majority of the tyres listed on there.
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> I had a set of dunlop SP sports once.
On Rostyles I bet.
Kevin...
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with the lettering picked out in white. On abarth wheels actually.
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TourVanMan TM < Ex RF >
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I had a set of dunlop SP sports once. Donald Cambells bluebird boat had more grip in the wet than those did.
These are without a doubt the worst tyres I've ever experienced. Worse than any Far Eastern or Eastern European cheapies I've tried and yet from one of the biggest and most famous "brand names" in the business. The current SP01 isn't much better either in my humble opinion.
In this case, I would take a chance on an unknown than fit either of these to a car of mine because I seriously doubt the unknown could be any worse.
I have yet to experience a bad tyre from Michelin or Good Year though.
Cheers
DP
--
04 Grand Scenic 1.9 dCi Dynamique
00 Mondeo 1.8TD LX
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I must say that I stopped driving on the limit of tyre adhesion many years ago, so the finer points of their behaviour is of little interest.
I do, however, remember picking out the word "REMOULD" in white Tippex on a set of tyres once :-)
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>>Or would you have bought tyres called Bridgestone, had you been offered them in 1985?<<
if only someone would offer me one of their (Bridgestone) lovely 350cc 2-stroke motorcycles from the late 1960s :-)
I also once had a bad set of Dunlops - I'm sure they weren't even round.
I currently have a set of Pneumants on my primera. If I was running low profiles, or a high performance car, then I would stick to known brands. But the test I saw on the pneumants rated them highly and they appear to be good - excellent grip and quiet. No problems at all when braking in the wet. I might even say they're better then than the Bridgestone Turanzas? I had on the Mazda6.
On my motorcycle I buy only the best tyre I can get - the contact patch is tiny, and the power/weight ratio on a bike is very high.
Of course, there are many cars with mismatched sets, under-inflated tyres, tyre damage where they've hit kerbs and all manner of other faults that may be more significant.
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Been away from this site because of the totally biased drivel that gets quooted as facts.
Dont worry Im going away again, but just had to comment on this thread !
What utter drivel is being spouted by so many about tyres. Different manufacturers have different compounds in their ranges. each different compound, tyre style from each manufacturer acts/reacts different to another so it is pointless to say brand x is better than brand z. What matters is how a certain tyre responds to a certain car with a certain driving style, and I would say there is probably only a handful of people in the country who could identify the correct tyre for their car/driving style/road conditions etc.
As for braking in the wet ! Worn out brand x is far better than new cheap brand z? Unlikely ! And to have this superior braking tyre fitted to give you this (false) cushion of security (like abs, crash standards, airbags etc etc) is great! But have you even considered the suspension on the vehicle? 1 worn bush could negate (and even worsen) any braking safety you thought you had!
By all means stick to a brand you like, but personally I would rather see cars with decent tread on their tyres than worn out "top" brands! And believe me, most people who fit "top" brands run them to their very last legal mile and beyond (probably because they cost so much to replace). Cheaper tyres have their place!
Dont worry Im off again !
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Thanks, it's so nice to read the truth for a change, instead of the usual nonsence.
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>>Dont worry Im off again !
How on earth have we managed since July without you?
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"if only someone would offer me one of their (Bridgestone) lovely 350cc 2-stroke motorcycles from the late 1960s :-)"
Yes, indeed! And for those who've never heard of it:
www.motorcycleclassics.com/article/view/bridgeston.../
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The current SP01 isn't much better either in my humble opinion.
In the ADAC tests mentioned above, the SP Sport 01 (in 195/65) does quite well for wet grip, only losing significant marks for rate of wear. The 01 has quite a different tread pattern to the older SP Sport 200.
By the way, I do like the depth and rigourousness of ADAC's testing - I seem to recall the AA did things like that when they had Drive magazine back in the 70s, but sadly not any more...
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