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Thanks Stuartli, have made a note of those.
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I'm going back a bit, but I had a leased car that was near the end of it's lease and Kwik-Fit our CEAT tyres on that, rather the Firestones that the lease company ususally specified. (Even Firestones were poor compared to the premium tyres the cars came with, and we did eventually get that policy changed so the tyres were replaced like for like).
Let's put it like this, the CEAT's transformed the car - and not in a good way. In the wet, anything more than gentle braking would bring the ABS light on - something I'd never seen before in the life of the car.
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(Even Firestones were poor compared to the premium tyres thecars came
The Ceat's must have been bad then BP, when we bought the car it had almost new Firestones on the back, wheelspin in the wet was terrible not from a standing start either but at 50mph in kickdown, they were replaced immediately
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>>or Falkens (good budget brand) for £52.84.>>
Falkens are not a budget brand, they are a premium brand in Germany, Japan and the US to name but a few, just not marketed as such here so therefore extremely good value.
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I had Firestones on a Peugeot 306 XSi (very tyre sensitive) and a Fiesta Si. Rated them very highly. The Pug had Dunlop SP Sports on it when I got it, and they were so bad in the wet, I couldn't believe they'd ever got through approval testing. I won't let Dunlops within a mile of any car I own now.
Falkens are good tyres. Used these on a Mondeo (admittedly for motorway plodding rather than hard driving) and never had any complaints.
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get the best price and kwik fit will match it - if you like kwikfit that is!
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The earlier post about CEATs are correct. We put some on my wifes car not so long ago, assuming they were a rebadged Pirelli and would be quite good. They weren't even sold to us as the budget option, but as a midrange choice.
Driving her car on Friday in the rain I was appalled by how poor they are. Still lots of tread left but they are ditchfinders now. Even on light throttle at 30mph it was like driving on ice, the car was understeering massively and even had wheelspin in reverse going up my parents (admittedly quite steep) drive.
Would also explain why over the summer, again in the rain, I managed to smoke the tyres having to make a swift exit from a junction. Has been puzzling me since I did it, as normally don't even get wheelspin doing these.
Unless the car looks like will cost a lot to MOT these will be going very soon despite potentially having a lot of life in them.
If any help have used Continentals equivalent (IIRC Barum tyres) and these seemed to be very good. Were previous generation contis now sold under new brand (at least is what I was told) but have given good life and never had any doubts over quality or grip.
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I've found Barum quite good too, never had any grip issues with mine. I often get my tyres from a place called Event, I go to their branch but they will also come out to you. They often have good deals on Kumhos and Falkens.
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I've been this route in the last few weeks - boring 165/70 R14 81T for the rears on my Punto.
The "made by Pirelli's" from Kwik-fit turned out to be CEAT (which I expected).
Here's some of the blurb off the tyre wall:
CEAT SPIDER
E4 0233255
tread 200
traction A
temperature B
Kocaeli Lastik Sanay A.S.
48
3109
C3
A730.
I think that puts them as Turkish manufacture in 2009.
A bit more effort with the wheel and tire bible might reveal some more.
On the plus side, they haven't put me though the hedge backwards yet.
Edited by Another John H on 11/10/2009 at 14:07
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Back in the day centaur tyres were made by firestone and for everyone sold a bonus was paid on those tyres aswell as other products so you can guess we sold quite a few!
They were made by firestone and lasted not too well!
There was a tyre called a stomil made in poland a budget tyre these flew off the racking good grip in snow and a good price, not seen them for years.
It pays to shop around now with the internet it's much easier to compare prices ring around comapnies and do mail order which is what i use now.
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In the wet anything more than gentle braking would bring the ABS light on - something I'd never seen before in the life of the car.
You're either mistaken, or your ABS system had a fault.
The only time the ABS light will illuminate is when (a) there is a fault in the system or (b) briefly during the self-test when you first turn the ignition on.
The light never illuminates as a result of the system being activated.
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My old Civic VTi wore 195x55 VR15s - Used to pay £75-80 a corner for Michelin Pilot Exalto PE2 from Costco (fitted/balanced) between 2005 and 2008.
Good tyres, wore well (20-22k miles on front, rears switched to fronts and new pair on rear).
Did almost 100k miles over 4 years in the car and never had any complaints re. these tyres. I did used to note that 195x50 VR15s were about £15-20 less per tyre (Escort RS Turbo/Pug 1.9GTi size so more demand I guess).
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The only time the ABS light will illuminate is when (a) there is a fault in the system or (b) briefly during the self-test when you first turn the ignition on. The light never illuminates as a result of the system being activated.
I'm guessing he meant the traction control light.....
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You're either mistaken or your ABS system had a fault.
It was a figure of speech really - the ABS cut in.
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