View Full Version : Anyone know about car tyres?
brundles
10-03-2007, 22:29
Well it's time to replace some of the tyres on the car again and given the cost of the damn things I wondered whether anyone had any thoughts on budget type tyres vs branded.
In the past I've tended to go for whatever is the cheapest available but I've read a few things about that being a false economy.
Any thoughts, advice or recommendations appreciated.
Thanks!
it really depends on your driving ,do you do long motorway journeys or just puddle around town ,also what car
keithwalton
11-03-2007, 01:44
Budgets can indeed be a false economy, they either dont last anywhere near as long, or they just dont perform.
I had a pair of low end (not ultra budget) khumo's kh15's on the front of my car.
To start off with they were good with plenty of grip. Then one day they just went hard. (They use soft rubber to start off with so in performance tests they come out good, then they use a much harder rubber to give decent life) most people probably wouldnt of noticed the difference between the change over as it would of been gradual.
However my xantia is notoriously hard on front tyres and i was intending on replacing them in a few months anyway (when i had money for decent tyres)
This all happend about 3500 miles into the life of the tyres, they have since been sent to the rear of my car and replaced with Avon ZV3's at the front.
If you want life out of tyres then go for the 'eco' branded tyres, they will also help with fuel economey.
If you want lasting performance then go for the 'sport' branded tyres.
Personally i prefer avon zv3's, pirrelli p6ks are also good (but hate mud) goodyear eagles are legendary for there smooth road (wet / dry) performance but again fall down on mud and such.
There are plenty of review websites about which will try and quantify tyres, talking to someone who has done alot of miles on different tyres is good
Decent tyres will add to the handling and safety and a keithwalton says the right tyres for how you use the car is the best way. We have the sport version car so have Sport rated tyres and the car sticks to the road like glue :D
Take a look here http://www.blackcircles.com/
You choose your tyres, choose weather to have them delivered to your home & fit them yourself or choose to have them delivered to one of their approved fitting outlets in your area for fitting.
laptopsrd
11-03-2007, 13:48
Took the words right of my mouth. Used Black Circles a couple of times. fantastic service and good prices.
:tu: Top company in my experience
I'd never buy cheap unbranded tyres. There are lots of deals around on the well known and respected types but I always use Costco for mine - the range they stock is small (Michelin and a few others) but the prices are very good in my experience. If you are not a member you can either go with someone who is or join on the day and pay the annual fee (£23?) which if I recall correctly is refundable anytime in the year if you are not satisifed with your membership.
bob_a_builder
11-03-2007, 14:29
the annual fee (£23?) which if I recall correctly is refundable anytime in the year if you are not satisifed with your membership.
you are correct
Costco's Double Guarantee
....... We will refund your annual membership fee at any time if you are not fully satisfied.
brundles
11-03-2007, 17:05
Thanks for the responses - Black Circles seems to get quite a few thumbs ups looking around the net.
In terms of driving it's a combination of motorway driving and town driving. Nothing particularly biased in either direction.
Vlad_Dracul
14-03-2007, 00:25
Presumably all tyres have to be manufactured to confirm with certain EU/BS certification.
My view has always been that if you stick to the speed limit and drive sensibly then you dont need to spend a fortune on top branded tyres. I dont by no mark imported cheapo tyres,i by a couple of steps up from them but i dont buy exepnsive big brands. Having said that,im driving a Golf and the typre sizes are common. If you have low profile typres or big fat wide ones then it will cost you££
Choice of tyres can save your life... don't scrimp on them. They are what is standing between you and the road when you're doing 90 on the motorway.
andygrif
14-03-2007, 01:39
I always use Costco for mine - the range they stock is small (Michelin and a few others) but the prices are very good in my experience.
AFAIK Costco only sell Michelin tyres. But they are good value compared to the usual suspects.
Michelins generally last longer than softer tyres too, but are more prone to road noise.
Pirellis tend to be much better on road noise, but don't last as long. They also handle better on my car than the Michelins....but this is very specific to your type of car, load of your car, etc.
I've also heard good things about Yokahamas, a friend of mine has them on his 5 Series and it handles pretty well...and they were very good value.
Choice of tyres can save your life... don't scrimp on them. They are what is standing between you and the road when you're doing 90 on the motorway.
Indeed, the two occasions where I've ended up spinning off the road were due to tyres as I was doing 40mph and 30mph and they weren't sharp bends either! (30mph where Kumho's on the rear of my Xantia in the wet)
AFAIK Costco only sell Michelin tyres. But they are good value compared to the usual suspects.
Michelins generally last longer than softer tyres too, but are more prone to road noise.
Pirellis tend to be much better on road noise, but don't last as long. They also handle better on my car than the Michelins....but this is very specific to your type of car, load of your car, etc.
I've also heard good things about Yokahamas, a friend of mine has them on his 5 Series and it handles pretty well...and they were very good value.
Not sure about that - haven't bought tyres from Costco for a while and Michelin is certainly the main brand but i have bought BF Goodrich there and another brand I can't recall right now. Possibly these are owned by Michelin though.
keithwalton
14-03-2007, 14:00
Indeed, the two occasions where I've ended up spinning off the road were due to tyres as I was doing 40mph and 30mph and they weren't sharp bends either! (30mph where Kumho's on the rear of my Xantia in the wet)
Its kinda why i have part worn kumho's on the rear of my xantia just to get the backend abit looser, its not as safe but it just makes it a little more fun and at slower speeds.
I did find when at the front the kumho's were good on dry smooth roads, abit of loose gravel and they werent too happy (had quite a moment of understeer at 50 on a B road) when the roads were just slightly damp / greasey the car just understeered everywhere (even though i had rears approaching legal limit at the time)
full wet though and the kumho's got some grip back.
orangebird
14-03-2007, 14:04
Indeed, the two occasions where I've ended up spinning off the road were due to tyres as I was doing 40mph and 30mph and they weren't sharp bends either! (30mph where Kumho's on the rear of my Xantia in the wet)
I've done 100mph with Kumhos on the front and rear... a bad workman always blames his tools.... :erm: ;)
I've done 100mph with Kumhos on the front and rear... a bad workman always blames his tools.... :erm: ;)
What was the speed rating of those tyres?
Incidently, a tyre blew out on me when I was doing 40 in a 60 zone around a very gentle bend, I ended upside-down in a ditch with 2 broken ribs.
An interesting experience that I'd rather not repeat.
It was only the tamazipan I was given to relax my chest enough so I could breath that made me chuckle.
orangebird
14-03-2007, 14:26
What was the speed rating of those tyres?
<SNIP>.
W :)
W :)
168MPH, if I remember from when I had a Laguna II, course that didn't stop the internal pressures reaching undesirable levels when travelling even relatively short distances at 100+ something most people don't think about when driving!
keithwalton
14-03-2007, 14:52
You were probably using somthing abit better than the budget KH15's that fit the xantia (highest rating they do is V speed) Xac' was probably on 88H's
You were probably using somthing abit better than the budget KH15's that fit the xantia (highest rating they do is V speed) Xac' was probably on 88H's
Indeed they were :)
This looks like a real rubber thread. Thinking I'll retire from it now.
Vlad_Dracul
14-03-2007, 21:42
Choice of tyres can save your life... don't scrimp on them. They are what is standing between you and the road when you're doing 90 on the motorway.
I never do 90 on the motoway,i keep between 60 and 70. I let everyone else kill eachother on the outside lane and keep the inside for myself.
AndyIggs83
15-03-2007, 01:43
Its kinda why i have part worn kumho's on the rear of my xantia just to get the backend abit looser, its not as safe but it just makes it a little more fun and at slower speeds.
I did find when at the front the kumho's were good on dry smooth roads, abit of loose gravel and they werent too happy (had quite a moment of understeer at 50 on a B road) when the roads were just slightly damp / greasey the car just understeered everywhere (even though i had rears approaching legal limit at the time)
full wet though and the kumho's got some grip back.
Did I just read "Xantia" and "fun" in the same sentence! :confused:
orangebird
15-03-2007, 09:37
I never do 90 on the motoway,i keep between 60 and 70. I let everyone else kill eachother on the outside lane and keep the inside for myself.
:rolleyes:
Did I just read "Xantia" and "fun" in the same sentence! :confused:
You sound suprised?
Mine are fun, even the one not working is still fun, I'm sure Keith's is fun, and I'm certain wigro's is great fun :D
There's everything you ever wanted to know about car tyres (and other bits of cars and bikes too) over here:
http://www.carbibles.com/
Now I'm the proud owner of a (rather old but sitll very nice) Range Rover, I'm a little worried at how much I might have to spend to renew its tyres. I have looked at Blackcircle.com but to be honest I've never heard of most of the brands it has recommended for me. They are:
Recommended: Hankook RA 23
Budget: Nexen Roadian
Mid Range: General Grabber Street Terrain, General Grabber UHP, Kumho KL 12
Premium: Pirelli Scorpion ST, Goodyear Wrangler HP, Michelin Synchrone.
Anyone care to offer any advice on any of the above? I bought the car due to the very poor state of the roads near our house, especially the last 10 miles or so, and the last 5 miles are single track, rotting and not gritted in winter. The car spends most of its miles on country roads of various quality, with a little suburban driving and very little motorway. The car very very rarely exceeds 80mph. It's the 2.5 diesel automatic, if that makes any difference. I don't know off the top of my head what tyres are on it but for the purposes of playing with the site I entered 255/65 16.
TIA :)
NoKnowledge
15-03-2007, 12:38
16" for a Range Rover Chris - are you feeling alright? want me to call a doctor? :)
I have had Hankook Optimos, Goodyear (GY) Eagle F1 DS3, GY HydraGrip, Michelin Pilot Primacy, Bridgestone Potenza something
Goodyear Hydragrips are the best and gives me great traction in the wet but noisy and wear really fast and comfortable but not as comfortable as the Hankooks.
The Hankooks are really comfortable and noiseless and tread wears nicely.
The Bridgestone Potenza will be my second best - this tyre when new is better than the Hydragrip but as it wears, it's not got the same traction as from new also wears fast and it performs at it's best when the tyre has warmed up abit (other people will say beware of Bridgestones, but the potenza range is very good and probably the best if it kept the same traction from new).
GY E F1 - Very good traction but wears faster than any tyre I have mentioned.
Michelin P Primacy - not worth the money when it comes to price/performace, wears nicely though.
http://www.carbibles.com/
Theres a bible?, next there'll be a religion
keithwalton
15-03-2007, 14:05
I remember testing a Disco III that was on 255/55 R19's now they were hughe boots (normal size sidewalls too!) and cost most of your body parts to replace. (~£190 a tire) it used the Goodyear wranglers i think which were acceptable on road peformance. Not sure how well they would have done off road being that wide!
As for Xantia's being fun etc, out of all fwd cars i have driven (mostly big saloons like mondeo's vectra's etc) the xantia has the most engaging / positive turn in.
Due to the passive rear steer it the balance feels neutral.
Until my rear suspension has gone a little stiff (spheres wearing out) it always felt as if the backend was wanting to step out but it never did no matter how hard you threw it in.
It's not as much fun as my dads old E39 (5 Series) BMW but that was RWD which makes all the difference
16" for a Range Rover Chris - are you feeling alright? want me to call a doctor? :)
I have no idea. I referred to the online owner manual and it gave three tyre sizes for my model - 2 were 16s and 1 was 18. It is not a Sport model so I opted for the one with smaller rims and (presumably) larger side walls.
It's 10 years old by the way, a P38, not one of the uber-flash new models.
What size do you think they should be? Go on, have a guess - I'll be able to check myself after work and then I can post the answer this evening. :p:
NoKnowledge
15-03-2007, 15:30
O, It makes sense now. I can't remember what R Rovers looked like back in about '97, I'd say 16" then, if the online manual said about that.
Theres another online shop that do tyres as well - you can have the tyres (just the tyres) posted to you or you can opt to have it posted to a garage of the shops choice near you (well, your choice really they give you a number of garages to choose from)
http://www.mytyres.co.uk/
````
O, It makes sense now. I can't remember what R Rovers looked like back in about '97, I'd say 16" then, if the online manual said about that.
Theres another online shop that do tyres as well - you can have the tyres (just the tyres) posted to you or you can opt to have it posted to a garage of the shops choice near you (well, your choice really they give you a number of garages to choose from)
http://www.mytyres.co.uk/
It's one of these:
https://www.cableforum.co.uk/images/local/2007/03/26.jpg
Mine doesn't have headlight wipers or any fancy toys though, I wanted one for genuine 4x4 purposes and basic trim was all I could afford anyway!
EDIT
I'd still like to hear from anyone who knows anything about the brands of tyres blackcircle recommended me, as I've not heard of any of them apart from the premium ones, and seeing as their descriptions say they are designed for high-speed road use (and are really quite expensive) I won't be wanting them anyway. The car's primary use is poor quality (sometimes awful quality) rural roads, so I'll be making an appropriate choice from either the Budget, Recommended or Mid Range selections:
Recommended: Hankook RA 23
Budget: Nexen Roadian
Mid Range: General Grabber Street Terrain, General Grabber UHP, Kumho KL 12
Premium: Pirelli Scorpion ST, Goodyear Wrangler HP, Michelin Synchrone.
NoKnowledge
15-03-2007, 16:49
Check my link in the post before for recommeded tyres to give you an idea also this site (http://www.tyretest.com/) is quite good but some reviews in german - use babelfish or something to translate
keithwalton
15-03-2007, 17:12
I have never heard of general before, but a quick look at there website suggests they are orientated towards 4x4, suv tyres rather than motorsport / track tyres (like kumho).
The street terrain and grabber uhp are both smooth road tyres.
For light off road you want the grabber tr which blackcircles have for £96,
for 'rough' use they recomend the grabber at 2 which is also £96.
However these all cost more than the pirreli's. There are more mid range tyres avaliable from the likes of toyo and bf goodrich but they're in premium price territory.
If you are dealing with poor quality roads it will be worth spending the extra few quid to get a more resiliant tyre that can put up with pot holes etc (reinforced side walls etc).
Alot of modern 4x4's are used purely for good road use (BMW X series) and both vehicle and tyre manufacturers have responded to this with 'street' tyres. which will be no good for what you're doing
http://www.carbibles.com/tyre_bible.html
...has a short section on Landy and off-road tyres. He even recommends a book which you might want to find.
And there's a handy rim calculator (which includes make/model details) here:
http://www.rochfordtyres.co.uk/
http://www.carbibles.com/tyre_bible.html
...has a short section on Landy and off-road tyres. He even recommends a book which you might want to find.
Yep, had a look at that this afternoon. It was good on general principles, but I was really hoping for some folks to post personal experiences of some of the brands I mentioned as they had been doing earlier in the thread. I haven't heard of most of them but hoped someone else might have.
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