Do tyre cheap/expensive brands make much difference?

5W30

mullingar wrote: »

There is also a big comfort factor with premium brands, all thanks to the sidewalls.

Either way, I blame the tyre fitters for not explaining the differences between the Chinese muck and proper premium as they have zero incentive. To make it worse, the profit margin on premiums is worse than the Chinese crap so they will push the buyer towards the linglongs

Good luck with tyre fitters explaining the advantages of premium tyres. The industry already has a bad reputation for robbing money. Imagine the outrage it would cause if they offered better tyres for MORE MONEY :pac:

Craftylee

When I got my car I had some Wanli tyres on it, after 5 minutes googling how bad they were (especially the wet grip) I called my local garage and ordered a premium set for the car. Got myself 4 Avon ZV5's which come highly recommended by the garage and from some research online.

Few hundred euro's for the peace of mind that I have a good set of tyres keeping me on the road, well worth it imo

Jesus.

Craftylee wrote: »

When I got my car I had some Wanli tyres on it, after 5 minutes googling how bad they were (especially the wet grip) I called my local garage and ordered a premium set for the car

Would you not have tried them and decided for yourself?

power pants

no difference at all op, I find cheap tyres to be as good as the more expensive ones. Think its a bit of a snobbery thing imo.

CJhaughey

power pants wrote: »

no difference at all op, I find cheap tyres to be as good as the more expensive ones. Think its a bit of a snobbery thing imo.

Wow, in all conditions wet, cold etc, cheap tyres perform the same as good quality tyres for you?

power pants

yes.

Sh1tbag OToole

Definitely notice the difference when hitting a puddle or driving in heavy rain with Conti EcoContact's vs some no-name brand tyres.
Supposed to be more efficient too but it's less than 5% of a difference so you wouldn't really notice that.

jacksie66

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power pants

why?

jacksie66

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power pants

oh yes of course...nearly....

Ive never been in that situation and drive alot. Perhaps your driving was not up to standard on that particular day?

jacksie66

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5W30

jacksie66 wrote: »

Haha. Really. I've been driving for years, had many different cars and have been driving in different countries. I drive alot for my job aswell. Believe me I know how to drive.
Saying there's no difference between cheap tyres and good tyres is like saying there's no difference between a 10 bucks pair of runners from Dunnes and a 80 bucks pair of addidas...

I bet he'd tow a caravan with a Nissan Micra too.

power pants

thats a poor example, the brand with 3 stripes made in the same factories in the far east as the dunnes ones?

power pants

5W30 wrote: »

I bet he'd tow a caravan with a Nissan Micra too.

no my car is 2l+

5W30

power pants wrote: »

no my car is 2l+

Should have went with a 1.0, same thing but cheaper.

power pants

good one, makes sense :rolleyes:

coolbeans

IMO tyres are the number one safety item and deserve money being spent on them. It's when you need them that the good ones pay for themselves. Ran a pair of ditchfinders (Wanli) when I was poorer. Great life out of them cos they're so hard but worryingly poor in the grip department and downright irresponsible in the wet; understeering without provocation. ABS also had a lot more to do as well which meant they skidded very easily.
Cheap tyres are the ultimate motoring false economy .

quadrifoglio verde

power pants wrote: »

thats a poor example, the brand with 3 stripes made in the same factories in the far east as the dunnes ones?

Aye, but the dunnes ones fall apart after a month and leave you with 20 blisters.

Suppose next you'll be telling me that the lidl johnnies are the way to go and that I'm a snip for using durex because in your book rubber is rubber.
However the lidl one will rip the knob off you

coolbeans

power pants wrote: »

no my car is 2l+

What kind of car is it ?

Sh1tbag OToole

coolbeans wrote: »

IMO tyres are the number one safety item and deserve money being spent on them. It's when you need them that the good ones pay for themselves. Ran a pair of ditchfinders (Wanli) when I was poorer. Great life out of them cos they're so hard but worryingly poor in the grip department and downright irresponsible in the wet; understeering without provocation. ABS also had a lot more to do as well which meant they skidded very easily.
Cheap tyres are the ultimate motoring false economy .

lol @ ditchfinders!

jacksie66

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Jesus.

jacksie66 wrote: »

Because I've been involved in situations where good tyres have saved me and cheap tyres have nearly got me killed..

Then you've been driving too hard Jacksie. Its nearly all down to driving style imo

power pants

quadrifoglio verde wrote: »

Aye, but the dunnes ones fall apart after a month and leave you with 20 blisters.

Suppose next you'll be telling me that the lidl johnnies are the way to go and that I'm a snip for using durex because in your book rubber is rubber.
However the lidl one will rip the knob off you

that would not have been my next argument, what does trainers, condoms etc have to do with tyres?

apart from the classic cliched " I drove in cheap tyres and almost crashed and died in the rain" ( which I dont believe)

nobody has ever crashed then? I firmly believe driving too fast for the conditions but nobody will ever admit to that :rolleyes:

also yeah Id wear lidl condoms, if they come with the kite stamp on the packet, Id have no worries at all

Mc Love

power pants wrote: »

that would not have been my next argument, what does trainers, condoms etc have to do with tyres?

apart from the classic cliched " I drove in cheap tyres and almost crashed and died in the rain" ( which I dont believe)

nobody has ever crashed then? I firmly believe driving too fast for the conditions but nobody will ever admit to that :rolleyes:

also yeah Id wear lidl condoms, if they come with the kite stamp on the packet, Id have no worries at all

Maybe hellraiser was right about this forum

power pants

maybe

coolbeans

power pants wrote: »

also yeah Id wear lidl condoms, if they come with the kite stamp on the packet, Id have no worries at all

Lidl condoms won't break though. You'd be surprised at the performance between budget and mid range tyres, several tens of metres in brake tests 'if you have a gawk on youtube. Thats dangerous and could be the difference b/w hitting somebody and being able to pull up

power pants

perhaps, from my personal experience I did not notice the difference after many years of driving with "expensive" tyres to the cheap ones I drive now. If I did I would go back to buying the more expensive ones.

5W30

power pants wrote: »

perhaps, from my personal experience I did not notice the difference after many years of driving with "expensive" tyres to the cheap ones I drive now. If I did I would go back to buying the more expensive ones.

Just because you haven't come close to running someone over doesn't mean you should not worry about your tyres. You should take the best precautions you can to avoid something like that which of course means going for some decent tyres.

Jesus.

coolbeans wrote: »

Thats dangerous and could be the difference b/w hitting somebody and being able to pull up

So could driving like a bellend. Its 95% down to driving style. It really is

5W30

Jesus. wrote: »

So could driving like a bellend. Its 95% down to driving style. It really is

It isn't though, especially if you're doing 120 km/h on the motorway. Driving style doesn't come into the equation having to do an emergency stop on a motorway.

Jesus.

That's my point. Easy A to B drivers with budget tyres wouldn't be doing 75 on the Motorway in the pissings of rain. They probably wouldn't even be doing it in the dry either. The premiums are for other kinds of drivers, dare I say it, the likes of yourself for example who like to put the pedal down a bit (nothing wrong with that either btw).

It really is down to driving style. Those who say they're all over the place on budget tyres is because they're driving like they're on premiums. Not everybody drives like that. The budgets are perfectly fine for some people.

I got a set of mid-range tyres recently and you do notice the difference in terms of smoothness and probably in the wet too. But I've run on all kinds of tyres and as long as you have a decent tread on them and you don't drive like you're in a mad rush everywhere you'll be fine.

Sh1tbag OToole

Even if you never have to brake hard to avoid smashing into something tis still worth getting the good tyres. You''ve better grip going around corners as well. Feck it you could always compensate by driving like a typical Micra driver but even then it's false economy, if the expensive tyre is even 1% more efficient then it will pay off over the life of the tyre. I could buy a ditchfinder off some chancer for 55 quid or a good one for 66 and 10e to fit it. If one of your ditchfinders develops a strange bulge and needs to be got rid of before most of the thread is gone like one of mine did all your savings are out the window anyway

jacksie66

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DubVelo

Jaysus lads it's not like we live in the South of Spain where the sun shines 300 days a year and the roads are all smooth.
The weather here's ****, road conditions are all over the gaff, if there's anywhere you need good tyres - it's here!

Jesus.

jacksie66 wrote: »

Nonsense. Any close call was due to other drivers and people. Situations where people slammed on the brakes in front of me, people pulling out in front of me, people running from behind parked cars. Things like that. People cycling out in front of me as well. If I didn't have good quality tyres it would've ended horrible..

Then you were too close up behind them or going too fast Jacksie. I've never been in life or death situations on budget tyres let alone a load of them like you have. Is that a coincidence? I doubt it

power pants

5W30 wrote: »

Just because you haven't come close to running someone over doesn't mean you should not worry about your tyres. You should take the best precautions you can to avoid something like that which of course means going for some decent tyres.

my point is not valid but people who have had bad experiences is?

so how come everyone will only buy expensive tyres on here yet everyone has had a bad experience on budget tyres? :rolleyes:

Even if you did not put them on your car and were on them before :rolleyes: surely that would mean the previous driver didnt have an issue driving on them?

its bull**** imo so many careless drivers blaming their tyres

TherapyBoy

Jesus. wrote: »

Then you were too close up behind them or going too fast Jacksie. I've never been in life or death situations on budget tyres let alone a load of them like you have. Is that a coincidence? I doubt it

I've never had to make an emergency stop or any sort of extreme procedure in a car BUT if I had to, I'd want the best tires I could afford gripping me onto the road.
Expect the unexpected. You can't see the future.

Jesus.

TherapyBoy wrote: »

I've never had to make an emergency stop or any sort of extreme procedure in a car BUT if I had to, I'd want the best tires I could afford gripping me onto the road. Expect the unexpected. You can't see the future.

Indeed so people should stop driving like Ayrton Senna back from the grave and then blaming the tyres when they repeatedly get themselves into near life-ending situations.

Supergurrier

Jesus. wrote: »

Indeed so people should stop driving like Ayrton Senna back from the grave and then blaming the tyres when they repeatedly get themselves into near life-ending situations.

Not always.

Was behind a mazda 3 last year on my way into Galway when an Octavia coming in the other direction lost rear grip and crossed the road to hit the mazda head on. Both cars jumped about a foot in the air and i was very thankful for my new front brakes and Uniroyal rainsport 3's

As was the female driver of the mazda 3 i was behind when i stopped 15 foot from her door as her car was thrown sideways by the collision as she looked down the bonnet of two tons of volvo screeching to a halt.

Would i have stopped as well on the triangles that were on the car when i bought it i honestly don't know but from 5 car lengths behind i doubt she would have been keen to find out.

I even got a telling off from the 1st Garda on the scene for "Parking so close to a crash"

But that's where i stopped

"Oh..."

Duke O Smiley

I have four Firestone tires on my car outside. They're only midrange jobbies, nothing special and I could have gone for something better but at €200 they're the priciest I've ever had. They cost more than the car, but suffice to say I can't ever see myself going back to the cheap €25 a corner jobs. I've noticed a substantial difference in the month they have been on the car alone.

power pants

was driving last night and so glad I had my cheap tyres on in the rain and wet surfaces. did themselves justice as I knew they would

Fluffy Cat 88

The last set of tyres I had on my car (Golf) were "Roadstone" - they were ok. I've used cheap ones over the years too, dodgy re-moulds etc in pre -NCT times.

My husband replaced them with Yokohama ones before Christmas last year. They were a bit more expensive, but the car handles much better.

I would never put cheap ones on now, there's a massive difference

Sh1tbag OToole

Fluffy Cat 88 wrote: »

The last set of tyres I had on my car (Golf) were "Roadstone" - they were ok. I've used cheap ones over the years too, dodgy re-moulds etc in pre -NCT times.

My husband replaced them with Yokohama ones before Christmas last year. They were a bit more expensive, but the car handles much better.

I would never put cheap ones on now, there's a massive difference

A lad near me was selling a bimmer with Curbstone tyres on the back. Whatever underpaid Chinese serf thought of that name really didn't think it through

Don't think even the most overzealous cheap tyre fanboy would tell you he's dieing to put a new set of Curbstones on his car

jacksie66

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Nichard Dixon

Sh1tbag OToole wrote: »

A lad near me was selling a bimmer with Curbstone tyres on the back. Whatever underpaid Chinese serf thought of that name really didn't think it through

Don't think even the most overzealous cheap tyre fanboy would tell you he's dieing to put a new set of Curbstones on his car

Perhaps curbcrawlers would be a good name for a cheap tyre.

Tommyboy40

These threads develop into ****e so quickly. I was driving to Dublin from Cork and back again this week, I'm in a 2.4 ton V8 wearing €1000 of continentals and travelling at a steady 130. I'm being passed by Yaris's and people carriers. I'm on the road all the time and am stunned by the tyres people have; bald, sunny, other crap, and on Range Rovers etc. If you drive a lot you develop a sixth sense and often know that the idiot in the next lane is going to swerve into yours without warning, or the car pulling out of the side street isn't going to stop. I rely on my cars being able to stop before these idiots. If your car has rubbishy tyres but you've never had a scare then you've been lucky, not skillful.

Mc Love

to the like of powder pants and Jesus - just go on youtube and watch the videos about the differences between budget and premium tyres and you really cant argue that there isnt a difference after watching them!

Special Circumstances

Mc Love wrote: »

to the like of powder pants and Jesus - just go on youtube and watch the videos about the differences between budget and premium tyres and you really cant argue that there isnt a difference after watching them!

I don't think you'd see either running out to buy a Chinese car to save a few bob though.
German car all the way.
You could conduct a poll in ireland on cars / tyres and the results would be that german cars have engineering advantages beyond the price difference but European engineered tyres? Sure the Chinese are just as good for half the price.
There is never even a hint that one reality would intrude on the other, they can maintain this doublethink under any pressure.
They'd be ideal recruits for a cult.

Nichard Dixon

Special Circumstances wrote: »

I don't think you'd see either running out to buy a Chinese car to save a few bob though.
German car all the way.
You could conduct a poll in ireland on cars / tyres and the results would be that german cars have engineering advantages beyond the price difference but European engineered tyres? Sure the Chinese are just as good for half the price.
There is never even a hint that one reality would intrude on the other, they can maintain this doublethink under any pressure.
They'd be ideal recruits for a cult.

A lot of these folk would want an Apple iPhone, not a cheap Chinese clone, but wouldn't have the same approach to tyres.