Budget tyres vs Premium tyres

[L00b 441]

I did notice some Khumo tyres that were a good double B rating at around £43, and some cheaper ones too. I was thinking about going for them.

I certainly don't have anything bad to say about them, personally.

 

That blow out I was on about was a Continental tyre, and due to a screw (or the like) picked up by the threads on Brightside Lane.

 

I drove in France at Xmas with the Ecstas on the V50 in close to a foot of fresh snow (mid-afternoon to early evening on Xmas Eve, no public/clearing services of course ), a 60-odd miles trek with some serious inclines along the way (it was night-dark by the time we got to that hill, which was completely uncleared; there were cars stood in various poses and also skidding all over the place, looked like a ten pin bowling alley). Whilst nowhere near as good as winter tyres of course, they got us there without that much effort (in no small part due to the weight of the diesel lump and its torque - but they've got to be mated to some traction)...and we never got stuck, unlike many other drivers at the time.

Edited August 20, 2014 by L00b

[vwkittie 10]

Yes.

 

It's as simple as that.

 

Tyres are NOT all created equal and seeing as they're one of the most (if not the most) important parts of your car in terms of safety, skimping on them is just stupidity.

[Kidorry 189]

Basically what Bruno said above. Remember at all times that tyres are the only points of contact between your car and the road. After that, as noted by Obelix, certain budget brands have proven themselves through the years as perfectly adequate alternatives to major brands, and Khumo is another example.

 

I had 4 new Khumo Ecstas put on a V50 2.0D a couple of years ago, and they proved not only much better in the wet and snow as the Pirellis they were replacing, but also more economical and less noisy.

 

I've now had 4 new Ecstas put on the MX5 a couple of months ago at Roddington's suggestion, and they're again proving much better in the wet as the Firestones they are replacing. We've had and driven this car for over 14 years & 70000 miles -with the expected number of new mounts in that time- and I can't ever remember having better tyres on it, and that includes Michelins.

 

By comparison, last week I had to buy replacement fronts for the Goodyear Eco-wotsits which we had put on the Merc (C220 saloon) two years/15000 miles ago. They were starting to show canvas at the outer sidewall (!), and it's not as if that car is hard driven at all (Mrs pootles in it: school run, shopping, family vists). Tracking was a bit off, but not so dramatically as to cause this amount of wear.

Depends if it was front or back blow.I've had a rear blow at 75-80, M1 southbound in the (sharp-ish) right bend after the Jct.32/M18 ramp, and the car behaved perfectly well. The only danger I perceived at the time, was the loss of motive power (RWD) that caused gradual (and irremediable) loss of speed, which made moving promptly from the rightmost to the leftmost lane a bit tricky in rush hour traffic.

 

I expect a front blow would be far more problematic, regardless of whether FWD or RWD.

 

It was the front offside.

[razvanalbu 10]

If you Dont drive like an idiot. Cheap tyres will be fine ,they have less grip but are a harder compound so will last a longer then sport tyres

[alchresearch 215]

It wasn't so long back that Kwik Fit's budget Arrowspeed brand was recommended and only slightly behind Pirelli or Goodyear (can't remember which) in stopping distance in the wet.

[Guest]

It depends what you want, incidentally they're all branded, some are just cheap brands. Having had Nexens on my car and switching to Good Year Eagles then a resounding yes. Nexens I'd be dead if I even vaguely thought about putting my foot down in the wet.

[anywebsite 10]

You shouldn't buy the cheapest tyres, they're crucial for safety. Get a decent branded set, not the most expensive, but at least a well known brand.

 

EU rating label is there for a reason, you should probably use it & get the best rated tyre you can for your money. Make sure it has a proper EU label & isn't some dodgy import off ebay.

 

You'll save money on fuel, it'll be quieter & you'll have more control over your car if you have a good set of tyres.

Edited August 21, 2014 by anywebsite

[razvanalbu 10]

You'll save money on fuel, it'll be quieter & you'll have more control over your car if you have a good set of tyres.

 

If tyre provide more grip, it means the rolling resistence is higher so you will not save fuel!

Tyres are either soft/grips well/wear out quick/more rolling resistence

or they are hard/less grip/last a lot longer/less rolling resistence

they is no best of both world or everyone will have use that formula by now

[Obelix 11]

If tyre provide more grip, it means the rolling resistence is higher so you will not save fuel!

 

Not necessarily. You can have different compounds it's not jsut a binary choice.

 

Tyres are either soft/grips well/wear out quick/more rolling resistence

 

Not they are not. If you engineer the crosslinkage in a vulcanised rubber appropriately you can have a soft hardwearing tyre.

 

or they are hard/less grip/last a lot longer/less rolling resistence

 

No they are not - see above.

 

they is no best of both world or everyone will have use that formula by now

 

That much is true.

[razvanalbu 10]

Not necessarily. You can have different compounds it's not jsut a binary choice.

 

 

 

Not they are not. If you engineer the crosslinkage in a vulcanised rubber appropriately you can have a soft hardwearing tyre.

 

 

 

No they are not - see above.

 

 

 

That much is true.

so you can have max grip and least rolling resistence?

how can soft rubber be same wear as hard rubber?

[Obelix 11]

You have to look at how rubber wears. Typically you have a long latex chain that is joined by disulphide crosslinks. These give it stiffness and wear resistance.

 

IF you have fewer, but stronger cross links, say by using a carbonyl group or a dinitride link you can keep the strength so the wear resistance is the same, but you can make the tyre softer as the reduction in linkages means that it is less stiff, ie hard.

 

Similary for low rolling resistance tyres you want one that response fast to small changes - ie it can mould at the gravel level but one that doesnt deform at a slower rate, ie as the tyre rotates. You can do this by using entropically favoured polymers similar to how spandex works.

[razvanalbu 10]

You have to look at how rubber wears. Typically you have a long latex chain that is joined by disulphide crosslinks. These give it stiffness and wear resistance.

 

IF you have fewer, but stronger cross links, say by using a carbonyl group or a dinitride link you can keep the strength so the wear resistance is the same, but you can make the tyre softer as the reduction in linkages means that it is less stiff, ie hard.

 

Similary for low rolling resistance tyres you want one that response fast to small changes - ie it can mould at the gravel level but one that doesnt deform at a slower rate, ie as the tyre rotates. You can do this by using entropically favoured polymers similar to how spandex works.

 

Is that the reason why formula one soft tyres only last 10 laps while the harder compound can last 30? F1 is cutting edge, shouldnt you be the consultant for the tyres if what you said was truth?