21 replies to this topic

[cradley-heathen]

the rear tyres on my metro are really shouldered on the inside edges. i had them on the front and didnt realise the tracking was out forsome time, hence they ended up so worn! so i swapped them to the back and did the tracking.

anyway, currently im on a set of yoko a539s, which i have always been happy with, but i was wondering if any of the cheaper brands i have seen for sale at shows are any good from peoples experience of them?

i must admit im a bit of a tyre snob and have always steared clear of lesser brands, after all the rubber is the only bit that touches the ground, you need it to do a good job!

so...... cheap tyres? suitable for driving everyday in all weathers? or are they "ditch finders" like im imagining they are!

[Cooperman]

Obviously you can't expect a 'cheapie' tyre to perform like the excellent Yoko, but you just have to drive within the limitations of the tyres capabilities and if that means cornering more slowly think of the money you've saved

[cradley-heathen]

i know what you mean cooperman, its not a hi performance beast anyway.

recently we had to get some new boots on my missis Ka, we got the cheapest ones we could find at short notice, £42 each, and i noticed imediately that the grip wasnt as good as the dunlops that came off, and they only had limited tread left! for the missis its fine, she takes it steady driving nearly 60 miles a day she likes to save fuel and money.

im sure ill get some more yokos, they arnt much more per tyre. i would only regret getting cheapies otherwise.

[mrslaphead]

A neighbour of mine runs a tyre and exhaust place, and recently changed a WAN LI tyre for me on a car I had just bought. He explained that even though some of the cheaper tyres had similar tread patterns
to the expensive brands none of the cheaper tyres have any R&D they just try and copy the big brands and the very cheap ones are a very poor mix of rubber and plastic. The car I bought had 3 Avons and 1 WAN LI fitted and the noise and vibration caused by this 1 tyre was that bad the garage I got it from changed a whole hub as the garage foreman was convinced it was a bearing. The dodgy tyre was on the other side of the car but the vibrations were that bad that on 4 seperate road tests 4 different people all thought the rumbling was coming from back left but the dodgy tyre was back right.

[pdaykin]

A couple of years ago one of the classic car mags did a feature on tyres using the mini.

I cant remember all the details, but it was quite surprising what a difference there were on braking distances. I seem to recall the big brands were universally better - eg Yokos and Dunlops (?) being good.

Being a relatively short test, it didnt say how long the tyres lasted - which can paint another picture of how "cheap" the tyres are.

[tiger99]

It seems that many of the cheap tyres which are available for all cars, not just Minis, are not rated for use on cars at all. Some are intened for golf buggies and such like and can disintegrate at speed. I know that Trading Standards have been looking at this for several years now, but am not sure if the import of these potentially lethal tyres has been successfully stopped or otherwise. A reputable tyre dealer will never knowingly sell you such a thing, but not all tyre dealers are reputable, although the problem usually lies further up the supply chain, and the dealers are victims too. There are numerous examples of counterfeit goods, seemingly reputable brands, and invariably made in China. Personally, I avoid anything which affects safety which is suspected of having been made in China, especially high tensile nuts and bolts, bearings and tyres.

[cradley-heathen]

i have seen a;llot of cheaper brands being sold at the shows my the usual mini parts people, often already fitted to rims for you to take away and fit straight to your car.

most of the brands i have never heard of, but the size we are talking about i generally think the folks buying them are more interested in looks than handling etc?

[Tamworthbay]

I am constantly amazed that some people fit poor tyres to their cars. No disrespect to anyone but I wouldn't let any of my family drive a car with them on. Just imagine having to emergency brake from 'only' 50mph, what difference would a cheap tyre make? Not sure but it could be the difference between missing by an inch and having a fatal accident. I bought a Mazda 3 for my wife 6 months back. I told the place it needed two new tyres and I would pay the difference between budgets and Decent tyres. The pratts ignored me and fitted budgets. I docked £150 off the price and drove straight to the local tyre place to get them changed. The car dealer was a bit peed off when I dropped the cheapo ones back to him, but I just won't risk Chinese rubbish. Some lower price tyres can be good, Nankangs, Kumho spring to mind but the budget tyres and invariably a completely unknown name with no comeback at all. Spend the extra few quid for peace of mind, you won't regret it!

Edit: look on Blackcircles, they have decent tyres for price of budgets and fit at local tyre places.

Edited by Tamworthbay, 11 November 2012 - 04:56 PM.

[62S]

i must admit im a bit of a tyre snob and have always steared clear of lesser brands, after all the rubber is the only bit that touches the ground, you need it to do a good job!

Surely you have answered your own question?

[cradley-heathen]

i must admit im a bit of a tyre snob and have always steared clear of lesser brands, after all the rubber is the only bit that touches the ground, you need it to do a good job!

Surely you have answered your own question?

as far as i have always thought i was doing the right thing and yes, you could say i have answered my own question.

but having never used cheap tyres, and there being a hell of allot of them about these days i didnt know if they had improved in recent years. i have to be realistic though, it is currently just a 998 powered metro that is just a daily driver. i was wondering if on a car like this i may have been worrying for nothing.

so thats why i thought i would enquire.

[mini13]

I had a set of continentals on mine and they were really good, not sure how they match up price wise with the yoko's though.

[mini-luke]

If you haven't heard of it before and cannot pronounce the name it's a good sign to steer clear!

[Noris8322]

I'd stick with the yoko's! I think they are worth the money and don't have the problems that come with cheaper tyres.

Cheaper brands have given me no end of problems, ranging from reduced grip and increased road noise.
To the more extreme things like tyres no longer being round, strange wear and even a blow-out

[minidaves]

gets what you pay for.......... the conti's are the best overall tyre in veiw then yoko's then the dunlops

[freshairmini]

I had Yoko's on mine for quite a while. But where the suspension settled, the camber changed and the insides of the Yoko's wore out. I replaced them with some £22 nankangs. And there surprisingly good. No as good as the Yoko's in the wet but still pretty grippy, and their the taller profile over the Yoko's.