New Tyres Fitted At Last

[adrianf.]

Well finally got round to having a complete set of new boots fitted today. :)

Been looking at the MyTyres web site and was very pleased at the prices i saw, but have read some iffy reports on here the last couple of weeks regarding delivery times etc so decided maybe not as my old ones were getting a bit low. ;)

Rang round almost every dealer in town and ended up going back to the first one i rang. (Dont women do that with clothes?) :angry:

Went for a set of Accelera Alpha. Never heard of them before but look a nice chunky tread.

They are reinforced with a 97 load index and a speed rating of ZR, which is just what you need on a diesel Gal. :)

I see Mytres are knocking them out for about

[MatTdi]

Adrianf,

I have the accelra's on my bus, i reckon there great, have been on for about 10k so far and seem to hold up to the Milton Keynes roundabout syndrome well.

They seem to hold well in the wet and are one of the quietest tyres I have had so far...

 

M@

[jwilliams]

I have just put 4 fortunas on mine and so far impressed.

 

I only paid

[dipsomaniac]

what size tyres? the cheapest I can see for my 215/55/r16 is

[jwilliams]

Where are you looking?

 

My Tyres have

 

Linglong

Summer tyres L688

215/55 ZR16 97W XL

[adrianf.]

what size tyres? the cheapest I can see for my 215/55/r16 is

[tiny]

Call me a brand snob, but tyres called "Linglong" and "Nankang" dont inspire confidence.

 

I have four bits of rubber between my family and the road, Im not going to economise with their wellbeing. With tyres in my experience you get what you pay for.

 

There again, I work for Pirelli and pay

[jwilliams]

I chose the Fortuna based on good reports from forum members. So far I am very impressed, even in the horrid wet weather they have better grip than the Dunlops.

[adrianf.]

Call me a brand snob, but tyres called "Linglong" and "Nankang" dont inspire confidence.

 

I have four bits of rubber between my family and the road, Im not going to economise with their wellbeing. With tyres in my experience you get what you pay for.

 

There again, I work for Pirelli and pay

[tiny]

I'm not questioning the road holding abilities of cheap tyres, but I doubt wether these budget manufacturers spend as much time and money on development and testing of their products.

 

Or wether the materials used are of the same quality for that matter.

 

I want to be assured that my tyres will perform not just during normal driving or even during those times when the weather is exeptionally poor, but during times of emergency too. Wet weather driving is one thing, but how well will a tyre perform under sudden flooding conditions when aquaplaning is a risk? Or perhaps sudden directional changes such as steering under emergency braking which is something that can cause massive load changes (This is actually more of a problem now that most cars have ABS)

 

Are cheaper brands as extensively tested against such instances as extended high speed high load running as I know the tyres I produce are?

 

Is the burst resistance the same?

 

Are they submitted to the sort of destructive testing as all the major manufacturers tyres are?

 

Tyres arent just about the parts you can see, but those you cant aswell. There are several components go into a finished tyre and several areas where money can be saved. If I pay for a quality tyre, then im sure that each one of those components has been manufactured from the best materials using the best machinery and by a highly skilled and qualified workforce.

 

Did you know that on the average tyre the main tread is made from 3 different compounds of rubber, that the sidewalls are made from 2 others and then the rubber in the cord plies are different again? Thats not to mention the beads that can have different amounts of wires and 2 different coating of rubber along with other components that give strength to the sidewalls or sound deadening properties.

 

Im not saying that budget tyres are any less a tyre than the ones I manufacture, but I'll eat my hat if they aren't!

[Bigjeeze]

Whilst in prinicpal that the quality manufacturers make a better tyre - we've only their word for the quality. As we have with the cheapo's. I had thought that there were a set of standards that the tyres must adhere to? If this is not the case then why do we bother checking the ratings etc?

 

 

 

As long as they meet the correct safety standards what's the problem? OK they may not last as long but hey that's what happens when you buy cheap.

 

 

 

I agree that R&D is important as well as the best materials but it doesn't always follow in this world of undercutting and cheap replacement throwaway everythings we have.

 

 

 

Good things No cheap

 

 

 

Cheap things no good

 

 

 

Or so says the little man in my papershop!!

[familyman]

Call me a brand snob, but tyres called "Linglong" and "Nankang" dont inspire confidence.

 

I have four bits of rubber between my family and the road, Im not going to economise with their wellbeing. With tyres in my experience you get what you pay for.

 

There again, I work for Pirelli and pay

[popeye2755]

The last time I had tyres fitted it cost

[jkspoff]

I think my 'fullrun' tyres are made up of old recycled rubbers in China. But the grip from them is staggering compared with the Dunlops I used to have on. I've done some significant DIY tests on cornering in both dry and wet and they just don't break away at all. At

[sparky Paul]

I recon the big named manufacturers produce their tyres at a similar cost as the unknown makes

...especially when the likes of Dunlop, Continental, et al. also have , or are building factories in China. A close relative's Toyota is fitted with Dunlop tyres which are made in Turkey, so they have a factory there too. Bear in mind that there are few manufacturers of casing technology and machinery, and from what I've read, the equipment which is used to produce these cheaper tyres is often purchased from the big names.

 

I also have the Fortunas fitted, and have been extremely pleased with them - wet performance is far better than the Dunlops when they were new, and they seem to be wearing well. Based upon my experience, I would certainly buy them again.

 

Surely if the grip is better, they are speed rated, extra load spec, cheaper and UK approved, then they are a better all round tyre ?

Seems reasonable to me. :lol:

[tiny]

 

Surely if the grip is better, they are speed rated, extra load spec, cheaper and UK approved, then they are a better all round tyre ?

 

A better all round tyre? That is a very naive statement.

 

UK approved? nothing is UK approved anymore, European approved maybe but answer this, when you buy brake pads do you go for the cheapest? When you buy engine oil (PD owners ignore this bit) do you buy the stuff in a Supermarket at 3.99 for 5 litres or do you buy a quality oil? The cheaper options mentioned above meet the minimum required standards(EU, CE, ISO or whatever) but are they as good as the more expensive well known brands?

 

 

People may think i have a biased opinion because of my employment with Pirelli but im not trying to punt their products(I am running continentals on the Gal' at the moment). The budget tyres may tick all the right boxes for European certification but these at the end of the day are minimum standards, the tyres are not necessarily made from quality assured materials and indeed many budget tyres are made from reclaimed material from other parts of the rubber industry.

Any un-cured or not previously vulcanised rubber compounds can go into the manufacture of tyres and will be remixed with various other ingredients to give the manufacturer a "suitable" compund. And that second hand rubber is what's expected to stop you and your family from leaving the road.

 

What happens to our used machinery? When its past its sell by date and no longer capable of manufacturing tyres to comply with the latest technological advances, then it is sent to our own brand "Budget" manufacturing plants. What happens when it is finished there? Well chances are its sold to the "Budget sector" a 20+ yr old machine making tyres for todays cars.

 

If a tyre lasts 30k then the fact that it cost you an extra

[Bigjeeze]

If a tyre lasts 30k then the fact that it cost you an extra

[tiny]

Wish I could!

 

I get 8 rebated tyres a year, if I could get more they would be on Ebay!

 

Seriously though, im not trying to stir up arguments, simply share a little of what I know about tyre manufacture.

 

 

 

Youve got to admit though, they'd maybe sell more if they dropped the dodgy names!

[gregers]

as ive said in many previous threads when this has come up,in my humble opinion i try to usually go for the middle brands,i had a michellin on my rears when i first got the car and the fronts needed changing went to the local tyre place and ended up buying all four because on the rear ones the side walls had all cracked through age it broke my heart and wallet because there was sod all wrong with the tread at all,so was having them fitted a good way of keeping motoring costs down or would it have been better just going for the cheaper alternativs?coz i certainly didnt get the best out of the michellins.

i was always under the impression that all tyres are inspected and will do exactly what it says on the tin?

so if a tyre is rated to speed at 125mph and it blows at 70 then you have a claim against the manufacturer(if your still alive that is)but you get what im on about(i hope).

[adrianf.]

OH GOD

 

I wish i hadnt started this post now :lol:

 

Like every thing else in life

You pay yer money

You take yer choice.

 

I have always gone for big name big price tyres before.

I think if i done a lot of motorway driving then maybe i would have again but i dont so i didnt.

[El Dingo]

What I do know is that even big brand tyres can be rubbish.

 

For example, Goodyear NCT 5, on a (latest model) Vectra SRI, were absolutely appalling - aquaplaning a big problem and poor lateral grip. Continental Sport Contact II, on the same car, like a different world. No aquaplaning, great grip and improved directional stability, and reduced torque steer. Really confidence inspiring.

 

Having said that, Goodyear F1's were wonderful on a Seat Leon Cupra R, much better than the Pirelli P-Zero Rosso, especially in the wet.

 

I am sure that budget tyres can be OK. Personally, I'll try to go for latest technology, with some caution (as above). It's a pity you can't always 'try before you buy'. That's why I'll be reading all the 'reviews' on this forum again before I buy new tyres for our Galaxy. ;)

[NikpV]

up to now I've always gone with dunlops or michelin pilots but now that there are a few more makes around and peeps are reporting that they are ok I may well try some next time - I've never worried about the makes of tyre on the escort estate when it was the family runabout so I don't know why I do with the Galaxy. back in 2002 when we first got the galmI couldn't find anything but these makess in the correct size/rating but that is now changing :)