Budget Tyres

[Tommo.]

Probably a stupid question, but does decent rubber REALLY make that much difference?

The reason I'm asking is because when I bought my car, the garage fitted 4 new tyres, however as to be expected really they are all budget tyres. Autoguard SA802's to be exact.

The car really doesn't inspire much confidence in the corners. When cornering at speed it feels as if it's sliding across the road. In the wet it can only be described as dangerous tbh.

I'm sure the cause of the above is the tyres, but is it worth buying a new set even if there's plenty of life left in the cheapo budgets? I don't do a massive amount of miles, my car is more of a weekend toy and I feel the poor cornering ability is letting it down big time!

It's a Fiesta ST btw, not a a Clio (flame suit at the ready.... )

 

[Knuckles]

if you drive safely- to the conditions, theyre fine

if you want to drive spiritedly, you need good rubber.

ive got 'decent budgets' on the front of mine (dealer fitted them). theyre fine day to day, and for little blasts... the back end usually lets go before the front surprisingly! but i turned the ESP off the other day for teh lulz and absolutely s**t bricks.

as soon as i kill these tyres im getting some conti 5s

if its a weekend toy, then yes. change them now. you want to enjoy it not nurse it

 

[imprezaworks]

Like above really. What size are the tyres?

 

[DaveDreads]

You have a nice car and you'd be gutted if you had to take evasive action on the road
and it ended up in a ditch upside down, get yourself 4 new tyres,
for around £50 a corner you can get something good,
then sell the 4 new budgets on ebay and claw back some money.

 

[Jay Payne]

Would Usain Bolt run in a pair of slippers he bought off the market?

 

[M@tt_182]

I try and stear clear of random branded tyres from past experience they're all crap! I buy the best I can afford which is usually a mid range tyre like Hankook V12, Toyo Proxy or Conti's. My other halfs 1.2 Clio runs on Maxxis tyres, they do the job and are ok in the wet but it's not like the car ever gets pushed hard.

 

[imprezaworks]

Well that's one way to put it lol. Although the st isn't exactly a sprint champion.

 

[djjonnibgood]

"Would Usain Bolt run in a pair of slippers he bought off the market?"


lol! budgets are ok in a straight line but if you want to go around corners you defo need to change them. The ST runs 17s doesnt it?

 

[Tommo.]

Yeah they are 17's, tyre size is 205/40/17.

Currently looking at the Yokohama Prada Spec 2's - coming in at £280 for all 4. Good tyre?

 

[DaveDreads]

Yes.

 

[The Chubby Pirate]

Uniroyal RS2's great all round tyre tbh.

 

[d4vy]

Was reading a review on tyres the other day and the stopping distance between the top (at the time of the test) pirellis and some autogrips was MASSIVE in the wet!

 

[DrR]

Hate the drive to conditions comments, I had some budgets on my 182 that were really scary in the wet, every corner was scary and even normal braking had the abs kicking in, I'd never buy budgets.

 

[DaveDreads]

Uniroyal RS2's great all round tyre tbh.

I thought that but mine fell apart on a warm day,
also a mate of mine with a DCI had his RS2s up the side of his car the other week
when he had a blast on the last hot day we had.

They're the best tyres i've ever had in wet conditions, but they just can't cope with warm dry roads.

 

[Goodj]

Would Usain Bolt run in a pair of slippers he bought off the market?

No but he might walk around the house in them.

I binned off a pair of UltimaDitch rear tyres a couple of weeks ago just because they let go on me and I wasn't having it happen a second time. Goodyear Eagle F1s. There's no more impromptu sidwaysness any more and with winter coming, I prefer as much of that as I can get.

I'm may be (I am) hugely biased, but I'd suggest..... Goodyear Eagle F1s. They are, basically, better than everything, ever.

 

[Knuckles]

Hate the drive to conditions comments, I had some budgets on my 182 that were really scary in the wet, every corner was scary and even normal braking had the abs kicking in, I'd never buy budgets.

The tyres must've been beyond s**t... Or you're ken block

 

[DrR]

The tyres must've been beyond s**t... Or you're ken block

If it rained could wheel spin in 4th, proper scary.

Also just remembered was in my 172

 

[Knuckles]

Lol did you spend £10 per corner on them?

My n6000s don't even do that lol

 

[DrR]

Came on some 182 wheels I bought for it.

 

[Knuckles]

Ah, I bought turinis for my 1.4 and put kumhos on them not realising they weren't good

they did the job well though

 

[Goodj]

Kumho's aren't supposed to be too tragic. Ecsta?

 

[Chris_786]

Would Usain Bolt run in a pair of slippers he bought off the market?

Epic answer.

Putting budget tyres on my 172 to sell it REALLY opened my eyes after always having decent tyres.

Hankook V12's are a good mid priced budget tyre IMO

 

[Djw John]

I've never bought budgets but they regularly come on cars that I have bought.

I would say the swap to something decent is much much bigger than the difference you get from lowering, changing shocks, polybushing the lot.

Its the only thing that touches the road and makes more difference to the feel of the car than anything else does.

 

[Knuckles]

Kumho's aren't supposed to be too tragic. Ecsta?

yeah, they were brilliant on a stiff, low car with under 100bhp. Wouldn't fit them to anything with some poke though

 

[Goodj]

mate runs them on his track-biassed 309 gti, seems to rate them.

So, what you said I guess

 

[Joe#]

Seeing as though tyres are what make you stay on the road, I don't like to skimp on them. It's not like the decent brands are stupidly overpriced anyway.

 

[imprezaworks]

I've got v12's on mine and rate them, had them on the phase1 too and they were just as good.

 

[Ray Gin]

I had budgets on my 182 when I bought it, now I have 4x Uniroyal Rainsport 2s all round, feel so confident chucking it into corners at silly speeds.

 

[Lal B3N]

All budget tyres are utter pig shite.

The lowest 'budget' tyre i would use on any car is Kumho or Falken.

Below that in my opinion its not worth buying.

Its only 4 small patches of rubber that keep you on the road at the end of the day.

 

[Lal B3N]

The tyres must've been beyond s**t... Or you're ken block

Some tyres are just beyond s**t. Even when driven on slowly.

 

[SC03OTT]

It's all well and good saying "drive to the conditions" etc, but what happens when some kid runs out into the road, or you get cut up doing 70+ on the m/way and you need to hit the anchors? That's where the decent rubber is needed. Those rare emergency occasions. IMO.

 

[Dan@M.A.D]

My Audi came with budgets, The road noise was unbearable, I had little grip and when sat on the motorway at 70 i was having to put alot of steering input in as they didn't even clear the water very well.

On went a set on continetals and the difference was amazing. Different car completely.

 

[roberto.]

I have Mohawks on the front still from when I bought it and eagle f1s on the rear, utter pig s**t tbh. The front end slides a lot when wet and not even pushing hard. All four will be changed within the next two weeks. I never noticed on my old 1.6.

I briefly had a set of nankang ditchfinders on some turinis I put on for a couple of weeks, they were just dangerous. So bad infact I just sold the wheels. Never again with budgets.

 

[imprezaworks]

Mowharks flol.

 

[Spudey]

I have acceleras on the turinis I bought. They're not too bad in the dry just a bit noisy.

Terrible in the wet though. Have to tip-toe round every roundabout.


They'll be binned off once I put the winter wheels and tyres on. I'll probably get some contis or hankooks for next year.

 

[aucky]

Probably a stupid question, but does decent rubber REALLY make that much difference?

The reason I'm asking is because when I bought my car, the garage fitted 4 new tyres, however as to be expected really they are all budget tyres. Autoguard SA802's to be exact.

The car really doesn't inspire much confidence in the corners. When cornering at speed it feels as if it's sliding across the road. In the wet it can only be described as dangerous tbh.

.

 

[Jamie86]

See I always thought budgets aren't that bad if your a pauper.. until
I recently did a wet trackday and the pretty much brand new silverstone tyres were unbelievably bad just span as soon as you touched the throttle!

I also had a set of get me home wheels with Michelin PE2's on the markers so I thought I'd try them as they couldn't be any worse..

The difference was staggering even though they were on the limit of legal the amount of grip and feedback was in a different league!

Never using budgets again after that!

 

[Knuckles]

See I always thought budgets aren't that bad if your a pauper.. until
I recently did a wet trackday and the pretty much brand new silverstone tyres were unbelievably bad just span as soon as you touched the throttle!

I also had a set of get me home wheels with Michelin PE2's on the markers so I thought I'd try them as they couldn't be any worse..

The difference was staggering even though they were on the limit of legal the amount of grip and feedback was in a different league!

Never using budgets again after that!

how is it illegal to run goods tyres with little tread but perfectly legal to run budgets that are borderline dangerous? Makes no sense lol

 

[olihodgson]

The only part of the entire car that touches the road, definitely need to be the most expensive/quality you can afford.
I have pirelli Pzero Nero up front, they are surprisingly brilliant tyres, not the most expensive tyre either so for price they are fantastic, never once had cause for concern, not once under steered either actually, and she doesn't hang around!!

 

[Jamie86]

how is it illegal to run goods tyres with little tread but perfectly legal to run budgets that are borderline dangerous? Makes no sense lol

Exactly my point! I had some on a set of wheels I got called Hero aquaplaining at 30mph mad!