Thinking of treating the old girl to a couple of front tires for winter. BlackCircle seems a likely candidate. On googling for a discount voucher, I get a few results, but they don't work. Anyone know of a source where I can get a legitimate working voucher?

Not sure about that, but last time I used blackcircles, the tyre depot that fitted them ssaid that Blackcircles pay them a tenner for fitting tyres, but if I order direct from them I'll probably get a cheaper price and hey'll make more dosh (to pay theier fitters etc of course). So what I do now is get a consensus from blackcirles, etyres, etc on the price of the tre I want, then give my loocal biz a ring (not one of the big chains) - they usually do end up cheaper.

51 minutes ago, StephenFord said:

BlackCircle seems a likely candidate. On googling for a discount voucher

If you go through "Top Cashback" website and then on to Blackcircles you will get 1.1% off your tyres. Not much but better in your pocket than theirs.

I've never had much luck finding discount vouchers for Blackcircles. They usually have offers on for specific tyres - e.g., £40 off for four Michelin CrossClimate 2, which brings the price down from expensive to marginally less expensive 🙂. It probably depends on what you're after. For the past few years I've been buying CrossClimates and I haven't found anywhere that will do them for a better price than Blackcircles, but for other tyres a local fitter or KwikFit might be cheaper.

To be fair, I was just going to settle for 2 x budget tires at £50/each from my local tire fitter, but for an extra tenner, I can get Toyo Proxes TR1, just liked the look of the tread LOL So not really extortionate to begin with, but regulars will know I'm tight and always after a bargain.

If it's only £10 more sounds like a bargain, and ready for track day 🙂

It doesn’t seem very well known but Asda tyres does the same thing as black circles and have loads of different tyres. Never seen Asda tyres advertised. Not sure how I found out about it. I always check tyre shopper,  black circles and Asda tyres. 

9 hours ago, isetta said:

It doesn’t seem very well known but Asda tyres does the same thing as black circles and have loads of different tyres. Never seen Asda tyres advertised. Not sure how I found out about it. I always check tyre shopper,  black circles and Asda tyres. 

Never heard of Asda tires, but sadly after googling, they don't operate in NI despite having a whole fleet of stores here! I've a funny feeling too that they have simply mirrored the BlackCircle site in some sort of deal, as it looks the same, and the Toyo tires are the same price to the penny...

15 hours ago, StephenFord said:

To be fair, I was just going to settle for 2 x budget tires at £50/each from my local tire fitter, but for an extra tenner, I can get Toyo Proxes TR1, just liked the look of the tread LOL So not really extortionate to begin with, but regulars will know I'm tight and always after a bargain.

Asymmetric tread patterns always make me feel uncomfortable.    

Hopefully they're better than the old T1-R's though (which were only ever bought for the pretty tread pattern, they had no other redeeming features that I could see)...initially thought that was a typo in your post and was going to tell you to buy literally anything else lol!!  

1 hour ago, TomsFocus said:

Asymmetric tread patterns always make me feel uncomfortable.     

I use to be a fan of the Goodyear Eagle F1 which has a similar tread pattern to the Toyo TR1. .  Tom, my car couldn't pull the skin off a rice pudding so 'performance' is now of no consideration to me. I just like the tread pattern which I know is such a superfluous parameter, as to be almost embarrassing! I'm sure millions of motorists could care less what the tread pattern on their tire looked like 🤣

 

Hmm, that looks like the T1R tread pattern. The Proxes TR1 looks different:

https://www.tyrereviews.com/Tyre/Toyo/Proxes-TR1.htm

Although to be fair the Proxes TR1 looks like it gets better reviews, and the names are very confusing. I assume Toyo's next tyre will be the T1R1 🙂

5 minutes ago, erictcleric said:

Hmm, that looks like the T1R tread pattern. The Proxes TR1 looks different:

https://www.tyrereviews.com/Tyre/Toyo/Proxes-TR1.htm

Although to be fair the Proxes TR1 looks like it gets better reviews, and the names are very confusing. I assume Toyo's next tyre will be the T1R1 🙂

You are entirely correct! I should learn by now not to use phone to interact with this forum, big fingers are very clumsy for grabbing the wrong photo! Still, I now also like the tread pattern of the TR1 LOL

1 hour ago, StephenFord said:

Tom, my car couldn't pull the skin off a rice pudding so 'performance' is now of no consideration to me. I just like the tread pattern which I know is such a superfluous parameter, as to be almost embarrassing! I'm sure millions of motorists could care less what the tread pattern on their tire looked like 🤣

How fast you can accelerate has no impact on the wet grip of a tyre at 40mph on a slight bend.  T1Rs really were lethal, they'd snap oversteer mid-bend with the slightest bit of damp...at the time I had 75bhp lol.  I never understand people choosing the cheapest budget tyres because 'their car is slow'...  

4 hours ago, TomsFocus said:

How fast you can accelerate has no impact on the wet grip of a tyre at 40mph on a slight bend.  T1Rs really were lethal, they'd snap oversteer mid-bend with the slightest bit of damp...at the time I had 75bhp lol.  I never understand people choosing the cheapest budget tyres because 'their car is slow'...  

OK sage one 😁 - 205/55/16 budget £60/tire, if it was you, what would you choose?

Blackcircles have a place joined onto my local Tesco , no sure now but used to have discount vouchers on back of Tesco receipts. Or Costco could be good if you have one near you? Nearest ones probably here in Glasgow right enough! 

Come over on the ikea bus? 
 

edit

i see NI now has an ikea ! 

20 minutes ago, Alex.S said:

edit

i see NI now has an ikea ! 

Yep, it opened in 2007, hopefully, we're getting colour TV launched next year too 🤣

Don't, whatever you do, fit cheap (Chinese) budget tyres. Remember they are the only things that touch the road! Back in the day ran a pair of Toyo T1-Rs which were OK when new, but quite soft, didn't last that long. When worn they were hopeless in wet. I remember aquaplaning on a drenched straight duel carriageway. I replaced them with Rainsport 2s (similar tread Patten) and loved them.  Brilliant in wet and dry. The Rainsport 3 were just as good, but only lasted the summer (8k miles), which was worse than Toyos. I have no idea what the newer Toyos or Uniroyals are like nowadays, hopefully better.

Anyway, getting back on topic. I've never used Black circles, I normally order from Camskill (based in Cumbria) and have used Mytyres (I think based in Germany). They are delivered to my house, then I normally get a local tyre place to fit them for £12-15 per wheel. If you don't want to do that, then as above check with your local tyre places and compair with Black circles fitted price.

Chinese tyres- 2 weeks ago I got an Avon tyre because it was the cheapest I could find £42 incl fitting. I thought the price might be an error, the day after I had it fitted the price changed to £57 on that retailers website 175,65,14). Anyway I saw on the website it said this tyre is engineered in the uk, i thought this sounds like it’s worded to fool people. The tyre does say on the side of it that it is made in China, which was no surprise to me. So I got a cheap Chinese tyre which says Avon on the side of it. I suppose what I am saying is don’t assume a tyre is not made in China because of the name on it. But with regard to grip and wear, I don’t think you can have it both ways, more grip =softer rubber, softer rubber= quicker wear

They used to make the (all/some?) Avon tyres in Melksham, Wiltshire....that was closed down many years ago. My dad used to have them on his Orion and I hated them (early 90's), no idea what they are like now.

I used to get pirelli P6000's for his MK1 1.8 petrol Focus, later switching to Goodyear Efficientgrip. He never did more than 1500 miles a year but I didn't want him having budget tyres because of the low mileage.

The last tyres I used for my old ST24 were Vredstein Sportrac 5 in 205/55/16 (supposed to use 205/50/16 but they were getting expensive) and they were pretty good and lasted quite well (for me). Normally I would have used (on 17" alloys) Goodyear Eagle F1 or F1 Asymetric or Continental SportContact's. Now I'm spending £170+ per tyre for 19's 😂

Stephen, go with what you're happy with or what your budget allows. Personally I will always spend more for something better (or currently what I believe is the best in 19" size) 

3 hours ago, StephenFord said:

OK sage one 😁 - 205/55/16 budget £60/tire, if it was you, what would you choose?

If I was buying myself I'd try the Rainsport 5s...  I doubt the longevity has improved much since the 3s which I scrubbed out in under a year, but that's not a problem for low mileage.  They also have a cool looking asymmetric pattern like the Toyo TR1s which seems to be on your priority list.

If I wanted a safe bet that I've used before it would be Goodyear Efficient Grip Performance 2 tbh.  (Must be that exact name, the non performance ones weren't great).  I also like Dunlop Sport Blue response for around the same price, but they're aging a bit now and due an upgrade soon I reckon.

 

1 hour ago, isetta said:

I suppose what I am saying is don’t assume a tyre is not made in China because of the name on it. 

If that's a n Avon ZV7, I like them tbh, on a tighter budget that's what I'd choose myself.  Hankook also make a reasonable tyre in the Ventus Prime 2, again made in China.  Some of the supercheap budgets made in China are awful (ever tried a Wanli?  ) but I'm not put off a tyre just by being made in China.

 

Some up to date information just in 🤣

 

13 minutes ago, TomsFocus said:

If that's a n Avon ZV7, I like them tbh, on a tighter budget that's what I'd choose myself.  Hankook also make a reasonable tyre in the Ventus Prime 2, again made in China.  Some of the supercheap budgets made in China are awful (ever tried a Wanli?  ) but I'm not put off a tyre just by being made in China.

 

 

Hankook surprisingly came overall top from the latest Auto-express summer tyre test. It was for a bigger 17 inch wheel ( 225/45 R17) , but might be worth considering if available in your size.

2021 Auto Express Summer Tyre Test - Tyre Reviews and Tests

12 minutes ago, unofix said:

 

OMG, I remember watching that as a kid, my dad at the time had a 1600L Cortina 🤣