Do budget tyres really just not last?

[Jimpster]

Agree with Stephen around costs, but on your point of brands it depends on what my tyre guy has in at the time and if he's expecting a "branded" named tyre in he'll say. I currently have 6+mm tread Pirrelli's on all 4 corners £25.00 a pop free fitting and balancing.

[dontpannic]

2 hours ago, StephenFord said:

I think you'll find that many of us aren't, 'happy' but are limited by the income we have to live on. I have been in the situation before where money was no object on a car, £300 tires were bought on a whim, servicing was carried out with no reference to the price. However, things change, I am now on a very tight budget, everything is now carried out on a budget, including tires.

Budget tires are manufactured within the same legal regulations as premium tires. I am no longer a boy racer, have an Institute of Advanced Motorist exam (and a RoSPA class 1 driving test), so I always stay away from other drivers because with respect, most are idiots!. Not having a single accident in over 40 years, odd the more careful I am, the luckier I seem to be.

Yes, I would love to be rich, but I'm not, neither are millions of other car owners in the UK who rely on their car. I use 'branded' parts for brakes and critical components, but 'horrible quality pattern parts' are fine for many other uses. 

I appreciate that, and I know the struggle income wise. We're not talking about the difference between a £300 premium tyre and a £30 budget, but I'd rather spend for example £53.00 on a Toyo T1R than £49.65 on a "Landsail" which may need replacing earlier due to lower quality control. That said, I do appreciate that the state of the UK roads means that either would be susceptible to damage.

I would argue that tyres do come under the 'critical components' banner but we can agree to disagree there - and when I talk about 'horrible quality pattern parts' I'm talking about (and I've been burned by this on multiple occasions now, proving that I understand the budgetary requirements) I mean brand new water pumps where the mounting holes aren't lined up correctly, thermostats that last 3 months, pulleys with bearings made of chocolate, pattern panels which require significant modification to fit.

Jon Benson's Tyre Reviews shows time and time again that although no-name budget tyres are better than they used to be, they're still worlds apart when it comes to stopping distances both wet and dry, wet and dry grip levels, and even fuel economy and noise.

I guess this is a discussion that can go on and on and on, I'm glad you've done your advanced driver training and various other courses and haven't had an accident in 40 years and I sincerely hope that you reach the end of your driving career without incident, but I'll still keep running a tyre brand I've heard of rather than "Linglong".

[TomsFocus]

I wouldn't recommend anyone buys Toyo T1R's.  Bought a pair myself based on forum reviews about a decade ago and was sorely disappointed.  Horrible snatchy things that would suddenly let go without warning when pushing on, especially in the wet.  Wore out quickly too.  There are far better tyres for the same price.

[dontpannic]

Just now, TomsFocus said:

I wouldn't recommend anyone buys Toyo T1R's.  Bought a pair myself based on forum reviews about a decade ago and was sorely disappointed.  Horrible snatchy things that would suddenly let go without warning when pushing on, especially in the wet.  Wore out quickly too.  There are far better tyres for the same price.

In fairness, neither would I - they were just two similarly priced 'named' tyres and 'budget' tyres on camskill.

 

T1R's used to be quite good 10 years ago, went from them to Rainsports, then from Rainsports to Pilotsport 4. 

Doing a wet Snetterton in my Fiesta on T1R's was sketchy as all hell.

[Botus]

6 hours ago, dontpannic said:

I don't understand what you mean by this post, but I have these on my Focus - it had nearly new ones on the rear when I bought it but premium brand but non matched tyres up front, so I changed the non matching fronts to the same as the rears. Very good tyres from what I can tell so far, not quite as grippy as the Michelin PilotSport 4 I have on my Fiesta but they're a good all rounder.

Just to jump in with some of the discussion so far. I always prefer premium / midrange tyres to budgets - I've run Pirelli, Michelin, Goodyear, Nexen, Avon, UniRoyal, Toyo and countless others. The only tyres I've had bad experiences with have been budget brands. Whether them being so hard they're like plastic child toy wheels with next to no grip, whether it's bulges in the tyres, or premature cracking, or just poor performance.

Considering tyres are the only thing that connects the car to the road, I always have the thought "if someone is happy to run the cheapest of budget tyres, what else have they scrimped on when it comes to maintenance"? Has it really been properly serviced over the years? Is it likely that the water pump / cambelt / thermostat etc has been replaced with horrible quality pattern parts?

someone suggested when I pointed out Goodyear make good tyres I must be a fool - only for a week later for the correct info to turn up from an independent source - this forum has moments where the wrong info is peddled as gospel and the right info is derided - I don't understand why some humans are like that - personally if people want to be fools they can be, but they should keep it to themselves - not try and trick others into making their errors too

[iantt]

20 minutes ago, Botus said:

someone suggested when I pointed out Goodyear make good tyres I must be a fool - only for a week later for the correct info to turn up from an independent source - this forum has moments where the wrong info is peddled as gospel and the right info is derided - I don't understand why some humans are like that - personally if people want to be fools they can be, but they should keep it to themselves - not try and trick others into making their errors too

I've said similar stuff on different topics. So much miss information out there . 

As for tyres, Goodyear efficientgrip performance 2 is my preferred choice and fitted on my focus when I had that. Also rate kumho tyres. Where I worked we used to sell alot of those and had good feedback from customers, unlike accelera,landsail etc. 

Had kumho ke39 on 3 other vehicles I owned and were really good. Partner's fiesta and all 3 grown up kids are driving on kumhos. My ioniq is on original Michelin eco something , about half worn on the front at 17k miles. Seem fine in the very wet weather we having at the moment and really stable in the dry. Oh, and the tyres haven't worn out fast or damaged due the fact it's an overweight electric car.🤣🤣🤣

[YOG]