mikeymk
Part of things
'85 Polo Coupe S 1.6 16v
Posts: 931
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Replacing my Nankang 601s with Toyo Proxes CF2 and transformed the car. Meant i can actually push it in 2nd gear now, where 2nd was useless before. The difference in tyre compound is like the difference between aluminium and steel.
I think you need to think very carefully about what you want from the car, and what financial sacrifice is comparable to it.
Incidentally, i bought the Toyos for less than 45 each, and fitted them myself. It's easy. Then got my local scrap guy to balance them. Was all done for under 200 quid.
Past experience of tyres will never see me run Kumhos again. Falkens though, maybe.
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I think they're owned by Continental or something? Yes. And Matador. Most tyre brands from behind the iron curtain are now owned by major brands. Debica, Sava, Pneumant = Goodyear, Tigar = Michelin. I would take a closer look and skip far east tyres.
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VIP
South East
Posts: 8,293
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For a brand to avoid, I vote Fullrun.
A set of those came on my GS300 when I bought it and I swear they were made from solid plastic.
The merest hint of moisture on the ground and they'd lose all grip.
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qwerty
Club Retro Rides Member
Posts: 2,416
Club RR Member Number: 52
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Budget/Mid Range tyresqwerty
@qwerty
Club Retro Rides Member 52
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I've ran Nankang NS-2's a few times. Always been happy with them.
That said I always buy part worns now from my very local very good part worn tyre place. Means I can always run a decent brand on my daily. Got 4 matching continentals!
Tom
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I put Nankang NS2s on my Bora this year. I was amazed by them for a cheap tyre. sparkysparks showed me how good they were on his old E36, and couldn't break traction so I was sold. Get in the dry, good in the wet and hardly seem to be wearing at all. I've used Braum Bravis (I think that's the name) on my old Evo and they were fantastic. A bit pricier now though.
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Aug 17, 2016 10:26:54 GMT
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Nankang NS-2's wont go anywhere else now. Had 3 sets and not been disappointed yet. As scratcher said, I couldnt break traction and i was trying (without clutch kicking ofcourse) Great grip, nice and cheap and they stretch well with a bit wall protector.
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Aug 17, 2016 10:45:44 GMT
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Had some Linlongs (think it means die soon in Chinese) and wanli which I think means something similar. Have a set of Matador snow tyres on my Golf and must say they have been great. A guy at work ran landsails on his golf and was impressed with them, which says alot to me as he is mega picky with tyres. Have continental premium contact or something like that on the vrs, full power = much squealing and little forward motion/much traction control light flashiness Landsails are the best "true" budget tyres by far. Kumho, Avon, Falken, Uniroyal, Vredestein are all top quality "mid range". Uniroyal are the best "normal use" wet weather tyres.
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Specialist Bodyshop & Fabrication Classic, Retro, Prestige & Custom Small Repairs to Concours Restorations Mechanical Work Vintage to Modern
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ChasR
RR Helper
motivation
Posts: 10,256
Club RR Member Number: 170
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Budget/Mid Range tyresChasR
@chasr
Club Retro Rides Member 170
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Aug 17, 2016 11:46:38 GMT
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I do love these threads, everyone is different . Had some Linlongs (think it means die soon in Chinese) and wanli which I think means something similar. Have a set of Matador snow tyres on my Golf and must say they have been great. A guy at work ran landsails on his golf and was impressed with them, which says alot to me as he is mega picky with tyres. Have continental premium contact or something like that on the vrs, full power = much squealing and little forward motion/much traction control light flashiness Landsails are the best "true" budget tyres by far. Kumho, Avon, Falken, Uniroyal, Vredestein are all top quality "mid range". Uniroyal are the best "normal use" wet weather tyres. I'd agree with that. ive had nankangs on every 'modern' car ive had for the past 10plus years. NS2 or NS20. I'm still here and so are all the nuns and kittens in all the bus stops i go past. they're great tyres given the price. my only criticism would be they wear fairly quick, but then the cars i have them on are driven hard so nothing would last that long if its actually gripping. i tend to run very specific/odd sizes, where the only other option is 3-4 times the price, and no better in terms of wear or grip. (usually bridgestone potenza, which are proper sh1te given how much they are). i also find NS2 are fairly finnicky on alignment, if the car isnt set up just right they will really highlight it, but that tends to be the case with most directional tyres. the asymmetric NS20 doesnt show up faults as much. theres a huge amount of 'emperors new clothes' goes on with tyres, but its mostly just people trying to convince themselves theyve not been done. there may be tyres out there that are slightly better, but is the difference incremental when when a nankang is £36 a corner and a 'premium' is just under £100? personally, i don't think so. How quick do you drive? . I can't comment on them as I have never tried them. Some people I know hate them and some love them. The cost one is strange. I have Falken 453s on my M3, and am planning on Michelins the next time around with there being a £35 price difference. Yes they are expensive but when the cost per mile is less due to the longevity (I saw around 15k from the rears with some Pilot Sport 2s on a 944 Turbo with a locking LSD with tread remaining vs. 8k and on the limiters on the M3, and I probably drive this less hard), plus time going to the tyre shops to get them changed by someone who won't mangle the rim etc. it's not just as easy as the initial price, but indeed it does hurt . It doesn't help that I rarely have any free time on my hands these days. For the people who have tried various tyres, what did you come from. A cheap and nasty brand new budget will beat a top brand tyre that is more than 5 years old, making it an unfair comparison. ANNEEEEWAY, back to the tyres for the original poster People I know love Uniroyal RS3s. In the wet they are king, but the dry weather grip is mediocre if I am honest. That and they wear like sandpaper and that is a back to back comparison between two very similar cars. I never get why people like Avons. I had some ZV3s on the Alfa, and TBH they were OK in the dry but lethal in the wet, and IMO not that different to budget tyres. To me they are a budget tyre hanging onto a big brand name. Same with Kumhos. I've had them on a few cars and they were never all that from what was on them previously and TBH not alot cheaper a corner! In your shoes I'd look at the following: -Uniroyal RS3s -Falken FK453s - these are a very grippy tyre, but the rim protection is nigh on non existant and they just don't last. These are a step up from the 452. For you though, I wouldn't say the wear rate is a factor with the mileage . -Toyo CFIIs Given the tyres you are considering, I'd even consider the Goodyear Efficient Performances. It is not like there is a massive gulf in price between the tyres suggested above. On the MX-5 they were brilliant, so much that I trusted that more in the wet than the Mondeo 2.5T on Uniroyals! On a Audi A3 however they were dreadful (I thought I was going to understeer off a roundabout); whether they were underinflated or the suspension was borked up front(it was knocking more than a hooker during peak season) I do not know.
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Last Edit: Aug 17, 2016 13:27:41 GMT by ChasR
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Aug 17, 2016 16:40:53 GMT
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I have no idea if it is similar in the UK, but here some tyre places offer "Demo"tyres (from "Demontage" = removal), they are not literally new, but have done the maybe 5km a car does on it´s wheels from the factory to the dealership, where they get swapped with winter tyres, while some fancy aftermarket stuff takes the summer part. The color coding is still on the tread. A bit of online research usually gives me major brand tyres for a really good price, but the choice in sizes is limited to the stuff that comes with new cars. I´d never touch the no-budget-stuff that is coming in from far east: I borrowed a car on near new "ChingChong´s" (owner is tight as hell & proud of it), all good cruising low speed in the dry, but really scaring in the wet. Evenly distributed over the average 40.000km a good tyre lasts, the price difference is definitely not worth the risk. If you put the real life mileage into the equation the price-per-mile difference is probably near to nothing (just my 2p).
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´70 Zündapp R50 ´71 VW 181RS ´76 VW Passat Variant i ´91 VW Golf Cabriolet ClassicLine ´99 Mercedes SLK 200 ´15 VW Golf 2.0TDI Highline ´15 Mercedes E300T BlueTec
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tofufi
South West
Posts: 1,458
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Aug 17, 2016 17:13:43 GMT
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Interesting thread Past experience of tyres will never see me run Kumhos again. I do love these threads, everyone is different . I never get why people like Avons. I had some ZV3s on the Alfa, and TBH they were OK in the dry but lethal in the wet, and IMO not that different to budget tyres. To me they are a budget tyre hanging onto a big brand name. Same with Kumhos. I've had them on a few cars and they were never all that from what was on them previously and TBH not alot cheaper a corner! Just wondered what people didn't rate about the Kumhos? I'm a fan of them and tend to buy them on my cars now. Quiet, and seem to give good grip in wet and dry weather. Quite a few other people on this thread rate them too
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Last Edit: Aug 17, 2016 17:14:13 GMT by tofufi
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ChasR
RR Helper
motivation
Posts: 10,256
Club RR Member Number: 170
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Budget/Mid Range tyresChasR
@chasr
Club Retro Rides Member 170
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Aug 17, 2016 19:06:26 GMT
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Interesting thread Past experience of tyres will never see me run Kumhos again. I do love these threads, everyone is different . I never get why people like Avons. I had some ZV3s on the Alfa, and TBH they were OK in the dry but lethal in the wet, and IMO not that different to budget tyres. To me they are a budget tyre hanging onto a big brand name. Same with Kumhos. I've had them on a few cars and they were never all that from what was on them previously and TBH not alot cheaper a corner! Just wondered what people didn't rate about the Kumhos? I'm a fan of them and tend to buy them on my cars now. Quiet, and seem to give good grip in wet and dry weather. Quite a few other people on this thread rate them too It's simple really. On a couple of cars I put them on other tyres were better in terms of wear, steering feel, longevity and thus better value for money. I even have examples . -On my old 944 I went from Pirelli P6000s (not a great tyre) to Kumho KU31 Sports. If I am honest the car didn't feel that confident in the bends. That *may* have been a setup issue but I doubt it was now when I give the second example. The price difference was around £20 between that a Goodyear ; after spending the cash on an engine swap and heater matrix replacement I went with the cheaper tyres. -I bought a Mondeo V6 3.0 and covered around 150k in it ; quite some time to evaluate tyres. It came to me with Goodyear NCT 5s, even then they were an old hat tyre. Naturally, I didn't expect miracles. But they worked so well with the car ; they would grip and grip despite you trying to be a tool when leaving a roundabout and the mileage was decent as well, around 15,000 miles each. I went to Kumhos on the second tyre change as I didn't want to spend £120 a corner on tyres. The Kumhos were £90. They were OK, and TBH for someone who drives below the speed limit etc. and leaves plenty of distance they would be OK. But the grip was nothing special, I could make the car understeer, and to make things worse they were almost bald by 9k. When the car went onto some 16" Michelins it immediately gained response and grip, even in the wet, and I have longevity in tyre life back. I would often go to Brighton and back during the year and it was great to push the car in the corners and do the trip in a couple of hours. OK, the latter is not an issue if you do a limited amount of miles, but TBH life's too short to be going to the tyre shop more than you have to. I did over 10k on those Michelins without them being on the limit, and the car eventually got written off on them when someone drove into the back of me. It's why I asked about whether people had unevenly worn or 'new' tyres that were old. My Stag went from slipping sideways on 10 year old Kumhos despite being crack free (yes, I was stupid, but no nuns and kittens died eh? ), to the new owner putting on 4 new Contis. Jesus, that car gained grip; stopping was no longer a heart in the mouth moment! That said, despite staying under the limit most of the time I probably do drive swiftly!
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Last Edit: Aug 17, 2016 19:08:15 GMT by ChasR
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lord13
Part of things
Posts: 537
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Having once worked in a tyre fitters for some time i thought i'd add my 2p's worth.... There is literally no difference between budget and mid-range, the tyres used to cost us about the same to buy in, we just marked up the mid range ones by a tenner compared to the budgets. The top end tyres we only bought in on request, as they were slow to shift, and only slightly better compounds compared to the budgets and mids. The only real difference was that the high end tyres lasted longer. As a point to note, my boss ran a Sierra cosworth, an evo IV and a Subaru Imprezza... he always fitted budget tyres on his cars and he drove like a mad man . . .
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Darkspeed
Club Retro Rides Member
Posts: 4,845
Club RR Member Number: 39
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Budget/Mid Range tyresDarkspeed
@darkspeed
Club Retro Rides Member 39
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Just about to try a pair of NS2 NK's on the G31 because 205/60/14's are not an easy size to find and the Firestones are getting rather old. Be interesting for me to see how they fair as I have never used tyres this inexpensive before. Also the first time I have seen the standard rim size stated on the tyre. Stated as 6 inch on this size, looks like I will be having a bit of stretch as they are going on a 7 inch rim
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Aug 18, 2016 14:07:24 GMT
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In your shoes I'd look at the following: -Uniroyal RS3s -Falken FK453s - these are a very grippy tyre, but the rim protection is nigh on non existant and they just don't last. These are a step up from the 452. For you though, I wouldn't say the wear rate is a factor with the mileage . -Toyo CFIIs I put CF2s on my Mk3 MX5 and they were fantastic. They did replace some truly awful Firestones that were on the car already, mind.
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@pistonbroker on Twitter
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ChasR
RR Helper
motivation
Posts: 10,256
Club RR Member Number: 170
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Budget/Mid Range tyresChasR
@chasr
Club Retro Rides Member 170
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Aug 18, 2016 14:13:31 GMT
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In your shoes I'd look at the following: -Uniroyal RS3s -Falken FK453s - these are a very grippy tyre, but the rim protection is nigh on non existant and they just don't last. These are a step up from the 452. For you though, I wouldn't say the wear rate is a factor with the mileage . -Toyo CFIIs I put CF2s on my Mk3 MX5 and they were fantastic. They did replace some truly awful Firestones that were on the car already, mind. On the 205 GTi I put them as there was nothing really available in 185/60R14 and we didn't fancy going to 15s, or destroying a set of Toyo R888s. If I am honest I was surprised at how good they were. They were a revelation over the Kwik-Fit tyres the spare rims came with, and unless you were really hammering the car not that much worse than the R888s ; obviously they were better in very wet conditions! We didn't even managed to destroy the CFIIs despite going around Spa a good few times. I think Tepper was quite happy with them as well on the car .
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eternaloptimist
Posted a lot
Too many projects, not enough time or space...
Posts: 2,578
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Aug 18, 2016 20:01:59 GMT
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I have no idea if it is similar in the UK, but here some tyre places offer "Demo"tyres (from "Demontage" = removal), they are not literally new, but have done the maybe 5km a car does on it´s wheels from the factory to the dealership, where they get swapped with winter tyres, while some fancy aftermarket stuff takes the summer part. The color coding is still on the tread. A bit of online research usually gives me major brand tyres for a really good price, but the choice in sizes is limited to the stuff that comes with new cars. I´d never touch the no-budget-stuff that is coming in from far east: I borrowed a car on near new "ChingChong´s" (owner is tight as hell & proud of it), all good cruising low speed in the dry, but really scaring in the wet. Evenly distributed over the average 40.000km a good tyre lasts, the price difference is definitely not worth the risk. If you put the real life mileage into the equation the price-per-mile difference is probably near to nothing (just my 2p). I bought four Kumho Ecstas from Tyre Leader.co.uk - a German tyre firm - they were £28 each, as above, 'demo' tyres.
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XC70, VW split screen crew cab, Standard Ten
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ChasR
RR Helper
motivation
Posts: 10,256
Club RR Member Number: 170
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Budget/Mid Range tyresChasR
@chasr
Club Retro Rides Member 170
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Aug 18, 2016 23:01:19 GMT
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Demo tyres might just be one way to lower the costs . The issue for me is fitting. One bloke I know fits them for £5 but he cannot balance them to save his life and his machine can't do anything more than a 17" rim unless you fancy a marked rim, a bummer if your rims are a factory 18" or 19" fit. That leaves me with the £15 a corner man, or £10 a corner if I go to Rugby, and the latter is about the only person I know that can balance centreless wheels (what were Peugeot thinking with that design?)? But if the prices are massively lower, they do indeed sound like a winner.
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Aug 19, 2016 13:49:02 GMT
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The Chinese ones can be a lottery, some are fine, some lethal particularly in the wet.
Most tyres now days have a wet grip, wear and noise rating, the cheaper ones with good grip tend to have poor wear but for a low annual mileage car that is not much of a problem.
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Aug 19, 2016 17:39:19 GMT
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A couple of friends have recently tried Ebay, searching for 4 x whatever size, then sort by lowest price then look for the best wet grip rating. They are both over the moon with the result. One came to mine just recently with his because I have an old tyre changer so we fitted his set of 18 inch tyres, in total he spent £117. He says that the grip is excellent and having spent less than the cost of part worns for four matching tyres with known history and known age he says that if they last a year its been a success.
My Girlfriend needs tyres for her car and in the past has bought part worns but using the same method we can get a full set of tyres with a B rating for wet weather grip for £106.
To me there are various disadvantages with part worn, you never have the benefit of those full tread miles, you don't have matching performance from each tyre unless you can get matching part worns which can be difficult. I'm thinking that for £106 she will see winter through with nearly full tread on tyres with a very good wet grip rating, I'll feel better about that.
You just cant tell with the budget brands which ones are owned by big names and therefore good or which might be rubbish, I'm going to look at the ratings the new labels have to have on them.
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Last Edit: Aug 19, 2016 17:40:22 GMT by chris y
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