Tyres

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Alan W
Joined: Thu 20 Jun, 2013 10:56
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Tyres

Post by Alan W »

Following on from my previous thread http://www.zroadster.net/forum/viewtopi ... =5&t=38490

There is a local family run business that I always use who are very competitive and have given the following options / prices

225/50 ZR 16 tyres fitted and balanced

Budget brand £65
Bridgestone £115.00
Continental £114.00
Pirelli £118.00
Firestone £102.00

TBH I always have budget brand on my every day car and I was considering these for the Z3 as it only has around 4k mls a year use for 6 months of the year.

I don't drive it like a lunatic or do doughnuts or anything like that, but are budgets as safe as the familiar name brands?

Would you put them on your Z3?
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Gazza
Joined: Tue 04 Oct, 2005 20:58
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Re: Tyres

Post by Gazza »

My view is this, it's not about the distance you drive but about the distance travelled to stop.

Usually budget tyres have a longer stopping distance in the wet and dry.

Go for the best you can afford.
Gazza

"Understeer is when you hit the wall with the front of the car, oversteer is when you hit the wall with the rear of the car. Horsepower is how fast you hit the wall and torque is how far you take the wall with you"

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Alan W
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Re: Tyres

Post by Alan W »

Good point!
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TaffZee
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Re: Tyres

Post by TaffZee »

I agree go for a decent tyre, don't be tempted to skimp on tyres as they will catch you out sooner or later...
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Mint
Joined: Tue 01 Nov, 2011 18:43
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Re: Tyres

Post by Mint »

Gazza wrote:Go for the best you can afford.
Agreed and as they are the only contact you have with the road it's not worth putting budget tyres on IMHO. You never know if you will need to stop in a hurry.
Phil
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Re: Tyres

Post by Phil »

You only have to get caught out once. Go for the best that's within your price range.
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geminimustang
Joined: Mon 11 Jun, 2012 21:06
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Location: Wirral

Re: Tyres

Post by geminimustang »

I buy Budget for our 3 cars,Z3,Ka,C1 and my Company car gets the top brands cos i don't have to pay.My view is for around town,keeping within the speed limit,low mileage,budget are fine.Motorway,dual carriageway,daily driver commute in bad weather,i agree that you should buy the best you can't afford.I'm replacing tyres on our cars,not Co Car,because the walls are cracking and failing MOT's within 5 years of purchase.I've actually started to use tyre wall paint which is supposed to reduce this cracking.To buy expensive tyres and replace because the wall is cracking and not because the tread is worn hurts my head and my wallet.
abh29
Joined: Wed 06 Jun, 2012 09:48
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Re: Tyres

Post by abh29 »

I was told years ago that "those 4 bits of rubber are your ONLY connection between this world and the next"

Always think of this when buying tyres
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Mouldy
Joined: Mon 26 Jan, 2009 19:40
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Re: Tyres

Post by Mouldy »

geminimustang wrote:I buy Budget for our 3 cars,Z3,Ka,C1 . . . . . . . . . .To buy expensive tyres and replace because the wall is cracking and not because the tread is worn hurts my head and my wallet.
It might be your head that hurts running on budget tyres - the results in this test are frightening;

http://www.gizmag.com/wet-weather-braki ... pay/10850/

I quite agree with gogz3 when he states "those 4 bits of rubber are your ONLY connection between this world and the next"
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Fender2004
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Re: Tyres

Post by Fender2004 »

I agree buy the best you can afford :D
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Southernboy
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Re: Tyres

Post by Southernboy »

On the one occaision when I fitted budget tyres, they were perfect for around a week...then I had to have the wheels re-balanced...again they were fine for a week or so...and again they needed re-balancing...that was the end of that experiment...went back and managed to sell them to the shop that fitted Eagle F1's...since then - about 18 months now, I haven't had a balance issue. So, it would seem it doen't really pay to have budget tyres. However, it may be worth looking at "slightly used" good branded tyres if you only do short commutes at generally low speeds...Personally I would only fit a "good" tyre.
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Del
Joined: Sat 19 Nov, 2011 18:35
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Re: Tyres

Post by Del »

New budget tyres are better than Michelins with 1mm of tread. Most budget brands are made by (or under the control of) the big brand names. Straight line stopping tests on a track are a bit academic, a single worn shock absorber could make more difference. Budgets offer choice, competition and affordability in the market place I say :D
woodsta888
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Re: Tyres

Post by woodsta888 »

You can get the most expensive tyres you like, but if they tramline then you can keep them.
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TaffZee
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Re: Tyres

Post by TaffZee »

My only experience with Budget Tyres is when I first bought the Zed, the rear tyres were different tread patterns so bought a couple of budget to replace them, had a cruise around the Evo the next week OMG never again, the car handled ( as per the comment from Karl who was behind me in his Porsche) like a slippery eel.. Replaced immediately with Falkens totally different car...
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Rafolian
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Re: Tyres

Post by Rafolian »

Totally agree with Del on this one!
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Badman gee
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Re: Tyres

Post by Badman gee »

If you want budget tyres, get a budget car to fit them on!
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Z3cade
Joined: Sat 09 Jan, 2010 18:18
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Re: Tyres

Post by Z3cade »

Do what I do.. Buy good quality part worns..

2x NEW conti contact sport 3's £290 8mm tread
2x Part Worn contact sport 3's £60.. 5mm tread

No brainier in my opinion...
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Badman gee
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Re: Tyres

Post by Badman gee »

4 brand new vreds for 440 pounds.

Top tyres top price!
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gookah
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Re: Tyres

Post by gookah »

Gazza wrote: Go for the best you can afford.
Unfortunately the most expensive on that list are the Pirelli, which are probably the worst on that list, and not talking recent events in formula1.
I hope you can't afford them :D
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Re: Tyres

Post by gookah »

Badman gee wrote:If you want budget tyres, get a budget car to fit them on!

I did, I bought a Z3. they are no longer £30,000.... :D
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I have an element of 'M-styling' on my car, If that's a good enough reason for the manufacturers to adorn a 320 with the M badge, then its certainly a good enough reason for me..
SeriousRikk
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Re: Tyres

Post by SeriousRikk »

When I bought my last BMW it came with 4 brand new tyres that were budget.

It was shocking, went out of balance every couple of hundred miles and made things extra slippery in the wet. The falkens I replaced them with were much much better in daily driving, but they gave little in the way of feedback in adverse road conditions.
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billz
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Re: Tyres

Post by billz »

I bought new wheels with budget tyres on god the handling was awful, didnt like the wheels got some new one with conti contact 3 sport and the car was amazing. Would never use budgets not on a perfomance car. You will get what you reap or in the case of some budgets RIP
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Del
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Re: Tyres

Post by Del »

Tyres sold in the UK nowadays (I can’t comment on other countries) have to comply with very strict standards which involve stringent tests followed by certification. These tyres bear the “E” or “e” letter which proves that they comply with certain dimensional, performance and marking requirements under UN ECE regulation 30 or EU Directive 92/23/EEC. New tyres can therefore be purchased with confidence in the UK. With the big brands, a large chunk of the price is going towards a big advertising budget (no pun intended). Michelin is a leading brand and they certainly spend a lot of money telling us this, so their tyres are relatively expensive. I’ve read that their total advertising/publicity budget in 2010 was $2.5 billion – somebody has to pay for that!

Falken (a mid-range Japanese make linked with Dunlop) for example spend a lot of effort emphasising they are “an ultra high performance tyre” (whatever that means) and show lots of pictures in their adverts of fast track cars. Naturally it has a subliminal impact on prospective buyers.

To suggest that legitimate UK budget tyres are dangerous and that buyers are risking their lives in buying them, is without any foundation whatsoever – it is simply imaginary, cloud cuckoo land. :D
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Gazza
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Re: Tyres

Post by Gazza »

To coin a phrase, you get what you pay for ;)
Gazza

"Understeer is when you hit the wall with the front of the car, oversteer is when you hit the wall with the rear of the car. Horsepower is how fast you hit the wall and torque is how far you take the wall with you"

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Z3cade
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Re: Tyres

Post by Z3cade »

For a rear drive motor like our zeds you need good grip/soft compound tyres..

I've currently got two spare conti's in my garage loft :) look on eBay for your tyre size and brand.. Always bargains out there to be had... :wink:
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Mouldy
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Re: Tyres

Post by Mouldy »

Del wrote: . . . . . . . . To suggest that legitimate UK budget tyres are dangerous and that buyers are risking their lives in buying them, is without any foundation whatsoever – it is simply imaginary, cloud cuckoo land. :D
There are far too many tyre tests that prove that budget tyres do not perform as well as premium tyres in certain conditions. I, for one, would not want to risk the safety of my family running budget tyres on any car, never mind a performance car.

http://www.whatcar.com/car-news/tyre-te ... ts/251766/

WHATCAR? SAYS...

DON’T EVEN THINK ABOUT SKIMPING ON TYRES. IT’S TEMPTING TO SAVE MONEY IN THE SHORT TERM BY GOING FOR THE BUDGET OPTION, BUT YOU’D BE UNWISE TO DO SO. TYRES ARE THE ONLY PART OF YOUR CAR THAT MAKE CONTACT WITH THE ROAD, SO YOU’RE FAR BETTER OFF STICKING TO THE PREMIUM BRANDS AND HUNTING AROUND FOR THE LOWEST PRICES ON THOSE. AS OUR INVESTIGATION CLEARLY SHOWS, CHEAP TYRES COULD EASILY COST YOU YOUR LIFE.


http://www.tyrereviews.co.uk/Article/Pr ... rmance.htm
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Southernboy
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Re: Tyres

Post by Southernboy »

It goes against the natural order of bussiness to expect to buy more for less....In defence of the budget tyre, I would imagine there is a controlling body in the UK which determines a minimum safety standard. If so, one might expect the tyres on sale there would have had to pass a certain level before aproval for sale to the public....???
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Del
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Re: Tyres

Post by Del »

The tests above are largely about “grip”. The tests are conducted on a track in a car which is otherwise in perfect condition and the tyres are all brand new. It is not the real world. Tyre manufacturers spend their time juggling three priorities grip, noise and fuel economy.

The Continental Contact 3 Sport has been mentioned above by a couple of postings. That particular tyre is made of softer rubber and is aimed at performance cars. These performance cars can then speed along a twisting road and experience more grip than they would on a harder rubber tyre designed more for say economy. The downside is that they wear out very quickly and many owners report that these Continental tyres wear out after 10,000 miles or so. The relationship between stopping distances and tyre wear is very strong so a partly worn Contact 3 Sport would have a stopping distance greater than a new, un-worn budget tyre.

Many owners lower their cars below the original BMW setting. As we all know this causes the wheels to “tilt” inwards at the top which increases the concentration of vehicle weight onto the inside edge of the tyres. Effectively less tyre is in contact with the road. These “what car” tests do not take this sort of thing into account. It is not surprising that a lowered car experiences poorer grip, at speed, on a harder tyre. This is because less tyre is in contact with the road surface. Naturally, switching to a softer tyre would improve the grip. Is this really a dangerous (hard) tyre fault or a dangerous modification to the car?

Budget tyres are tested and certified for use in the UK. They do not blow up, they are safe at speed (assuming the tyre has the necessary speed rating) and they do not go out of balance every few hundred miles. I have only heard of the latter happening on tyres that have been damaged internally in an accident e.g. hitting a kerb at speed.
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Gazza
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Re: Tyres

Post by Gazza »

I've had Budget tyres and the 'seat of the pants' feel isn't as good as Premium tyres on my Zed.

When I had the 2.8 I bought a wheel/tyre set which had Federal tyres, I'm guessing these were a hard compound as the difference in grip was un-nerving and didn't give me any confidence at all.

I do use Budget tyres on my small van, different driving style, town driving so rarely exceed 25-30mph.

I don't think anyone is saying that Budget tyres aren't safe.
Gazza

"Understeer is when you hit the wall with the front of the car, oversteer is when you hit the wall with the rear of the car. Horsepower is how fast you hit the wall and torque is how far you take the wall with you"

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Robert T
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Re: Tyres

Post by Robert T »

I should have had a look at the tyres on the Escort Cosworth rally car I was driving at the weekend - the stages were low friction tarmac which they had wetted with a tractor, but considering I have two rear wheel drive sports cars, I have never had the back end step out on a downchange like it did in the Escort!!! They were running ordinary road tyres - and as they'll get through quite a few sets, I'm guessing they are budget tyres. I currently have a set of Falken Sinceras of uncertain vintage on the frog, which are fine in the dry, but they make hard braking a bit scary in the wet - they will be changed to a brand new set of Michelins as soon as the car comes back from its engine rebuild. The zed has run Michelins all its life and they are brilliant in the wet - which is why I want them on the frog. Different tyres will have different characteristics in the wet and dry, but it is in the wet that you are most likely to lose the back end of a RWD car. You may want to run softer compound tyres on the larger engined zeds, at they will be able to make use of the extra grip - the tyres I am on are a little harder and the previous two sets have seen 25k miles each, which suits my pocket.

Cheers R.
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Z3cade
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Re: Tyres

Post by Z3cade »

Lets face it tyres are bought by most people on price.. Regardless on what best for the vehicle
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Badman gee
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Re: Tyres

Post by Badman gee »

I brought my tyres because they had an excellent review.

The bonus was they were not really expensive.

Full new set fitted for 450.

I'd buy the same again, as they have been excellent

I could have brought 3 sets with what I've spent on detailing stuff since last July!
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Rafolian
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Re: Tyres

Post by Rafolian »

Where did you bring them from?
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Re: Tyres

Post by SeriousRikk »

Del wrote: They do not blow up, they are safe at speed (assuming the tyre has the necessary speed rating) and they do not go out of balance every few hundred miles. I have only heard of the latter happening on tyres that have been damaged internally in an accident e.g. hitting a kerb at speed.
Well now you have heard of it happening on a UK purchased budget tyre that has not been kerbed / damaged internally :D
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gookah
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Re: Tyres

Post by gookah »

I fit crossplies to mine, but only on the drivers side... better on roundabouts.... :D
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I have an element of 'M-styling' on my car, If that's a good enough reason for the manufacturers to adorn a 320 with the M badge, then its certainly a good enough reason for me..
geminimustang
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Re: Tyres

Post by geminimustang »

How do you double the value of your zed?...............put premium tyres on it!! Sorry,Guys,couldn't resist.We do around 2k miles pa in the zed and i ain't paying what some of you Guys pay for tyres.Kept within the speed limits,driving defensively and with loads of tread,Budgets are fine.But i accept,when i get my Ferrari,i need to change my mind-set,maybe buy,the dearer Budgets!!!!
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Badman gee
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Re: Tyres

Post by Badman gee »

Rafolian wrote:Where did you bring them from?
From camskill
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