China tyres

[Lennox]

Lol, I take loads, I'm fact often I seek too much. Then if I'm wrong I admit it and change immediately. I'm not one to put up.

I may buy a 2nd set of wheels for the 535d and tempted to buy Dunlop Pilot sports, drove a mates 330d xdrive the other day with them and they were very grippy, granted the extra traction could be making the difference..

Currently tempted to buy a 335d to replace the GTD.... Just need to find the extra £10k!! [emoji857]

 

[Ronny85]

So far, so good

 

[gunning]

I don't know if mine are Chinese but for 225-40-18 on my little caddy van I paid £116 for four. They are fine in the wet and dry. Ok it's only 69bhp but sometimes I push on and the tyres don't worry me in the slightest. Grip well, handle well, ware ok. I mean for that money I can't complain.

 

[Ronny85]

Any company name Gunning?

 

[Deleted member 6183]

Any company name Gunning?

Durex maybe?

 

[Yugguy]

The trouble is, that unless you are loaded and/or do 100k a year, you don't change tyres just to see what a brand is like, and you don't change that often anyway. So having had bad experiences years back with Pirelli, and good ones with Conti, I'll stick with what I know. I'm not going to take a 250 quid gamble on Pirellis. I did take a gamble on BF Goodrich as I'd heard good things, but as they were 40 quid a corner on my old Focus I didnt mind taking a punt on a couple./

 

[Flyinspanner]

I used Kuhmo Ecsta KU31s on my Subaru Legacy GTB (twin turbo)
They were very good, quiet, comfortable and grippy in the dry and wet. I was very happy with them, and would happily buy them again....

I've also used Falkens on both the A Class, and a Suzuki Swift, sure footed, and good pricing - as many have said, look at online reviews, think about your usage -(do you really need the highest performing summer tyre if you poodle to work and back in stop start city traffic where you never/rarely get over 59mph?)

Tyre choice will always be a set of compromises which need to suit your driving, and budget.

That said, I will still avoid the cheap as chips budget end of Chinese or Indian tyres, luckily my local Independant tyre seller is an acquaintance/mate due to interest in Cars, and I also listen to his sound counselling on tyre choice/use/cost. He says Falkens are good, and again we've found them so.

 

[lfckeeper]

Research research research..... Find out what others with your make of car are using... Look into general reviews (I find 'normal' peoples reviews the best as its real world and no risk of payment in kind for a good review) it took me a week to finally choose the r tyre I have on, and boy did i choose right! This is probably the most important decision you make during vehicle ownership.

 

[malphadour]

Best tyres are Eagle F1s. Ive run them for years on several cars and they just can not be beaten for wet and dry grip and breaking. But they are expensive and do wear quite quickly.

Twice I have had Pirellis and twice I have got rid long before they wore out - never again.

Ive used bridgestone as good mid range tyre for years but the last set which were Turanza's did not give me the confidence I have had with Brisgestones in the past, and recent reviews have put the Turanza in the lower half of mid -range - so avoid them - I think Bridgestone have a newer ranger replacing the Turanzas.

My latest set are Avon sv7. This is their brand new tyre and so far have to say they are really good. Wet handling and breaking are superb - I had to "test" the braking recently and was staggered how quickly I stopped in very wet conditions.

The main problem with cheap tyres tends to be their wet handling and more importantly breaking ability. Most tyres, even cheap ones, will do a decent job of stopping you in the dry, but its in the wet when you notice the significant differences, and this tends to be when you want to have some decent rubber under you.

Cheap tyres tend to be harder and longer lasting, which is good if you are driving a van and need durability and you are not driving it in a "sporty" fashion.

IF you have a nice car then there will be a tendancy to drive it with reasonable va va voom, so for safety (as someone pointed out earlier - you drive within the bounds of your tyres if you are wise) stick with at least a mid range tyre so that it can deal with occasional vroomage and you don't get caught out and discover the limit in a bad way.

Brand wise, lots of people have their favourites. I personally would not have a Michelin tyre within 2 miles of my car, but others love them. My experience was they were terrible in the wet and wore very quickly (pilot sport 2 I think) - in fact they reminded me of Pirelli s which seem to have poor wet weather performance (p Zero - never again!!)

It is always worth looking at reviews because tyres move on. Look for recent ones. For example I have found Bridgestone Turanza reviews which say they are great....but the review is from 5 years ago....and recent reviews now say they are poor compared to what else is out there at the same price point.

 

[grober]

I believe FALKEN TYRES are owned by the Japanese Sumitomo Rubber Industries. As with most things Automotive and Japanese " it does exactly what it says on the tin"

 

[BTB 500]

Our C Class came with 'Runway' tyres all round ... that was as an M-B Approved Used car.

I couldn't fault the grip - wet or dry - but they were pretty noisy and had noticeable cracking between the tread blocks (passed the MOT but was noted as an advisory).

Replaced with Dunlop Sport MAXX RT which were great but wore out in just over a year. Got Continental Sport Contact 5 MO on now.

 

[MercedesDriver]

Tires are a never-ending story with million opinions of the same tire brand/model.
What is great tire experience for you might be a horrible one for me just because we might drive different cars FWD/RWD/AWD with different weights and we certainly have different driving styles.
Even if we are driving the same model, road surface in our counties/councils are different and again driving styles differ.
Whichever tire you buy, it will roll, how long it will need to stop is to be determined and if you are not happy with it change it.

 

[grober]

Tires are a never-ending story with million opinions of the same tire brand/model.
What is great tire experience for you might be a horrible one for me just because we might drive different cars FWD/RWD/AWD with different weights and we certainly have different driving styles.
Even if we are driving the same model, road surface in our counties/councils are different and again driving styles differ.
Whichever tire you buy, it will roll, how long it will need to stop is to be determined and if you are not happy with it change it.

Very true. It is however fairly easy for the average motorist to eliminate certain makes that are on the extreme edges of the distribution curve. These can usually be differentiated by price-- very cheap are usually pretty poor to outright dangerous in certain conditions. At the other end of the scale the more expensive brands Continental, Michelin etc offer superior performance but whether this is ever exploited to the full in everyday motoring to justify the extra cost is questionable. One is then left with the vast bulk of medium priced tyres that carefully chosen with the correct speed and load rating will deliver the required characteristics for reliable everyday motoring for the majority of car owners. That said the increased performance profile of Mercedes would imply a shift towards the top performance end of that distribution curve would be advisable.

 

[Flackadder]

I believe FALKEN TYRES are owned by the Japanese Sumitomo Rubber Industries. As with most things Automotive and Japanese " it does exactly what it says on the tin"

And you can read what it says on the tin? Is it not all squiggly hyroglphs!!