Official OcUK Tyre Review & Guide thread!

[TW]Fox;17687987 said:
It's not that they cause accidents its that they prevent the avoidance of accidents or increase the severity of one.

If your braking distance is several car lengths longeer because you are so cheap, then its not beyond the realms of possibility to understand that a tyre can be the difference between a close one and a crash.
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But then so could many other factors, Like having the best tyres you can buy then using cheapo partco brake pads. Or having warped discs worn suspension components its all relevant.

So yes certain better tyres will perform better i,m not arguing that. Just on my Vectra which with the Nankangs has performed as expected in all driving condiotions for 15k what benefit would i get from fitting a high performance tyre unless i wanted to drive faster and brake later etc..
 
MOOGLEYS said:
But then so could many other factors, Like having the best tyres you can buy then using cheapo partco brake pads. Or having warped discs worn suspension components its all relevant.

So yes certain better tyres will perform better i,m not arguing that. Just on my Vectra which with the Nankangs has performed as expected in all driving condiotions for 15k what benefit would i get from fitting a high performance tyre unless i wanted to drive faster and brake later etc..
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I see it perfectly well from your point, 99% of people cope just fine on budget tyres.

What Fox is trying to say is that even on your Vectra, should it be heavy rain and lets say for example a child runs out in front of you than those premium tyres could be the item on your car that saves that childs life because it is proven they will stop you several metres shorter compared to a budget tyre.


The most important factor on our cars is it tyres, they are the only items which keep us in contact with the road, so we should always be looking to fit something thats of a decent quality.

Also many people just look at cost, wheras infact a lot of premium tyres can last longer and improve fuel economy, so wheras the initial outlay might be more, over the long term its probably not.
 
MOOGLEYS said:
So yes certain better tyres will perform better i,m not arguing that. Just on my Vectra which with the Nankangs has performed as expected in all driving condiotions for 15k what benefit would i get from fitting a high performance tyre unless i wanted to drive faster and brake later etc..
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You assume that you will have involvement in any accident you have, this is often not the case and cutting corners means you increase risks no matter how small they may seem. Just because you drive brilliantly within the laws and by the book means little if the other bloke on Linglongs comes out of a side street because it's wet and he didn't stop in time. Same goes for pads, suspension, set up of course and personally I'd not cut corners there either but tyres are the only thing between you and the road and accepting 2nd best seems odd when you seem so concious of driving within limits. Why increase a risk if you work so hard to reduce it by your driving?
 
100% agree Gibbo just trying to point out what you said i,m not the greatest at making my thoughts known....

I went from some Horrid Kumo,s to some rather expensive Continentals on my Impreza and they transformed the car. But i was driving a lot harder and faster then so they made a huge noticeable difference.

If your buying tyres on a performance car that you will drive harder and faster then you would be silly to use cheap budget tyres. But on an old man Vectra that is driven usually at the speed limit if not less what is the point....

Does that make sense...
 
MOOGLEYS said:
100% agree Gibbo just trying to point out what you said i,m not the greatest at making my thoughts known....

I went from some Horrid Kumo,s to some rather expensive Continentals on my Impreza and they transformed the car. But i was driving a lot harder and faster then so they made a huge noticeable difference.

If your buying tyres on a performance car that you will drive harder and faster then you would be silly to use cheap budget tyres. But on an old man Vectra that is driven usually at the speed limit if not less what is the point....

Does that make sense...
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It makes perfect sense, an owner of a performance car wants that car to give great feedback and feel great to drive hard and predictable on the limit and different tyres can hugely effect this.

What Fox's point is and I also agree with is even on your Vectra which you drive within the limits would still benefit from premium tyres, simply just for reasons such as braking distances in the wet. Like I said even at 20mph your car would probably stop 1-2m shorter on premium tyres and that could be the difference between having an accident and avoiding one.

Does that make sense?
 
MOOGLEYS said:
If your buying tyres on a performance car that you will drive harder and faster then you would be silly to use cheap budget tyres. But on an old man Vectra that is driven usually at the speed limit if not less what is the point....
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Despite the fact I drive a 230bhp car, most of its time is spent either doing 5 miles through town at no more than 30mph to work or doing 200 miles up the M5 to the Midlands at the speed limit at 35mpg.

Despite this I wouldnt dream of fitting anything less than a decent, premium high performance tyre with excellent wet weather ability.

Because you never know when you might round that corner at the speed limit to find some sort of incident you need to stop for ASAP.
 
i cant really contribute, my only slightly poweerful car i have spent time with so far is a t sport celica mk7

i only really had t1rs on it [215/40/17] and all i dare say is is terrible in the really wet, good in the damp [ie NO standing water or trace of it] ok in the dry and poor wear rate

what came on it i cant even remember

i cant remeber from one tyre too the next because the gap is too long, and as said you put a brand new set on to replace the old so instant ..WOW these are amazing..

if i had a better memory and changed tyres every month it would be different because i live on some real good country lanes and thats my fav sort of driving [hence new car] ..

i have trawled through many many tyre reviews as good tyres are a major handling part of driving and i hate the unreliabilty of them, i dont know what tyres to get next, tempted to play it safe with t1rs cause i dont think i will ever know, dont want to shell out on something im gonna have for thousands of miles to find out they are useless
 
Tyres are a bit like pc power supplies aint they, its one of those things people always seem to try and save a few quid on.
 
Budget tyres can seem adequate in dry conditions or perhaps even when it is a little wet. When I bought my car it had low-mid range tyres and whilst I had never lost grip during the summer months, I still bought a full set of rubber as soon as it started to get colder.

As for the Nankangs, about a month ago I went with my dad to go collect his new purchase, an E280. Whilst the car itself was faultless it still came fitted with Nankangs, and on the 150 mile convoy home we encountered some very heavy rain. Such heavy rain that the visibility was more of a problem for me than the patches of standing water. I was leading and doing 65-70 max, but in these conditions my dad had dropped right back and was now doing a max of 50 due to his Nankangs aquaplaning multiple times and generally feeling very slippery. He changed his tyres to Contisport Premiums a few days later.
 
Gibbo said:
Yep this is true, the lighter the car the less its likely to experience tyre wall flex. The T1R as I put is an OK all rounder, but its no master of any trades and once you move over 1200kg in weight they are very bad.
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The T1-R's even on my mk1 Clio felt like at every corner the car was under steering! A very delayed feeling which really didn't inspire confidence :eek:.
 
MOOGLEYS said:
No but the cause is. So it could be lack of concentration, etc etc.. The proportion due to tryes is very low and most of them is due to poor maintenance, Under/over inflation damage to the tyre etc.. The tyres should perform perfectly well within the realms of safe driving which my Nankangs do perfectly fine...

Anyway who cares lets keep the thread on the topic of tyre reviews....
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The only thing they would say is if tread depth was too low or it was another tyre defect was evident. The wouldn't mention the make of tyre.
 
MOOGLEYS said:
100% agree Gibbo just trying to point out what you said i,m not the greatest at making my thoughts known....

I went from some Horrid Kumo,s to some rather expensive Continentals on my Impreza and they transformed the car. But i was driving a lot harder and faster then so they made a huge noticeable difference.

If your buying tyres on a performance car that you will drive harder and faster then you would be silly to use cheap budget tyres. But on an old man Vectra that is driven usually at the speed limit if not less what is the point....

Does that make sense...
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So the speed limit makes everything safe?
What happens when you are driving at the limit and the road changes too quick for your ditchfinders to cope?
 
Xez said:
The T1-R's even on my mk1 Clio felt like at every corner the car was under steering! A very delayed feeling which really didn't inspire confidence :eek:.
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Well am glad to see people here are better educated, its scary the amount of people you see raving over T1R's saying they are awsome, when they really are not. OK they are not terrible but there are many many superior tyres available now even at similar price.

Their dry grip is good but let down heavily by the soft sidewalls, the wet grip is also good. They generally don't last long at all and are just too soft to make a car feel well sporty.

Your better off with an F1 Assymetric or Vredstein Ultrac Sessenta which probably are not much more money.

The other option is the Falken 452 which is another internet hyped tyre, only difference been the 452 does have stronger sidewalls, but its not quite as sticky in the dry as Toyo's but they are OK. Id take Falkens over T1R's anyday.
 
Xez said:
The T1-R's even on my mk1 Clio felt like at every corner the car was under steering! A very delayed feeling which really didn't inspire confidence :eek:.
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i felt this especially on upward corners, i almost lost mine trying to keep up with something else and im sure the car in front wasn't even trying

i will at some point be looking for tyres to replace the bridgestone tu??? [whatever they are] on my s2000 as im not impressed.. they seem to have poor grip
 
Gibbo said:
Well am glad to see people here are better educated, its scary the amount of people you see raving over T1R's saying they are awsome, when they really are not.
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It's a subjective tyre opinion. There is no syllabus and hence no education. Education is simple regurgitation of info anyway rather than first hand experience.
 
Jonnycoupe said:
It's a subjective tyre opinion. There is no syllabus and hence no education. Education is simple regurgitation of info anyway rather than first hand experience.
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Unfortunately I've had first hand experience of T1R's. :(

But yep first hand experience and honesty is key. :)
 
Gibbo said:
Well am glad to see people here are better educated, its scary the amount of people you see raving over T1R's saying they are awsome, when they really are not. OK they are not terrible but there are many many superior tyres available now even at similar price.

Their dry grip is good but let down heavily by the soft sidewalls, the wet grip is also good. They generally don't last long at all and are just too soft to make a car feel well sporty.

Your better off with an F1 Assymetric or Vredstein Ultrac Sessenta which probably are not much more money.

The other option is the Falken 452 which is another internet hyped tyre, only difference been the 452 does have stronger sidewalls, but its not quite as sticky in the dry as Toyo's but they are OK. Id take Falkens over T1R's anyday.
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Sadly the size of my wheels meant I couldn't get the 452's :p I did have the 912's much better side wall but not as much grip in the dry. I can't comment in wet as I never really push hard in those type of conditions.

The T1-R's were only £33 per corner at the time and I saw all the reviews about them being good. My experiencing being different...

Also had Parada Spec 2's which I really liked, great dry grip and a good stiff side wall. Only down fall that I noticed was they didn't last any more than 5k on the fronts :D.
 
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