Tyre ratiungs, What Do they actually tell you?

Orionaut

Orionaut

Orionaut

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I am looking for new tyres for my old E36 318ti (Recently acquired)

She is only the 1.9 auto however she did come with the 16" wheels (I find from BMW that this was actually the original spec)

The current tyres are all Chinese, Rears are "Pace" fronts are "Roadstone"

All have reasonably good tread and since I am a Cruiser rather than a racer I have no particular complaints (# see note) and am happy to "use them up" before replacing them. so there is no particular urgency.

However, and to the point, I have been looking on line for suitable replacements, I haven't done this before with tyres, in the past I have just taken the (perfectly satisfactory, and I may well default to this in the end) advise of my local tyre place.

The thing is, the various official tyre ratings just dont seem to bear any meaningful relationship to the price/brand.

So what are they telling me?

What I mean is that I find that tyre "A" (Chinese brand never heard of before) for £70 gets B's and C's, and Tyre "B" (High end well known make) for £150 gets F's and G's!

So the question is, How do official tyre ratings help, or are they actually no help at all in selecting a good tyre??


(# Whilst I have no major complaints, she goes where I want her to go, I am not hugely happy about the mixed tyres and the front roadstones dont really look right despite being the correct spec for the wheel. They look too wide and catch slightly on the inner wheel arch on full lock. Also, while the "Going round corners" is absolutely fine the "Straight ahead" sometimes feels slightly wandery, not much, but noticeable. This could have course also be due to tired suspension bushes , at 180,000 this would not be surprising but that is my summer project :D)
 
They EU ratings are a very narrow almost artificial series of tests.

The R&D and testing that goes into some premium brands such as goodyear, continental etc.
is far above and beyond the scope of these benchmarks.

For example a cheaper tyre will be made specifically to hit things like straight line braking targets and noise levels. On a rolling road type test machine.

More premium quality brands put much effort into many other performance features like real world wet cornering, aquaplaning etc.

The links on the right hand side of the below website offer much more 'real world' comparisons.

http://www.tyrereviews.co.uk/
 
Ignore EU tests as they are pointless, worthless and not worth bothering over.

If you want a decent tyre, go to blackcircles.com or camskill and type in the size in there. I generally ignore the bottom (cheapest ones) and go for established brands like Continental/Kumho/Falken(My fave) while avoiding ditchfinder specials such as linglong or Marshal.
 
Originally the powers that be wanted to just have an energy efficient rating for rolling resistance. Wet braking was included because of pressure from the tyre manufacturers - on the basis that it's really easy to improve rolling resistance if you compromise the tread pattern.

The tyre reviews site mentioned in 2 posts up is a good place to start. It collets reviews and roundups from plenty of different publications.

Bear in mind that there is no 'D' in the ratings. Hence a 'C' rated tyre may have got only marginally better results than an 'E' rated tyre. Tyres that sit on the boarderline may have an 'E' in one size and a 'C' in another when the actual difference is miniscule.

You do occasionally get the odd decent Chinese tyre with both good ratings and decent all round performance (Landsail LS288s did surprisingly well in a roundup recently) but there is usually a compromise somewhere.
 
mejinks said:
Ignore EU tests as they are pointless, worthless and not worth bothering over.

If you want a decent tyre, go to blackcircles.com or camskill and type in the size in there. I generally ignore the bottom (cheapest ones) and go for established brands like Continental/Kumho/Falken(My fave) while avoiding ditchfinder specials such as linglong or Marshal.
Click to expand...

I've always thought the better the tyre the worse its rolling resistance as its got more grip.
 
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