Irrational tyre views?

Mid range tyre suggestions then...
As much as I like Eagle F1 I'm not sure they're the right tyre for this job... Also I'm sure a more suitable tyre can be had for less than £100 ea. For this application.

Uniroyal Rainsport 3 £65
Falken ZE914 £68
Eagle F1 £87
Avon ZZ5 £63


Anything else worth considering?
For the money it seems the Rain sports are a great buy... Depending on the mileage they'll do.
 
Mid range tyre suggestions then...
As much as I like Eagle F1 I'm not sure they're the right tyre for this job... Also I'm sure a more suitable tyre can be had for less than £100 ea. For this application.

Uniroyal Rainsport 3 £65
Falken ZE914 £68
Eagle F1 £87
Avon ZZ5 £63


Anything else worth considering?
For the money it seems the Rain sports are a great buy... Depending on the mileage they'll do.

rs3 but they will wear quicker

or ZE914, I've got them on my mx5 and they're good enough on a light rwd roadster.
 
It won't though will it? Can't say I've ever experienced grip just letting go in any car.

I forgot though, this is OcUK Motors where unless you have MPSS/PS4S you instantly slide off the road and end up in a ditch.

I appreciate that better tyres stop in a shorter distance, are better in the wet etc (and indeed always fit quality tyres to my cars), however there surely is some common sense middle ground between the polar opposites of budget tyres=will die and MPSS/PS4S=essential on here?

The grip on ditch finders generally drops off a cliff once you get to about 3mm left (assuming they last that long without developing a fault or starting to split). That's why they are called ditch finders and why they are a false economy.
 
Presumably she likes the look of her car if she has gone to the expense of buying black alloys for it?

She's probably fighting it as it's "H&S gone mad, yawn".

Maybe flip it on its head and make comments on how much you like the wheels but the tyres stand out a mile and really ruin the look of the car. Tell her it's like a lady having a really nice dress but a pair fake <insert designer brand> of heels which are damaged on.
 
It won't though will it? Can't say I've ever experienced grip just letting go in any car.

I forgot though, this is OcUK Motors where unless you have MPSS/PS4S you instantly slide off the road and end up in a ditch.

I appreciate that better tyres stop in a shorter distance, are better in the wet etc (and indeed always fit quality tyres to my cars), however there surely is some common sense middle ground between the polar opposites of budget tyres=will die and MPSS/PS4S=essential on here?

there's no need for top top end tyre, simply any decent midrange will do which is why RS3's, falkens etc are suggested.

but some tyres(proxy t1s for e.g.) from people that have had them tell me that they go from grip to nothing at a certain point, other tyres are more progressive which result in a more predictable drive.

but imo from my point of view its stopping distance, how it deals with water/wet/colder temps are the important bits on a daily driver.
 
Just to give a balance to the opinions being given out, my best mates wife also has a mini with four different brands of tyres on it, all low end price wise so as you lot would have it "ditch finders".

However, she has had them on for 3 years and almost 45,000 miles, they all still have legal tread depth left, (approx 2 to 2.5 mm) passed recent MOT, and are in good condition, no bulges, no nicks, no marks, cuts etc.

She is still alive, happily drove through all the recent snow and ice, often commenting on how she was passing bigger cars, and 4x4's that were getting stuck in the conditions.

Cheap tyres do not always equal bad tyres, and unless you are driving like Ayrton Senna every where, there is little need for the most amazing road holding.

Just pottering about in and around town with occasional A roads between towns, and even less occasional motorway stuff at the limit and never over, does not need mega expensive branded high performance tyres, these so called "ditchfinders" are way more than adequate in 99.9% of situations that Fred or Freda general public will find themselves in.

This is a forum of petrol heads, always wanting the biggest best and fastest, and driving to, if not often beyond, the limits of their car, and themselves more often than not reading many posts ;)

Then yes you need good rubber under you, but normal people do not.
 
Just to give a balance to the opinions being given out, my best mates wife also has a mini with four different brands of tyres on it, all low end price wise so as you lot would have it "ditch finders".

However, she has had them on for 3 years and almost 45,000 miles, they all still have legal tread depth left, (approx 2 to 2.5 mm) passed recent MOT, and are in good condition, no bulges, no nicks, no marks, cuts etc.

She is still alive, happily drove through all the recent snow and ice, often commenting on how she was passing bigger cars, and 4x4's that were getting stuck in the conditions.

Cheap tyres do not always equal bad tyres, and unless you are driving like Ayrton Senna every where, there is little need for the most amazing road holding.

Just pottering about in and around town with occasional A roads between towns, and even less occasional motorway stuff at the limit and never over, does not need mega expensive branded high performance tyres, these so called "ditchfinders" are way more than adequate in 99.9% of situations that Fred or Freda general public will find themselves in.

This is a forum of petrol heads, always wanting the biggest best and fastest, and driving to, if not often beyond, the limits of their car, and themselves more often than not reading many posts ;)

Then yes you need good rubber under you, but normal people do not.


I don't doubt you in the slightest... But I would take issue with 4 mismatched tyres of any calibre, let alone 4 questionable-at-best brands.
 
If she is simply pottering about, commuting in stop start traffic and such, then I'm sure the tyres will do fine. It's great having matching tyres, and even better when they are decent tyres to start with. But I have in the past driven on a mixed bag of budget tyres, and never crashed as a result. So I'm sure she will be fine on them for the foreseeable future. You could always remind her she can recoup some money by selling off the ditchfinders once she has decent rubber though.

With that said, now I can afford better tyres, I prefer to have better tyres.

Mid range tyre suggestions then...
As much as I like Eagle F1 I'm not sure they're the right tyre for this job... Also I'm sure a more suitable tyre can be had for less than £100 ea. For this application.

Uniroyal Rainsport 3 £65
Falken ZE914 £68
Eagle F1 £87
Avon ZZ5 £63


Anything else worth considering?
For the money it seems the Rain sports are a great buy... Depending on the mileage they'll do.

That very last point there is a HUGE part of why I wouldn't buy RS3's again. Twice I've fallen for the hype and tried to save money. Disappointed both times, mostly with their terrible longevity, but also cannot stand them softer sidewalls, even on XL rated tyres. Just disappointed all round really. To be fair, the second time I was suggesting them to my father in law, but I subsequently bought the car off him, so has to experience these awful tyres all over again.

Never had the F1's on my 330i long before I sold it, so couldn't comment from personal experience on wear rates on them. But they were a good tyres. However, looking at reviews online suggest they aren't the hardest wearing of tyres, although seem to be better that Conti's in this respect.

I used to run Falkens in the past, when they were the internet hero tyre of choice (rather than the RS3's now), and, again, I never experienced particularly good wear rates on them (circa 10k per set). Newer ones may be better though.

Had ZZ5's on a car a year or so ago. As usual, I never held onto the car long enough to test the wear rate. But were reasonable enough on a non-sporty car.

Even although they are significantly more expensive, I'd probably suggest your other half to go for Michelin (Primacy 3 maybe?, the latest tyrereviews youtube videos suggest they are the best wearing tyres on the market, bar none), when she does burn through her current set. No point in saving 35% on purchase price only to have to replace the tyres 2 or 3 times quicker than spending that little bit more. If overall cost per mile is the main consideration of course. If the main consideration is to simply spend the least amount of money at any one time, rather than overall, then the RS3's are cheap though.

had a lot of rainsport 3's i cant fault them

Yep. The having a lot bit is the fault I would find. Rather than having A (as in one set of) set of Michelin, or something else that lasts longer than a weekend in the Lake District.
 
Just to give a balance to the opinions being given out, my best mates wife also has a mini with four different brands of tyres on it, all low end price wise so as you lot would have it "ditch finders".

However, she has had them on for 3 years and almost 45,000 miles, they all still have legal tread depth left, (approx 2 to 2.5 mm) passed recent MOT, and are in good condition, no bulges, no nicks, no marks, cuts etc.

She is still alive, happily drove through all the recent snow and ice, often commenting on how she was passing bigger cars, and 4x4's that were getting stuck in the conditions.

Cheap tyres do not always equal bad tyres, and unless you are driving like Ayrton Senna every where, there is little need for the most amazing road holding.

Just pottering about in and around town with occasional A roads between towns, and even less occasional motorway stuff at the limit and never over, does not need mega expensive branded high performance tyres, these so called "ditchfinders" are way more than adequate in 99.9% of situations that Fred or Freda general public will find themselves in.

This is a forum of petrol heads, always wanting the biggest best and fastest, and driving to, if not often beyond, the limits of their car, and themselves more often than not reading many posts ;)

Then yes you need good rubber under you, but normal people do not.
You don't need good road holding until that child / squirrel/wabbit jumps out in front of you. For the sake of some extra cash it's not worth ruining your life or some elses.
 
My 350z came with ZZ3 on rear ZZ5 on front for midrange they did the job. Got Continentals now sold wheels with Avons on :p
 
Last edited:
I would never buy the cheapest/"budget" tyres for myself as I want good quality and performance from tyres that i think ill get that from and think even though sometimes a brand name and word of mouth can be taken too far sometimes, there's also generally a good reason for a brand having a good reputation and for the bad publicity for a product if something really is crap.
Most taxis and our friend's and family's cars for example will probably have cheap crap tyres on because the cost is more important to than anything else.
They are probably fine for the most part, it's the correct pressure and condition that should be a bigger concern in reality as a lot of Joe public never check their tyre pressures, tread wear and general condition.
There may be a time where being able to stop 10 metres sooner would stop someone having an accident, but when it does happen to them then it's usually caused by driver error somebody else and tyres are never questioned.

A lot of people think that they dont need or want the maximum grip from a tyre so don't seem to justify spending "A lot" of money on tyres.
Value for money plays a big part and people have different views on what that is.

Make a choice based on what you think you need from the current tyres or a new set as you do only get what you pay for most of the time.
 
Just to give a balance to the opinions being given out, my best mates wife also has a mini with four different brands of tyres on it, all low end price wise so as you lot would have it "ditch finders".

However, she has had them on for 3 years and almost 45,000 miles, they all still have legal tread depth left, (approx 2 to 2.5 mm) passed recent MOT, and are in good condition, no bulges, no nicks, no marks, cuts etc.

She is still alive, happily drove through all the recent snow and ice, often commenting on how she was passing bigger cars, and 4x4's that were getting stuck in the conditions.

Cheap tyres do not always equal bad tyres, and unless you are driving like Ayrton Senna every where, there is little need for the most amazing road holding.

Just pottering about in and around town with occasional A roads between towns, and even less occasional motorway stuff at the limit and never over, does not need mega expensive branded high performance tyres, these so called "ditchfinders" are way more than adequate in 99.9% of situations that Fred or Freda general public will find themselves in.

This is a forum of petrol heads, always wanting the biggest best and fastest, and driving to, if not often beyond, the limits of their car, and themselves more often than not reading many posts ;)

Then yes you need good rubber under you, but normal people do not.

This is such a dangerous school of thought that it actually makes me twitch. Your reply isn't doing anything to balance what is being said here, its simply proving the point.

You are correct, most of the time there is "little need for amazing road holding". The problem you reply doesnt address is what about the 1% of time you need that road holding? People dont crash there cars or perform emergency stops in the wet from 70 every day, if it happens once a year your having a bad time. But the key point is that one time you need the extra grip, where your doing 70mph in the wet, and you suddenly realise the red lights in front of you have stopped and you have to slam on the brakes, thats when tyres matter! The simple fact is that those cheap ditch finders, or tyres on the legal limit will take a considerably longer amount of distance to stop in these conditions that something of reasonable quality. For just how much the difference is look at 2:07 on this video.
. At the point the car with 3mm of tread had stopped, the one with the legal 1.6mm was still doing 44MPH! This is even more stark when you realise the car with brand new tyres had come to a complete stop 100 feet before the point the last one was doing 44MPH.

You are abousletley correct, 99% of the time tyres dont matter if you drive normally. But in that 1% they do matter, they can be the difference between stopping 50 feet clear of an obstacale, or slamming into the back of it doing 40+ mph and potentially putting yourself and your family in hospital. Given that medium range tyres can often be purhcased for only £15-30 more a corner depending on the car it's madness that ultra cheap tyres are considered by anyone.
 
Back
Top Bottom