Gislaved Tyres?

Housey said:
Tyres, brakes, suspension and oil should be the best you can afford.
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Whilst in general your comment is sound, most expensive is not always best.

The difference between a Budget tyre at £30 a Toyo T1R at £45 and a Dunlop SP Sport at £82 is an example.

The Toyo is way ahead of the average £30 ditch finder which justifies the extra £15 a corner, but is the Dunlop worth the extra £37 to get a premium name?

Some even say the Toyo is a better tyre, just less life.

A lot of Midrange tyres can offer good value for money.
 
"best you can afford" doesnt mean most expensive - it means the best quality that fits in your budget.
 
I used to own a Golf that had the wrong offset and a Roadchamp remould on one side and a premium Michelin on the other. If you braked hard over an adverse camber crest you could lock the Roadchamp solid and leave a massive black line down the road but the Michelin on the right would actually still be slowing the car down as all the weight was on it. You had to be on the ball with a bit of counter steer to keep it out of the hedge mind.

Brilliant fun, that junction looked like the starting line at Brands Hatch by the end of summer.

Very irresponsible and not to be repeated etc etc.
 
When I was a young lad I had a Mini and no money compared to a lot of my mates. I always put quality tyres on that Mini, one of the well known brands that were known to perform well, not top of the range but quality, Goodyear, Pirelli, Michelin etc Of course in my day there were far less of the ‘ditch finders’ that seem much more prevelant today but in my day the remould was much more common. I had mates with lots more money than I who would save a few quid and go with these death traps and I know of 2 blow outs and one rear end because of them, (one of the blow outs ended with a Cortina on its roof, so every cloud!) the things were dangerous as are some of the current cheap tyres out there from what I have read and heard. There are plenty of sources to find out the offenders and my point was one of priorities as saving £100 on 4 tyres should not be a route taken if that £100 goes towards a new bit for a computer, a night on the beer or something that can wait.
 
Heavens above. To think that I travelled in John's deathtrap the day after he had this horror fitted!

I'll thank my stars I'm still alive. I wonder which was more risky - our flight in the light aircraft, or the car journey to the airfield!
 
Oh boy, I feel a rant coming on.

I wouldn't have used those tyres myself, I always tell the tyre fitter what tyres I want fitted, I don't just ask them to shove something 'equivalent' on, because quite frankly I do not trust their judgement in the slightest, I hear the "that'll do" attitude every day around here, well no, no it wont do, it just won't do I am afraid. This is partly the reason that British industry is in the sorry state that it is today (I am aware it's a lot more complicated that that) ...I'm not trying to blame the op for the collapse of Britain's industrial might through his poor choice of tyres ...but you know what I mean.

You don’t have to buy expensive tyres, but you do have to pay a certain amount, at least buy a known brand, a brand we all know is going to do the job that it is expected to under any reasonable conditions.

/grinds teeth and growls.
 
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Moeks said:
at least buy a known brand, a brand we all know is going to do the job that it is expected to under any reasonable conditions
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Oh come on! Are you saying that these tyres aren't going to do the job expected of them, in reasonable conditions?

Like any product, I'm sure these tyres would not be offered for sale if they did not do the job they were designed to.

It's been a while since John posted, I'd better text him and make sure he's not in a ditch...
 
rich_g85 said:
Like any product, I'm sure these tyres would not be offered for sale if they did not do the job they were designed to.
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There's no real legislation to stop such things being sold, there's no real regulation or testing. They come over in a boat, sit in Kev's Tire Shop and then end up on your car. The only things that are considered is tread depth and sidewall condition.

They will do the job, in the sense that a rubber inflatable ring will do the job. The true test is when things go wrong.
 
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rich_g85 said:
Oh come on! Are you saying that these tyres aren't going to do the job expected of them, in reasonable conditions?

Like any product, I'm sure these tyres would not be offered for sale if they did not do the job they were designed to.
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no, they dont. i vividly remember driving my brothers 1.2 clio, exiting a tight roundabout in second, putting my foot down in 2nd and the car spinning the inside wheel all the way up the road in the wet.

thats not normal
 
Lopéz said:
I used to own a Golf that had a Roadchamp remould on one side and a premium Michelin on the other.
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When I bought my 306 it had a Barum tyre on the left hand side of the rear axle, and a Uniroyal Rainsport 1 on the other side.

Second or Third day of owning the car I was enjoying a nice drive down a backlane I knew well, having driven up and down it for three years in my 205.. I took one of the bends and the back end just let go.. que me nearly crapping myself and having to shove a whole load of opposite lock on to get it back. Staring at the Iron rail fence infront of me as I tried to regain control is something that will stick with me for a long time :o

So yeah, unmatched dodgy tyres are baaad. I got two Eagle F1s fitted to the back a week later ;)
 
Matt82 said:
no, they dont. i vividly remember driving my brothers 1.2 clio, exiting a tight roundabout in second, putting my foot down in 2nd and the car spinning the inside wheel all the way up the road in the wet.

thats not normal
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Adjust your driving style to suit the road conditions?

It's not difficult to avoid spinning your wheels in the wet, even with so-called 'LingLong' tyres!
 
rich_g85 said:
Adjust your driving style to suit the road conditions?

It's not difficult to avoid spinning your wheels in the wet, even with so-called 'LingLong' tyres!
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my god you must be dim, i did it test the road conditions and how much grip these dodgy tyres actually had.

id rather find out the tyres were made of bakelite by some harmless wheelspin rather than having to try and stop in a hurry only to plough into whatever was ahead of me.
 
You buy good tyres to grip in UNFAVOURABLE conditions.

Any tyre can grip on a nice dry surface.

Its where its wet and dodgy is where you want max performance.

Personally I fitted Vredstines (sp?) to my Mk 1 as they are apparently the best (my size isn't done by the high ends anymore!)
 
no, they dont. i vividly remember driving my brothers 1.2 clio, exiting a tight roundabout in second, putting my foot down in 2nd and the car spinning the inside wheel all the way up the road in the wet.
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I'm sorry but I think you need to adjust your definition of normal, as in "putting your foot down in 2nd whilst coming off a roundabout" is not normal - as in 90% of the population don't drive like that. I'm sure the little old dear in her 1.2 Clio or 17yr old lass on her way to college every morning have no issues at all with there £20 ling longs!

I will agree with others though - if you do any kind of spirited driving, budget tyres are a no no. You only have to spend a little more for something like Toyo T1R's (on my Westfield) or Kuhmo KU31's (on my Cosworth) and you'll have a tyre that is leagues beyond the budgets and half the price of premium brands.

It was ONE wheel, the other wheel had grip. Thus placing the tyre at fault, not the driver.
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Jansey I expected better of you - I thought you knew about driving and in particular differentials and weight transfer.

I.e., when cornering with am open diff, the weight will transfer to the outside wheel, meaning if a large dose of torque is applied the inside wheel will spin up. As the diff is not an LSD type, the torque will keep going to that wheel as long as the torque is greater than the grip co-efficient of that wheel.

The tyre does have a bearing on the amount of grip in this situation but not really all that much. I could get ANY car with ANY tyre and an open diif to spin it's inside wheel.
 
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No, but normal might be braking hard in the wet when someone has run out in front of you - or should people on ling longs just not bother braking?
 
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