How good are cheap tyres?

[leicesterboy15]

My car is eating through it's tyres at the moment and I have no idea why, everything up front is new and newly tracked but still no joy. Now I need new tyres so rather than buy expensive ones I thought I would go for the cheapest ever just while I diagnose what the uneven wear problem is.

So then I thought I wonder if the average driver would actually be able to tell the difference between cheap and expensive tyres? Can you actually compare different tyres on the road considering there are so many variables?

I wouldn't say I was the average driver (the V8 made me do it officer) but I still wonder how much difference it makes. Hence I am going to take the plunge and get the cheapest ones I can find and boy are they cheap! I found these:

http://www.tyre-shopper.co.uk/ts/search/tyredetails.aspx?code=2354018WL1WX

Yes thats £229.40 (approx $362) for 4 brand new tyres delivered, balanced, valved and fitted!!

Am I crazy or just being sensible? I am about to find out, hopefully I won't be typing from the other side of a hedge next time!

[shogun]

I have had Bridgestone, Pirelli, quite expensive.
Now, since 2 years I am driving Nexen from Korea, no complain. Paid about $50 per tire, plus delivery.We have a speed limit here, max. 100 kmh, I do not feel a difference with normal driving, I am not the extreme driver.
As they say for the WANLI:A quality budget tyre
I checked on a German car magazine site for these Wanli from China: recommended as budget tire.

[compmore]

think the difference shows in the wet.have cheapies on the back of the 540 and its now twice let go in the wet.never did this before these went on.have to b pretty carfefull now when its raining

[leicesterboy15]

think the difference shows in the wet.have cheapies on the back of the 540 and its now twice let go in the wet.never did this before these went on.have to b pretty carfefull now when its raining

Yes I did think that! My timing for this experiment is not great considering we are just going into winter over here. I've got Dunlops all round at the moment and they don't inspire confidence as they are low so hopefully the new ones are better.

[Ross]

You'll be better served buying a used set of quality tires.
I bought some cheapos for the old family van, not the cheapest or worst mind you, and they were utter crap. Noisy and awful to the point of dangerous in the wet. Fortunately they wore out very quickly and were replaced with a used set of GOOD tires next time around.

[Russell]

IMO, buy the highest rated tire for my purpose. In my case it is for commuting. I use the tire rack ratings as a starting point. I look for wet weather plus ice and snow capabilities. BTW, I also have a set of winter tires and wheels.

Tires are critical for safety-be careful.

[ScottyWM]

Wow, funny that you posted this right after I bought new Michelin Exalto a/s tires. Just put them on yesterday. I had bought some much cheaper Uniroyal Tiger Paw tires about 3 years ago (when I was driving this car a lot less) at about half the price of the Michelins. First I bought two for the front... no problems. So 6 months later I bought 2 for the rear. Ever since I got the last two, I've had a vibration. It started out just barely noticeable, but eventually got to be completely annoying. There was an almost constant vibration and noise at the tire rotation. I tried to find which tire it was with no luck (I think because it was 2 bad tires). So yesterday I replaced them all with the Michelins and the difference is like night and day!! The Michelins are so much smoother and quieter - it's amazing. I kept the Uniroyals so I could put them on the E36 (maybe) and they still have a ton of tread on them even though I put around 40k miles on them. I'll probably still end up throwing them away. I wasn't entirely convinced that changing the tires would eliminate the noise and vibration (the car has 80k miles in the control arms now) as I was being advised, so I bought from a place with a money back guarantee. Now I need to go back to them and tell them how completely satisfied I am.

I'll never go cheap on my daily driver again. Now my pickup.... I put $35 Khumos on it, but I drive it less than 2k miles a year.

[Russell]

Wow, funny that you posted this right after I bought new Michelin Exalto a/s tires. Just put them on yesterday. I had bought some much cheaper Uniroyal Tiger Paw tires about 3 years ago (when I was driving this car a lot less) at about half the price of the Michelins. First I bought two for the front... no problems. So 6 months later I bought 2 for the rear. Ever since I got the last two, I've had a vibration. It started out just barely noticeable, but eventually got to be completely annoying. There was an almost constant vibration and noise at the tire rotation. I tried to find which tire it was with no luck (I think because it was 2 bad tires). So yesterday I replaced them all with the Michelins and the difference is like night and day!! The Michelins are so much smoother and quieter - it's amazing. I kept the Uniroyals so I could put them on the E36 (maybe) and they still have a ton of tread on them even though I put around 40k miles on them. I'll probably still end up throwing them away. I wasn't entirely convinced that changing the tires would eliminate the noise and vibration (the car has 80k miles in the control arms now) as I was being advised, so I bought from a place with a money back guarantee. Now I need to go back to them and tell them how completely satisfied I am.

I'll never go cheap on my daily driver again. Now my pickup.... I put $35 Khumos on it, but I drive it less than 2k miles a year.

I have Michelin Exalto a/s on mine. currently I have about 36,000 miles with about 7/32nds left. I will install my winter tires in about 45 days.

[Mr._Graybeard]

I've put about 20K on a new tire Continental has, the Extreme Contact DWS. Unfortunately they aren't available in 15-inch at Tire Rack, so it would require going to plus-one wheels or bigger to use them. The tire rack site says they're made in the UK and Europe, though, so perhaps some different sizes are available over there. I've found it to be a great wet-weather tire, decent light-snow performance, and grippy enough in the dry to be useable at the local road track. It's W speed-rated, and Tire Rack prices them at $99 at 225-55-16. That's only $11 per tire more than the Kumho tire of the same performance class (UHP all-season).

[Tiger]

Always buy highest rated tires... cheap or expensive or anywhere in between. For example... at Tirerack.com USA... there are alot of feedbacks and you can gauge if it is good or bad... in traction, wet performance... and even roid noise. It really helps alot for making up your mind on tires (tyres for you guys) purchases

[genphreak]

Nexen are the best cheapies I know. I'd buy Michelin for anything I want performacne out of, Dunlop/Conti if cheap and Nexen (aka Roadstone) otherwise. Highly reccommended for a budget tyre, not really up to the spec of a BMW's needs, but close enough.

[whiskychaser]

My Firestones cost about £90 a pop so thats a great deal. As a fellow countryman, can I be excused for asking why you dont fix the problem wrecking the tyres? Its just if you are buying cheap tyres, wont they wear out even quicker?

[leicesterboy15]

My Firestones cost about £90 a pop so thats a great deal. As a fellow countryman, can I be excused for asking why you dont fix the problem wrecking the tyres? Its just if you are buying cheap tyres, wont they wear out even quicker?

Well that would be the ideal but I've taken it to a couple of places and they don't know what it is, they are just guessing with their 'lets replace this (at my expense) and see what happens' approach but all the arms and bushes up front are new, I think its more set up than anything else, maybe my upper arms need reseating ( I did them on ramps)?

I tried the part worn route and they are working out more than the new ones, my tyres are barely legal and its coming up to Christmas so the new tyres are supposed to buy me some time to look into it although I agree the money would be better spent diagnosing the problem and nipping it in the bud - hmm you guys have got me thinking now..... I would have to pay someone else as I won't have the time for a couple of months but then again £229 could go a long way to paying the bill and the problem would be sorted (hopefully).

BTW the wheels are 18in and I had goodyear eagle F1's on the rear and Avon ZZ3's on the front, I think this set up worked really well on the car in both wet and dry.

[Tiger]

Is your wheel offset correct? What is the wierd wear problem you have? Car lowered or stock springs?

[leicesterboy15]

Is your wheel offset correct? What is the wierd wear problem you have? Car lowered or stock springs?

I have a set of 18in mpar reps but I am currently running 17in Genuine Style 5s from an e39 with hub centric rings and both sets have had the problem. After it happend to the 18in set I replaced the upper and lower arms (upper arms with powerflex bushes), centre tie rod, outer tie rods, idler arm and sway bar links, used all new nuts and bolts throughout, got the whole thing aligned, put the 17s on and its happening again! It also happened to the rear and I replaced the sub frame bushes with powerflex ones at the same time as the front susp work and the rear is now fine.

I am thinking the steering box is to blame now because its a bit vague - sometimes its slightly off centre even though the tracking has been done.

[whiskychaser]

Came across this article which explains the differences between US and Euro tyres. http://www.btinternet.com/~madmole/Reference/Tyres.html
No its not a solution but I thought it was funny

[BMW4LIFE]

Cheap tires are like cheap hookers!

They get the job done (think about that) but they come with a cost wear unevenly (STDs), lose traction at a premature mileage ( dirty... haha ) and worst of all, I hear they have a higher potential of blow outs (HIV/AIDS).

I hope you get the point!

I have always ran Michelin and have never been happier...just finished running the exaltos and loved them so I am in the search of the new shoes...might even go with the same being that costco has $70 off a full set

[632 Regal]

round tires and rims are the key. If both are round then you shouldn't need much weight to balance then, cheapies or not, key being round. I spent many many days and hours trying to fix this with the local USA discount tire scam, upgrade to better, many thousands later I still bounced along the highways. Winter was upon me and I already replaced everything (seriously everything) got the cheapie snow tires 35 usd each, mounted and balanced and guess what no bouncing, the wear was gone! (made in germany... who would have guessed). Once a tire starts to wear funny they will never come back no matter what you do. If everything is good and you have bounce it's the tires, if your getting strange wear then it is some mechanical part not doing it's job or the alignment is off. If the car is lowered expect a little more wear on the inside of the rear tires. Mine is lowered but I get no such wear, so it is what it is. Sounds like something is not right on the car to me... but what do I know. edit: for some reason nothing formats now, no paragraphs and such, good luck with it.

[leicesterboy15]

I've used two different sets of wheels (17in and 18in) and they both suffered from the same problem, they balanced fine so I'm a bit stumped.

Well to report on the cheap tyres I can honestly say don't buy cheap tyres! In my opinion they would be fine for a low powered runabout under normal driving conditions but I wouldn't bet on them getting you out of trouble when you need them most. If you are not a keen driver (don't push the car) and don't do many miles then they are fine. However I don't ft into either category and I find myself tip-toing around a bit on them just to be sure, they handle ok but do not inspire the confidence of my old dunlops even on low tread. Under breaking the ABS has kicked in once or twice in the wet ( I was testing them) and they just don't inspire confidence so I break that bit earlier and on take off I have seen the ASC light more since I fitted them than in the whole of the 3 previous years, this is with new tread! I kicked down the other day at about 50 and I felt a twich from the back end - I'm sure the ASC kicked in then as well.

This is not a scientific testing ground because unfortunately there are two variables in my test - the tyres and the weather has turned since I fitted them so its more damp so this is likely to be a big factor and maybe the confidence thing is in my head.

On the plus side they seem to be wearing evenly (had the alignment done again when I fitted the tyres) and I am now legal but I've heard of this thing called hunter alignment which measures different things (toe and camber I believe) to normal alighnment and I've been told to try that so I will give it a go, see how far it is from where it should be. I've checked the big bolt at the bottom of the steering column and there is no play there, after toe and camber the only component remaining is the steering box which I will have to try and adjust - I'm hoping I can just bend the heat shield out of the way to get at the adjuster but I need to wait for a good weather day.

[Bimmer Nut Ed]

I always buy less expensive tires for my every day drivers. I look for the cheapest available, and see how they are rated, and usually go up one step from there for ones that have a little better rated than the absolute cheapest. Why you ask, well I like fresh rubber. I don't care how long they last, I'm a bigger believer that fresh rubber gives you better traction in wet than old rubber. I suppose you can say I have an aversion to long lasting tires, as I grew up with Volvo's that ran 60,000 mile michelins, and I hated them. Essentially I felt that over time, they turned to plastic, and although they had plenty of tread left, they slipped in the wet like crazy. So bottom line, buy often, and buy cheap, IMHO.

[BMW4LIFE]

I could be wrong but from my experience (my friends) cheap rubbers are actually the ones that turn into "PLASTIC" faster than quality tires being that they lose their chemical properties faster.

Somethings you should never go cheap on and tires in one of them IMO...

Remember rubber is a lot cheaper than accidents ;)

[Tiger]

Good plan. I also don't like Michelin. You are absolutely right about fresh rubber is better than old rubber.... LOL... that just came out wrong... ROFLOL.

[genphreak]

What are your alingment specs? There is a page in the Bently manual on them.

The ride height of your car should mean that you'd need to compare it to M5 suspension, not so much the 'M-Tech' figures. (For most e34s, there are 3 sets of numbers, Std, MTech and M5).

[dauchande]

I love my Kumho Ecsta Asx's, they usually cost me in the neighborhood of $50-60/tire. Just make sure you get V-Rated or better, not that I'd actually drive it up to 150mph...