Topic

I am having my wheels on the TF powder coated, while that is being done I am using my spare set of 16" wheels and tyres and the difference is unbelievable. My spare wheels are fitted with two Autogrip XL on the back and two APlus XL on the front, all the tyres have good tread and are not old but the car is now almost dangerous to drive compared to the Falkens that are on the other set. I know it has been discussed many times before but I am astonished how bad these are. My wife had the tyre pressures checked because she found them equally bad.

The wrecking yards are full of tyres that outlasted the cars that wore them…….because those same tyres offered bugger all traction and or evil handling traits!
Just because they have the potential for high mileage or don’t cost much doesn’t make them good value, especially if the car ends up wrapped around a pole of some other piece of roadside furniture!

Years ago we had a Peugeot 306 turbo diesel. For its time it went well and was good on the road. Towards the end of its life we fitted some “inexpensive” budget tyres. This car was only used to run back and to for work at that time.
Grief. If it rained those tyres were lethal. You soon learned to double the stopping distance if it was wet.
Tyre compound makes a big difference in my view.
Similarly, but also related to tyre compound, is block pattern and tread depth. Effectively it appears that some manufacturers will tune the tyre to match the vehicle for which it is intended. I believe one supplier machined off half the tread to get replacement tyres to match previous performance simply because they were catering for ever increasing weight due to more and more “stuff” in an engine bay that increased tyre loading.
Talking to a breakdown recovery driver on one occasion who had worked for a tyre company he said that when a new car model was introduced they spent ages and many miles adjusting features in a tyre by road testing etc simply to get best performance in every respect.
So it should be no surprise that different tyres offer different performance on the same vehicle. Maintaining that performance when legislation changes or brand/model upgrades change is a challenge.

When I bought my present daily driver car, it followed in line from those I had had previously.
When choosing the first I adapted the Sherlock Holmes logic, I discounted everything I didn’t want & what was left must be the correct choice.
And so it had proved.
They have all arrived shod with Toyo Proxes & are as sure footed as one might expect.
My daughter took a liking to mine & subsequently bought one of her own. When I drove it I was surprised how less planted hers was, not dangerous just less good. Exactly the same car only a little older.
On looking at the recently changed front tyres, they were a make I hadn’t heard of, read into that what you wish.
She is a motorway driver & is quite happy, however I recommend care if she were to take to the side roads.
I also recommend she does not follow her dad if he decides to visit the Dales.
M

If you have never looked at the ADAC tyre tests then it is well worth a look, they aren't much help in deciding which tyre for our cars but the results are illuminating. The tests are carried out on one of the tyre manufactures proving grounds, this means aquaplaning, wet braking and wet cornering can be as accurately compared as the dry equivalents. Normally they start off with up to 50 different makes of one size and specification tyre. A short elimination test reduces the number of tyres to about ten or twelve, these all go on for a full test. Even though these are the best tyres of the original assortment there are big variations in stopping distance and aquaplaning. The results from the following test are unusual because they completed the full test on every tyre, it is also unusual in that the braking distances, aquaplaning speed results and cornering speeds are not given. https://whattyre.com/news/adac-evaluates-50-tyres-in-2023-summer-test/
Here is another; https://www.tyrepress.com/2021/02/tough-adac-summer-tyre-test-rates-only-five-tyres-as-good/