Cheap tires (tyres)

[Davidb]

I spotted these on ebay and thought they might be a good deal for somebody in North America who is looking for cheap tires:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/222295767959?_t ... EBIDX%3AIT

Barum seem to have a good reputation with the rally guys. I have decided to go with 175/70s since I have narrow springs and small flares. Plus I have fitted a 3.55 diff and these would negate that...

Looking on ebay there are tire brands that I have never heard of:- Achilles, Doral, Delinte, Maxxis. Plus the usual Kuhmo, Summitomo etc. They all make tires in 13 inch but not usually in 155 although some do.
Anybody have any experience of any of these?

[mbell]

I have a set of 175/70r13 on my plus 2. Only 175 miles on the car so far (and of the road again at the minute) but they seem a decent enough tire, they are a soft rubber and grippy. I haven't spun or locked the wheels with them, haven't tried hard thou.

Got mine from discount tires $40 ish a corner plus fitting etc.

They are Czech made and owned by continental. Quite a few online review with decent results, only negative mentioned is tire life due to soft rubber which isn't an issue for most elan users.

Only con is not available in the correct size for the car.

[Davidb]

Mbell: So your tires are Barum Brillantis? (Just to be sure )

Like you I like that they wear out relatively quickly-it means they are sticking to the road


I found this very useful tire size comparison site-it is the best I have seen:

http://www.wheel-size.com/calc/?wheel1= ... 0mm&sr=0mm

[mbell]

Barum Brillantis 2. Given the mileage the car will do there no point putting on long life slow wear tires as the tires are going to age out not wear out.

Thinks it better to put on cheap but ok tires and replace them often than expensive tires and be reluctant to change them after a few years.

[Stevie-Heathie]

Maxxis are very well respected in mountain biking circles. They make some of the best downhill tyres on the market. Didn't realise they made automotive tyres too.
Best
Steve

[KevJ+2]

When using any of these online outlets, be sure to confirm the manufacture date of the tires. Some use small print or a code to disguise this and it's a good way for them to shift old (sometimes very old) stock.

[vincereynard]

What does anyone think of fitting winter tyres, for everyday use.

They should have the sticky tread and softer sidewalls that would be suitable for Elans. Nice rounded tread edges. Loads of wet grip hopefully. Naturally mileage would suffer but that would probably not be a problem.

Just a thought or am I spouting nonsense.

Vince

[Davidb]

Vince, I don't think you are spouting nonsense! However, Winter tires are usually designed for use in snow so would have a very open tread and probably would be quite noisy as a result. Also, I would suspect 'tread squirm' would be a problem. All Season tires may be the answer and these Barums might be a good choice. They are warrantied for 40,000 miles as against most of their competition which is warrantied to ~70,000miles-so they must be softer treaded and hence more suitable for our purpose as mbell pointed out.

[mbell]

They seem soft to the touch and soft enough that after 20 miles it was obvious the tracking needed some adjusting by looking at the edge of the tire...

[prezoom]

What is the tread wear number?

[Davidb]

I seem to remember it is about 400.
Those numbers are as declared by the manufacturer apparently-not proven by govt testing...

[RichardHawkins]

David/Rob,

What is at read wear number, and what would 400 signify?

Richard Hawkins

[Craven]

Tread wear.
It?s a good indication of rubber ?softness?, modern high performance road tyres are below 200, van tyres over 400.
Anything below 200 will be gone in 10,000 of fast driving, I like to choose something around the 220 mark.
PS, not all tyres are marked.
FWIW
Ron.

[vincereynard]

Fascinating! Thanks for that.

Uniroyal RainExpert's on Toad show -

Tread wear - 280 Traction - A Temperature - B

Presumably that means they are quite soft by average passenger tyre standards ?

[Davidb]

This is the explanation provided by TireRack:
http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tiretech/ ... ?techid=48