Cheap tyres: an object lesson

Mako

Mako

Club Member
Feb 6, 2011
15,250
14,358
Milton Keynes
Did you know that tyres can blow out internally? I didn't.

This is a WanLi 225/40/18 as fitted to Tiger's offside rear by - presumably - the previous owner. It had plenty of meat on it, but was catastrophic in the wet to the point of dangerous oversteer, so I was looking for an excuse to replace it. And boy did it give me one - at 75MPH on the M1...



In case it isn't obvious, what you're looking at there is the inside of the tyre, with a large section totally delaminated.

My tyre guy said that he sees this all the time now with some far-east tyres. He added that the grip issues I was having are common as well; the rubber seems to deteriorate and harden in the sun's UV long before you can wear them out so it's like driving on a cheap pencil eraser.
 
Indeed.

I forgot to mention that the outside of the tyre showed no sign of this. I'm guessing that the air escaped through the various cracks that had formed in the carcass over the years... So calling it a "blow-out" is a bit of an exaggeration since the running surface and walls were intact and it didn't spit me off the road. That's about its only saving grace.
 
Thanks Tony.

I think the low-profile nature of the tyre helped because of the lower deformation of the sidewall. If it'd been one of Mako's standard 16s it probably would've been very unpleasant.
 
Budget tyres are indeed crap, but given the price of even mid range ones you can see why people fit them.
 
spjmorris said:
Budget tyres are indeed crap, but given the price of even mid range ones you can see why people fit them.
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I see your point Steve and I know that tyres can sometimes be a distress purchase. But...

The tyre that just came off my car (or the current equivalent) was £68.
The tyre that just went on my car (Avon ZZ5) was £80.

The difference is one good night at home on the beer. Don't get me wrong, I know what it's like to be short of cash. It's horrible and you make compromises where maybe you'd rather you didn't have to, so I'm not going to be all sanctimonious about it. I'm just saying that the difference between "Safe and good quality" and "You will kill yourself if you use the car's full power" is the price of a KFC Family Bucket.

To me, it's insane that anyone would willingly make that choice and stick with it for any length of time. I'm actually ashamed of myself for looking at them and going "Yeah, they're chunky enough."
 
Blimey, just glad your ok mate! Im in need of 4 new tyres as my falkens are quite cracked now (came on the wheels) so im pricing up new rubber, and a racing buddy of my dads owns a tyre place so im hoping for a good deal on some eagle f1's or some pilot sport. Lets face it, the only thing that keeps you on the road is your tyres......thats the last place anyone should scrimp!
 
i try to get decent tyres where possible it's the only contact with the road for steering and braking in all conditions in all weathers, the last ones were over £100 a corner, figure they should last about 4 yrs or so given mileage i do in cougar which works out about 50p a week per corner, cheap for my safety and and piece of mind (y)
 
I once read a story by Larry Liven, set way in the future, where flying cars were the norm. One of the characters watches a bunch of guys racing "old fashioned" cars with actual wheels on an old strip of highway maintained for the purpose. To paraphrase;

"As I watched, I realised that every one of them was betting their life on four rubber balloons - one at each corner of the car - and their ability to stick to the concrete. I was introduced to the winner of the race afterward but couldn't bring myself to shake his hand. The man was clearly a dangerous lunatic."

Well since you put it that way...
 
IMO by far the best value for money tyre on the market is uniroyal RainSport 3. iv been selling them like hot cakes. better performance then pirrelli made by continental with the price tag of little more then a budget. win win in my book.
 
Thats not good Mako, glad you came away unscathed,

I recently shod Frosty with some Hankook K115 in 225-50/16 to join the ones i did a few months ago and am very impressed with the way they grip wet or dry and they were £174 for 2, so not overly expensive.
 
Luke Daisley said:
IMO by far the best value for money tyre on the market is uniroyal RainSport 3. iv been selling them like hot cakes. better performance then pirrelli made by continental with the price tag of little more then a budget. win win in my book.
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I've got Rainsport 2s fitted to Mako's front end and they are absolutely bomb-proof in the wet. Even on hard-packed ice with a wet snow covering. No shimmy, no uncertainty at all. And the wear in the dry is far better than you would expect.

If the Rainsport 3 is a significant improvement then they must be awesome.
 
I have Hankooks on the back of mine, much prefer them to the Avons they replaced. If I had to fault them it'd be that thesidewalls aren't very stiff which makes the rear of the car squirm around a bit, just takes a bit of getting used to.

This probably isn't helped by the fact that they're 225s and I have a rear strut brace so I guess the tyres are the only available thing left to flex.

Good tyres overall I'd say.
 
spjmorris said:
I have Hankooks on the back of mine, much prefer them to the Avons they replaced. If I had to fault them it'd be that thesidewalls aren't very stiff which makes the rear of the car squirm around a bit, just takes a bit of getting used to. This probably isn't helped by the fact that they're 225s and I have a rear strut brace so I guess the tyres are the only available thing left to flex. Good tyres overall I'd say.
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Interesting.

I found them awful in the wet on my old Alfa. Maybe things have improved
 
I find Toyos squishy like you describe Hankooks, which I've never driven. It wasn't something I could get used to on the cars I've driven them on. The feeling was very nervous and the movement wasn't quite the same as direct feedback. They tended to just flop from leaning over one sidewall to the other, rather than move gradually. You'd make a steering input, get a weird squirm and the whole wheel geometry would feel like it's changed.

Not for me...
 
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