A triumphal day

Willy Eckerlyke (oss108no snipped-for-privacy@bangor.ac.uk) gurgled happily, sounding much like they were saying :

Only the ones I've seen, owned and thrown away.

What! You just threw them away? Surely if they were such a danger to the public you chould have notified the authorities immediately and forced a total recall of all faulty tyres. Don't you realise that thousands may have died as a result of your inaction? How can you live with yourself?

Willy Eckerlyke (oss108no snipped-for-privacy@bangor.ac.uk) gurgled happily, sounding much like they were saying :

Name one.

I try to avoid mirrors.

I was interested to find, when I bought my Saab, that the new Coopers fitted to it have a "lifetime guarantee" against damage. If the tyre gets damaged Cooper will replace it (pro rata for wear). You'd expect that to be expensive, but they're under £50 each, for a new quality tyre in a fairly large size (195/65/15). Plus, the grip is superb - they have to be pushed really hard to show any sign of losing it on a corner.

Chris Bolus ( snipped-for-privacy@FARINAb0lus.com) gurgled happily, sounding much like they were saying :

Cooper's a new name here, but not a new name overall - they're the US parent/owner of Avon. Wonder if they're rebranding Avon?

Not that new, I had them on my Cinq. around 6 years ago.

Their tarmac rally tyres will do just fine for fast road driving, and at £25 each I don't want them to last tens of thousands of miles. Anything over 4k miles would be a bonus - my last pair of Yokos didn't make it that far.

Price isn't always a reflection of quality. When launched, the Goodyear NCT3 was a fairly expensive tyre, but it had all the grip of a £20 special from Costco.

And your point is?

Why not. Colway have a _very_ good reputation in motorsports.

Why would you have a minor accident that was the fault of a retread? - all the rubber is brand new, only the steel belts are re-used. And there's nothing wrong with re-using the carcass if it's properly inspected before being re-treaded.

Remoulds _used_ to do that, but a good quality remould is as good as a new tyre.

Eh? - the steel belts aren't the problem in the aging process, but drying out rubber is. Which is why a remould would be effectively as good as a new tyre.

They also make tarmac stage tyres, which make awesome fast road tyres. You don't think it's only Colway who make gravel stage tyres, surely?

Yes, as recently as 30 years ago, ffs!

Colway wouldn't use that argument as they're sole purpose is to make high performance competition tyres at an affordable price.

SteveH ( snipped-for-privacy@italiancar.co.uk) gurgled happily, sounding much like they were saying :

Ah, 'kay. Hadn't come across 'em.

SteveH ( snipped-for-privacy@italiancar.co.uk) gurgled happily, sounding much like they were saying :

That the cost of a set of tyres, figured over the mileage they'll last, is almost irrelevant - and that the whole original "buying remoulds because they're better than bald" is bull. Buying competition remoulds for properly thought out reasons is fair enough - but they're still remoulds.

I don't think you're right about *all* the rubber being new - Colway may, but that seems a bit unlikely, as it'd only leave the steel wire, which is not going to give the tree-huggy savings they also mention on their site. (20l of oil per tyre and 50% raw materials)

Certainly all the remoulds I've ever really looked at have just had the tread replaced. You can easily tell, as it's usually peeling, and the sidewalls are often cracking. On the really shitty ones, you can even see where the manufacturer's name has been replaced. Maybe it's only the really shitty end of the remould trade that I've come across - but at £15/tyre, by the time you take out the transport and stocking costs (which are the same as a new tyre), and the retailer's cut it's not leaving an awful lot for manufacturing and quality control. It's a very similar argument to that for "don't buy a £3.49 bottle of wine" - the bottle, shipping, shelf space cost the same as the £4.49 bottle next to it, but the amount left for the actual contents is disproportionately much smaller.

It still seems to make a lot more sense to me to buy one £200 set of tyres that work well than two £100 sets that are more compromised.

For circuit racing? Colway's site makes it look as if it's recent - blame them, not me.

Colway's tyres are made from compounds, and use tread patterns licensed from major manufacturers. I bought a set of Colway winter tyres that I fitted to my car for a trip to Norway four years ago. They were excellent. I drove on roads covered in packed ice and never once felt the need to resort to chains. At one point I drove 160 miles on empty roads covered in several inches of freshly fallen snow, and averaged over 40 mph without once losing traction or grip. Wanting to get my money's worth I kept them on the car on my return, and only had to replace the two on the front wheels due to wear last year. The rears are still going strong. A set of five tyres cost less than the cheapest quote I got for a single winter tyre from any of the big manufacturers.

I have to say I have been very impressed - they are far removed from the remoulds of 20-30 years ago.

Phil

You drive like a woman.

HTH.

Considering that these were the control tyre for the Hot Hatch race series, it's no surprise at all they only lasted 4k miles.

SteveH ( snipped-for-privacy@italiancar.co.uk) gurgled happily, sounding much like they were saying :

If I did - It's got to be an improvement on driving like a 17yo in daddy's car.

I drive as hard as is appropriate on roads open to other traffic.

Oh, and you seem to have missed this bit :-

I don't. HTH.

Stick religiously to 30, 40 and 50 limits, only put my foot down in NSLs when safe to do so.

Hard cornering wore the Yokos out in very few miles at all.

And? - for all I know that difference could be as bag as the difference between Goodyear NCT3s and NCT5s.

SteveH ( snipped-for-privacy@italiancar.co.uk) gurgled happily, sounding much like they were saying :

Have you checked the tracking? Or are the Yokos really that daft a compound? In which case - why bother with them? The benefit in usable grip can't be *that* much.

Never having driven NCT3 or 5, I don't know, but both the Pilots are good tyres - the Exaltos gave a slightly sharper turn-in, slightly tighter steering feel and a little less ultimate understeer than the Primacies, yet the Prims seem (if anything) to have slightly firmer sidewalls judging by the slightly harsher ride. Odd.

In news:Xns9567CA0551E31adrianachapmanfreeis@130.133.1.4, Adrian decided to enlighten our sheltered souls with a rant as follows

Avons are the answer :-)

Last for ages, grip well, very progressive towards the limit, and quite cheap. I need four of 'em at the moment. Not gonna be cheap in 205/40/17 though :-(

Colway, YKIMS.

V rated as well... tempting..... as long as I don't go for V-Max that is :-)