I need 4 new tyres so going to have to be fairly cheap, cant afford Michelin! Anyway the tyres are 175/65 R14
I've read that Vredestein are quite good in wet conditions, anyone know what their wear rate is like?
what sort of mileage per yr? type of driving - local, motorway, solo driving or full of passenger etc would help workout possibilities. TOYO are good, i like them
Vredestein's aren't 'quite good' in the wet, they have been tested in all the important wet performance parameters (handling/braking/aquaplaning) by Auto Express and come 1st or 2nd every year. They're rated very good in the dry as well, but aren't budget tyres and usually have to be ordered, I thought of getting them last tyre change but the first two places I rang hadn't heard of them so I gave up. Auto Express never test wear rate though, unfortunately. Michelin are well down the (wet) list every time by the way.
The best value for money is Kumho , they are good on grip and wear and priced at budget tyre prices.
They are brilliant in the wet. I have 185/65R14 HI-Tracs but they were about £50 each fitted. Not what I call a budget tyre!
Dunno about the wear rate yet, they've only been on a month or two.
My local garage supplies Vredestein, and I have used them for the last few years on Citroen BX's Xantia and a Mercedes, the price is good , they last well and I find them excellent in the wet. In fact that's what sold me on them, when I put them on a BX, the first day I drove on them the roads were wet and flooded and I was very impressed with the grip and directional stability, they also seem to be quite pothole proof. I am off tomorrow to replace two front ones on my Xantia after 20,000 miles on the front, (I don't hang about!!) infact they have enough wear left to put one on as a 'get you home spare'
Des
My local garage supplies Vredestein, and I have used them for the last few years on Citroen BX's Xantia and a Mercedes, the price is good , they last well and I find them excellent in the wet. In fact that's what sold me on them, when I put them on a BX, the first day I drove on them the roads were wet and flooded and I was very impressed with the grip and directional stability, they also seem to be quite pothole proof. I am off tomorrow to replace two front ones on my Xantia after 20,000 miles on the front, (I don't hang about!!) infact they have enough wear left to put one on as a 'get you home spare'
Des
You don't say what speed rating so working with H rating,
However, I've found that some tyres work better on certain cars in certain sizes compared with others. For example, the Firestone F700s (or something like this) worked well on our Ka in 165/60/14 but didn't work well on the Focii (!) we had on the fleet. Check that the test data is on a similar car (!) in a similar size... otherwise your mileage may vary.
As others have intimated, Vredestein are reputed to be the dogs' danglies in the wet. I've found Falkens to have good longevity and adequate performance, Continentals have performed well in every respect but have been a bit dear to buy.
I am also looking for 175/65 R14 of T rating. I suspect yours are of T rating too. To get a feel of the good, the bad, and the ugly among the confusing multitudes of manufacturers and models, I have found this interesting web site very useful. It has credited with more credence because here is a collection of professional test reviews published since
2001. It is not an easy read for some of the reports are contradicting to one another! Now, if you have loads of patience and time....
Every tyre these days has a traction and wear rating - a 200 wear rated tyre should last twice as long as a 100 rated tyre. ...but this is derived from some kind of standard test and your mileage may vary.
The wear rate can be useful in an abstract way. If the wear rating is 150 then the tyres could be very grippy at the expense of a 6,000 mile life.
The message from snipped-for-privacy@yahoo.co.uk contains these words:
Trouble is - it's hard to get hold of the figures until after you've bought the tyre and can read it on the side!
They're all pretty cheap in that size. What's your budget? Toyo CF1 is a good budget performance tyre (about £45-50 each fitted).
Personally I have never found a tyre better than Goodyear Eagle F1, but it's not available in that particular size. They can be had in
185/60R14 (same rolling diameter) for about £50 each fitted. Some tyre places make out they're discontinued, but they aren't. The tread pattern also looks very cool indeed ;-)
Pay £28.40 + fitting for a Nankang ! you will not get a tyre fitted for less than £8 +vat at any of Mytyre's listed fitting centers ( I am one, so I know) so you will be paying around £40 for a budget. 175 / 65 / 14 82H Budget cost £14+vat / Continental £19 / Uniroyal £21.50 / Michelin £27 , Go haggle.
Are Avon tyres still decent? I notice that National Tyres are doing them half price at the moment, which makes the size I'm after just 22.50. Mind you, they're right bastards for advertising stuff they don't have in stock, so I can predict what'll happen if I try to actually buy any.
I have never rated Avon, what size tyre are National doing for £22.50 ? . That has to be a blag or they are just ditching old stock.
Avon tyres at national tyres are UP TO half price and prices exc. valves and balancing but 175/70 TR 14 £54.00 now £27.00 or 175/70 TR 13 £49.00 £24.50 seem o.,k. depending on age/type of tyre.
155 70 13 Except I've just checked and found I need 155 80 13s instead. Doh! They are 25 quid each. Still reasonable, so I gave 'em a call. They have 2 in stock, but guess what, they want a tenner each for fitting. So they can take a running jump, the cheeky sods.
£35 each fitted is not that bad for Avon's, my supplier does not have any Avon in that size but Firestone cost £13 +vat /Uniroyal £14 /Goodyear or Pirelli£15 , so £35 all in is about right for National. It's not really a special offer though, smaller companies would beat that price every day.
That's what I thought. OK, but not worth going out of my way for. Thanks for the confirmation.
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