Cheap V.S. Expensive tires

[steppinthrax]

So I was just curious if anybody had any tire knowledge. I've had a set of real nice yokohama put on my wife's car and they are doing pretty well. My old saturn I got rid of had some wal-mart special Douglass GTs. The douglass GTs are dirt cheap but seem to do pretty well at wear. I also heard people say money is not what you want to look for in a tire because some really expensive tires have soft rubber and wear pretty quick.

How is the Uniroyal Tigerpaw Touring??

 

[NutBucket]

For "cheap" normal tires I like BF Goodrich Traction TA's. I had my dad put a set on his Camry and he's got zero complaints. I think for "regular" tires cost isn't a big deal as long as you're getting a decent tire. Personally I just would just avoid the really nameless stuff.

 

[HiTek21]

BF Goodrich Traction T/As are good tires for the money. I have a set on my Acura and no complaints. Great Treads 440 for my 205/60/R15 H, Good traction in the rain, quiet ride, and about $65 per tire

 

[Scouzer]

I love my Nokian WR's... only tire I will use on any car again.

They aren't very good if you don't live where there's snow, though.

 

[b3av3r]

The amount of miles you get out of the tire is not an indication of how good a tire you have. Softer rubber compounds are typically used in tires where performance is more important over mileage and they do wear much quicker.

An exaggerated example would be the Wal-Mart specials my grandparents put on their Buick which probably get close to 75,000 miles or more compared to the drag radials I use to buy for my car and I would be lucky if I got 15,000 miles out of them, driving "easy". The drag radials are made out of a much softer compound and make launches much, much stronger but at the expense of high mileage.

 

[Zenmervolt]

Originally posted by: steppinthrax
I also heard people say money is not what you want to look for in a tire because some really expensive tires have soft rubber and wear pretty quick.

Soft rubber = high grip = fast wear

Hard rubber = slow wear = poor grip

Expensive tires wear out fast because they grip the road almost infinitely better. I personally avoid really cheap tires because they tend to have rock-hard rubber compounds and have piss-poor grip.

The Traction T/A tires that others have mentioned are a good option.

ZV

 

[LordMorpheus]

I read the customer comments at tirerack before I bought my tires. Wound up with Yokohamas. I was going to replace in kind (Michelin), but those tires were MUCH more expensive, and were rated lower than the yokohamas in the following categories: traction, wear, noise, bad weather traction.

Kind of a no-brainer. Only downside is I couldn't get the yokohamas with a pinstripe.

 

[thomsbrain]

It really depends on what characteristics you are looking for. those expensive soft tires provide far more traction, which improves your car's performance and safety. but yes, soft tires wear quickly.

if all you care about is saving money, then a cheap tire is better "value." but those cheap tires could mean you are one day unable to avoid an accident that could have been avoided with better tires.

i used to buy yokohamas but they redesigned the tire i bought and it was terrible afterwards, with poor grip and poor tracking. these days i look for Dunlop, Pirelli, or Michelin, none of which have ever burned me.