The Ever Topical Tyre

[Wilbury]

Hi All,
I am wondering if onyone has had experience of the far eastern tyre brands that are ever on the rise.
I myself have used Federal and Kuhmo on my car and find them a very good balance between price and quality.
the Kuhmo are better and I rate as good as the "known" european brands. There are a few other mid qualty oriental brands which are also popular but my enquiry is realy about the host of realy cheap brands with peculiar names.
Are they as bad as I suspect?
Rgds

 

[ProfJohnL]

That rather depends on your definition of 'Bad'

All new tyres sold in the EU must conform to a number of different standards, so in that respect they should all do what they're supposed to do. The standards apply to the well known brands also, so its not so much the eastern tyres are bad, its more the known brands may be better in some respects.

You may think that European brands will be more carefully manufactured, but if you check your tyres you may be surprised to find that even some of the most expensive brands are now manufactured over seas, and it wouldn't surprise me to find the same factory producing expensive Euro brands along side their own low cost alternatives.

 

[Wilbury]

Hi Prof John,
I do see the point you are making but i now find myself wondering if you do, would, or ever have used any of these ultra
cheepo far eastern tyres on your car or caravan.
I know I would not.
Very occasionally one of these types gets included in a group test and they invariably come out a very second best.
Usually on wet grip and wear. There is of course a definate market for such budget tyres for those requiring something for town use or very importantly to simply save money, and who could argue against that.
Rgds.

 

[ProfJohnL]

To answer your first part, Yes I have use the cheapest tyre I could find on trailers and caravans. In terms of grip, because the trailer is always being pulled by the tow vehicle the duty on the tyre tread markedly different to that of of the car where both power and steering is being pushed through the tyre. The only time the grip aspect really comes into play is under hard braking, when I have to say that I have had no problems with the low cost tyres to date.

Of all the caravan tyre related issues that have been discussed on the thread over the last 9 years, I don't recall any forum contributor actually complaining about the lack of grip of the caravans tyres.

Tyre wear is minimal on trailers and caravans unless the axle alignment is out or the brakes do not fully release, both of which are maintenance issues. I haven't personally suffered any issue with caravan tyres, but about a year ago there were several threads relating to a certain make and model of tyre loosing its tread. Since then no further reports have been made, so that looks like a batch related manufacturing issue rather than a fundamental design flaw.

Because caravan tyres generally do not wear out, they usually time expire first ( 7 years tops) why spend out twice the cost on tyre that will not offer any significant benefit?

Again its a matter of perspective, and horses for courses, low cost tyres may not have all the performance of more expensive tyres in the context of cars, so whilst they may be to quote your phrase "Second Best" that does not mean they're not up to the job of carrying a trailer or caravan within all the normal safety parameters.

All too often people opt for the traditional approach rather than thinking the issue through and evaluating the information in the context of where its being applied.

 

[Wilbury]

Thanks, a well balanced post.
Rgds