Budget or premium?

[paxterg]

I have to replace the front tyres on my A4, 225/50 R17's. Is it worthwhile paying the hefty extra price tag for the premium tyres?

[Magnet]

Hello Lavelle,

This is very much a personal choice, but it is alway a temptation to buy budget tyres which give you the same amount of tread for far less money than premium brands.

Perhaps two points to consider:- the 'performance' of budget vs premium? Budget tyres are highly unlikely to provide the same degree of road holding or braking performance, and that difference might, just might be critical at some point in the future. Worth the risk?

Life of budget vs premium? My belief is that the general rule of thumb is that you will not get the same mileage out of budget, so miles per £ in the end run may not make these the economic buy they are thought to be.

For me, I tend to go with premium brands at best prices. No recommendation here since they are yet to be proved, but I have just put a pair of Continental Premium Contact 5 on the A3 and these 16 inch cost me £68 each fully fitted. Perhaps I could have got budget for upper £40s but....

No doubt you will get a variety of responses. 

Kind regards,

Gareth.

 

[Mark R1]

I totally agree with Gareth on this one. The only thing keeping you on the road is your tyres. You can't put a price on safety and with the number of online tyre sites fighting for your business there is no need to pay huge money. I often find the best online price and take a print out to my local tyre shop who price match. I personally like Michelin but saying that my current A3 came from new with Hankook with AO fitment and my tyre dealer suggested I keep to these as they have been designed for the car. 

Good luck with your choice

[WPAWS]

36 minutes ago, Mark R1 said:

I often find the best online price and take a print out to my local tyre shop who price match

i never thought of that, i always find cheaper performance tyres online but when i throw in getting a local tyre place the fit them they charge about £25 per tyre to fit so have not really saved as much as i thought

[Steve Q]

I always buy known brands from my local tyre shop. I always think it's the tyres keeping me on the road and is the only contact your car has to the road. 

[David Martin]

A definition of Premium and Budget is needed to answer this question with accuracy and clarity. Would you consider Hankook or Kumho to be Budget or Premium? Both are  / have been fitted as standard to new cars such as BMW and VW.

Look on independent comparison sites for information about dry grip, wet grip, energy efficiency, noise etc and use the information available to help you make informed choices.

[Adbro]

AutoExpress do tyre comparison tests from time to time. Check out the results. Very interesting...http://www.autoexpress.co.uk/accessories-tyres/92873/all-season-tyre-test-20172018-results-by-category

[Magnet]

Good question David, but of course, tyres are indeed not just categorised under 'budget' or 'premium'. Throughout my motoring life, the tyre trade has also used the term 'mid range' into which I would  have categorised the two brands you mention. 

Manufacturers can and do use, what the aftermarket tyre retailers, would refer to as mid range, but my understanding is that they place specifications ( for volume purchases)  on the tyre manufacturers which may exceed that of their aftermarket equivalent. In other words, your like for like purchased-from-tyre-retailer tyre may not perform as well as the tyres originally fitted. 

A similar situation applies to batteries fitted at manufacture (say Varta) where the original may well last for 10 years, but you would be very lucky to get the same service life from an 'aftermarket' battery to the same characteristics from the same manufacturer. 

Kind regards,

Gareth.

[Nizpatel]

Yes. All day long. Or a mid-range tyre with decent ratings. 

[Kevlarski]

There are 3 things that I will not go budget on and that is Tyres, Brakes and Fuel (probably more than this but these are the 3 things that spring to mind).  The first 2 are responsible for keeping me on the road in one piece.  Mid to high range is always my choice in these areas.  The fuel is a personal choice to keep my engine running well and hopefully reduce maintenance but I see the Tyres and Brakes as keeping me alive.  Don't budget too heavily on those if you can.  View review sites for your car as you may find something that works for another car is not great for yours.

[Nacnud]

Michelin Alpine winter tyres on my E Class Merc gave me 41.5k miles on the rear, still not on wear bars when I got a puncture and decided to change them. It will be Michelin Cross Climates going on my Q5 when the tyres need changed. Same with fuel, I only use supermarket fuel when I’m stuck and notice a difference in consumption and smoothness of running. I normally use the “standard” Shell, BP or Esso, haven’t tried the premium fuel.

[niedzial1983]

I have always used premium before but... last march my mot failed due to tyres , i have 255/35/19 and got quoted just shy of £1000... i went to a local garage who said they have budget tyers £300 inc fitting balance etc. I went for it and i was supprised. They are very quiet, great in wet, wear after 1 year is minimum. Very happy :) even if they will last half the milage of premium tyers its still more cost effective than spending £1k

[Nizpatel]

What brand tyres are these mate?

[Kevlarski]

£1000 seems excessive.  I was quoted £160 for Goodyear Eagle F1 asymmetric (£640 for 4) they seem to get good reviews for my car (S4) so that was going to be my next set to try.  Sometimes you can find a real gem in the budget range though and it sounds like you might have.

[niedzial1983]

1 hour ago, Nizpatel said:

What brand tyres are these mate?

Excelon 

[redrook]

I run 225/45/17 on my car and always go for Michelin Crossclimate. Believe they hype, they are literally the best tyre ever made. I'm in the Scottish highlands most of the winter and have seen it all in the last few years, never even come close to being stuck or even sliding really. I paid £440 for a set, and replaced the fronts recently for about £120 each at Kwik Fit. They lasted at least 15k miles before needing replaced, probably more I wasn't keeping track.

There's always the temptation to go super cheap, but since I've started putting decent tyres on my cars I notice a difference.It's a thin piece of rubber between you and the world, so I don't skimp on it anymore.