Tires - issue and question

[jamiez]

Guys!

So who can figure this one out....

I got hold of some p zero rossos from a mate who was selling his 325ci - they were almost new all round and he was chopping his car in so we swapped tires 225/40/18 front and 255/35/18 rear - standard.

All was good until around september time when a rear was completly flat one morning. i was stupid and drove <0.5 miles to the local garage to inflate hoping this would tire me over until i got the puncture fixed. it bided me over alright - and in doing so i wrecked the tire wall, so that meant new tire time. £160 for a new rosso on one rear corner. so that meant that tire had 8mm tread and the other at that time roughly 4mm.

Mid november and i notice that the 4mm tire is down to 1.6mm and needs to be replaced so i go about searching for a 2nd hand tire as my assumption was that the other side would be scrubbed down a bit and this approach would even wear out until they were both shot and replace them together...

now the strange bit - BOTH tires are below 1.6 when i last checked (i lost of my locking wheel nut so couldnt change the tire which i wanted to)

How could this have happened????

So i have a 5mm rosso in my boot and im searching for another with similar tread...

Anyway, so whilst searching around for part worns, i found that a BRAND NEW 255/35/18 "Primewell PZ 900" tire is £64.51 delivered so call it £75 fitted!

http://www.camskill.co.uk/products.php?plid=m61b1124s22p0

Versus our forum favourite Falken 452 which is £120 fitted in equivilance - almost double the price......

Now - ive had a few cars and tried different tires and experienced some shockers, but in doing my research for this tire i struggled to find any bad reviews (although there were not many). Yes they are chinese and are a subbrand of Firestone...

Any real world reviews?
I did a search and one 1 thread came back which was not detailed

Thanks
Jamie

 

[aquazi]

how many miles have you covered? in the space of a 2 months assuming you have done the 3K miles i cant see how the new the rear would have lost 6.4mm.. unless you have been doing some very harsh driving. Although i had some rossos in my old celica.. and mine turned 50p shaped with flat spots... so maybe yours has done the same.. and you were measuring it from a flat spot?

Also its interesting that you had a 4mm difference across the same axle.. thats a 8mm diameter difference... i would have though that would have tripped your flat tyre sensor? Maybe something to do with the TC caused excess wear on the new tyre :?

I've nerver heard of Primewell.. however a quick google and your quite right no bad reviews!! one guy on the M3 forum had them and actually said they performed better in the wet the T1R - which is pretty impressive!

 

[mmm-five]

I've nerver heard of Primewell.. however a quick google and your quite right no bad reviews!! one guy on the M3 forum had them and actually said they performed better in the wet the T1R - which is pretty impressive!

I wonder how many people buy something utterly crap and then insist they're brilliant purely to stop themselves from looking like mugs for buying them in the first place?

I remember doing something similar when I did the Pistonheads tyre test on my e34 M5. It was only after 15,000 mile when I decided to swap the ancient lowering springs & rock hard dampers for something more civilised, that I noticed the tyres that I thought had excellent grip had now become ditch finders. It was my alignment guy who told me why - the old suspension had been set up to -2.5 degrees camber instead of the standard 1.25, so it was making the ditch finders punch above their weight.

If nothing else, it shows how important proper alignment setting can be to a car's handling, and may be why some owners (of all makes of cars) don't find budget tyres that bad.

 

[aquazi]

I've nerver heard of Primewell.. however a quick google and your quite right no bad reviews!! one guy on the M3 forum had them and actually said they performed better in the wet the T1R - which is pretty impressive!

I wonder how many people buy something utterly crap and then insist they're brilliant purely to stop themselves from looking like mugs for buying them in the first place?

Very true.

Also no professional reviews imo i would steer clear of them.. esp at that price point, i've had cheapo budget tyres in the past (when i was p/x my car) and they were quite frankly not road worthy.

 

[mmm-five]

About the 'cheapest' tyres I would consider in this size would be the Maragoni Mythos, the Kumho Ecsta Sport KU31, Falken 452, or the Hankook S1 Evo.

However, they're all £100 plus.

Think of it this way...do you drive around everywhere at 30mph on light throttle just to save a few pounds a week on petrol? If so, go for the budget tyre as you won't need the extra performance any other tyre can provide. However, if you do push on sometimes, then you're probably spending more in extra petrol then you will on some decent tyres - which are the only things connecting your car to the road.

 

[AlanJ]

I put SqNB tyres at £30 a corner on mine (got them from a car boot sale) fantastic in a straight line - now just waiting for the insurance assessor to assess the damage. Can’t understand it, brand new tyres, it was only slightly wet on the road but when I went to turn a corner….. . You get what you pay for and as the only contact with the road surface you and your car has is through the tyres go for the best you can afford.


Oh SqNB – Slip quick No Brakes, well known brand in China!

 

[Robb]

The kumho ku31 are really good, had plenty of quick miles on them now and would buy again.