Cheap Tires?

Long story short, our new 350Z Project Car came with cheap tires on it. They're "EP Tyres Accelera PHI2," whatever that means. And honestly, they don't completely suck.

This got me thinking–are there any cheap tire brands that are actually worthwhile? I understand that there's a reason people buy name brand tires, but are they really worth the sometimes-huge cost difference? Could I get 80% of the performance for 50% of the money?

I like my General Altimax HPs, most people I recommend them to do too. Tirerack reviews/surveys agree. Very cheap compared to the competition.

I've also been pleasantly surprised by my General Atimax HP's as well.

Sumitumo and or Kumho

/thread

I just sent back a complete set of Michelin Primacy MXV4s. WORST set of tires I have ever owned. Not sure if they had defective plys or Michelin wants their tires to squirm like a melted marshmallow. So even name brand popular tires don't guarantee performance/quality.

I am about to try out Federal SS-595s on the Scirocco so we will see how that goes

Although I wouldn't call them No-Name tires, Hankooks give great bang for the buck as DD duty tires.

I bought as set for one of my SAABs, about six months later the car was wrecked, I pulled the tires off and gave them to my brother in law for his Mazda 626. He drives for a living, and put atleast 60k miles on them. And could have done more if not for worn out front suspension chewing them up.

I like off-brand tire names because they entertain me.

My favorites came on my friend's '72 Dodge D100 pickup. They are cheap whitewall tires called "American Deluxe Classic LX". It's like the makers of the tire just crammed a bunch of words that would make some poor schlub think they were a quality prduct. The LX at the end slays me, LOL.

A close second for me would be the Nexen "Roadian" off road tires. What the hell is a Roadian? Sounds like an Atari 2600 game or something.

Bought a set of the General Altimax HPs for the Volvo, as they were about $70 cheaper than the next cheapest tire. They seem fine, though they haven't been tested much because the front end is still such a mess.

Not really a brand X, but they were the cheapest option for me at the time. I really like my Nitto NT-05's on my RX-8. They were reasonably priced for a 19" tire. I have > 200 track miles and about 7K total on them and can get several hundred more out of them. I was going to get them again, but found RE-11's on closeout on Tirerack for $148 each :)

I ran two sets of Fuzion ZRi's on the Mustang when they still made the size I wanted. Great (really great) dry grip, decent in the rain, very predictable breakaway, and decent wear. Not bad for $100 ea.

Another vote for General Altimax HP's. They make my MPV handle like a Porsche! Well, at least my wife is always telling me I think the MPV is a Porsche...

Once tried some Kelly tires. They were awful. Lasted about 10k miles of casual use.

For the funniest tires, you cant beat Triangles. http://www.triangletire.com/ I had a very short lived 98 Bonneville with one of these on it, it seemed to spin more in snow than the old Tigerpaw on the other drive wheel.

In reply to ultraclyde:

Fuzion is a Bridgestone brand so I would expect them to be good. I came close to buying a set before getting a screaming deal on a set of Generals.

In reply to Kenny_McCormic:

I was gonna mention the Triangles! They are funny too.

Kenny_McCormic wrote: I like my General Altimax HPs, most people I recommend them to do too. Tirerack reviews/surveys agree. Very cheap compared to the competition.

Another vote for the Altimax HP. Wife's Taurus is currently riding on a set of them.

I think our ideas of "off brand" are different from those of the general public. They think of tires as Goodyear, Firestone, Michelin, etc. Whereas to the autocross/track day crowd, brands like Kuhmo, Hankook, Falken, and Toyo are common. You mention those brands to Joe Average and he will assume they are some kind of cheapo low-quality thing because they don't run as many TV ads and haven't been around in this market for 100 years.

These are all great ideas, but too "upmarket" for what I have in mind. What about brands that you wouldn't be caught dead driving on? Brands I've never heard of.

Though I must admit–Triangle Tires is pretty funny.

I'd be quite interested in an off-brand comparison test against a known benchmark. The Cooper RS3, the Primewell PZ9000, that sort of thing. You could add some uber-cheapies, too, just for giggles.

most of the cheap federals suck. the 595 has been ploeasantly suprizing though.

the avons on my elky suck like the vacuum of space. i will NEVER buy another set of fuzions, or of sumitomos, or pep-boys tires. i forget pep-boys brand name for good reason. these three were the worst investment i have EVER made (more than the $28 cadillac), and were removed from the car shortly after they were installed. i have run plenty of nexens, kumhos, falkens, bfg, dunlop, federals (only liked the 595), and a set of phaser's. those phasers really shocked me.....

What you guys consider off-brand and what I do are very different.

For DD-duty, in most cases round and black are sufficient.

In Canada, I have had good luck with Canadian Tire Motomaster brand. Most of them are made by the big mnaufacturer's anyway (Goodyear, General, Michelin).

When we bought my wife's Cabriolet, we made the used car dealer throw in a set of tires - they are Haida's. They only have been on the car for 2 weeks so far, so I have nothing to report. On-line reviews are not bad.

I have heard that Sailun's are actually pretty good.

The Subie ran this winter on Wanli Winter Challengers and I was quite happy with them.

SilverFleet wrote: A close second for me would be the Nexen "Roadian" off road tires. What the hell is a Roadian? Sounds like an Atari 2600 game or something.

Rodian:

Fuzion HRi: Absolutely the WORST tire I've owned this side of a General Ameritrak. Lasted forever though. 40k miles of horrific road noise, terrible wet traction, mediocre dry traction and terrible snow traction. This on a car with 90hp at the flywheel.

Mastercraft: OK, this one does beat out the HRi, but I didn't buy them they came on a set of wheels at the time for free. Terrible tire in every sense of the word. About the only thing they did mediocre was hold air..... and one of them had a slow leak.

Kumho's A/S tires I've been running for years. IMO, they're about the best bang for hte buck. Stay away from the "performance" all season and stick with the normal stuff.

+1 for Fuzions being absolutely berkeleying horrible.

The SC has Sumitomos on it. I've been pretty happy with them. I'd buy them again. 10K miles so far.

The truck has Mastercraft tires on it. They are reasonably priced, black, round and hold air. It's a one ton truck it's going to ride bad and handle like crap no matter what you put on it. 3000 miles so far.

My work van has Hankooks on it, I love them. Quiet, good ride, and long lasting. I've put about 25K on them so far. I'll probably be putting another set on one of my other vans soon.

I had a set of Nexen Rodians on one of the other work vans. They were OK, but had horrible ride quality. They might as well been made out of wood.

All the Kuhmos I've ever had sucked. Out of two sets, I had two separate in the tread, and two bubble in the sidewall. A failure rate of 50% is ridiculous. Never again.

Toyman01 wrote: All the Kuhmos I've ever had sucked. Out of two sets, I had two separate in the tread, and two bubble in the sidewall. A failure rate of 50% is ridiculous. Never again.

I say that about every Toyo I've ever owned. The Proxes T-1R was completely underwhelming, and the Spectrum has to be the worst tire ever made. Even the Barium Barumbulums on John's RX-7 were better than the Spectrums.

The minivan has Kumho SPTs on it and in terms of quality, they really aren't that great. While they're miles better than the Lincoln Town Car tires (no joke) that came as OE they do have a few flaws. The rubber has become like a cheap Chinese eraser over time even though the tires are under 3 years old and the tired have bizarre wear patterns. On the tread their are dozens of "slashes" in no discernible pattern. It is almost like splicing but they are much smaller (and less deap) and at varrying angles.