Decent cheap tires? No-name or used?

My 200SX is currently rocking Blizzaks on the 15" stock wheels. I've sourced a set of 4 16x7 Starion front wheels to put on for the summer, and I need some tires...but, holy crap, they're getting expensive these days!

I'm looking for either 205/55/16's or 225/50/16's. It looks like Tire Rack wants $340 for a set of Kumho SPT's...but I'd like to spend less than that. I seem to recall hearing that some of the "no-name" tires are actually reproductions of discontinued designs from the big companies...is there any truth to this? These tires will be seeing mostly street duty with the occasional autocross/HPDE (nothing seriously competitive though), for whatever that's worth.

Check Falken from Discount Tire Direct.

Junk yards pull goods sets and those are commonish sizes.

If you live in the right city there could well be a shop set up that sells used tires. When I was totally broke I bought good used tires in east LA and the Mission district in San Francisco.

I can neither confirm or deny that I have dumpster dived a few times at tire shops and scrounged a few good uses tires that way.

I can neither conform nor deny that Last year I found 4 brand new Kumho SPT's at a Discount Tires direct shop in 205 45 15 that were marked with "NB". I took that to mean they were manufacturered further out of balance (hence NB = No Balance) than DTD was willing to balance so they E36 M3 canned them. I can neither confirm nor deny that that set helped out a friend in need and are working just fine. I can neither confirm or deny the legality or ethical righteousness of said acts and will refer all inquiries to my attorney.

BTW I bought a set of Dunlop Direzza Star Specs that required no weight on two wheels and very very little on the other two. I was impressed.

I bought a Jetta that has 225 - ?? - 16s on it with < 1000 miles on the tires. I don't know the brand or the aspect ratio, but they're going somewhere in the next week or two. I'll be on travel next week but if this is something that interests you I'll be back.

Dan

It depends as some (good) tires still have life in them even after they are tossed, some are just used up. I have bought new "cheap" tires over the years with mixed results one set I recall were so hard the car would (no joke) skip around turns at high speeds .

E36 M3 caned them and put on some used Goodyear rubber and moved on. Take a look around tire shops in the evening (Saturday night seems to be the best or after a big sale event) as some tire guys will put ok tires on the side somewhere and hand them out to there friends ( I did this for some time).

Best of luck on both fronts as some times you will find out why someone repalced a nice looking tire (Shakes at 55 MPH been there)

Paul B

In reply to Donebrokeit:

You make very good points which spurs me to add:

The methods discussed here are not recommended for performance related intentions- In my mind these are poverty related survival methodologies, which should only be used when required, and as always with safety in mind. If a tire is crap: bubbled, out of round, super hard, bald, whatever- get rid of it. If one scrounges decent tires and still has no money, drive to conserve the vehicle and money one does not have.

Don't for the love of god buy Triangle Talons.

Do tell

93EXCivic wrote: Don't for the love of god buy Triangle Talons.

Im trying to find a set of 245/50 16s economically. I don't think anybody buy camaro and mustang guys run them and they tend to be beat to hell. I'm having better luck looking for tires still mounted up.

Stick with the 15's. they are cheaper. Used tires are a gamble. How old are they,etc. Kumho seems to be one of the least expensive,good tires. Then, what do you want from a tire. Something that will get you back and forth to work,school , or are you an autocross, track day fiend ?

Donebrokeit wrote: Do tell

93EXCivic wrote: Don't for the love of god buy Triangle Talons.

The 93 Civic I got has 17" on it. The tires are Triangle Talons. They have no grip, seem to be falling apart quickly and I barely touched a curb and it ripped a bit of rubber off the sidewalls.

Personally, I'd go with the off-brands, because you always have a warranty/shop/person to complain to, go back to if there's something wrong with the tire.

I've bought used tires, and, yes, they lasted, but in the back of my mind was, "why is this good LOOKING tire a used tire?" I did, however, buy them from a service station in an area where the avarage income is fairly high, and a "used" tire's definition might be different from yours and mine.

And some of the no-name tires are from the same manufacturers (often same production line) of the popular brands.

My 2 cents.

I'm also looking for cheap 225/50/16 or 245/50/16. I don't really know if it is all that cheaper buying a set of used tires as you'll still have to pay 80-100$ to get them balanced and mounted. It is one of those thing that makes sense if you can change tires yourself, but if you bought a nice set of rims are you going to put junk tires on them I don't know.

If you want cheap I'd stick with 15s, the 195/60/15 is the new standard size.

Sumitomo. Good tires cheap.