Tyres.... advice

kg648 · 3 Apr 2015 at 16:02

Hi all,

I have a 2002 Ford Ka with 45k miles on, just passed it's MOT with no advisories, I love the car great run around, need to do quite a bit of motorway driving over the next few years.

Hopefully keep it for a few years yet and run it in to the ground, it's in great condition and I love it, never let us down since new.

currently has 4 completely different budget tyres on it.

Would I be completely stupid by "upgrading" the tyres? concerns after reading around the cheaper tyres from a safety point of view. would I gain any benefits in "performance/handling"? etc

Realistically to change the tyres I am looking at around £200 from what I have seen so far (this is fitted) looking at pricing. (car is worth £600)

Existing tyres have around 4mm on them.

Any help would be appreciated.

Thank you.

bledd · 3 Apr 2015 at 16:04

Size?

Having mixed tyres is worse than having 4x equally poor tyres. Well worth getting decent tyres all round to suit the car. Will feel better, handle better and will be safer.

kg648 · 3 Apr 2015 at 16:05

oops! 155/70 R13 75T

bledd · 3 Apr 2015 at 16:07

Good news, I don't think it's possible to spend over £200 in that size

Something like this would be perfect.

http://www.blackcircles.com/catalog...55&profile=70&rim=R13&speed=Any&tyre=32382755

kg648 · 3 Apr 2015 at 16:08

bledd. said:
Good news, I don't think it's possible to spend over £200 in that size

Something like this would be perfect.

http://www.blackcircles.com/catalogue/goodyear/efficientgrip-compact/155/70/R13/T/75/m?returnurl=%2forder%2ftyres%3f%26width%3d155%26profile%3d70%26rim%3dR13%26speed%3dAny&tyre=32382755

Ha - correct but that price is ex-fitting isn't it?

seems around here it's £15 per corner even at independent garages which makes Kwik Fit cheaper and brings it up to £200 total(ish).

bledd · 3 Apr 2015 at 16:13

Do you have a regular garage? Around here, it's more like £0-20 for all 4

Kuros · 3 Apr 2015 at 20:38

To be honest, I'd just go to a local tyre shop and find out how much budget tyres are. On a car that old, I would say that mid/high range tyres isn't going to make all that much difference, certainly from a ride handling point of view. I'm only going from my experience of my old 2001 106, however, so I can only give my own thoughts. From a safety point of view, having new tyres, regardless of make, will be better than 4 non-matching brands.

Iamzod · 3 Apr 2015 at 20:43

Kuros said:
having new tyres, regardless of make, will be better than 4 non-matching brands.

Not really, try a set of Sagitar P307's, they were worse than the heavily worn tyres I took off, I ended up binning them with about 6mm tread left as they were shockingly bad in the wet.

snapdragon69 · 3 Apr 2015 at 22:11

Iamzod said:
Not really, try a set of Sagitar P307's, they were worse than the heavily worn tyres I took off, .

I think kuros meant more predictable. If you have 4 mixed tyres it's not until you need them that the car will lose control.

unrealrocks · 3 Apr 2015 at 22:22

I would always recommend matching tyres and using a decent brand (Michelin, Goodyear, Continental) no matter what the car or situation - you never know when you will need to stop or deal with water on the road. You only have to watch one of the many comparisons like below,

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CiQnbLWiw4c

When I've bought cars previously they have come with questionable brands (my ST arrived came with 'Hero' tyres at just under 3mm) and they are generally fairly hilarious when you put some higher quality rubber on!

jono_astra · 3 Apr 2015 at 22:23

Akagi · 3 Apr 2015 at 22:27

I recently bought a pair of these: http://www.tyreleader.co.uk/car-tyres/uniroyal/rainexpert-3/155-70-r13-75t-79925

They seem like good tyres for the price, they were recommended to me in another thread.

Mine are 185:60:14

miniyazz · 3 Apr 2015 at 22:27

In that size the best available tyres are about £5 more expensive than the budget tyres so doesn't seem worth getting cheap ones, IMO.

Akagi · 3 Apr 2015 at 22:30

miniyazz said:
In that size the best available tyres are about £5 more expensive than the budget tyres so doesn't seem worth getting cheap ones, IMO.

Indeed, in fact, if you want to cheap out, I can see Falken Sincera's for £25 each. While they aren't exactly the best tyres in the world, they will be better than something like LingLong(TimeToStop)'s.

Orionaut · 3 Apr 2015 at 22:34

kg648 said:
Hi all,

I have a 2002 Ford Ka with 45k miles on, just passed it's MOT with no advisories, I love the car great run around, need to do quite a bit of motorway driving over the next few years.

................

Hopefully keep it for a few years yet and run it in to the ground, it's in great condition and I love it, never let us down since new.

................

(car is Worth £600)

As an aside,

Classic bad logic error!

Car is NOT "Worth" £600!

It is "worth" what it would cost to replace it!

Which is actually likely to be considerably more than £600!

(Especially in your case by all accounts)

Get the tyres, (and anything else that might be needed) and enjoy many more years of low cost motoring.

Akagi · 3 Apr 2015 at 22:40

Orionaut said:
Get the tyres, (and anything else that might be needed) and endure many more years of owning a Ford Ka.

FTFY

Orionaut · 3 Apr 2015 at 22:57

Acme said:
FTFY

It is easy to sneer, but KA's are actually reasonably solid little cars if you are not too fussed about having the latest BMW or whatever.

Early ones were a bit rust prone but in the main they are reliable and easily maintained.

Somebody who already owns and is happy with a low mileage KA, even a 12 year old one, as long as it is in good condition, would have no reason not to expect many more years life from it.

And that is "Worth" far more than £600!

Akagi · 3 Apr 2015 at 23:03

I'm sure they are solid little cars, I just find them hateful. Merely my own personal opinion.

Orionaut · 3 Apr 2015 at 23:09

Acme said:
I'm sure they are solid little cars, I just find them hateful. Merely my own personal opinion.

I rather like large capacity, low specific performance, diesels (LC80 4.2TD, VW T4 2.4)

(And V12 jags when I can get them)

For some reason, some people find them hateful too!

Can't imagine why!