My car currently has 1 Westlake, 1 Riken, 1 Seibreingen (something like that) and 1 Strada (thankfully all) 175/70/RT13 fitted to it. Whilst I am not too bothered about having performance tyres for dry grip I do consider using 4 different tyre brands on a vehicle is a bit of a piss take

I would like to put some decent safe tyres on that aren't going to throw up any unwanted surprises on track days and road rallies.

So I'm looking for a set of 175/70/R13 speed rating T or higher, here's the list of what I can get from etyres (though I could use anybody), in order of ascending price.

Firestone Multihawk
Toyo 350
Pirelli P3000
Continental Eco Contact 3
Goodyear Duragrip
Dunlop SP30
Michelin Energy E3B
Bridgestone B250
Toyo F8

My main concerns about the tyres are their performance in the wet, something which cheap tyres performed horrendously badly at compared with Continentals in a recent Autocar test. If there isn't a lot in it the Toyo tyres are probably the most desirable because I should be able to get them cheaply. I haven't really been able to find much in the way of a proper comparison of tyres on the web, surely somebody must have done one somewhere?

It'd be pretty hard to find some good high performance tyres in those sizes and they're really.. wierd.

Just go for the cheapest set you can find, as one brand is unlikely to give you much more than another.

Try blackcircles.com

If you PM me your email address I can refer you so we both get a discount

Although, as S14 said, 13" performance tyres aren't all that common. I got 2 Falken's for £71 including fitting - those were teeny little 13-inchers. I went for the balance of brand name against price though.

Quote from S14 DRIFT :

It'd be pretty hard to find some good high performance tyres in those sizes and they're really.. wierd.

Just go for the cheapest set you can find, as one brand is unlikely to give you much more than another.

That is totally wrong, in the Autocar test (28/1/09) the Continental Premium 2 stopped a Golf from 50mph whilst the cheapest budget tyre was still traveling at 27.8mph, I think most people would rather take the extra £80 or so for a set of tyres than hit something at that speed. I am not after ultra high performance tyres, just simply a nice safe set of tyres that will be predictable and give safe amounts of grip in the wet without costing the earth. I wouldn't want ultra high performance tyres because they are not suitable on grounds of cost, wear rates, overloading standard components, having too specialised a tread pattern that would only be any good in the dry/wet/snow/off road, I really want something that does all of those reasonably well.

Quote from Dajmin :

Try blackcircles.com

The prices certainly make it look tempting

Quote :

Although, as S14 said, 13" performance tyres aren't all that common.

13" high performance tyres are common, it is the low end of the high performance market/ridiculously low profile tyres that are missing because the idiots who like to have stupidly low profile tyres also like big rims. Toyo R888s are available in 13" and A048/A032 (175/70/R13 is one of the five sizes Yokohama list for the A032Rs).

There are many cars with 13 inch wide 13 inch diameter wheels. 13" is probably the most common size of wheel ever.

So it was just the fact I had to change a tyre you were laughing at then, not the dinky little wheels on my car?

Decided I really need some better tyres before I take it on a rally on Friday so have ordered Continentals at £45 each from my local tyre place.

I've had Pirelli P3000 tires, i thought they were quite good. Good price, not too much noise and good grip in rain.
Now i have four dirt cheap tires, CAET or something like that. They're horrible, and they weren't even that much cheaper than those P3000 tires. Even my mum managed to pull away with wheelspin at a traffic light.

Quote from Dajmin :

So it was just the fact I had to change a tyre you were laughing at then, not the dinky little wheels on my car?

Yup! And the fact you had wheel nuts that didn't fit the toolkit! You'll be screwed if it happens when nobody is there with alternative tools!

Quote from tristancliffe :

Yup! And the fact you had wheel nuts that didn't fit the toolkit! You'll be screwed if it happens when nobody is there with alternative tools!

That nut is the only odd one out of the 16 on the car. I need to replace it at some point. Well remembered.
But I should just have left the damn tyre alone. It would probably have been fine all the way home. Stupid valve. But it's gone now, hopefully either repaired or awaiting some unsuspecting fool in the garage right now. Mwa ha ha haaaa!

Quote from ajp71 :

That is totally wrong, in the Autocar test (28/1/09) the Continental Premium 2 stopped a Golf from 50mph whilst the cheapest budget tyre was still traveling at 27.8mph, I think most people would rather take the extra £80 or so for a set of tyres than hit something at that speed. I am not after ultra high performance tyres, just simply a nice safe set of tyres that will be predictable and give safe amounts of grip in the wet without costing the earth. I wouldn't want ultra high performance tyres because they are not suitable on grounds of cost, wear rates, overloading standard components, having too specialised a tread pattern that would only be any good in the dry/wet/snow/off road, I really want something that does all of those reasonably well.

I didn't mean budget tyre.. I meant the cheapest of the "big brand" ones.

Quote from S14 DRIFT :

It'd be pretty hard to find some good high performance tyres in those sizes and they're really.. wierd.

Just go for the cheapest set you can find, as one brand is unlikely to give you much more than another.

you would be really surprised, rubber can make a massive difference.

AJP, are you a member on OCUK? post in this forum: http://forums.overclockers.co.uk/forumdisplay.php?f=14, they are likely to give you very good advice. Indeed, there is a topic running just now on the first page about relatively budget tyres, the falken Fk452's apparently rank very highly, as do the conti's.

No, I understand that tyres have a HUGE impact, I have the same issue with bikes

Just that when you're buying a "Continental" or a "Pirelli", there won't be a HUGE HUGE difference, as there is between, say, a "Continental" and a comedy named Korean tyre.

Quote from S14 DRIFT :

No, I understand that tyres have a HUGE impact, I have the same issue with bikes

Just that when you're buying a "Continental" or a "Pirelli", there won't be a HUGE HUGE difference, as there is between, say, a "Continental" and a comedy named Korean tyre.

i get what you mean now, yeah between the big brand tyres there wont be a massive difference, but a diference nonetheless. but indeed, budget pirelli's will be a damn sight better than a set of linglongs (actual name for a tyre)

Quote from S14 DRIFT :

No, I understand that tyres have a HUGE impact, I have the same issue with bikes

Just that when you're buying a "Continental" or a "Pirelli", there won't be a HUGE HUGE difference, as there is between, say, a "Continental" and a comedy named Korean tyre.

There is, even more so with bike tyres, the difference between Pirelli and Dunlops or even Continentals on a bike is HUGE

Yess I know that..

I was refering to car tyres, as a motorcyle tyre is far more integral to the handling of a bike than a car. Would you stick Maxxis on your bike?

I'll take the Dunlop Roadsmarts over a Michillen Pilot Road 2 because of personal choice.. On paper, there's not much between them, obviously comparing a Roadsmart to a Quailfier wouldn't work.

On a car, I'd happily have either Continental, Michellen or Dunlop.. Pirelli, I wouldn't care. As long as it was a decent brand. If I was doing alot of fast road work (or the car was very powerful/sportscar etc), I'd be much more picky

I don't think its as straight forward as you make it out to be, I wouldn't go anywhere near Dunlops on my bike, after the experiance I have had with them, however, I have Dunlop 2000's on my car, because they perform well, after having Continentals which were crap, although Continentals on my Mondeo were great.

The thing is, what works for one car, doesn't always work for another, its a matter of (expensive) trial and error, or research to get the right brand/model of tyre for YOUR vehicle.