CHEAP TYRES

What are your views on cheap tyres (mostly from China)? Many tyre shops sell various lesser-known brands that are tempting because of their price. Can you trust these tyres? NTIMANE SIMON Nelspruit It is difficult to generalise and lump all budget tyres in one group without unearthing their qualities in an in-depth comparison test. Our feeling is you get what you pay for, but we also asked our tyre expert to comment.

He points out that one of the key points is you can’t see the ingredients of the tyre from the outside. Two very differently constructed tyres can stand next to each other and look similar, even to an expert.

He says: “As an example, let’s take a sporty passenger-car tyre. The design may be exactly as you would expect with a wide outer shoulder, nice design, good channels for water evacuation and all the appropriate side-wall markings to comply with legislation. On the surface, all appears fine; however, this is where it often ends.

“One of the first indicators that there are indeed under-the-skin differences is performance in wet conditions. It is here where the critical ingredients in the chemistry process of creating a tyre can make a marked difference (like silica).

“As an example, I have done some local testing between one well-known tyre brand and a tyre at a much lower price point; both wet and dry testing. In the dry, the less expensive tyre was reasonably composed and performed to the expectations of an average consumer in dry conditions (braking and handling). Once the conditions became wet, however, the results of the cheaper tyre were quite shocking, posing a safety risk.

“When the tyre in question is not from a reputable brand and costs significantly less, alarm bells should start ringing. My recommendation is to rather invest in a reputable brand whose tyres have been designed and tested for your safety.”