The controversy over budget tyres continues to rage and What Car? Magazine recently added fuel to the flames by publishing an article in which cheaper brands were both 'named and shamed.' It is not the policy of this website to become involved in commenting on any specific brands of budget tyres, but the overall conclusions of these properly-conducted tests may well have important implications for the average motorist considering whether or not to fit budget tyres to his/her own vehicle.
In a test published on August 4th 2010 by What Car? Magazine, three brands of budget tyres were compared to three premium brands in a series of tests. A Vauxhall Meriva car was used, being fitted in turn with the various tyres under test. The idea behind the tests was to compare the performance of the different tyres in such areas as wet and dry braking, lateral grip and noise. The inferior results achieved by budget tyres led What Car? Magazine to claim that budget tyres like these “could kill".
In the wet braking test for example, budget tyres were compared to premium tyres using GPS-based timing technology to measure how long it took for the car to stop from 70 mph. In every case the three budget tyres came out the clear losers when compared to the premium brands. In the worst case, one brand of budget tyres took a staggering 22.9 metres longer to stop than the best of the premium brands.
The dry braking tests for budget tyres were better but still not as good as premium tyres. At the same time, it's worth noting that in the noise tests the picture was far less clear with some premium brands not performing as well as one might have expected.
As you might expect, this critical demonstration of the relatively poor performance of some budget tyres - compared against premium brands and each other - caused a great deal of controversy amongst both manufacturers and the press. It is important to recognize therefore that some budget brands do offer better performance; some even approaching that of premium brands. For the motorist wondering whether or not to consider budget tyres it all makes for a difficult choice and price itself may not be a good guide.
Motorists are advised therefore to look at both test reports and manufacturers/retailers information when choosing budget tyres. And whilst price is not a very accurate guide, there appear to be three distinct bands of performance and cost namely; premium, mid-range and budget. One clear thought to draw from this however is that you really do get what you pay for and if you are on the lookout for budget tyres you want to make sure of your facts before choosing.
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