I would never go super-cheapest-budget but mid-range budget is fine. I had some Barums fitted after an inusrance repair, I was sceptical at first coming from Rainsport 2's but to be honest I really can't tell the difference!

Regardless of my deal with Mikey vRS, this is personal testemony from actual direct experience on a Citroen Xantia. Mikey, you see now why I don't go for budget tyres now?

It had budget tyres (bought locally cos you'd pay full list plus carriage to get mid-price or "premium" brands) all round. I needed new fronts whilst visiting my Mum, and bought Toyo Proxes CF-1s, which were fitted front, with Barum Brilliantis on the rear. It is no lie to say that this transformed the car, from a moderate understeerer in all contitions, to moderate oversteer if you over-cooked an entry, but the correction was as easy as lifting the throttle until the tail stuck again, so IMO was entirely safe.

Yes the Toyos cost more; about £5 a corner more (185/65R15H).

I had a set of Regals (dunlop South African brand iirc) when I first changed tyres on the rs, never again, wet roads became a matter of wheelspin when trying to make progress.

I've done toyos but they don't last, tried cheap Yokos once, nearly as bad as the regals, Falken 452's seem to suit me though good grip all round and last about 13k on the front compared to around 9k on the Toyos, at around £70 per corner they are middle of the road, cheap when compared to say contis which in 205/50/17 are about£140 each, which is just too much, it could be worse though, the old man has just bought a 330D BMW, I priced up some on camskill and they are £250 a pop before fitting

I'll be honest in saying I always go for the budget tyres . I can't justify spending more because I only buy them because I have to, not because I want to. If I had something like a Fabia VRS Mk1, I'd certainly be more interested as it's a totally different kind of car to a 1.4 Lupo Auto.

Im using Accelera Phi's on the front of the Mazda 6 atm, as they were the only tyres i could afford at the time. And im pleasently suprised at the level of grip they give for a budget tyre.

I've also used Runway Accelero's and they were phenonemal for a low end mid range tyre, i was pleasently suprised.

Not quite the same level of wet weather grip as a Vredstein Ultrac Sessanta, but more than adequate amount of grip.

Look at the test of Wanlii vs the Winning Conti PC2 in the stopping distances.

IIRC in the wet, the Wanlii car would hit the PC2 car at 30mph+ if they both hit the brakes at the same time from a reasonable speed (50/60mph I think).

That's not a good place to be and IMHO the basic tests should be there to get rid of such differences.

no never bought budget tyres always buy decent tyres

I've got some nankang tyres on the front of mine, I want to replace them for something better but they just won't wear out! They don't inspire confidence in the wet.

I've just ditched the Naknkangs the Lupo had because of the horrendous wheelspin and understeer in the wet.

I had a bad experiance with remoulds, was driving to scotland in my dad's renault 25 with brand new remoulds from kwick fit on. Just after newcastle I started to hear a funny noise from the rear at 70mph so started slowing down, asked my dad if he could hear it and he said yes when it became louder and the car started shaking. Just as i was pulling over and was at about 30mph the tyre blew out. Turned out half the remould thread had become detached. Drove at 40mph for the rest of the way and went to a kwick fit branch in scotland, they took one look at the tyre and phoned head office resulting in a recall of all the tyres. They replaced the tyres with goodyear ones free of charge and had a letter of apology aswell.

Remoulds are proberly perfectly safe these days but due to that experiance i would never trust them, if i had the radio on louder and didn't hear it at first or was going faster when it blew out..............

I will never use remoulds for a similar reason: My dad's car, in about 1977. He'd just bought it, and it had 1 remould on that started to fall apart on the M6.

FWIW I never buy anything less than mid-range tyres (often Kumho, who are VAG OEMs now), and usually premium (Conti). The Leon came with dreadful Millenium tyres, and it's way better on Contis.

More info on your Lupo sport ?

Look at the test of Wanlii vs the Winning Conti PC2 in the stopping distances.

Wanli are by far the worst tyres i`v ever used, Ali will testify to that when he was trying to map my car. However, the nakangs are 100x better, while still being a budget tyre. Some are ****, some are better.

From the tyre threads iv read on here, its clear peoples opinion of a good tyre are very different. One person loves "xxx tyre" while another slates them.

Matt

the nakangs are 100x better, while still being a budget tyre. Some are ****, some are better.

They are lethal those 'things', I got one for a spare from the dealer, luckily it's only ever been on once, all it did was spin wet or dry

I`m not for a second comparing them to rainsports which i now have, BUT compared to other budgets (the Wanli`s) they were night and day.

Matt

I`m not for a second comparing them to rainsports which i now have, BUT compared to other budgets (the Wanli`s) they were night and day.

Matt

I think that's the point.

If you want the best do your research and expect to pay a top dollar price for a premium brand (although they can make junk from time to time too).

If it's normal daily driving then a mid range tyre may suit you, but again you need to do your research.

I'd personally avoid the budget tyres and always pay a few extra pounds to make it into the midrange.

Better a bit more broke than dead, no?