Is vitora and laufenn decent? Don't really drive that much and have a nana car.
What Are Some Budget Tyre Brands to Avoid?
Plusultra556 on 05/11/2024 - 23:24
Comments
Same comments as above really. For a nana/town driver vehicle I don't think there's much difference. Your tyre choice will matter more in the extreme end of things. Sudden stopping in the wet. Hitting a pothole. Noise on our harsh chipseal open roads.
However budget is not always budget when you consider the life of a tyre. It might be cheap at purchase, but if you are not planning on selling the car anytime soon you could burn through 2 sets of them when a quality tyre would still be going strong.
Laufenn is literally older generation hankooks. Can't beat them for the price to quality. Go for these.
First, this is based on the above points regarding your usage and driving a 'nana' car around locally, rather than lots of motorway / metalled / dirt tracks / freezing cold driving.
I am no expert in tyres, but I would note that with many things (and no obvious reason tyres would be different) it is often better value to buy two (say) cheap tyres, than paying more for a 'better' tyre that is expected to last longer.
If you go expensive, it might well be expected to last longer, but if you hit a nasty pothole (even at lower speeds) you can easily trash any tyre - expensive or cheap. If you trash the cheap tyre, the loss to you is much less.
Similarly, if you get a puncture / damage, especially in the tyre wall, as often these are not repairable.
You might not expect to sell the car, but things can change - having expensive tyres often won't lift the price you can get if on-selling.
Simple numerical example:
4 x $100 tyres that last two years = $400 investment over two years = $200 pa.
4 x $200 tyres that last four years = $800 investment over four years = $200 pa.
So which is better?
In the first example, you continuously have $400 invested costing you an additional, say, 5% pa in lost investment returns (interest if you like) = $20 pa.
In the second example, you continuously have $800 invested costing you an additional, say, 5% pa in lost investment returns (interest if you like) = $40 pa.
So the true cost (using all the above figures) is greater in the second scenario.
If a tyre is 'lost' to a pothole / puncture (and cannot be repaired) then the second scenario gets even more expensive.
Obviously I chose figures to make the maths easy and illustrate. If you can find tyres that cost twice as much, but last ten times as long, that could be a much lower expected cost over time.
HTH,
Alan.
How will you calculate benefit of better tyres, like better road grip, more comfort ride, less repair, less time wasting,
How will you calculate benefit of better tyres, like better road grip, more comfort ride, less repair, less time wasting,
Given that we are talking about driving a 'nana' car around locally, many people don't factor them in, as they are not overly relevant to them, so they can be ignored when making a purchase decision. Bit like the 'benefit' of having exactly the right colour of car - fairly unimportant to many, but critical to some.
Obviously those factors will be considered important by a segment of the market though (perhaps you are one such) - how do you calculate those things?
Very difficult to calculate-> I tried to make a formula
Formula Breakdown
*X: Cost of a cheap tire.
*Y: Life of a cheap tire.
*Premium Tire Cost: 2X.
*Premium Tire Life: Variable (can be 2Y, 1.6Y, or 1.4Y).
*Ratio (R): Ratio of premium tire life to its cost, calculated as (life of premium tire) / 2.Scenarios and Calculations
For each scenario:
*Calculate the Life-to-Cost Ratio (R).
*Benefit Multiplier: Calculate additional benefits (fuel efficiency, comfort, reduced repairs, and time savings) using a multiplier of 0.75Y * R.
*Add the initial life benefit and additional benefit to find the total value.Example Scenarios
Let’s break down each scenario based on your approach:
Scenario 1
*Premium Tire Life = 2Y
*Ratio (R) = 2 / 2 = 1
*Additional Benefit = 0.75Y * 1 = 0.75Y
*Total Value = Premium Tire Life + Additional Benefit = 2Y + 0.75Y = 2.75Y
*Conclusion: Worth it, as the total value (2.75Y) is higher than the cost.Scenario 2
*Premium Tire Life = 1.6Y
*Ratio (R) = 1.6 / 2 = 0.8
*Additional Benefit = 0.75Y * 0.8 = 0.6Y
*Total Value = 1.6Y + 0.6Y = 2.2Y
*Conclusion: Marginally worth it, as the total value is still slightly above 2Y.Scenario 3
*Premium Tire Life = 1.4Y
*Ratio (R) = 1.4 / 2 = 0.7
*Additional Benefit = 0.75Y * 0.7 = 0.525Y
*Total Value = 1.4Y + 0.525Y = 1.925Y
*Conclusion: Not worth it, as the total value is below 2Y.@Dinesh: Interesting.
How did you calculate the additional benefits (0.75Y)?
It seems very high, but we don't know how much value you are attributing to, say, comfort running around locally in a 'nana' car?
@Alan6984: its comfort+ fuel saving (better tyre gives better fuel saving (approx. 5% so year $50 to $100)+ less repair (saving money and time ). It just a rough estimation. but I think it looks pretty reasonable and can work out in most of the situations.
its comfort+ fuel saving (better tyre gives better fuel saving (approx. 5% so year $50 to $100)+ less repair (saving money and time ). It just a rough estimation. but I think it looks pretty reasonable and can work out in most of the situations.
Fair enough - seems extremely high to me, I would have thought maybe 0.05Y, certainly less than 0.1Y, especially since we are talking about short runs around locally in a 'nana' car, I very much doubt anyone would be able to honestly discern an appreciable difference in ride comfort between different tyres in such a car.
My mum spends about $25 a month on fuel (on my fuel card account so I know what she spends unless she is sneakily putting in fuel and paying another way!) literally running around locally in a 'nana' car, so even at 5% that would equate to $25 x 12 x 5% = $15 pa.
Repairs will be very unlikely in general. We haven't had a puncture in any of our cars in years (I think the last one we had across all our cars with up to four cars / drivers was at least twenty years ago, but memory might be faulty of course), based on a living in Auckland, but you might live in a different area where that is more of a problem - I guess some people might believe that expensive tyres are less prone to punctures but I am sceptical of that.
@Alan6984: My assumption was based on standard car usage, not low usage, at roughly 1,000 km per month. Now I understand your point—you were referring to very low usage. In this case, I see that comfort and fuel savings aren’t as much of a priority.
@Dinesh: Yep - it was always predicated on a 'nana' car running around locally, but obviously it is true for most people doing moderate kms too.
If you are doing 50,000km a year, in a high end vehicle that costs $150,000 new, you aren't going to go for budget tyres.
I went with a brand called Farroad myself
I got Triangle tyre's a couple of years ago for my ancient vdub project car. They seem to be holding up fairly well, no complaints.
Despite the name, can confirm they are round.
I think on the budget end of the scale, particularly if you don't do much driving, they are all very similar and you won't notice much difference. That's been my experience anyway. If you do a lot of highway driving, live on a dirt road, live in the cold south then maybe it's a slightly different story.
Just keep your tyre pressures up, optionally get the tyres rotated every, I dunno, 10-15,000km or so to even the wear out across the tyres, and don't bother with the upsells of nitrogen etc.