Budget Tyres - What not to buy!!

[Tiggy1955]

When I did my van conversion I purchased the 18" Wolfrace Munich wheels with the budget HiFly HF805 tyres.

I subsequently heard of problems others have had with the sidewall on these. A friend of mine had to replace all of his because the sidewall had blistered on the inside and was only spotted at the MOT.

The attached photo show what happened to mine - front nearside. This looks like a cut but I can assure you it is not - the sidewall has split open. There are what appear to be other weak spots similar to perishing in the sidewall of the others, particularly on the front. These have done about 12,000 miles.

I have now replaced all of them with Michelin Cross Climate 2. Not cheap and definitely not budget but it is a much better drive and I expect them to last a lot longer.

As the saying goes - you get what you pay for......

 

[sdlnet]

Honestly, I don't understand why anyone would run budget tyres in the first place. Especially given the weight being carried.

 

[Tiggy1955]

Honestly, I don't understand why anyone would run budget tyres in the first place. Especially given the weight being carried.

These tyres are rated XL so should take the weight.

But hey - I learned my lesson and hope my tale of woe will prevent someone else from making the same mistake.

 

[DXX]

When I did my van conversion I purchased the 18" Wolfrace Munich wheels with the budget HiFly HF805 tyres.

I subsequently heard of problems others have had with the sidewall on these. A friend of mine had to replace all of his because the sidewall had blistered on the inside and was only spotted at the MOT.

The attached photo show what happened to mine - front nearside. This looks like a cut but I can assure you it is not - the sidewall has split open. There are what appear to be other weak spots similar to perishing in the sidewall of the others, particularly on the front. These have done about 12,000 miles.

I have now replaced all of them with Michelin Cross Climate 2. Not cheap and definitely not budget but it is a much better drive and I expect them to last a lot longer.

As the saying goes - you get what you pay for......

View attachment 192846

Are you sure that the tyre pressure was correct? I used to rely of TPMS until I found out that it takes a 25% deviation to trigger the alarm.

 

[coullstar]

How old were the tyres? I agree buy the best you can afford.

 

[Tiggy1955]

How old were the tyres? I agree buy the best you can afford.

2.5 years. Approx 12,000 miles.

 

[Crazymind]

I had many cinese cheap tyres under my cars when I couldn’t afford better. never had any issue like that. My main concern was the poor handling on wet, braking and high speed. Being cheap and probably made with old machineries, balancing the wheel was an impossible task. In winter they become so hard they are dangerous.