Damp roads, cheap tyres and fire extinguishers

[Mikkel]

There were many other factors involved in this crash,to ignore them and focus on tyre brand alone as the cause sounds like a narrow minded vendetta to me.

Bugger, someone figured me out. All of this was only to take a cheap shot at Hero tyres. I hate those tyres, with a passion. After all they are my main competitors... (for the dimwitted, this is sarcasm)

As for year - early 90s late 80s - model: Civic (not the hatchback). Personally I buy tyres like my life depended upon them - because it does.

[Motu]

Waste your money then.But to push an old Civic to spinning out on a damp road with good tread Hero's would need some bad driving indeed....or totally rooted suspension....tyre pressures high or low.But it's NOT the tyres.If it was a bike you'd be complaining about a diesel spill,or slick tar,gravel....any excuse but the tyres.See a car spin out and it has to be the brand of tyre? Duh.

[Mikkel]

Waste your money then.But to push an old Civic to spinning out on a damp road with good tread Hero's would need some bad driving indeed....or totally rooted suspension....tyre pressures high or low.But it's NOT the tyres.

Seems you have a vested interest here. Funny how much you seem to know about this particular accident without even being there.
Regardless, I never said that the tyres caused her to spin out - but you can hardly argue that if you loose grip it happens where the rubber meets the road. As such, tyres will always play a role if you loose grip. The suspension could be rooted, she might not be a good driver (probably close to "average" like the majority of the other clowns out there), maybe the tyre pressures were out - I don't know and neither do you. Likewise the tyres could be shit - I don't know but you might - but being a cheap obscure brand I sure as hell wouldn't rule out the possibility that having had other tyres might have saved her from writing off her car.

If it was a bike you'd be complaining about a diesel spill,or slick tar,gravel....any excuse but the tyres.See a car spin out and it has to be the brand of tyre? Duh.

You assume much but know very little on this subject.

[Kickaha]

I doubt if it was the tyres - I used to sell Hero tyres and rate them better than budget NZ made tyres like Enduro or Kelly.What was the tread depth - this is far more important.I used to sell Sunny tyres too - they were a really cheap Chinese tyre.They are a great tyre,I still have a set on the Lada,they are hardly worn and grip very well.

Cheap tyres fullfil a particular segment of the market but personally there isn't a Chinese brand tyre made that I'd fit to my wheel barrow, although now most of the major manufactuers have plants there, some of the latest Ford range come out on Chinese made Goodyears

I wasn't comparing the Hero's to Enduro or Kelly - I only stated that investing in proper premium (e.g. Bridgestone, Goodyear, Dunlop, Firestone, Michelin, etc.) is not necessarily a waste of your money. (For the record I am running Bridgestone RE001s and I sincerely believe I could have gone through that curve, in those conditions, at twice her speed without being even close to the limit of their grip.)

There is a huge difference between a cheap tyre and a premium tyre but 99% of the time it wont show unless you're in an emergencey situtation or pushing the limits

Call it a blonde moment .......PIRELLI

Pirelli make some cheap rubbish to as does every manufactuer

I brake test a dozen cars a day,wet and dry.Sometimes it's hard to get a good reading as the tyres don't grip - but I've never been able to narrow it down to any brands,only to tread depth and suspension.

In tyre testing I have been involved in the difference on a dry track at 70kmh was consistently 1 metre difference in stopping distance between a cheap tyre and a premium tyre from the same manufactuer, the premium tyre also gave far better feedback as to when it would lock

In a wet test around a corner the differences were even more, with the cheap tyre understeering off the track with no chance of recovering it, the midrange tyre would under steer then recover and the premium tyre just drove around the corner with no understeer at all

I wouldn't any of the cheap tyres or budget range to any vehicle I ever own

[Motu]

Pirelli make some cheap rubbish to as does every manufactuer

I wouldn't any of the cheap tyres or budget range to any vehicle I ever own

Every tyre manufacturer does a budget range,but don't brand them as such.Hankook does Kingstar,Federal Hero,Continental uses Barum as a low cost brand,and also has Sime for an Asian brand.

You must come and try out my Lada with the Sunny tyres some time,the handling is,um...beyond belief,and you can push the tyres well past their limit.Horses for courses - the Sunny tyres are far better than the original Russian ones,and far more capable of taking anything the Lada can dish out.Budget tyres on a budget car - a perfect match.To take advantage of superior tyres would require an upgrade in suspension and brakes,and that is not what I require for this vehicle...what the Russians had in mind suits my purposes perfectly.