Tyres for a Jazz that's mostly parked

[AlexS]

My Mum owns a 2017 1318 cc Honda jazz (petrol). She has these tyres:

https://www.michelin.co.uk/auto/browse-tyres/by-dimension/185/60/15/84/H

She needs all four tyres replacing, what do you recommend? She does less than 1000 miles a year so she really doesn't need anything special or expensive. It spends a lot of its life stationary.

Thx...

[Jocko]

You should always buy the best tyres you can afford. Just because she only does 1000 miles a year doesn't mean she won't need to do some serious braking or steering to avoid an HGV which has swung into her path.

[Westy36]

Yeah, I'd agree with Jocko on that. Sound advice.

All I would add, is much like insurance and everything else these days, time spent shopping everywhere you can will save money. The big sites like Blackcircles are not always cheapest, just try everyone. By doing that, I found a promotion at ATS when I last needed tyres for my Jazz and paid just over £50ea for Michelin Energy Savers. Proper bargain.

[AlexS]

We are looking for economy tyre recommendations, make and model.

Don't want to spend too much money. See opening post. Thx.

[aphybrid]

We are looking for economy tyre recommendations, make and model.

Don't want to spend too much money. See opening post. Thx.

Like others think, the tyre is your only contact with road and is fundamental to safety, best get quotes online from several tyre suppliers. like Blackcircles and pick cheapest well known brand, this is best economy approach.
Unknown very cheap tyres are just that for a reason.

[Downsizer]

Why do the current tyres need replacing?  What mileage has the car done?

[Glosrich]

The Michelin's are expensive and seem to start cracking after 5 years.

In my experience the Korean and Japanese brands seem less susceptible to cracking and are still a quality tyre, e.g. Kumho, Nexen and Toyo.

Have a search around Halfords and Blackcircles online to see what deals there are.

[2robbie2]

A mechanic friend of mine has always told me that if nothing else, spend as much money as you can afford on tyres as they are the things you will most rely on in the event of a crash or car failure.

For years and years I used to buy economy tyres as I thought they saved me money - but it turned out to be a complete false economy and actually cost me so much more in the long run. About 7 years ago I started using expensive Michelin Primacy 3 Zero Pressure tyres on my old Mini and achieved more than double the wear in terms of mileage, and in some cases, triple the wear (and my driving style hadn't changed).

I've still got the original Jazz tyres on my 2019 car (Michelin Energy Saver), but once I get through these, I will be using the Michelin CrossClimate 2 tyre (currently £99.61 fitted via Blackcircles). The cheapest economy tyre I can find at Blackcircles is a Zeetex at £52.32. Not only are the Michelins a considerably safer tyre, but in my view you will easily get twice the wear as the Zeetex.

To save money, my advice is to use Blackcircles - I started using them 4 years ago and have saved loads - easy to do and tyres replaced via a local garage (you pay and book a local garage online).

As an aside, I've used a variety of quality tyre brands down the years - Goodyear, Continental, Bridgestone and Yokohama - all excellent, but none have come even close to the amount of wear I got from the Michelin Primacy 3 Zero Pressure tyres (now replaced by Michelin Primacy 4 tyres). I haven't tried other Korean and Japanese brands so I can't comment on how good they are.

[Rory]

For years and years I used to buy economy tyres as I thought they saved me money - but it turned out to be a complete false economy and actually cost me so much more in the long run. About 7 years ago I started using expensive Michelin Primacy 3 Zero Pressure tyres on my old Mini and achieved more than double the wear in terms of mileage, and in some cases, triple the wear (and my driving style hadn't changed).

That's great - but the OPs mum is doing 1000 miles per year!

I generally default to Michelin on the family "fleet" but a few years ago I wanted All Season tyres on a 2005 Mercedes which had different size tyres front and back and All Seasons weren't so widely available. I bought Vredestein for the front and Kumho for the rear.  They worked (ride, noise, grip etc) just as well as the Michelin Primacy's that had been on the car, lasted well with mileage and didn't crack with age - indeed they were still on the car when I sold it several years later.

[embee]

I recently put a set of Goodyear Vector 4 Seasons Gen3 tyres on my Yaris. When doing all the searching round I found that using the Halfords motoring club offer along with a buy 4 save £XX promo they worked out significantly cheaper than I could get from the likes of Blackcircles.

Hunt around for discounts for 4 tyres, there are always some going, 15% often.

FWIW, I'd suggest avoid unknown Chinese things even if they are a bit cheaper, go for something like Kumho or similar brand (if the brand are used as original fit on production cars somewhere they are going to be decent). I was advised to avoid Avons, I certainly didn't like the 2 Avons which came on the Yaris when I bought it.

[2robbie2]

For years and years I used to buy economy tyres as I thought they saved me money - but it turned out to be a complete false economy and actually cost me so much more in the long run. About 7 years ago I started using expensive Michelin Primacy 3 Zero Pressure tyres on my old Mini and achieved more than double the wear in terms of mileage, and in some cases, triple the wear (and my driving style hadn't changed).

That's great - but the OPs mum is doing 1000 miles per year!

I generally default to Michelin on the family "fleet" but a few years ago I wanted All Season tyres on a 2005 Mercedes which had different size tyres front and back and All Seasons weren't so widely available. I bought Vredestein for the front and Kumho for the rear.  They worked (ride, noise, grip etc) just as well as the Michelin Primacy's that had been on the car, lasted well with mileage and didn't crack with age - indeed they were still on the car when I sold it several years later.

Very helpful to know on the alternative tyre quality front (Vredestein and Kumho) - personal experience counts a lot on these things and I can definitely see your dilemma with your Mum only doing 1000 miles a year. All the best.

[TnTkr]

In general I've preferred Michelin because of good handling and long lifetime, but I've found Hankook to be. So for low mileage and aim for economy I'd suggest looking what Hankook has to offer.

[olduser1]

Just keep the original tyres, maintain correct pressures but chalk where the tyre stands then move the Jazz once a week.
Ask the MOT chap to take a look next test.

[Lord Voltermore]

In your mums situation a big  factor is how much they may deteriorate with age due to UV damage.   This can cause cracking to side walls and in the tread area. Not only dangerous but a possible MOT failure.   With a higher annual mileage the tread depth normally wears down before this becomes too much of a problem but your mum could potentially have 10 year old tyres with enough tread left for a further 10 years.   And the next owner may not realise what they are getting. 

I'd consider a set of mid priced all season tyres such as Kumho  Solus. All seasons  have really improved in recent years, and can often be quieter and more comfortable than summer tyres.   But more importantly for your mum they tend to have a higher silicone content , so remain more flexible, especially in colder weather. One advantage of this is they are less likely to deteriorate with age due to side wall and treads cracking.

I had a set of Kumho all seasons for  many years. Always out doors ,with no signs of deterioration.     Adequate  grip summer and winter, and a good budget price.   Some, but by no means all , premium brands are better and may not cost much more.

[Kremmen]

I agree with the - always buy the best you can afford, but,  if I was only doing about 1,000 miles a year and those miles were just local shopping trips,  max 30mph, I may consider getting cheaper.

If there is any higher speed motorway or dual carriageway work involved then you definately need better quality.

As above, rotate the wheels to stop any flat spotting.