Dunlop SP2030 tyres - excessive wear on inside edge and cracking between treads

[guest869]

I fitted Hankook Ventus V12 evo. The reviews are good in terms of grip. The life may be limited but as I also run winter tyres they will effectively last twice as long.

They do seem to grip very well.

My local dealer (Britannia Tyres Coventry) was cheaper than all the online discount places.

[olduser1]

Your safety depends upon the footprint of the tyres, I would stick to a make you recognise with correct EU markings and speed rating.
Try mytyres.co.uk for 2 or 4 tyres

[nowster]

Plus what is the actual tread depth, not to the top of the TWI.

Good advice! I'll make a rough check with a coin, a thumb and a ruler.

[nowster]

The current tyres are Continental Premium Contact 185/55 R16 H (87).

[dogbiscuit]

I've just replaced my front Dunlop SP2030 185/55/R16 83H tyres with the same after 25,000 miles. The fitters (Event Tyres in Old Trafford) didn't have them in stock but ordered them on Friday and were delivered by Monday lunchtime. £88 each fitted.

[guest869]

£231 for four tyres fitted and balanced. (Hankook Ventus V12 evo)

So far very impressed with them.

[guest2662]

£57.75 each with fitting and balance, what a bargain, bet you don't live near me [essex] so i can get some

[DV]

Have you ever tried, Blackcircles, etyres or other online tyre shops?
You could save a lot (go for the fully fitted prices).

[DWF]

Honda Dealers must have a deal with Bridgestone as after my second service yesterday ,and only 10,000 miles, they said my front tyres were down to 3mm  They quoted me £137 each. They said the Dunlops were wearing out quickly on the EX models.

[caseyjones]

Don't get me started on Honda Dealers............

As for the tyre question, I think it's important to remember that we're talking here about a family hatchback being driven moderately, safely and thoughtfully (hopefully) on the public highway, not a sports car being raced around a track. After 40 years of driving around in a large variety of cars on a wide variety of tyres, with not a single tyre-related accident or incident, I really can't see that there's any valid reason not to just get the cheapest 'budget' tyre that matches or exceeds the manufacturer's rating from somewhere like Black Circles. All new tyres sold by reputable dealers (and that obviously includes the likes of BC) are safe - they have to be - and within the context that we're talking about, the difference between a budget tyre and a premium tyre in terms of grip, noise, longevity etc is likely to be for all practical purposes negligible, certainly not enough to justify the significant extra cost of the premium item. The budget tyre is not 'cheap' - the premium tyre is unnecessarily expensive, and relies a lot on the 'bulls**t factor' and the aggressive sales tactics of main dealers for its sales.

[chrisc]

You guys seem to pay a lot for your tyres.  Here there are many large tyre dealers who advertise a lot on TV and it is well to steer clear of them, unless you want the "free" bottles of wine, cinema tickets or steakhouse vouchers they give away 

There are also numerous tyre discounters and many of these import their tyres from China and Korea since the duty on tyres is only 5%

Examples in £ (using the 175/65 R15 size as a guide), taken off a newspaper advert today

Barum - 40.00  (All new Hyundai cars are fitted with these)
Hankook - 45.00
Michelin eco drive - 60.00
Continental (made in SA) - 55.00
Chery (Chinese) - 38.00
Dunlop (made in SA) - 42.00
Yokohama - 62.00
Firestone premium - 36.00
Firestone all road hazard - 58.00

They offer free fitting and balancing and if you take it a the same time, 4 wheel alignment with one of those computer-aided devices, for £8  (R100,00)

[dogbiscuit]

Are we comparing apples with oranges here. The thread was started regarding tyres for the odd/larger size EX wheel diameter (16 inch) that are not as readily available as the cheaper and more popular 15 inch variety.

[guest869]

To a point I agree about your thoughts on budget tyres in that on a family car driven at normal speeds any tyre will be OK. However that does not take into account the unexpected such as emergency braking or emergency manoveres where the extra grip can prevent an accident.

My experience with tyres is you do get what you pay for. I have tried cheap tyres and found the grip to be worse than a known make. My preference is always for Michelin as I feel they give the best compromise of grip, wear and build quality (cheaper tyres often require more balancing).

I would not consider my Hankooks to be a budget tyre as they are a known make with motorsports usage. I also researched and read lots of reviews.

I bought them from my local independent tyre place in Coventry. They are cheaper than the onlineplaces and amazingly had the tyres in stock.

[chrisc]

Continental sell more tyres in South Africa since they do the most advertising.

In the years of driving and my business owing (over 60) cars and vans, the road grip story has never been a problem, they all seem to do their job admirably, dependent on the design of the suspension.  For instance, Golfs and BMWs are excellent, Honda less so and at the bottom are Nissan LDVs

One thing, apart from the longevity of tyres (again, dependent on the driver) is tyre noise. Michelin are by far the best in terms of quietness, long life and sturdiness (don't mind bring driven up kerbs).  However, we found about 8 years ago that some Continental tyres were irritatingly noisy above 100km/hr, the Chery were even worse and we had two Chery tyres that delaminated, one spectacularly so, the driver thought he had hit something large.

I agree that you get what you pay for, but why pay an extra 15% for the same Yokohama tyre at a "premium dealer" when you can get it at a tyre discounter?  They might not have a swanky showroom with free coffee and a TV, but the tyre and fitting is the same

[guest869]

Are we comparing apples with oranges here. The thread was started regarding tyres for the odd/larger size EX wheel diameter (16 inch) that are not as readily available as the cheaper and more popular 15 inch variety.

Mine were the 15", so apologies I was not comparing the same size.