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We've had a few people post on here after fitting really cheap 'ditchfinder' tyres, and finding that the handling on their cars has gone to hell, lack of stability in the wet or while cornering, etc.
Even if you're replacing all 4 tyres at 21k miles, and you replace with Michelin, that's a cost of £408. Which works out at 1.95 pence per mile. The cheapest 'own brand' will cost £220, which would be a cost of 1.05 pence per mile - however, that assumes that the cheapies do 21k miles. If they do less, then the cost per mile rises.
So that's a maximum additional cost of 0.9 pence per mile for staying on Michelins. I'd guess that your car probably cost 13 to 15 pence per mile in fuel, so (to me) the additional cost of fitting 'proper' tyres would probably be negligible, especially when you consider all the other (fixed) costs of motoring (fuel, servicing, depreciation, etc)
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Thanks, the points you make are quite valid but at the moment I am in "Austerity" mode so not having to fork out an extra £150 - £200 is quite important, pay for half the next service, and as I am keeping the car this won't really affect the re-sale value.
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Just because Merc fit Michelins does not mean they are the only tyres you can use. Providing the replacements are the same size, speed and load rating you will be perfectly safe. The "MO" marking is just a conspiracy between the car manufacturer and the tyre manufacturer to try and force you into keeping the same brand. When I had a BMW the car was fitted with non-BMW approved tyres (still run-flats) of the correct size and rating etc and the BMW dealer marked them down as an MOT advisory. After some complaining they removed the comments.
I do not recommend fitting unknown Chinese ditchfinders but there are plenty of good mid range tyres on the market that will serve you very well both in terms of grip and longevity. Many manufacturers fit brands such as Hankook and Kumho these days, not many years ago they were brands to be avoided.
When I last raced I was using Bridgestones and getting well beaten by people on what to me were unknown brands, Stunner's and Marangoni's. So I bought Marangoni's, available locally at 1/2 the price of Bridgestone and simply brilliant, back in the top 3 immediately.
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I wasn't suggesting it would make any difference to the resale value, I think you may have misunderstood my meaning.
Your Michelin tyres have lasted 21k miles. Cost to replace with another set of Michelins is £400-ish, which will then go on for another 21k miles.
Buy a set of ditchfinders, and you may well (like some others) find that the handling and roadholding is horribly compromised. Result : you have to change AGAIN within 2-3k miles, buying a 'proper' set of tyres. You sell the ditchfinders on ebay, etc. losing money on them. Result is that you've probably spent MORE than buying Michelin in the first place.
Alternatively, you buy the ditchfinders, find that they aren't actually bad, and run them. They will almost certainly wear out a lot faster than the Michelins, so the overall 'pence per mile' ends up not being much cheaper, in spite of the tyres being 40% cheaper to start with.
Ditchfinders seem to come in 2 types. Type 1 is a very hard compound which lasts a long time, but has terrible grip. Type 2 is a soft compound which has great grip, but wears out rapidly.
Also, do remember that the customer reviews on blackcircles (and others) are usually written a few days after fitting, when you get the email asking for your review. The review is more about the buying and fitting process than it is about the quality/longevity of the rubber.
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You don't want a Merc nor any other RWD car on widowmakers.
I don't buy the usual premium makes such as Michelin, not because of price but i've found just as good at considerably less cost (not sponsoring half the worlds racing teams probably helps), though to be fair they may not last as long which doesn't bother me in the least.
I usually compile a short list of my usual makes, thats Uniroyal Nokian Vredestein in no particular order but i'll check anything out that comes up at the right price, usually avoid the far eastern makes (will not have Chinese) though Japanese made Toyo T1R's have been the best gripping tyre i ever had on a Merc to the cost of noise and harsh ride.
I tried a set of Korean tyres on my Merc couple of years ago, to see if my prejudices were out of date, i assure you they are not, those got removed at 7mm (won't be doing that again) and it now sticks like the proverbial on Uniroyal Rainsport 3's.
Tyreleader usually come up with the best value now, but still worth checking Camskill, Mytyres and Oponeo in case they happen to have a misprice, which does happen now and again and i've had some right bargains over the years.
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Similarly I changed the OE Pirellis on my XJ8 for Kumhos - they were better wet or dry AND they lasted longer!
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Words like 'ditchfinder' and 'widowmaker' are clearly emotive and are presumably used to suggest that the tyres to which they refer are highly dangerous. The inference is that they are only bought either by those to whom safety is a low priority or those unfortunates who are unable to afford 'proper' tyres.
I passed my driving test in 1962 and apart from a few years in the 70's when I did not have a car I have averaged about 10,000 miles per year, about half a million miles in total. The only serious accident that I have had occurred in1964 and was caused by my appalling driving. No-one else was involved but I skidded into a telegraph pole in mid Wales whilst driving my company car (a Ford Anglia 1200 de luxe). The car was written off and I was defenestrated through the front window and spent two nights in a local hospital. The tyres on the Anglia were Michelin 'X' radials (state of the art at the time) but they did nothing to counter my ineptitude. A salutary lesson was learned by yours truly and I became a much safer driver as a result.
Subsequently when I have had to buy my own tyres I have invariably gone for economy brands (my current set cost me about £250). I have never driven into a ditch, nor have I made a widow out of my wife (obviously) or anybody else's come to that.
The point I am trying to make is that vehicles that end up in ditches or cause death to other road users usually do so, not because of the their tyres, but because of the driving ability of those who are in control (or not, as the case may be).
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An Anglia on Michelin X's, one of the worse wet weather tyres i've been unfortunate enough to drive on, though possibly slightly worse was the ZX, you did well to keep it in line in any damp weather.
I had a Ventora on ZX's, and to be honest the car was lethal, it was like having tea trolley casters on each corner, of course they were popular because they never wore out, eventually i could stand it no longer and treated meself to a set of the then new Goodyear Unisteels (which replaced the horrid G800), the car was transformed instantly into a quite decent handling/gripping vehicle considering it was basically a Cresta engined Victor FD.
There's many of us are quite capable of keeping our vehicles on the tarmac if we were running on underinflated oily slicks on ice, many of us started out on such things as Anglias and learned to respect how little grip was on offer, the problem is the roads are not ours alone any more so for me the more grip i have in reserve the better to avoid the other idiot..who might well be on widowditchers..:-)
It's the three letter electronic stability aids that modern cars have that is partly to blame for the increase in cheap and nasty tyres IMO, if those on some of the ropey offerings switched off the electronics and took full control back themselves they'd soon see the lack of grip available on a greasy road.
Edited by gordonbennet on 22/07/2015 at 18:47
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A skidpan where I had a couple of sessions in the 1960s ran their cars (Mk 1 Cortinas, Wolseley 6/110) on Michelin X tyres: the instructor told me that Uniroyal gave them free tyres to try but they had to give them back as they had too much grip on the wet skidpan.
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Just a point, Blackcircles Were being bought by Michelin back in May So those cheaper own brand tyres would technically be Michelins ! Unless they buy them in of course
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At least in the (recent) past, Blackcircles have had 'sales' of tyres and offers that gave 4x Tesco points on certain brands, and not just one brand - so it may be worth (after doing research - www. tyrereviews.co.uk or similar) waiting to see if a favoured tyre has a deal associated with it.
When I got four new ones (Dunlops) there I got the 4x deal and a good price for the tyres as well, netting over 1100 Tesco points (worth up 4x that (£40+) if used on the right 'deal') and a nice set of tyres (the main point).
I would also pick the tyres based on your driving style (the review site shows individual reviews with the reviewer's driving style and mileage shown, as well as the amalgamated review figures) as it can make a large difference, as well as handling (all conditions), comfort and life. As has been said, there is no point getting tyres that have either little grip (especially in the wet - don't compromise your safety needs) or lasts 5 minutes. It should also be noted that quite a few tyres behave completely differently on different cars (not just between front and rear-wheel drive ones), so see if you can find reviews from owners of your make/model as far as possible.
Good luck.
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I agree with RobJP, my car came with factory fitted Michelin Primacy. I used to cover about 30k miles per year so changed tyres frequently, every 25K or so. Once they didn't have the Michelin in stock and offered a budget tyre. I foolisly accepted this and regreted it almost immediatley. Road noise and wet handling were the two obvious points I noticed but I also think that braking was affected too. I lasted about 10k through the summer and changed back to Michelin and have not varied since. I use Black Circles and find them very competitive, easy to deal with and very reliable with fitting through a local garage. It is true: buy cheap and you buy twice!
Cheers Concrete
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