Its time to think about new tyres for my Focus.
When new I could only get the car with the optional 17" wheels instead of the standard 16". ( As an aside the 17" wheels have a machined rim. This means the lacquer thins where the edges meet the cast finish. This leads to premature corrosion. IMHO don't have machined rims on your alloys. )
Looking about for 205/50 x 17 tyres, gives prices of around £80 each if you avoid the doggey eastern stuff.
However if I look for the 16" equivalant, the price drops by maybe £10 -20.
To my mind, theres actually more rubber etc in the 16" than the 17" so why do they cost more?
Is it numbers produced, type of components, accuracy of moulding etc. or is it that they are priced for "what the market will bear". In other words I can be ripped off more effectively.
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I would have said numbers. I have a similar issue with my Vectra, it's also on 17" wheels but with a standard profile therefore reduced choice and higher prices. By opting for a lower profile (which you can do) it opens up loads more choice at more competitive prices.
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I know you probably don't need the high speed rating, but that does have a big effect on the tyre prices and eliminates a lot of makers, trouble is if your car comes with those high speed tyres, you have to replace with the same or better.
My merc was originally on 195/65 x 15 and i believe W rated. That puts them firmly up in the £80 bracket.
I can get 225/45 x 17 quality tyres (and i too will not run anything else) for similar or less in the same speed rating.
You do lose a lot of the ride comfort, but those skinny tyres would make the car roll horribly, and mrs gb couldn't take bends at the same hair raising speeds -;)
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Ah... low volume production. The problem I have.
My rear tyre size, 265/35/18, is used on only one other car - the Porsche 911 C4.
As you can imagine this makes them rather expensive :(
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Camskill has Kumho Ecsta Sports- 205/50R17 93W XL at £68 inc postage or Vredstein Sportrac 3 at £69
Always found Kumhos to be very good, grip and wear rate, Vredsteins are standard fit on many new vehicles, were on my Pug 206 and found them very good.
Worth a look?
CBG
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It is amazing how much difference the type and size of tyre makes to price.
I had a Michelin Energy put on my car some months ago - size 165/65R13, cost £39.51. And Michelin Energy are probably the most expensive tyres one can buy in that size.
Edited by tyro on 02/06/2008 at 23:48
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Slightly OT but on another forum someone is talking about an Autocar tyre test. Apparently the difference in braking distance at 50MPH between the winner Goodyear F1 GSD3 & the lowest of the named brands was 2 car lengths. That is significant & makes me wonder who is behind me on their cheapest possible tyres, when I have to brake.
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True story:
Customer: "I'd like the cheapest tyres you have, for my daughter's car."
Tyre salesman: "How cheap is your daughter?"
I tend to be a bit of an old woman when buying rubber, having had a delightful experience once after buying Goodyear 'slide you home' NCTs, which Goodyear themselves later admitted were rubbish.
There's a lot of rubbish out there, but there's also some good stuff if you do your research.
For every 'dodgy' unknown brand, there are some very good 'unknowns' as well, and asking car owner clubs and drivers what they have experienced has given me some interesting feedback - and a list of 'don't even THINK about it' tyres to avoid for the Astra!
And as mentioned above, even a 'name' like Goodyear can produce some duffers ...
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To revert to the question, evidently people are prepared to pay more ["cool?], so more is charged.
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As has been hinted at above its basically down to production numbers. As the OP says he has the "optional" larger tyres hence there will be far more standard sizes supplied with the associated lower prices.
At times I've been quoted more for smaller/lesser tyres if they were a less common option.
As an aside I've just bought a pair of Falken 452's in the size you need, £75 each and I've nothing but praise for their wet/dry/traction/ride qualities.
David
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"Goodyear 'slide you home' NCTs"
I'm on my third set of these on my Vectra - they were fitted as standard from new. I think they're good tyres and have never had any incidents with them. Each to their own I suppose.
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Each to their own I suppose.
I had them on my current Vectra-C (06 reg) and I was glad to get shot of them (well 50% of them anyway). They may well last a long time, but the car didn't handle anywhere near as good as my previous Vectra-C (53 reg) that had Bridgestones on.
Have now got Goodyear F1 GSD3's on the front, and it has transformed the handling of the car. No more understeer, vague steering, and wondering if you're going to make it out of a bend without ending up on the wrong side of the road or the wrong side of the hedge. Strange thing is there are still 2 NCTs still on the rear wheels and the rear end is no where near as sloppy on the road as the front end was when NCTs were fitted that end.
Have seen over on the Vectra-C forum that not many people favour NCT's either.
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"Goodyear 'slide you home' NCTs" I'm on my third set of these on my Vectra - they were fitted as standard from new. I think they're good tyres and have never had any incidents with them. Each to their own I suppose.
Eagle NCT 1s - circa 1992. They were bad bad bad. The later versions were much better, but as mentioned in my original post, even Goodyear admitted the first lot were rubbish.
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I've also discovered that there's a "massive" difference in price depending on where you buy them from.
I needed four 225/45VR17 tyres, and after reading around, settled on the Goodyear Eagle F1 Assymetric.
First place (mobile fitter) - £387
High street - first price - £152 each. Expletive..."I've had a much lower quote than that". Short period of silence. "We can do them for £390". Slight discount there...
Now I could have managed with 3 tyres (the fourth was still reasonable) - but three Michelin Pilot Sport PS2s were only £20 more than four Goodyears.
I've only managed a few hundred miles on the F1s, but so far they're superb - great roadholding in the dry and not a hint of aquaplaning in the wet. Even hitting a deep puddle on the M53 at some mph didn't even trouble the VSC.
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