Tyres - the best of the worst

[Fredoops]

Well it outta happen to the best of us.

Need new tyres and your budget goes krupt.
So you outta decide getting some cheap tyres to run, it's that or no/bald tyre.
Or you got new rims and you run outta money.

There's a sea of cheap no name tyres out there, and the matter becomes one of.. "out of all those rubbish which one is less of a rubbish".


Disclaimer:
none of those will perform like your Michelin Pilot Sports, so curb your enthusiasm.


The Yard Stick
all the cheap tyres i'm going to mention in this thread will be looked at around this well known and popular tyre, which happens to be at the entry range of "mid range" tyres, compared to your budget.
In otherwords, we're looking at tyres that will more or less give similar or better performance than the crappies mid range tyre:

Kumho KU31

Everyone knows of this tyre and probably used it.

Decent in the dry, mediocre in the wet, cheap-ish, wears fairly quickly.


Contenders - about as good as KU31
Achilles ATR Sport 2

It's Indonesian
You probably dont want anything cheaper than this (ie: this is about as crap as i'd go)... wet performance of this will probably match the KU31 if not better given the thread pattern, and will last longer being a hard tyre, wont win you any hill runs, ATR sport 2 is supposed to be an improvement on the ATR sport, with improvement focused on wet performance.

HIfly HF805

A Chinese tyre
I only included this because it was locally tested in 2016, by MOTOR magazine, it was unsurprisingly ranked toward the bottom of the pile. HOWEVER, it's not last, it's actually ranked 8 out of 10, ranked AHEAD of NITTO INVO and NEXEN N FERA SU1.
Imagine that... and consider the prices... hmm...
https://www.motormag.com.au/events/t...16-the-verdict

Acclera Phi (get the new Phi-R version tho)

Also Indonesian
Somewhat more of a roadgoing and rarer than ATR Sport, it's more of an old ContiSportContact tread pattern, obviously not as good. HOWEVER, this was tested a couple years ago and it had better dry performance than the Kumho KU39, which was Supposed to be an upgrade of the KU31, so it can't be that bad, wet performance is not that great in the old version, so get the new "Phi-R" version, which claimed to have improved wet performance (much like the ATR vs ATR 2).
This tyre in test done by German magazine Autobild in 2014 had shown the old Phi version was far better then Federal SS595 and slightly better than Hi fly HF805.

Contenders - better KU31?
Tyre pricing is a prickly thing, sometimes some tyres are priced so awkwardly they counted them selves out (eg: Federal 595EVO, got quoted as much as a RE003 for 245/45/17, no thanks)

Then there are some surprising pricing, which are full blown mid-range performance tyres with a very keen price point:

Pirelli DragonSport

Yes, a Pirelli, Like the ContiMaxContact MC5, this is a Asian Market entry-level performance tyre, only released last year and the pricing at the moment, matches the KU31/KU39, which is quite nice
If your budget can stretch, definitely look at this instead of the 2 above.

Falken FK453
The pricing for this one varies quite a bit, but you shouldnt pay for this more than you would a KU31/KU39, decent mid range performance tyre, but I wouldnt get one over Dragons port. Ps: this Tyre is rubbish in wet braking


Apollo Aspire 4G

This one is Indian.
It used to be available locally 3 to 4 years ago. Hardly see them now.
This is an interesting one. It's quite well tested in Europe and the results are... Surprisingly good.
This tyre is really good in the dry according to the European Tyre tests over the years. It's dry braking performances almost matches the newest Goodyear Eagle F1 A3 in the most recent German Tyre test. Wet performance is a bit so so given the tread pattern. It's ranked better than Nexen N Fera SU1. Which is Nexen flagship Tyre. Bascially this Tyre matches Kumho KU39 performance.

Contenders - MUCH better than KU31
like I said above, price is a prickly thing. every now and then you'll get some what of a bargain of the century.

Sumitomo HTR ZIII

JDM, well, Made in Japan anyway. You probably havent heard of the name, but Falken is a brand of Sumitomo. Much like Nitto is a brand of Toyo.
This is not a mid range tyre, this is a top tier tyre, old design but it used to trade blows with Michelin Pilot Sports/Super Sports, hell of a tyre, and due to it's unknown name in Australia, it's surprisingly cheap.
Like, cheap than Korean Cheap. If you ever had the choice between Kumho's and this at this about the same price? get this without a thought.