Sonar Tyres

[Ext User(norak)]

I am about to get new tyres for my car. I don't do any seriously fast
driving. I don't hoon down the Princes Highway on Friday nights. I
usually drive under 80km/h travelling to and from work on some days or
to and from a train station on other days.

I have been looking at the Kmart Tyres and Auto catalogue at
http://www.ktas.com.au/catalogue/20070222/Catalogue_Pg01.htm and the
cheapest tyres they have there are SONAR tyres, so I am thinking of
getting them. They cost less than $70 each.

My brother who drives a sports car told me I shouldn't buy tyres this
cheap. He has low-profile Toyo tyres on his car that cost about $250
each. He said that tyres were very important and therefore you should
invest as much as possible. He said, "If you buy a cheap tyre you get
what you pay for." But Consumer Reports in the USA tested car tyre
models across a wide range of prices, and didn't find a correlation
between price and overall performance. See
http://www.choice.com.au/viewArticle.aspx?id=103117&catId=100494&tid=100008&p=1&title=Car+tyres+-+5+Minute+CHOICE

I would like to know if anyone uses these Sonar tyres and what is your
experience with them?

[Ext User(Jonno)]

They all have to be approved to certain Aussie standards.
They will do the job. They dont want to be sued.
All tyres have to comply to 100 KPH sustained speed standards. But
also spectacular for hooning, with blowouts gauranteed from any
quality tyre thats mistreated.

Batteries from K mart will also beat RACV batts.
RACV Bats used to be low q and not worth the extra.
Better of with 1 year warranty and 2 years use then 2 years use and 3
years price.

norak wrote:
> I am about to get new tyres for my car. I don't do any seriously fast
> driving. I don't hoon down the Princes Highway on Friday nights. I
> usually drive under 80km/h travelling to and from work on some days or
> to and from a train station on other days.
>
> I have been looking at the Kmart Tyres and Auto catalogue at
> http://www.ktas.com.au/catalogue/20070222/Catalogue_Pg01.htm and the
> cheapest tyres they have there are SONAR tyres, so I am thinking of
> getting them. They cost less than $70 each.
>
> My brother who drives a sports car told me I shouldn't buy tyres this
> cheap. He has low-profile Toyo tyres on his car that cost about $250
> each. He said that tyres were very important and therefore you should
> invest as much as possible. He said, "If you buy a cheap tyre you get
> what you pay for." But Consumer Reports in the USA tested car tyre
> models across a wide range of prices, and didn't find a correlation
> between price and overall performance. See
> http://www.choice.com.au/viewArticle.aspx?id=103117&catId=100494&tid=100008&p=1&title=Car+tyres+-+5+Minute+CHOICE
>
> I would like to know if anyone uses these Sonar tyres and what is your
> experience with them?
>

[Ext User(Clockmeister)]

"Jonno" <somewhere@inthecloud.com> wrote in message
news:45f69a4e$0$28625$afc38c87@news.optusnet.com.a u...
> They all have to be approved to certain Aussie standards.
> They will do the job. They dont want to be sued.

Anyone who has ever had the displeasure of driving a vehicle fitted with Bob
Jane branded tyres will know that the standard and approval of tyres means
jack shit.

[Ext User(Jonno)]

Clockmeister wrote:
> "Jonno" <somewhere@inthecloud.com> wrote in message
> news:45f69a4e$0$28625$afc38c87@news.optusnet.com.a u...
>> They all have to be approved to certain Aussie standards.
>> They will do the job. They dont want to be sued.
>
> Anyone who has ever had the displeasure of driving a vehicle fitted with Bob
> Jane branded tyres will know that the standard and approval of tyres means
> jack shit.
>
>
>
>
>
Yeah well we wont advertise those tyres too much.
Polyester tyres retain their shape after being hot and take some time
to return to circular. Rename them to kangaroo tyres?
That's really only a minor inconvenience.
Are they safe? Yep.

[Ext User(a9x5l)]

On Wed, 14 Mar 2007 00:09:23 +0900, Clockmeister wrote:

> "Jonno" <somewhere@inthecloud.com> wrote in message
> news:45f69a4e$0$28625$afc38c87@news.optusnet.com.a u...
>> They all have to be approved to certain Aussie standards. They will do
>> the job. They dont want to be sued.
>
> Anyone who has ever had the displeasure of driving a vehicle fitted with
> Bob Jane branded tyres will know that the standard and approval of tyres
> means jack shit.

There was a test of many different brands of 17" tyres in Wheels last
year and the worst of lot were Chinese made tyres, I can't remember the
brand name but they performed similar to a space saver in wet weather
testing and not much better in the dry! If the overall results were
anything to go by, you generally, with few exceptions, get what you pay
for with tyres.

--
a9x5l

[Ext User(Marco)]

On Mar 13, 11:19 pm, "norak" <k.no...@gmail.com> wrote:
> I am about to get new tyres for my car. I don't do any seriously fast
> driving. I don't hoon down the Princes Highway on Friday nights. I
> usually drive under 80km/h travelling to and from work on some days or
> to and from a train station on other days.
>
> I have been looking at the Kmart Tyres and Auto catalogue athttp://www.ktas.com.au/catalogue/20070222/Catalogue_Pg01.htmand the
> cheapest tyres they have there are SONAR tyres, so I am thinking of
> getting them. They cost less than $70 each.
>
> My brother who drives a sports car told me I shouldn't buy tyres this
> cheap. He has low-profile Toyo tyres on his car that cost about $250
> each. He said that tyres were very important and therefore you should
> invest as much as possible. He said, "If you buy a cheap tyre you get
> what you pay for."

In general, he's right. Stick with something from one of the big
brand names in the tyre business, and make it one of their better
models, not their cheaper ones.

It's not worth buying cheap tyres. Even if you don't drive your car
on the edge of its performance envelope, and most people don't, you'll
want every bit of grip you can get at the moment it all goes pear-
shaped and you need to avoid something.

I've had good experiences with Dunlop, Falken, Michelin, Yokohama and
Bridgestone, and less happy experiences with Goodyear and Pos-A-
Traction.

Marco

[Ext User(pit)]

On Mar 14, 7:09 am, "Marco" <ignition.v...@gmail.com> wrote:
> On Mar 13, 11:19 pm, "norak" <k.no...@gmail.com> wrote:
>
> > I am about to get new tyres for my car. I don't do any seriously fast
> > driving. I don't hoon down the Princes Highway on Friday nights. I
> > usually drive under 80km/h travelling to and from work on some days or
> > to and from a train station on other days.
>
> > I have been looking at the Kmart Tyres and Auto catalogue athttp://www.ktas.com.au/catalogue/20070222/Catalogue_Pg01.htmandthe
> > cheapest tyres they have there are SONAR tyres, so I am thinking of
> > getting them. They cost less than $70 each.
>
> > My brother who drives a sports car told me I shouldn't buy tyres this
> > cheap. He has low-profile Toyo tyres on his car that cost about $250
> > each. He said that tyres were very important and therefore you should
> > invest as much as possible. He said, "If you buy a cheap tyre you get
> > what you pay for."
>
> In general, he's right. Stick with something from one of the big
> brand names in the tyre business, and make it one of their better
> models, not their cheaper ones.
>
> It's not worth buying cheap tyres. Even if you don't drive your car
> on the edge of its performance envelope, and most people don't, you'll
> want every bit of grip you can get at the moment it all goes pear-
> shaped and you need to avoid something.
>
> I've had good experiences with Dunlop, Falken, Michelin, Yokohama and
> Bridgestone, and less happy experiences with Goodyear and Pos-A-
> Traction.
>
> Marco

For what its worth we have excellent run out of Kuhmo Tyres and they
perform almost as well as the bridgestone far more expensive and high
performance types
One way to answer your question is how much do you value your life ?
By spendings say 10 to 20 more on each tyre could save something far
more precious

Its not how or where you drive IMO will things work as stated when
you need them ?
cheers

[Ext User(D Walford)]

norak wrote:
> I am about to get new tyres for my car. I don't do any seriously fast
> driving. I don't hoon down the Princes Highway on Friday nights. I
> usually drive under 80km/h travelling to and from work on some days or
> to and from a train station on other days.
>
> I have been looking at the Kmart Tyres and Auto catalogue at
> http://www.ktas.com.au/catalogue/20070222/Catalogue_Pg01.htm and the
> cheapest tyres they have there are SONAR tyres, so I am thinking of
> getting them. They cost less than $70 each.
>
> My brother who drives a sports car told me I shouldn't buy tyres this
> cheap. He has low-profile Toyo tyres on his car that cost about $250
> each. He said that tyres were very important and therefore you should
> invest as much as possible. He said, "If you buy a cheap tyre you get
> what you pay for." But Consumer Reports in the USA tested car tyre
> models across a wide range of prices, and didn't find a correlation
> between price and overall performance. See
> http://www.choice.com.au/viewArticle.aspx?id=103117&catId=100494&tid=100008&p=1&title=Car+tyres+-+5+Minute+CHOICE
>
> I would like to know if anyone uses these Sonar tyres and what is your
> experience with them?
>

What make and model car are they going on?
If your only driving is as stated above then a cheap tyre should be ok
provided its of reasonable quality but if the car doing lots of klms in
all conditions I agree with your brother.
I once fitted a set of cheap unknown brand tyres to a Ford panelvan I
owned, they were so bad I got rid of them when they were less than half
worn so you need to be careful.
Have a look at Maxxis brand tyres, they are not expensive and they get
good write ups in tyre tests.



Daryl

[Ext User(Andy)]

norak wrote:
> I am about to get new tyres for my car. I don't do any seriously fast
> driving. I don't hoon down the Princes Highway on Friday nights. I
> usually drive under 80km/h travelling to and from work on some days or
> to and from a train station on other days.
>
> I have been looking at the Kmart Tyres and Auto catalogue at
> http://www.ktas.com.au/catalogue/20070222/Catalogue_Pg01.htm and the
> cheapest tyres they have there are SONAR tyres, so I am thinking of
> getting them. They cost less than $70 each.
>
> My brother who drives a sports car told me I shouldn't buy tyres this
> cheap. He has low-profile Toyo tyres on his car that cost about $250
> each. He said that tyres were very important and therefore you should
> invest as much as possible. He said, "If you buy a cheap tyre you get
> what you pay for." But Consumer Reports in the USA tested car tyre
> models across a wide range of prices, and didn't find a correlation
> between price and overall performance. See
> http://www.choice.com.au/viewArticle.aspx?id=103117&catId=100494&tid=100008&p=1&title=Car+tyres+-+5+Minute+CHOICE
>
> I would like to know if anyone uses these Sonar tyres and what is your
> experience with them?
>


I'm inclined to agree, to a point at least, with your brother. I'm not
suggesting you have to pay $250 per corner, but why go on the cheap for
something that's likely to last 2-3 years?

For the first time in a long time I spent a 'bit extra' on really good
tyres over the weekend, and the whole car feels far more solid, handles
better, grips better and has less cabin noise to boot.

Can't see the point in trying to save a few $$$ on something as
important as tyres, that's all.

Just my $0.02, anyway.

Cheers,
Andy. (t'other Andy.)

[Ext User(Jonno)]

If its cheap, itl'l do.
I've never had a tyre fail me yet.
It would the last thing I want though. That is getting killed.



Andy wrote:
> norak wrote:
>> I am about to get new tyres for my car. I don't do any seriously fast
>> driving. I don't hoon down the Princes Highway on Friday nights. I
>> usually drive under 80km/h travelling to and from work on some days or
>> to and from a train station on other days.
>>
>> I have been looking at the Kmart Tyres and Auto catalogue at
>> http://www.ktas.com.au/catalogue/20070222/Catalogue_Pg01.htm and the
>> cheapest tyres they have there are SONAR tyres, so I am thinking of
>> getting them. They cost less than $70 each.
>>
>> My brother who drives a sports car told me I shouldn't buy tyres this
>> cheap. He has low-profile Toyo tyres on his car that cost about $250
>> each. He said that tyres were very important and therefore you should
>> invest as much as possible. He said, "If you buy a cheap tyre you get
>> what you pay for." But Consumer Reports in the USA tested car tyre
>> models across a wide range of prices, and didn't find a correlation
>> between price and overall performance. See
>> http://www.choice.com.au/viewArticle.aspx?id=103117&catId=100494&tid=100008&p=1&title=Car+tyres+-+5+Minute+CHOICE
>>
>>
>> I would like to know if anyone uses these Sonar tyres and what is your
>> experience with them?
>>
>
>
> I'm inclined to agree, to a point at least, with your brother. I'm not
> suggesting you have to pay $250 per corner, but why go on the cheap for
> something that's likely to last 2-3 years?
>
> For the first time in a long time I spent a 'bit extra' on really good
> tyres over the weekend, and the whole car feels far more solid, handles
> better, grips better and has less cabin noise to boot.
>
> Can't see the point in trying to save a few $$$ on something as
> important as tyres, that's all.
>
> Just my $0.02, anyway.
>
> Cheers,
> Andy. (t'other Andy.)

[Ext User(norak)]

On Mar 14, 10:30 am, "pit" <spamlis...@gmail.com> wrote:
> On Mar 14, 7:09 am, "Marco" <ignition.v...@gmail.com> wrote:
>
> One way to answer your question is how much do you value your life ?
> By spendings say 10 to 20 more on each tyre could save something far
> more precious

I suppose I could always spend more money buying reenforced armour on
my car as well as a rollcage made of pure diamond.

[Ext User(norak)]

I drive a Camry. Since it's got 4 cylinders it's not going to generate
the power needed for hooning. My brother goes on about brands that he
can trust and reputation, etc. As I said before, Consumer Reports said
that there is no correlation between tyre quality and price, and just
thinking about it carefully it may be that tyre quality and price are
unrelated in a similar way that car price and quality are not
related. For example, a base model BMW 3-series costs quite a lot but
is not as fast as a cheaper Commodore or Aurion. With this comparison,
most people would agree you're paying for the badge and the same
concept may apply to tyres. Perhaps Toyo, Yokohama, or Bridgestone
tyres are snob tyres, and I just want to separate the facts from the
fantasies.

[Ext User(Clockmeister)]

"norak" <k.norak@gmail.com> wrote in message
news:1173880901.520540.44830@d57g2000hsg.googlegro ups.com...
>I drive a Camry. Since it's got 4 cylinders it's not going to generate
> the power needed for hooning. My brother goes on about brands that he
> can trust and reputation, etc. As I said before, Consumer Reports said
> that there is no correlation between tyre quality and price, and just
> thinking about it carefully it may be that tyre quality and price are
> unrelated in a similar way that car price and quality are not
> related. For example, a base model BMW 3-series costs quite a lot but
> is not as fast as a cheaper Commodore or Aurion. With this comparison,
> most people would agree you're paying for the badge and the same
> concept may apply to tyres. Perhaps Toyo, Yokohama, or Bridgestone
> tyres are snob tyres, and I just want to separate the facts from the
> fantasies.
>

OTOH trusting your life to tyre technology developed by a team using high
tech testing equipment or Wing Li in his bikeshed may be a factor worth
considering.

[Ext User(Clockmeister)]

"Jonno" <somewhere@inthecloud.com> wrote in message
news:45f6f866$0$23675$afc38c87@news.optusnet.com.a u...
> Clockmeister wrote:
>> "Jonno" <somewhere@inthecloud.com> wrote in message
>> news:45f69a4e$0$28625$afc38c87@news.optusnet.com.a u...
>>> They all have to be approved to certain Aussie standards.
>>> They will do the job. They dont want to be sued.
>>
>> Anyone who has ever had the displeasure of driving a vehicle fitted with
>> Bob Jane branded tyres will know that the standard and approval of tyres
>> means jack shit.
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
> Yeah well we wont advertise those tyres too much.
> Polyester tyres retain their shape after being hot and take some time to
> return to circular. Rename them to kangaroo tyres?
> That's really only a minor inconvenience.
> Are they safe? Yep.

Bob Jane tyres are not safe in the wet because there is no grip at all and
Bob Jane tryes aren't unique in that either. I'm willing to bet that the
cheapest Chinese shit on the market today will perform similarly unsafely in
the wet as well.

[Ext User(Clockmeister)]

"Marco" <ignition.vess@gmail.com> wrote in message
news:1173823759.497897.253810@o5g2000hsb.googlegro ups.com...
> On Mar 13, 11:19 pm, "norak" <k.no...@gmail.com> wrote:
>> I am about to get new tyres for my car. I don't do any seriously fast
>> driving. I don't hoon down the Princes Highway on Friday nights. I
>> usually drive under 80km/h travelling to and from work on some days or
>> to and from a train station on other days.
>>
>> I have been looking at the Kmart Tyres and Auto catalogue
>> athttp://www.ktas.com.au/catalogue/20070222/Catalogue_Pg01.htmand the
>> cheapest tyres they have there are SONAR tyres, so I am thinking of
>> getting them. They cost less than $70 each.
>>
>> My brother who drives a sports car told me I shouldn't buy tyres this
>> cheap. He has low-profile Toyo tyres on his car that cost about $250
>> each. He said that tyres were very important and therefore you should
>> invest as much as possible. He said, "If you buy a cheap tyre you get
>> what you pay for."
>
> In general, he's right. Stick with something from one of the big
> brand names in the tyre business, and make it one of their better
> models, not their cheaper ones.
>
> It's not worth buying cheap tyres. Even if you don't drive your car
> on the edge of its performance envelope, and most people don't, you'll
> want every bit of grip you can get at the moment it all goes pear-
> shaped and you need to avoid something.
>
> I've had good experiences with Dunlop, Falken, Michelin, Yokohama and
> Bridgestone, and less happy experiences with Goodyear and Pos-A-
> Traction.
>

Add Dunlop to the shitlist IMO.

[Ext User(PHATRS)]

norak wrote:
> I am about to get new tyres for my car. I don't do any seriously fast
> driving. I don't hoon down the Princes Highway on Friday nights. I
> usually drive under 80km/h travelling to and from work on some days or
> to and from a train station on other days.
>
> I have been looking at the Kmart Tyres and Auto catalogue at
> http://www.ktas.com.au/catalogue/20070222/Catalogue_Pg01.htm and the
> cheapest tyres they have there are SONAR tyres, so I am thinking of
> getting them. They cost less than $70 each.
>
> My brother who drives a sports car told me I shouldn't buy tyres this
> cheap. He has low-profile Toyo tyres on his car that cost about $250
> each. He said that tyres were very important and therefore you should
> invest as much as possible. He said, "If you buy a cheap tyre you get
> what you pay for." But Consumer Reports in the USA tested car tyre
> models across a wide range of prices, and didn't find a correlation
> between price and overall performance. See
> http://www.choice.com.au/viewArticle.aspx?id=103117&catId=100494&tid=100008&p=1&title=Car+tyres+-+5+Minute+CHOICE
>
> I would like to know if anyone uses these Sonar tyres and what is your
> experience with them?
>

Regardless of how often you will use the maximum potential of a tyre,
there will be times when you'll need it.

If you have rock hard lumps of crap on your wheels you'll be fine
plodding along, but as soon as you need to swerve or brake VERY hard
you'll wish you had some decent rubber.

Everyone has to buy what they can afford though.

For example, the tyres on my car fitted at the factory will cost me $340
each to replace. I could buy some dodgy south-east-asian brand of tyre
that will fit and might last longer and grip OK which would save me over
$100 per tyre if I'm lucky. I could also get tyres that rate a little
bit better in the tyre tests I've seen, but they'd cost me $100+ more
per tyre. I will stick with these Dunlop Sport Maxx tyres because they
rate nearly as highly as the best, so I can't personally justify
spending $100+ more per corner.

Even when I had a car that cost me $3000, I decided to buy decent tyres
which cost $100 each and rated well in tyre tests. The difference in
grip at regular speeds while turning at intersections was quite
noticable which made me realise it was quite unsafe for me to use the
old cheap tyres.

--
Ben - Wipe off 25

"My name is Korg from planet dyslexia, your arses are fruity, take me
to your dealer, or you will all be laminated, ." RV, melb.general

[Ext User(PHATRS)]

Clockmeister wrote:
> "Marco" <ignition.vess@gmail.com> wrote in message
> news:1173823759.497897.253810@o5g2000hsb.googlegro ups.com...
>> On Mar 13, 11:19 pm, "norak" <k.no...@gmail.com> wrote:
>>> I am about to get new tyres for my car. I don't do any seriously fast
>>> driving. I don't hoon down the Princes Highway on Friday nights. I
>>> usually drive under 80km/h travelling to and from work on some days or
>>> to and from a train station on other days.
>>>
>>> I have been looking at the Kmart Tyres and Auto catalogue
>>> athttp://www.ktas.com.au/catalogue/20070222/Catalogue_Pg01.htmand the
>>> cheapest tyres they have there are SONAR tyres, so I am thinking of
>>> getting them. They cost less than $70 each.
>>>
>>> My brother who drives a sports car told me I shouldn't buy tyres this
>>> cheap. He has low-profile Toyo tyres on his car that cost about $250
>>> each. He said that tyres were very important and therefore you should
>>> invest as much as possible. He said, "If you buy a cheap tyre you get
>>> what you pay for."
>> In general, he's right. Stick with something from one of the big
>> brand names in the tyre business, and make it one of their better
>> models, not their cheaper ones.
>>
>> It's not worth buying cheap tyres. Even if you don't drive your car
>> on the edge of its performance envelope, and most people don't, you'll
>> want every bit of grip you can get at the moment it all goes pear-
>> shaped and you need to avoid something.
>>
>> I've had good experiences with Dunlop, Falken, Michelin, Yokohama and
>> Bridgestone, and less happy experiences with Goodyear and Pos-A-
>> Traction.
>>
>
> Add Dunlop to the shitlist IMO.
>
>

Which specific tyre?

Dunlop Sport MAXX is getting great reviews. I just got 35k kms out of a
set of 235/40/18 and the only tyres rated better will cost me at least
$50 if not $100 more, EACH!

I don't dare try Kuhmo or other dodgy brands from that region as I doubt
I'd get anywhere near 35k kms out of them, and if I did I'm sure the
grip levels would be lower. Each tyre would be cheaper, but per km they
wouldn't be cheap.

--
Ben - Wipe off 25

"My name is Korg from planet dyslexia, your arses are fruity, take me
to your dealer, or you will all be laminated, ." RV, melb.general

[Ext User(Clockmeister)]

"PHATRS" <nosp@m.thanks.mate> wrote in message
news:680mc4-5tf.ln1@teri.unico.com.au...
> Clockmeister wrote:
>> "Marco" <ignition.vess@gmail.com> wrote in message
>> news:1173823759.497897.253810@o5g2000hsb.googlegro ups.com...
>>> On Mar 13, 11:19 pm, "norak" <k.no...@gmail.com> wrote:
>>>> I am about to get new tyres for my car. I don't do any seriously fast
>>>> driving. I don't hoon down the Princes Highway on Friday nights. I
>>>> usually drive under 80km/h travelling to and from work on some days or
>>>> to and from a train station on other days.
>>>>
>>>> I have been looking at the Kmart Tyres and Auto catalogue
>>>> athttp://www.ktas.com.au/catalogue/20070222/Catalogue_Pg01.htmand the
>>>> cheapest tyres they have there are SONAR tyres, so I am thinking of
>>>> getting them. They cost less than $70 each.
>>>>
>>>> My brother who drives a sports car told me I shouldn't buy tyres this
>>>> cheap. He has low-profile Toyo tyres on his car that cost about $250
>>>> each. He said that tyres were very important and therefore you should
>>>> invest as much as possible. He said, "If you buy a cheap tyre you get
>>>> what you pay for."
>>> In general, he's right. Stick with something from one of the big
>>> brand names in the tyre business, and make it one of their better
>>> models, not their cheaper ones.
>>>
>>> It's not worth buying cheap tyres. Even if you don't drive your car
>>> on the edge of its performance envelope, and most people don't, you'll
>>> want every bit of grip you can get at the moment it all goes pear-
>>> shaped and you need to avoid something.
>>>
>>> I've had good experiences with Dunlop, Falken, Michelin, Yokohama and
>>> Bridgestone, and less happy experiences with Goodyear and Pos-A-
>>> Traction.
>>>
>>
>> Add Dunlop to the shitlist IMO.
>>
>>
>
> Which specific tyre?
>

Their standard fodder, not their performance tyres which I have no
experience with.

I know of three cars in my family that had Dunlop tyres fitted and which all
developed bulges and lumps and tread lift requiring replacement well before
they were worn out.

Admittedly that was a while ago but once burnt...

[Ext User(Marco)]

On Mar 15, 12:53 am, "norak" <k.no...@gmail.com> wrote:
>
> I suppose I could always spend more money buying reenforced armour on
> my car as well as a rollcage made of pure diamond.

You could do that, or you could actually take your safety (and the
safety of those you might like to avoid crashing into) seriously and
buy a decent set of tyres.

Marco

[Ext User(Marco)]

On Mar 15, 1:01 am, "norak" <k.no...@gmail.com> wrote:
> I drive a Camry. Since it's got 4 cylinders it's not going to generate
> the power needed for hooning.

You can still go around corners fairly quickly, and more importantly,
driving a Camry doesn't mean you'll never be called on to perform a
swerve and recover, or an emergency stop.

As I said before, Consumer Reports said
> that there is no correlation between tyre quality and price, and just
> thinking about it carefully it may be that tyre quality and price are
> unrelated in a similar way that car price and quality are not
> related.

Pick up an issue of Wheels from the last couple of years where they
have done a tyre test. They usually include a cheaper brand to answer
precisely the question you're asking here, and invariably the cheaper
brand is totally off the pace of the high quality stuff.

What exactly do Consumer Reports - whoever they are - test for? Wet
braking, dry braking, wet and dry swerve and recover, maximum G in
cornering? Or do they test for mileage?

For example, a base model BMW 3-series costs quite a lot but
> is not as fast as a cheaper Commodore or Aurion. With this comparison,
> most people would agree you're paying for the badge and the same
> concept may apply to tyres. Perhaps Toyo, Yokohama, or Bridgestone
> tyres are snob tyres, and I just want to separate the facts from the
> fantasies.

Plenty of facts being put about here, but you seem determined to buy
cheap tyres anyway going by your posts...

Marco