Tigar tyres - any good or complete crap?

[tt82]

bought my last set of toyo tyres of camskill, can recomend them. actually got them on offer now as well, i use mytyres as the have links to reviews on most tyres, prices seem high.

on a seperate note, buying of the net does have its pitfalls, had mine fitted by my next door neighbours dad and as such it did it cheap for us. but he told me that customers that use them as a fitting service provided by the net, they tell the customers that it takes 2 hours to fit the tyres and if they have their own customers come afterwards then they get priority so could be in for a long wait. he also reckoned that they actually sell certain tyres cheaper than some net companys such as black circle.

[GaryS40]

I know this is an old thread, but I just started reading it this morning.

I bought a set of Avon ZV5 tyres from Black Circles, last week.

They provide excellent grip in the dry and wet and are much quieter than the Firestone Firehawks that were on the front before. I had ZV5's on the car when I bought it, but replaced the fronts with cheap tyres, as I hoped to fit my Craters soon after. Turned out to be 9 months later!

I would recommend the Avon ZV5's without reservation.

Even in the snow, my S40 went through the snow without issue (when I had my last full set).

Gary

[GMad]

The thing I always find with cheap tyres, is suck it and see.
Your driving style, the type of conditions you drive in on a regular basis and your budget will all have a factor.
My S60 has budgets all round, because it was a cheap car and as long as they last and grip. I really don't care what brand is embossed onto them.
My Trans Am has the softest compound tyre available at the time, on the rear wheels, simply because of the show off value.
Similarly, super soft, easy drift/smokey tyres go on the back of my motorbike

[Martin Cox]

Interesting to see this thread surface once more so I think an update is in order.

The Tigar tyres lasted about 15,000 miles and just under 2 years which I'd describe as disappointing. I usually reckon on seeing 20,000 miles from the front tyres on my V70 Tdi, which has a bit of a reputation for wearing tyres out but I do use decent tyres on it.

However it wasn't tread wear that finished them off but cracking along the edge of the tread where it meets the sidewalls. I believe this is a common issue with some of the cheaper rubber compounds used in budget tyres.

I never pushed the car anywhere near the limits of adhesion of these tyres and can't say I ever noticed any problems. In fairness, knowing it had these tyres I didn't feel inclined to take any chances either!

Although they weren't as bad as I was expecting them to be, I wouldn't be tempted to buy them myself. However they're probably OK for keeping legal on the cheap but that's about it; otherwise pretty uninspiring but not the worst on the market.

Cheap is of course a relative term. I think the Tigars were about £45 each and lasted barely 15,000 miles which is poor value compared with a longer lasting premium tyre and that's taking no account of any differences in safety and performance.

The Tigars are now long gone and replaced with a Michelin Energy savers which thus far have been excellent.

Hope this is of some interest

Martin

[GaryS40]

Originally Posted by Martin Cox

Interesting to see this thread surface once more so I think an update is in order.

The Tigar tyres lasted about 15,000 miles and just under 2 years which I'd describe as disappointing. I usually reckon on seeing 20,000 miles from the front tyres on my V70 Tdi, which has a bit of a reputation for wearing tyres out but I do use decent tyres on it.

However it wasn't tread wear that finished them off but cracking along the edge of the tread where it meets the sidewalls. I believe this is a common issue with some of the cheaper rubber compounds used in budget tyres.

I never pushed the car anywhere near the limits of adhesion of these tyres and can't say I ever noticed any problems. In fairness, knowing it had these tyres I didn't feel inclined to take any chances either!

Although they weren't as bad as I was expecting them to be, I wouldn't be tempted to buy them myself. However they're probably OK for keeping legal on the cheap but that's about it; otherwise pretty uninspiring but not the worst on the market.

Cheap is of course a relative term. I think the Tigars were about £45 each and lasted barely 15,000 miles which is poor value compared with a longer lasting premium tyre and that's taking no account of any differences in safety and performance.

The Tigars are now long gone and replaced with a Michelin Energy savers which thus far have been excellent.

Hope this is of some interest

Martin

Thanks Martin

So the moral of the story is, buy the best you can afford and if you can't afford too much, be prepared to drive more gingerly and expect to replace the tyres again, sooner than you'd like.

Gary

[gmain1967]

Originally Posted by GaryS40

Thanks Martin

So the moral of the story is, buy the best you can afford and if you can't afford too much, be prepared to drive more gingerly and expect to replace the tyres again, sooner than you'd like.

Gary

Not as simple as that Gary - buy an expensive pair of road legal track tyres and you won't get many miles from them - they grip so well as they are soft compound which in turn means they will wear quicker.

The Parada 2's that I have, I am not really expecting any more than around 6000 miles out of the fronts before I move rears to front and put new ones on rear... I used to get about same from Toyos on an S40. That said, I don't run tyres below 3mm as the wet weather grip is so poor compared to new...

Wear on Bridgestones which were car specific for my last Subaru was only around 10000 miles though being 4wd, they did wear more uniformly front to rear...

[GaryS40]

Originally Posted by gmain1967

Not as simple as that Gary - buy an expensive pair of road legal track tyres and you won't get many miles from them - they grip so well as they are soft compound which in turn means they will wear quicker.

The Parada 2's that I have, I am not really expecting any more than around 6000 miles out of the fronts before I move rears to front and put new ones on rear... I used to get about same from Toyos on an S40. That said, I don't run tyres below 3mm as the wet weather grip is so poor compared to new...

Wear on Bridgestones which were car specific for my last Subaru was only around 10000 miles though being 4wd, they did wear more uniformly front to rear...

I have only ever done that once, Grant and it was an error on the supplier's side.

I bought a pair of Yokohama 520 tyres for my Cavalier SRi (long time ago), but had 520R's fitted.

I thought there was something wrong when I was trying to dress them and they just turned dull again.

The grip was superb, even taking tight bends at over 90 mph (oops, I meant kph!), without even a screech, where I wouldn't have tried above 70 before.

Down side was that after 2000 miles the tyres were near bald.

One of my mates owns a garage and told me that they were racing compound and probably not even road legal.

Went back to the supplier, who generously offered me a replacement set of tyres at cost, even though he admitted it was their fault.

I'm not suggesting someone buys the most expensive road legal track tyre, merely try to buy the best 'standard' road tyre they can afford.

Premium brands will usually wear and perform better than the budget brands, that is what I was inferring.

Gary

[GP1]

Originally Posted by GaryS40

Premium brands will usually wear and perform better than the budget brands, that is what I was inferring.

Gary

There again, Michelin have just recalled 80,000 tyre's together with 841,000 BF Goodridge & Uniroyal's. .

[gmain1967]

Originally Posted by GaryS40

I have only ever done that once, Grant and it was an error on the supplier's side.

I bought a pair of Yokohama 520 tyres for my Cavalier SRi (long time ago), but had 520R's fitted.

I thought there was something wrong when I was trying to dress them and they just turned dull again.

The grip was superb, even taking tight bends at over 90 mph (oops, I meant kph!), without even a screech, where I wouldn't have tried above 70 before.

Down side was that after 2000 miles the tyres were near bald.

One of my mates owns a garage and told me that they were racing compound and probably not even road legal.

Went back to the supplier, who generously offered me a replacement set of tyres at cost, even though he admitted it was their fault.

I'm not suggesting someone buys the most expensive road legal track tyre, merely try to buy the best 'standard' road tyre they can afford.

Premium brands will usually wear and perform better than the budget brands, that is what I was inferring.

Gary

I see where you are coming from Gary but same thing still applies. Take "Economy" tyres as an example - not cheap to buy. Most claim better MPG and long life which they do through a combination of tread pattern and compound. They tend to be a hard compound hence they have good wear, but this is due to them creating less friction with the road surface and consequently, less grip. I had them once on a company car and they were quite frankly scary on wet bends. Also, with performance tyres (not trackday), there are still different compounds sometimes available and as you point out, that can and does have a huge bearing on things!

I happily sacrifice longevity for short term grip but it's a personal thing....

[GaryS40]

Originally Posted by gmain1967

I see where you are coming from Gary but same thing still applies. Take "Economy" tyres as an example - not cheap to buy. Most claim better MPG and long life which they do through a combination of tread pattern and compound. They tend to be a hard compound hence they have good wear, but this is due to them creating less friction with the road surface and consequently, less grip. I had them once on a company car and they were quite frankly scary on wet bends. Also, with performance tyres (not trackday), there are still different compounds sometimes available and as you point out, that can and does have a huge bearing on things!

I happily sacrifice longevity for short term grip but it's a personal thing....

I agree Grant

No point having a long life tyre, when it could let you skid off the road and wreck your car, within 100 miles of having them fitted.

Gary