Best brand of tyre

As the title says, what do you think the best brand of tyre is? I think from all my searching I have worked out the sizes I want, just not sure what the best brand is? Anyone have any good or bad things to say about their tyres?

 

This link will tell you pretty much all you need to know about bus tires. The best brands are listed at the end of the article. I bought Hancooks. The added reinforced sidewall support really did firm up the spongy feel of the regular passenger tyres that came on my bus, giving tighter control over bumps and corners.

http://busdepot.com/details/tires.jsp

 

I work in a garage and we have a contract with Hancook the boss worked very hard to get it as he swear's by them and we get them straight from the factory and i do have to say they are a very good tyre they wear well and handle well too and are a very competitive priced but then again i am biased toward's them as i will be having some on my van when it is ready for some new rubber :

 

Cheers for the reply's.

This issue does crop up a lot. However when running a lowered bus on drop spindles, it seems that a common tyre size is 175x15x55. The load rating of these tyres is only about 77 or 412 kg or a combined weight of 824kg Which is well short of the 1020kg (approx) needed for the front. Can all these companies who fit dropped spindles with smaller tyres be so wrong? Is it really an issue? The amount of buses I have seen at shows on this type of front tyre is huge. Any further info would be great. Is it a problem ??

The actual sizes I had in mind were 175x55x15 front and 185x65x15 rear

I will take a look at the hankook tyres and check the link out........cheers.

 

I have Hankook RA08 185r14c tyres on mine. the perfect fully load rated strengthened and reinforced tyre.

 

I can see it is an issue due to the weight of the bus, but how do all these companies who sell lowering kits, such as drop spindles, justify telling their customers they need to run low profile tyres to avoid rubbing on the arches?? The majority of magazine featured buses have low profile tyres on the front (165x60x14 and 175x55x15 etc etc). Do the magazines advise us not to do this?? Has anyone with low profiles ever had a blow out?

I am not agreeing or disagreeing with it.......just very confused !!

Please add your input

 

you should devo have light truck tyres or van tyres, most decent tyre companys wont put car tyres on even if you ask them because of the safety issues if owt happened

 

I agree your bus should have a decent load rated tyre on but like me and many others about im stuck to what size i can run which is currently a 175 which is impossible to find in C rated ( unless someone else knows somewhere ) so ive just run the closest i can find which seems to be a continental tyre and although it falls short of the load rateing by about 70kg per side ive never had a problem with them and have had to do a few hairy manovers in the past and they have held up well ! which may well be just luck ! but untill someone can produce a better tyre thats what im stuck with !

 

The marshmallowy feel you get on tires without reinforced sidewalls is caused by the sidewalls flexing. Picture the tyre planted firmly in place and the wheel moving from side to side. Now you can imagine the adverse floating effect that would have on your handling.
I would theorize that a very low profile tyre would offer less of the leverage and slack needed to cause this type of rolling.
I'm obviously no tyre engineer, but I would also have to guess that, transversely, without that slack, it would be more prone to simply pop off the rim in a sliding skid situation.
Does this sound logical to the rest of you?
In any case, the low profile tyre still won't be able to hold the necessary 54 odd (?) pounds of pressure recommended by Volkswagen. That will cause it to bulge concavely in the center of the tread, offering far less traction, stopping power, and fuel efficiency. And if you have ever pushed a cart of top soil with a low tire then you will understand quite clearly how much more energy it takes to move it.
As far as the companies that tell you to use insufficient tyres- They probably needn't justify anything. The single act of dropping a vehicle will already void a warranty as far as handling goes. I'm sure the customers wave his/her rights to sue in the event of an accident by simply signing the order to begin the modification. Check the fine print.
I would also venture to guess these lowering specialists may not even be aware of the special needs of a bus. Even most tyre stores will happily sell you a common set of Michelins and send you wobbling on down the road, having no idea of their error.
That's my theory anyway.

 

slightly off topic, as this isnt about our bus.

Avoid VREDSTEIN tyres. Our 55 plate discovery was fitted with a full set of these , brand new when we bought it.

4000 miles later we had to replace the lot. incredible but true!!!

( before you take the p, yes the disco has already gone)

 

I swear by Michelin. Am running Michelin Agillis 195/70/15 all round. Commercial tyres but actually devloped for campervans and motorhomes.

 

I used to be a Michelin man (no I'm not fat) through and though but now only have them on the 504. I do like Pirelli. I read that the 6000 wasn't very good in Which but they did
Like the 3000 and I have to say the Golf and the 104 went very well on them.

The bus at present wears Connells but these are American ad I have to say I can't fault them. That said I don't exactly put the bus through extremes like fast corners so can't really comment on them. They are however rubbish in mud and snow despite being stamped M+S.

 

got pirellis on my car. P zero , they don't half grip in the wet.

they are 'optional extras ' on Ferraris.