Are ditch finders REALLY that bad. (Honest review)

[bashbarnard]

So this is a topic that the internet has always been hot on. Tyres on cars, generally the more expensive you go the better you get. This is true. I am not disputing that at all. HOWEVER i feel like the name ditch finders is not to be deserved. On my previous incarnations of cars i have indeed ran these so called ditch finders in my experience day to day driving i notice essentially no difference. When pushed yes, when driving normally no. I have had many crappy tyres in the past with names such as jinu, triangle and nerens that i put on my car today. Thats right im still using them! In fact at fcs 2016 i done a 2 hour track session on part worn "ditch finders" if anything it made for a great session.

So to sum up, yes i love the ad08s and the r888s and even the ns2rs but for daily non powerful transport in my eyes you cant beat a ditch finder.

But then again what do I know. Im just a guy who likes cars. What are others thoughts on this. Would be interesting to see the honest opinions for once.

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[Mighty306]

Let's start with the fact that I'm no expert with tyres, in any form whatsoever!!

Have run a fair few budget tyres in the past n in truth they've done the job they're meant for. No ditches found, despite pushing on reasonably hard sometimes ....but .... some of them don't seem to have lasted very long. My current daily had budgets fitted n replaced them all for a mid-range tyre (GT Champiros) when the budgets ran out of tread. The GT's were noticeably quieter n turn-in seemed a bit better too.  That was just a perception though.  Perhaps it was just my brain trying to justify the extra £80 spent!

[Ben_w]

The original ditch finder, the P6000, was just that.

A godawful, abomination of a tyre. Noisy, hated water more than most cats and generally lacked any grip in anything other than than bone dry.

However, I'm not a brand snob. I've found through time that a tyre from one manufacturer can be amazing in one size and toilet in another. A case in point are the Bridgestone Potenza S001's on my Golf GTD. Hateful things. Incredibly noisy, zero grip, a complete waste of time,and it's not just me that thinks it. Half the GTD Facebook page at least hate them.

All down to driving style and journey though. Id agree to a point that the ditch finder might be suitable for the daily commute but I'd rather something underneath me I knew would react well in the case of sudden hard braking, evasive manoeuvres or a summer storm downpour.

[cully]

a black and round with some wavy patterns and cheep will do for the daily hack
picked up to many nails in my time that have killed week old tyres not spending loads on daily tyres

[Mighty306]

The original ditch finder, the P6000, was just that.

....and isn't that the tyre the 306 came fitted with from the factory?!!!

[mr_fish]

majority will rule, "as long as it has tread and not perished...."

[Eeyore]

it depends if youre pootling along in a 106 1.5 nad... or smashing a gti6 around back roads on your daily drive. ive been using ps4s on all my cars and ns2rs on the rallye. Both of which have been great!

[Midnightclub]

Never put cheap tyres on any of my cars, but i don't do much mileage tbf - i can justify spending the extra when they've got to be changed every few years instead of say every 12 months. It's the bad conditions where they come into their own imo

[bashbarnard]

So a lot of people are in agreement this never happens on the internet! Basically budgets are fine for day to day. [emoji869] Good poimt about the weather as currently im on 4 brand new budgets in this snow.

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[Toms306]

It's more about wet grip than price for me. Very little difference in grip in the dry with most tyres on the road. But in the wet there's a huge difference when you start to push on or have to make evasive action. Can pretty much drive the same in the wet as in the dry with A rated wet grip tyres like Dunlop Sport BlueResponse or Goodyear EfficientGrip Performance (not the same as the slippery old non-performance version!).

T1Rs always used to be recommended on here but they are horrific in the wet, almost as bad as the OE P6000s - but remember the P6000s were OE 20 years ago and tech moves on. The old Goodyear Efficient Grip were also not as grippy as their name would suggest. So as I say, just paying more doesn't make a tyre better, some of the big brands are also ditch finders unless you drive like an old lady in the rain...

[gti6man]

I need 4 new tyres for my gti6, it's my only car but I only do around 8k a year and want PS3's but £290 fitted is allot of moolah...

A set of Uniroyal Rainsports are £220 for a set seem pretty good.... I don't know. I guess the end of the day the only thing between your car and the road is your tyres so that's where to spend the money...

[Eeyore]

avoid the rainsports! The PS3s are a much better tyre!

[Martin306]

I've got Nordicca winter tyres and they're excellent in the snow. Definitely be getting a good test tomorrow after the red snow warning has passed haha!

As for road tyres, Landsails are surprisingly good. Despite the name of sailing across the land they grip like a ship that's run aground!

[welshpug]

f*ck budgets, doesnt matter how much power you have, id rather be able to stop or drive around any hazard that presents itself on my commute day to day, whilst being quieter, longer lastong and more fuel efficient than cheap tat.

[Piggy]

Rather buy a part worn set of premium tyres than new budgets and have zero confidence on a wet day when someone steps out into the road and I need to stop/avoid.

[welshpug]

100% that yes, totally.

put about 14-15k miles on some PS3's that I bought with 7mm on them, there's still 3-4mm left on them on the front of my BMW.

[Mighty306]

id rather be able to stop or drive around any hazard that presents itself on my commute day to day

Yea, 5th gear (I think) did a test quite a few years ago on budgets vs more expensive tyres.  Emergency stops done using same model of car (with ABS), same speed, same conditions - just different tyres.  The stopping distance for the budgets was significantly further!

[bashbarnard]

id rather be able to stop or drive around any hazard that presents itself on my commute day to day

Yea, 5th gear (I think) did a test quite a few years ago on budgets vs more expensive tyres.  Emergency stops done using same model of car (with ABS), same speed, same conditions - just different tyres.  The stopping distance for the budgets was significantly further!

See while i partly agree with most of whats being said, My budgets have wet grip of B. which is very good for the price and DBs are 69. for 4 times the price i can buy goodyear tyres. Wet grip B, dbs 69 the only thing i loose is a little fuel efficeny https://www.camskill.co.uk/m77b0s3916p13...se%3A_69dB

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Also the ones im currently running day to day https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/X4-195-45R16-...2749.l2649

[Eeyore]

Firstly id suggest that some budgets are better than others and may well have improved over time.
Secondly id suggest that the B rating is a range and you could be at the bottom of a B or at the top of a B

[bashbarnard]

Firstly id suggest that some budgets are better than others and may well have improved over time.
Secondly id suggest that the B rating is a range and you could be at the bottom of a B or at the top of a B

I suspect the rating have a range to be fair never looked into it. B is better than anything i ever got in school though so im happy to run them. #dumblogic

[welshpug]

quite likely, I'm running A rated wet grip front and back, same 71db noise rating same C rating for fuel efficiency, but there's £30 difference per tyre from michelin pilot sport 4 to the rainsport 3!

hard to tell but the michelin will most likely last longer though they are on the front of a rwd car as well.

[Magenta Sunset]

"round and black" and drive according to the conditions.
and that includes 2 trips to Austria.

[Rippthrough]

Going off the tyre rating is pretty silly, afaik the wet grip is basically a straight line, warm weather test.
I've had cheap tyres on the old fiat that were fine in a straight line but the minute it was cold and damp - not even wet - they would let go with very little warning and wash out when cornering.
You'll find that actual full tyre tests carried out don't tend to correlate to the EU labels well at all.

[bashbarnard]

Going off the tyre rating is pretty silly, afaik the wet grip is basically a straight line, warm weather test.
I've had cheap tyres on the old fiat that were fine in a straight line but the minute it was cold and damp - not even wet - they would let go with very little warning and wash out when cornering.
You'll find that actual full tyre tests carried out don't tend to correlate to the EU labels well at all.

been driving through the 3ft of snow in mine this week. They seem fine to be honest. Passed a few 4x4s that were stuck as well. I eventually got stuck but then again i helped push two people out there then turned around to go back home.

[Poodle]

I'm rocking hankook winters at the mo and love them. Have done 8k and lost all of 2mm of tread, last night drove up a snowy hill easily after watching 3 4x4s try and fail. I find the more expensive tyres much better in poor weather (which, let's face it, accounts for a good 50% time spent driving in Britain) and similarly superior in rates of wear. No brainer imo.

[Ben_w]

The original ditch finder, the P6000, was just that.

....and isn't that the tyre the 306 came fitted with from the factory?!!!

Yep.........which is why so many, including my first 6, either got stacked or ended up in ditches.......

[aircool]

id rather be able to stop or drive around any hazard that presents itself on my commute day to day

Yea, 5th gear (I think) did a test quite a few years ago on budgets vs more expensive tyres.  Emergency stops done using same model of car (with ABS), same speed, same conditions - just different tyres.  The stopping distance for the budgets was significantly further!

See while i partly agree with most of whats being said, My budgets have wet grip of B. which is very good for the price and DBs are 69. for 4 times the price i can buy goodyear tyres. Wet grip B, dbs 69 the only thing i loose is a little fuel efficeny https://www.camskill.co.uk/m77b0s3916p13...se%3A_69dB

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Also the ones im currently running day to day https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/X4-195-45R16-...2749.l2649

AFAIK the ratings are actually from the manufacturer as well.

[Toms306]

Going off the tyre rating is pretty silly, afaik the wet grip is basically a straight line, warm weather test.
I've had cheap tyres on the old fiat that were fine in a straight line but the minute it was cold and damp - not even wet - they would let go with very little warning and wash out when cornering.
You'll find that actual full tyre tests carried out don't tend to correlate to the EU labels well at all.

The Auto Express tests seemed to be fairly comprehensive when I was looking for tyres last year.

http://www.autoexpress.co.uk/accessories...-car-tyres

[Niall]

I won’t use cheap tyres. I’ve had a few near misses that I genuinely believe if I had of been on cheap tyres then it would have been more than a near miss.
I’m lucky that I don’t pay for my tyres now but if I did, I’d still buy the best I could afford. A tyre may feel ok but ultimately it comes down to how can it deal with an emergency situation?

[RetroPug]

Bear in mind that good tyres tend to perform well once they are worn.

Cheap tyres can perform OK when new and drop off very quickly once worn. I've even heard stories of them being coated in an outer layer of very soft rubber that performs well in tests but wears away quickly to leave cheap, hard rubber underneath...

Good quality tyres also tend to last longer, so if you're keeping the car cheap tyres can be a false economy as well as a safety concern.