Anyone know why the Bridgstone 275/35/R19 is so much more expensive than the same in Kumho, Dunlop and Good Year? I mean double the price! And why the hell doesn't anyone in Canberra stock that size?!?! It's not exactly uncommon.
lol, no one stocks them because they are crap. Iused to use a choice of 2 tyres, now one choice is gone (F1 DS3's). So now it will always be Maxx. At around $1300 for the entire car, its is the best choice
Kumho Ecsta KU31 275/35/ZR19 will be what I put on the rear and then when I need fronts, I'll put the Kumhos on there too (245/45/ZR19. I actually think they are a lot better than the Bridgestone having now had them both. I can't honestly see how Bridgestone expect to sell them at more than twice the price. Although it is what Holden put on the cars from the factory... So 15,000km service tomorrow morning, new rear tyres in the afternoon. New windscreen Wednesday morning... Just need to wash the car after that. Man, what a week!
michelin pilot preceda's are fairly priced and are a harder compound tyre so they will last a bit longer than stocky ones
Welcome to the modern world of massive flashy wheels put on cars by designers who don't have to pay for the rubber the owner has to fork out for... I know people put on big wheels and tyres themselves...that's fine, they know what to expect. My beef has always been that the "ordinary" family guy doesn't want to have to pay over $200 per tyre for his basic family car. The recent move to "standard" 17" wheels on ordinary family Commodores and some smaller cars is going to see some rather shell shocked customers when they have to buy a set, and might be used to spending $120 a tyre at most which thier older car probably cost them. We have been running around recently trying to get a decent price for tyres on our VX Lumina...it has the factory 16" wheels. Here in Bundy, we went from dealer to dealer, and were immediately quoted the most expensive tyres first..."Well, decent ones cost $195 each / $250 each", etc...sorry, but I have a problem with paying a thousand frickin bucks for a set of basic family car tyres... I asked what were the cheaper options, and there was a lot of humming and haahing...at the big mainstream dealers, they certainly don't like to tell you about something cheaper. As the guy in one shop was telling us all they had to fit cost $190 each, in the current company advertising mail-out catalogue sitting right in front of us was a set in the same size for $149 each. Only after my wife noticed this and pointed it out did he hesitate and say "well yeah, they are available as well...". My wife made a comment about "I wonder what happens to people who aren't a little savvy about all the different tyres available...do they just get the dearest ones pushed on them?". No comment...:bang: Anyway, after consulting a few mates, we ordered a set of Triangle tyres (I think the name was "Talon", with a nice deep tread pattern on them)...yep, Chinese ones. They will cost $116 each, in 225/55-16 size. One friend of mine put them on his Monaro after falling over when quoted over $400 each for his 19" tyres here in town, and paid $160 each for them. He's been my guinea pig, and had them on his Monaro for almost a year now, and through rain and dirt and rough roads, he hasn't had one complaint about them. They are also lasting very well, and he hasn't exactly got a light foot... Another couple of people I know have also gone for them, and haven't had any issues...seeing as how all the big makers like Bridgestone and Dunlop have huge factories in China, I don't have any concerns. Let's face it...twenty years ago, there was a good chance of getting very dodgy tyres if you went real cheap, but nowadays, it is hard not to buy a good tyre, no matter how cheap it is. Rant over...ahh, that feels better...:yeah::yeah::yeah:
Rims and tyres don't have to meet Australian safety compliance... yet. Only the country of manufacture. Sure, I refuse to pay over $700 for a single tyre for my Clubsport but I'd rather buy something a little more expensive than a Chinese Tyre. For now anyway... But I'm not a Mum or a Dad
yeah and I probably know which tyre store you went to. It is hard to run a tyre store somewhere that is remote because they get one or two truck load of stock a week. The early birds gets the cheap tyres first and leaving the store store with the expensive tyres left. The customers feels that they are ripped off that they have to pay for the most expensive tyres that they have. Its a can't win situation...
when i was looking at tyres for my VY it was a decision between a set of 4 bridgestone RE001's or a set of Dunlop sportmax's. I went for the Dunlops in the end after some reaserch and have been very happy with my choise. the main reason was that in tests the dunlops matched the RE001's and were alot cheeper per corner as well. The fact that they were named the wheels magagine sports tyre of the year just cemented my choise. I have done just under 10000kms in them and i will be getting anther set of them when i will need to get new ones in about 25-30000kms time.
