[freemansteve]

Looks are not everything. Thoughts of rubbing, or speedo errors aside, or even what you can safely fit on a given rim, just remember that for a given weight of car, and road conditions there is a sweet-spot for tyres, and it's all a compromise. Go too wide, for example, and you may aquaplane earlier and lose wet braking distance (or wet traction). You may lose fuel ecomony and the extra friction blunts top speed and acceleration slightly. If you change tyre dimensions, tell you insurer, as has been suggested.

 

[freemansteve]

Plenty of roads in far-flung areas the UK with improved roads from EU money, but sadly no more! Luckily the UK has become so rich from Brexit, that we'll all be buying private helicopters, as soon as our Brexit bonus cheques come through the letterboxes. Hahaha!
Or maybe paying through the nose for imported new tyres...

 

[freemansteve]

Blackcircles is owned by Michelin, AFAIK.
Kiss of death when a big global takes over a company....

 

[freemansteve]

Let's hope the additional two tyres are the same colour as the first two

 

[freemansteve]

Nice wheels; how are they against high kerbs? Or maybe you don't lend the car to "a partner"

 

[freemansteve]

Kerbs win every time!
There's 5 of us, so the Up is too small for family duties. It's my pride and joy

A shame! I was hoping the the tyre sidewall was enough, but then with only you driving it etc etc.....

 

[freemansteve]

Indeed! Most blokes can manage a neat 3".
Umm, I mean from the kerb.

 

[freemansteve]

Nah, the photo is fine.

 

[freemansteve]

Don't worry - the levelling-up agenda promises to fill every third pothole by 2033.

 

[freemansteve]

Other (usually marginal) features of major brands of tyres aside, it seems to me that if I paid say, 30% more for tyre that only gave me 15% more mileage, I probably would not bother. Any sensible test ought to be about cost/benefit.

 

[freemansteve]

T-D - Owing to a damaged tyre at the front, I recently bought a pair of the usual Kumhos for the front. Good price from Camskill, and they are A-rated in the wet. They seem to drive fine, but then new tyres always seem excellent compared with whatever you took off that was even only part-worn (once the contact surface has been a bit cleaned off the new tyres).

I don't drive track-days (and I get that tyres for that may be crucial). I don't drive around in the belief that being on or near the limit of adhesion on a public road is a good idea. I'm not bothered by small nuances in handling feel, being as a change of tyre pressures can in itself make a huge difference. I may often need to pull up sharpish, especially in the wet (common here) because (maybe) 50% of other drivers are really too stupid to be allowed to use any kind of powered machinery, so it's soemtimes down to me to do the driving for them... So maybe wet braking is important.

I could have spent double, but even if I cared, I doubt that would give me a doubling of the tyre life over these Kumhos or a halving of my wet braking distance.... I'm not any kind of Kumho fan per se - any "deal of the day" on A-rated wet tyres would be fine for me.

 

[freemansteve]

AFAIK you just need the right size, and the appropriate load rating (and speed rating); I don't think an Up! EV in particular has a "special tyre"...

 

[freemansteve]

Sadly, many car things like tyres, oil, etc are analogous to things bought by HiFi fans, firstly, as a consequence of the industry covering everything in foo-foo dust, and secondly a well-documented bit of psychology where almost everyone is predisposed to accept that a more expensive (or even just shiny and new), or very-hyped item is better. It may be, bit it's surprising how often a blind test (just the term, not driving like some out there) reveals truth.

As an aside, yesterday I was reading about an "audiophile network switch" that improved the "audio experience". Without giving the boring details, this is so obviously not true, I was spluttering. So a serious guy, with serious test gear published a comprehensive set of measurement that showed a switch that was 1/100th the cost of the audiophile one had absolutely identical performance for digital audio listening. A major reason why certain products cost more is often the marketing budget, which really does produce results in terms of profit. Sometimes, measurements to check a published specification, where a spec or claim exist, is as good as it gets. We are barraged by reviews full of adjectives instead of numbers, or inapplicable generalizations, all too often.

I'm not saying saying all tyres are the same, which would be dumb, but I do agree it's hard to conduct any objective apples-for-apples tests, that are applicable to just one model of car - there are way too many variables to really know what is "best", so caveat emptor...

In my case (only having a Skoda), I roam the streets to collect those red rubber bands dropped by posties. WIthin 2 years, I usually have enought to "roll my own" tyres, but they are a poor colour match for my black car.

 

[freemansteve]

I often say (in other places), the truth is one thing, but whatever makes you happy is another, and maybe more important.

 

[freemansteve]

My record player has dolby ..............

You've been sold a dud! But my tyres have SESGT.
(Super Excellent Sticky Grip Technology - it's written on the sidewalls, so it must be true). It's like having Dolby G super-plus built into the stylus, which you should have bought for your record player.