CHINESE TYRES vs BRAND NAME

[brad]

Doesn't Tempe sell them anymore? What about his cousin up the road?

[amunra]

Doesn't Tempe sell them anymore? What about his cousin up the road?

they havent had kf550 size 235 35 19r for a while.... maybe the wholesaler jacked the price on them too

[Shadow_Rusty]

I've recently had to change all the tyres on my 3 cars...
Tyroola still have the KF550's, and I've been very happy with them.

Volvo S60 170kw 2.5L Turbo 4WD 17" - No wheelspin, just absolutely great handling.
Ford Focus 100kw 2.0L NA FWD 16" - Small wheelspin in the wet under hard acceleration, but completely controllable, and easily predicted.
VW Eos 150kw 2.0L Turbo FWD 18" - Moderate wheelspin in the wet under hard acceleration, but completely controllable, and easily predicted / rectified.

Focus has done 10,000 and is better now than when they were new.
S60 has done 5,000 and I don't think it's ever lost traction...
No dangerous moments in the Focus, or S60, ad they had KF550's all round from the get go.

On the Eos however, initially I had 2x KF550's on the front of the Eos, with the original Supercats on the rear, and in the wet, it was dangerous. It would drive like a rear wheel drive car, and the more throttle, the more the rear would slide. Caught me by surprise the first time it happened. In the end, I couldn't wait to get off the Cats, even though they had over 50% tread left.

And, at $1100 for 12x tyres, I'm more than happy to keep running these.

[brad]

On the Eos however, initially I had 2x KF550's on the front of the Eos, with the original Supercats on the rear, and in the wet, it was dangerous. It would drive like a rear wheel drive car, and the more throttle, the more the rear would slide. Caught me by surprise the first time it happened. In the end, I couldn't wait to get off the Cats, even though they had over 50% tread left.

.

/opens can o' worms

On a FWd the tyres with most tread should go on the rear if possible as there is less weight and a greater propensity to aquaplane on wet roads. The Supercats were probably a bit aged and hard too.

[amunra]

I've recently had to change all the tyres on my 3 cars...
Tyroola still have the KF550's, and I've been very happy with them.

how much did u pay to have them installed and where ? ( also what was your quote for delivery to your house.. it quotes me $0 to my house but $80 to deliver to the place you want installed) near here.

[miicah]

I can't see anywhere that these FF550s come in 17s? Maybe I'm not looking hard enough.

[amunra]

I can't see anywhere that these FF550s come in 17s? Maybe I'm not looking hard enough.

that would be because they are KF550 not FF550, mr spelling police.

[Shadow_Rusty]

how much did u pay to have them installed and where ? ( also what was your quote for delivery to your house.. it quotes me $0 to my house but $80 to deliver to the place you want installed) near here.

It was $85 to have 6x Tyres shipped here, and ~$30 per tyre for fitment.

So, instead I had them delivered to the AutoCrew Narellen shop for free, and ~$22 per tyre for fitment...
I bought them in 2 lots, so, I put 2x wheels off of the Eos into the boot of the Focus first, and a month later, the S60, and drove up from Canberra to Narellen.
Shipping Saved = $85 x 2 = $170
Fitting Saved = $8 x 12 = $96
2x tanks of fuel = $120
So, I saved about $150 by doing that...

[Shadow_Rusty]

/opens can o' worms

On a FWd the tyres with most tread should go on the rear if possible as there is less weight and a greater propensity to aquaplane on wet roads. The Supercats were probably a bit aged and hard too.

I believe that it was just the 1x SuperCat that was stupidly dangerous. I bought the car off of someone who had damaged the inside edge of one of the front tyres, so I had a local store order in the 'same' tyre to replace it for Rego. It was that tyre that was bad, so I suspect that it was either old stock, or, more likely, a slightly different tyre, although still called the same.
It is interesting to note that it had over 90% tread left, and the other tyre was about 50%. It definately was the 'new' one that was slipping, and even when it was on the front, it would regularly slip in the dry under even moderate acceleration (at that point I thought it was both slipping). When on the rear, it would slide stupidly easily when turning right (bad tyre on the left), but was much better turning left, which is why I now think it was just the 1x very bad, and 1x just bad.
In the end I was over the whole thing, and just wanted them off of my car.

[Shadow_Rusty]

I can't see anywhere that these FF550s come in 17s? Maybe I'm not looking hard enough.

They are on the tyroola site too, but I did the transaction through the suprecheapauto site.
KINFOREST KF 550 225/45R17 94W Supercheap Auto