Are expensive tyres worth the money?

Are expensive tyres worth it? Yes, and if you want to know why this post will give you the reason why I believe this to be the case.

Not only should they keep you and your loved ones safe in your vehicle they will also keep other road users safe.

How many of us when buying a new or secondhand car, have paid attention to what size tyre the car has? Not many of us I’m guessing, but this needs to change as our car tyres are something that we might have to change often depending on our driving style and how often we use our cars.

At the beginning of the post, I told you that I believe that car tyres are worth the money and now I’m going to tell you why I hold this opinion.

What is considered an expensive tyre?

If you drive a supermini or small hatchback, depending on where you shop, an expensive tyre might be considered to be around £100+ whereas if you drive something sportier you could be spending more than £500+ for a single tyre.

Compare these to budget tyres where you could be paying half, you can see why some choose budget tyres over their expensive alternatives.

Are you just paying for the brand when buying an expensive tyre?

Unlike your supermarket shop, where you might not be able to tell the difference between a branded packet of chocolate hobnobs and a supermarket’s own brand, a branded tyre has some advantages over the lesser-known budget tyres.

The larger brands can invest in research and development which often results in a safer tyre because the quality of the materials that they are using is better and they can put the tyre through rigorous testing.

When buying a new car, you might find that the manufacturer recommends a certain brand and have that brand’s tyre fitted upon delivery, this could be because the car manufacturer has worked in conjunction with the tyre manufacturer on that particular vehicle or through years of experience in building cars they understand that a certain tyre just performs better than others.

Remember, some manufacturers sell cars purely on their brand image, therefore aren’t likely to recommend a brand that doesn’t reflect its brand values, whether that’s someone like Volvo selling its cars on safety or BMW on driving experience.

How long should your tyres last?

How long your tyre last will depend on several factors, inducing the rubber used in making the tyre, how often you drive your car and whether you drive your car like you’re driving Miss Daisy or think that every time you step foot in your car you are trying to get pole at the Monaco GP.

The RAC recommends that we change our tyres every 20,000 miles.

While car use has decreased as more of us are working from home or we are considering the use of our vehicles more because of fuel costs, as of 2020, we were still averaging around 7,000 miles a year.

Why bother with expensive tyres if we are using our cars less?

If you’re someone that just uses your car to pop down to the shops now and then or visit local relatives then buying budget tyres might be perfectly fine, but what happens should for whatever reason your circumstances change and you find that you’re driving more?

While a budget tyre might offer a short-term benefit with price, you’re likely to be changing it more if your use of the car increases, which could actually result in you paying more for tyres.

What should you consider when buying a tyre?

Buying a tyre is as simple as tapping your car registration on a website and it telling you what size tyre you need to buy.

Who is using the car?

Since becoming a one-car household and my working circumstances changing that I work mostly from home, my wife is now using the car a lot more and often with our children, so like electric car buyers that get range anxiety, you don’t want to get tyre anxiety because you’ve bought a cheaper tyre if your loved ones are in the car.

How often are you going to be using the car?

If you drive your car a lot for work or pleasure, as I’ve alluded to above, buying an expensive tyre should not only keep you safer on the road but also last longer.

Consideration of the tyre label

The tyre label gives you information about a tyre.

Unfortunately, this can be a little confusing, as you might find that sometimes a budget tyre provides a better or similar rating to that of an expensive tyre, but this labelling should be your only consideration in buying a tyre.

The tyre labels provide information on:

The fuel efficiency

Gives details on the rolling resistance of a car with the higher-rated tyres (A) providing a reduction in fuel consumption and lower CO2 emissions.

The wet grip

This details how safe the tyre is, specifically in wet conditions.

The higher the rating in this label the shorter the braking distance on wet and slippery roads.

The noise level (measured in dB)

This doesn’t actually relate to the noise that the tyre produces that you can hear in the cabin, but an external factor that measures the noise that is produced when a car passes.

What if you can’t afford expensive tyres?

If you can’t afford an expensive tyre, then, of course, you should buy a budget tyre as you can’t be without your car, but this should only be considered a short-term solution and you should put some money aside every month for car expenses.

I do this by putting some money into a car-expenses sinking fund as soon as I get paid every month, but you might choose a different method whatever you do, this can save the headache of finding money when you inevitably have to pay out for something for your car, whether that’s maintenance, insurance or road tax.

Conclusion 

I started off by telling you that I believed that buying expensive tyres was a worthwhile expense and through the blog gave my reasoning for it

Expensive tyres of an increased level of safety, they last longer and the research and development that has gone into making sure that the tyres are the best in the market is much more than that of what the budget tyre brands are able.

Do you only buy expensive tyres, or do you think that budget tyres do the job just as well?

Let me know in the comments below.