Don't skimp on car tyres! Here's how stay safe - and save €€€€s

WHAT CAR? SUMMER TYRE TEST RESULTS - AND WHY IT'S WORTH PAYING EXTRA TO FIT RECOGNISED BRANDS
Rank	Tyre name	Tyre manufactured in	Price	Stopping distance from 80kph in wet	Stopping distance from 100kph in dry	Overall score
1	Continental PremiumContact 7	France	€164	33.5 metres	34.5 metres	86%
2	Hankook Ventus S1 evo3 SUV	Korea	€154	34.5 metres	35.8 metres	85%
3	MichelinPrimacy 4+	Italy	€189	35.7 metres	36.4 metres	71%
4	Firestone Roadhawk 2	Italy	€143	38.2 metres	37.8 metres	70%
5	Yokohama BluEarth-XT AE61	Japan	€151	37.8 metres	37.9 metres	59%
6	Triangle EffexSport TH202	China	€107	40.7 metres	39.2 metres	57%
7	GT Radial FE2 SUV	China	€123	43.9 metres	39.6 metres	55%
8	Landsail LS588 SUV	Thailand	€134	38.1 metres	39.1 metres	47%
Source: WhatCar?  Irish € prices (unfitted)provided by eiretyres.com (apart from Landsail whose UK What Car? price is  converted to euros).

Prices correct 12/9/24

Drivers can pay dearly for not being careful about the brand of tyres they buy. 

Some Chinese tyres take almost a third longer to stop than better brands – the length of a double decker bus - a new survey shows.

However, you don’t have to pay top dollar to get the best rubber – picking the right brand counts too.

Continental scored highest, yet was third dearest, while runner-up Hankook’s tyres were cheapest of the top three tyres in the What Car? survey.

Continental scored the highest overall mark of 86% after topping the standings for both braking and handling in all conditions. 

“Tyre safety is of the utmost importance and rightfully should be highlighted,” says Karl Lenihan of the Raheny branch of BestDrive, one of Ireland’s biggest tyre-selling chains.  

“Yet most people just buy the cheapest tyre. They're not really fully aware of these issues.”

Many drivers even buy second-hand tyres with barely-legal thread levels (that will soon wear down and are even more dangerous), he warns.

I was a bit shocked after reading this survey, as I am one of these drivers who didn’t pay enough attention when buying my tyres. I couldn’t even remember which brand I had.

When I checked, it’s Triangle, the cheapest of the Chinese brands , although it’s only third from bottom (out of eight) in the What Car? survey. 

It’s the best Chinese and reasonable value, although not as safe as some others.

Here’s what all this scarily means in practice:

Let’s say I was driving at 80kph ‘in the wet’, and a truck unexpectedly veered out onto the road 40 metres in front of my car.

With any non-Chinese brand, my braking distance should safely stop me in time. 

With Triangle, the braking distance would be 41 metres, which means I’d hit the truck, though at a much-reduced speed.

But if I’d bought another Chinese brand - GT Radial, my stopping distance would be 44 metres – and I would hit that truck hard.

(Landsail has a slightly better braking distance, but finished last in the What Car? survey due to other test factors. This brand is Chinese-owned but makes its tyres in Thailand.)

Price was my main consideration because I thought that car tyres are checked through the NCT anyway, so I might as well just buy the cheapest ones.

I forgot that you can never assume that the Irish Government is regulating everything properly. 

Many drivers think the NCT is an all-round guarantee of safety and car-condition yet it really only covers the basics. 

“The NCT checks tread depth, the age of the tyre and physical defects. The stopping distance matters massively but it's not something that’s regulated unfortunately,” says Karl.

The savings on buying the worst and best tyres are not even that significant considering the cost to safety if you choose the right brand.

“With an 18 inch or a 19 inch, there could be a difference sometimes between €50/€60,” says Karl. But with smaller tyres it could even be just “€15/€20.”

The AA has urged drivers to be more careful when picking their tyres: “Considering the only thing between you and the road are your tyres, the condition and quality of them should not be taken lightly.”

 “Tyres are expensive, however having the correct tyres for your vehicle and making sure they are above the legal thread depth with no bulges is crucial for road safety.”

She also urged drivers to pay more attention to tyre condition and pressure, as doing so “can not only save your life, it can save you on fuel in the long run.”

Fuel consumption rises 2% for every 10% under-inflation of your tyres. This means a 20% underinflation would cost nearly €100 a year in added fuel costs.

As winter approaches, The AA recommends that drivers check tyres (depth and walls) to ensure safety and economy on icy roa

ds.

“The minimum depth is 1.6mm however we would advise drivers to consider 3mm for winter,” she says.

In other countries, many drivers swap what are known as ‘summer tyres’ for ‘winter tyres’ which work well on icy roads but not so well at temperatures above 7 degrees. But it is not a tradition here as it’s a costly option and our average winter temperature range is 4-8 degrees.

The AA has some other tips for winter driving: 

• Make sure you have your oil and water levels topped up

• Window washer/antifreeze plus have an ice scrapper for frosty days (do not put boiling water on the windscreen to save time)

• Check all of your lights and fog light

• Check wipers

BestDrive tyre prices 

Continental- €120

Michelin- €150

Hankook- €140

Barum- €100 (mid-range quality)

Delinte- €90 (economy)

These are based on a common size of  205/55/16 91V, which is smaller and therefore cheaper than the SUV tyres tested by What Car?

Bad driving can cost you hundreds – if not thousands - of euro per year

As little as 3 penalty points could lead to a 10% motor insurance loading, while 10 penalty points could see a driver’s premium double 

That’s according to Peopl Insurance, which is urging motorists to clean up their driving habits with road fatalities now a fifth higher than last year.

More than half a million people have penalty points - most of them with three or more.

Insurance companies typically raise premiums for drivers with that many points, though limits differ, which makes it even more worthwhile for penalised drivers to shop around. 

Many drivers don’t realise how easy it is to get points. Not having a valid NCT cert, for example, could see three points slapped on your licence. 

 Table: How penalty points can impact your motor insurance premium

CHEAPEST MOTOR INSURANCE QUOTES – BY NUMBER OF PENALTY POINTS*
Age of driver	0 penalty points	3 penalty points	10 penalty points
30	€965.14	€1,061.66	€2,029.62
45	€890.54	€ 979.59	€1,778.31
*Quotes are for the driver of a 1.6 litre diesel Hyundai Tucson 2024 SUV with an address in Tullamore, Co Offaly. Source: Peopl Insurance

“Keeping a clean license not only lowers insurance costs but also helps avoid hefty fines that could run into the hundreds,” says Peopl’s Paul Walsh.

“The fine for using a mobile phone while driving is €120, while the speeding fine is €160. The fine for learner or novice drivers not displaying ‘L’ or ‘N’ plates is €120.”

 Drivers with 12 or more points within three years may get banned and find it hard if not impossible to get insured at all. .

Mr Walsh explained:

“Drivers who gather 12 points within three years face automatic disqualification from driving. You will struggle to get an insurer to cover you if you have been disqualified from driving or have a driving conviction. Some Irish insurers may refuse to quote drivers that have been disqualified in the last seven years while some insurers may not quote for drivers with a disqualification unless they are a current or previous customer.

And more importantly, many people simply don’t realise just how fatal a slip-up in their driving behaviour could be. For example, drivers using a mobile phone are four times more likely to be involved in a collision – yet recent figures show there’s been an increase in the numbers of people using their mobile phones while driving[7]. Unsafe driving can lead to lives being lost on Irish roads in a matter of seconds. There are too many people being killed and seriously injured on Irish roads and every driver has a responsibility to play their part in stopping the upward trend in road crashes and preventing any more families from going through the trauma and heartache of losing a loved one, or having a loved one seriously injured.”