Kormoran Tyres vs Chinese Brands

Billy Davey

Hi. Need new tyres for my wife's car. 195/55R16. She only drives about 10 miles a day return trip to work, would rarely be doing above 60km/hr! Not looking for anything more than a budget range tyre.

Got some quotes in a similar price range €75-80. Atlas quoting for Sunny tyres, Chinese brand. Place in Tallaght quoting for Kormorans and claiming they're better than the Chinese tyres.

Quick bit of research show that Kormorans are Michelin's budget range and are European made.

Just wondering if anyone could offer any advice? Also if anyone has any recommendations for places to get the tyres I'd appreciate it. Based in South Dublin.

Cheers

dgt

Kormorans are a fantastic budget tyre, leagues ahead of Chinese rubbish. Very good to clear standing water and grip well in the wet. They won't last long but I can't fault them otherwise

corkgsxr

Have ya priced hankooks?

djimi

You can get Falkens from Eiretyres for €71 (http://tinyurl.com/p4d525m). Even if they work out a bit more expensive from a fitter, I know which Id prefer to have between Falken and Kormoran.

whomitconcerns

Billy Davey wrote: »

Hi. Need new tyres for my wife's car. 195/55R16. She only drives about 10 miles a day return trip to work, would rarely be doing above 60km/hr! Not looking for anything more than a budget range tyre.
Cheers

as they say 70% of accidents happen near the home...so not to be morbid...regardless of the 10miles or not journey I would be getting reliable tyres rather than the plastic chinese ones... Get the kormorans as someone else has said..there are definitely some very good budget tyres out there...

corkgsxr

whomitconcerns wrote: »

as they say 70% of accidents happen near the home...so not to be morbid...regardless of the 10miles or not journey I would be getting reliable tyres rather than the plastic chinese ones... Get the kormorans as someone else has said..there are definitely some very good budget tyres out there...

True. My opinion on it is how much would a small tip cost ya. Average is 1300 before you touch your car. For the difference of under 50 quid for the pair.

Most of my driving is town and urban. I use goodyears at 160 a tire. Compared to about 100 for a basic tire.

kooga

for the sake of a few extra euro put on a main brand............penny wise and pound foolish!

Tea 1000

corkgsxr wrote: »

True. My opinion on it is how much would a small tip cost ya. Average is 1300 before you touch your car. For the difference of under 50 quid for the pair.

Most of my driving is town and urban. I use goodyears at 160 a tire. Compared to about 100 for a basic tire.

I'd think more about what if a child ran out. Reasonably likely in town driving. The difference in stopping a metre sooner could be invaluable.
In any case, if DGT says Kormoran's are OK, then they should be. But I wouldn't put any Chinese tyre on my car. Also, it looks like you're being quoted a lot, I've gotten quotes for almost any brand of tyre for around €85 at that size.

Billy Davey

Cheers for the advice and tips. I will defo stay away from the Chinese brands then.

Tea 1000, be interested to hear where you got quotes of around €85 for a better brand tyre? Atlas quoted me €110 for Firestones and €125 for Continentals.

General question, what's the best way of sourcing a particular brand? For example, the Falkens or Hankooks mentioned above....how would I go about finding a fitter who supplies them?

Again, if anyone could recommend a fitter in the South Dublin area who supplies good budget tyres I'd appreciate it. I'm based in Tallaght.

Cheers

SteelyDanJalapeno

Those are crazy prices, Got 2 Bridgestones, 16 inch, before Christmas for 72 a tyre fitted, albeit in Cork but shouldn't be much different in Dublin.

brennarr

I got 4 Hankook K115 205/50/R17 from discounttyres.ie at 125 euro a tyre. I filled out a request form on their site, they emailed me a quote and ordered them in for me that week. Great value considering the size of the tyre

Its located not too far off the M50 so it shouldn't be too much hassle for you to get there from Tallaght

whomitconcerns

theres firestones for 84 quid each and hankook k115s for €77 each http://www.oponeo.ie/tyre-finder/car/summer-tyres/hankook/195-55-r16

you can get them fitted and balanced for about 50€ in a lot of places.

Coolbreeze2809

Chinese tyres are total rubbish in my own opinion. Going from personal experience with your respective tyre size to upgrade to something of decent quality costs very little. If you are insisting on budget tyres I'd agree with dgt and go for Kormorans or even part worns.

Billy Davey

Seems most people are recommending the way to go is buy online and then bring them to a fitters??

whomitconcerns

depends on yourself tbh and how much the price diff is. I needed 245/45/18s for my car so 50/60 per wheel price diff online....so definitely worth it for me..

djimi

Billy Davey wrote: »

General question, what's the best way of sourcing a particular brand? For example, the Falkens or Hankooks mentioned above....how would I go about finding a fitter who supplies them?

Again, if anyone could recommend a fitter in the South Dublin area who supplies good budget tyres I'd appreciate it. I'm based in Tallaght.

Most places should be able to source the likes of Falkens within a day or two at the most if they dont keep them in stock. I rang around about twenty different fitters in the Kildare/Dublin area before Christmas looking to see who had a particular tire in stock, and they could all order pretty much whatever I wanted.

If youre in Tallaght then Healys in Naas might be worth a shout. Ive gotten tires from them a few times before and they are grand to deal with.

djimi

Billy Davey wrote: »

Seems most people are recommending the way to go is buy online and then bring them to a fitters??

Its worth having a look online and comparing prices. Just bear in mind that that the price online is only the tire, and you will get the fitting price when you go to order. Some places might also charge an extra fee for disposing of the old tires.

The Falkens that I linked to above will work out around €85-€90 a tire with fitting and disposal in most places in my area.

sundodger5

TiltedBrain wrote: »

Those are crazy prices, Got 2 Bridgestones, 16 inch, before Christmas for 72 a tyre fitted, albeit in Cork but shouldn't be much different in Dublin.

But maybe they are different size/speed rating than the op.

dgt

Just for the record, the kormorans I got (most recent set of tyres I purchased actually) were runpros. €50 a side, fitted & balanced, size 195/65R15.

They had 7mm of thread when new, about 7k miles later/12k kms they're down to 5mm (I have a gauge to measure)

Before that I used kormoran gammas, a directional tyre, they didn't last long either but gripped well too.

Now they're no michelins (have those on the back, lasting a long long time naturally) but on a budget they're far safer than Chinese muck (I've had too many in some shape or form such as austone, ling long, sunny, doublerats, kingrats, wan li, westlake, chengshang etc)

I really wouldn't bother with any other budget tyre mind you. Couriers seem to get very lumpy towards end of life and we had a few tigars that bulged out at the end of life. Nankangs do last well but in the wet in the wrong hands are lethal. All would be in the relatively same price bracket.

My advice is if you can't find kormorans on your budget, save up and get a reputable make

No Pants

brennarr wrote: »

I got 4 Hankook K115 205/50/R17 from discounttyres.ie at 125 euro a tyre. I filled out a request form on their site, they emailed me a quote and ordered them in for me that week. Great value considering the size of the tyre

Its located not too far off the M50 so it shouldn't be too much hassle for you to get there from Tallaght

I've gotten my last three sets of tyres from there. Good price and convenient for me. Not far from the M50 at all, easy to find.

vectra

How much is your wife worth?

Billy Davey

dgt wrote: »

Just for the record, the kormorans I got (most recent set of tyres I purchased actually) were runpros. €50 a side, fitted & balanced, size 195/65R15.

They had 7mm of thread when new, about 7k miles later/12k kms they're down to 5mm (I have a gauge to measure)

Before that I used kormoran gammas, a directional tyre, they didn't last long either but gripped well too.

Now they're no michelins (have those on the back, lasting a long long time naturally) but on a budget they're far safer than Chinese muck (I've had too many in some shape or form such as austone, ling long, sunny, doublerats, kingrats, wan li, westlake, chengshang etc)

I really wouldn't bother with any other budget tyre mind you. Couriers seem to get very lumpy towards end of life and we had a few tigars that bulged out at the end of life. Nankangs do last well but in the wet in the wrong hands are lethal. All would be in the relatively same price bracket.

My advice is if you can't find kormorans on your budget, save up and get a reputable make

Thanks for your help. Are Nankangs a Chinese brand as well or where are they from? This is what is currently on the car (my wife's car).

You seem to be indicating that the Kormorans don't necessarily last that long. Is that relative to the Chinese budget tyres or to a more expensive brand?

corkgsxr

Tea 1000 wrote: »

I'd think more about what if a child ran out. Reasonably likely in town driving. The difference in stopping a metre sooner could be invaluable.
In any case, if DGT says Kormoran's are OK, then they should be. But I wouldn't put any Chinese tyre on my car. Also, it looks like you're being quoted a lot, I've gotten quotes for almost any brand of tyre for around €85 at that size.

Van tire. Not his size.

ofcork

TiltedBrain wrote: »

Those are crazy prices, Got 2 Bridgestones, 16 inch, before Christmas for 72 a tyre fitted, albeit in Cork but shouldn't be much different in Dublin.

I paid 85 euro each for two Firestone 205/55/16 yesterday.

No Pants

vectra wrote: »

How much is your wife worth?

About €65 a corner.

dgt

Billy Davey wrote: »

Thanks for your help. Are Nankangs a Chinese brand as well or where are they from? This is what is currently on the car (my wife's car).

You seem to be indicating that the Kormorans don't necessarily last that long. Is that relative to the Chinese budget tyres or to a more expensive brand?

I think Nankang is a Taiwan company that make the tyres in China (open to corrections)

As for not lasting as long, just to give you an example Michelins would last over 40k miles where the equivalent Kormoran would last 25k miles. That was on the same car, same conditions (taxi).

By contrast the Chinese tyres would last as long (and in some cases outlast) as the Michelin but you have none of the performance associated with the premium tyre to say the least

corkgsxr

No Pants wrote: »

About €65 a corner.

Its definitely true love so. Mines only 25 a corner.



My theory on better tires lasting longer is all about slippage. You don't realise but taking off, cornering etc the cheap ones slip around wearing them alot where premium tires dont slip half as much so don't wear as much

sawdoubters

on any tire look at date its made,over 2 years is bad

The date your tyres were made will be on the sidewall in the form of four numbers usually preceded by the letters DOT 2 will be year and 2 week

ofcork

Stop had a part worn on the car for a few months,got new tyres yesterday and looked at the part worn and it was made in 2004!

Bpmull

ofcork wrote: »

I paid 85 euro each for two Firestone 205/55/16 yesterday.

Was that not a bit high for firestones. I got 2 Goodyears same size for that money and I would have thought that firestone wouldn't be as good at all although I don't have much experience with them so maybe they are a good tyre. Goodyears are hard to beat for grip for that money.

ofcork

Tried a few places and was being quoted higher prices,they seem good so far at least better than the part worns anyway!

joujoujou

http://camskill.co.uk/m62b0s460p108690/Kormoran_Tyres_Car_Kormoran_Gamma_B2_-_195_55_R16_87V_TL_Fuel_Eff_%3A_F_Wet_Grip%3A_C_NoiseClass%3A_2_Noise%3A_71dB

Approx 244 notes for 4 tyres incl. delivery.