Personally I wouldn’t touch them.
Things it’s not worth economising on include tyres and brakes. Your safety and the safety of the people you share the road with depend on these items.
Khumos are a good mid-budget tyre and not that expensive.
I suppose learning from folks here is what put me off the budget brands in the first place. Does make me wonder a little if we’re all just buying Heinz ketchup even if the non branded stuff is basically the same…
Nyeh, I’m nothing if not a sucker so probably will end up getting a more premium brand.
Out of interest - anyone got modern suggestions for 16’ tyres? Seems there’s a lot less choice than for 17’ and the only Pilot Sports you can get are old 3s.
I always use budget tyres. I don’t drive like a knob, I’ve never had any let go., as I don’t do stupid things.
Been driving 43 years and never had a problem.
You have got to love tyre threads:) No one so far has tried the Rapids but everyone has an opinion, mostly based on nothing but pricing.
One thing I wouldn’t do is make my choice on annual mileage as I can’t see how that is relevant if price isn’t a over-riding factor.
You are pretty much bang on there!
They are a well proven “Budget” tyre and type approved for use.
As you say, you can’t slate them if you have never tried them.
A lot of Premium Brands (including Michelin) are also produced in China, which matters not.
It’s the quality control that counts.
The worst Tyre ever on any car I have owned were the premium brand Bridgestone Potenzas.
I’d rather hope that basic driver skill , regardless of tyre or brake quality , keeps one out of the ditch. Somehow I managed to do so , despite spending years in cars with crappy crossplies and awful drum brakes.
Have you considered that if you only do a few thousand miles a year the tyre will be ‘out of date’ way before you have used all the available tread. But if you but a tyre that has very soft compound you will be able to use up all of the available tread before it becomes too old to be of practical use.
I know nothing about Rapid tyres (although, as an, emm “enthusiastic” driver, I personally tend to go for the higher performance brands), but your suggestion that Heinz ketchup is the same as all the others is utterly sacrilegious and should lead to an immediate forum ban.
I’ve tried many tomato ketchups over the years, and none of them are as good as Heinz!
My experience has been budget tend to wear out more quickly than the premium tyres. I wonder if they are softer to give a good degree of safety without the research costs of the more expensive brands?
There is a great deal of technology that goes into a tyre and much like the supermarket value brands, it’s the good bits that get left out of the cheaper tyres.
When it comes to a customer wanting a “budget” tyre the selection process is basically what is available. I have fitted Rapid, Sailwin, Routeway, Double Star, Triangle, Lanvingator, and on and on, including Landsail and Evergreen. Those last two I would put firmly in the budget category, so to say that the Rapid is close to 30% cheaper than a Landsail tyre, also made in China, might give an indication of expectation. Scarily there are actually two brands that work out around 30% cheaper than the Rapid
While budget tyres get fitted to 2 year old BMW 3 Series, I have yet to come across a driver with any performance aspirations that has said, “fit the cheapest tyre you have got”
Soft rubber does not make a tyre good, my Skechers shoes have soft soles, but put them on a smooth surface with some water and you fear gravity much more. Soft usually mean they wear quick, not that they are great, or even soft.
However, as I have said many times, if you only ever intend to drive in the dry and never break a speed limit, pretty much any tyre out there will do.
If you are really struggling I have a set of 205 50 R16 Kumho HS51 here you can have for £236 delivered or a set of Rain Sport 5 for £316.
Ooh here’s a counter to that. Continentals,…
I’ve had them on 2 cars from new, and I was lucky to get 14000 miles out of them. Even the cheapest of budget tyres have lasted twice as long.
