Test shows importance of choosing the right tyres

Tyres are incredibly unsexy and it's easy to see why. The round black things are bought begrudgingly, usually out of necessity, when they're either bald or burst. And you can't buy just one; best practice says you need to replace them in pairs or, worse still for your pocket, all four and a spare if needed.

We went to Bridgestone's test centre in Rome to meet some people obsessed with rubber (a task best done out of the country) to see if we could feel anything other than flat about the subject.

The educated motorist is aware there is more to tyre technology than simply taking a blob of molten rubber and sticking it in a mould, but really, is there any good reason why we should pay over the odds for a premium tyre over a budget one? After all, we're all average motorists doing average driving on average roads - not race drivers.

Lewis Hamilton and co have to trust their lives in the only things keeping their cars in contact with the track - but they perform violent manoeuvres and extreme braking. Yet emergency braking and sharp violent manoeuvring are all things we average motorists may have to do to avoid a collision. So we should take more than a passing interest in the tyres we buy to make sure they are up to the task.

Skid and slide

At Bridgestone's state-of-the- art test centre outside Rome, we got to carry out a number of comparison tests in near identical VW Golfs. The 2-litre diesel machines had identical 16-inch wheels shod with 205/55 section tyres - Europe's most popular size. One Golf wore premium Bridgestone Turanza T2001 tyres (circa EUR88 each) and the other Golf had Hifly HF 201 tyres, (circa EUR55 each). Hifly is one of 80 Chinese tyre brands currently on sale in Europe out of a total of 245. There are cheaper tyres but Bridgestone thought a closer comparison would be more credible. For testing purposes electronic driving aids were deactivated to help exaggerate any loss of traction.

On a particularly damp day, when even Bridgestone's dry track was wet, we managed to skid and slide our way around an infinite number of cones and special tracks to test the limits of grip and braking performance. The remarkable thing is . . . the cheaper tyre was adequate, up to the point, but then with little or no warning it wanted to take us straight to the scene of the accident.

When a tyre loses grip in a corner and you stay on the power, the car, despite steering a tight line, will simply not turn enough to go where you are pointing the wheels. It will wash out wide as it understeers, potentially into oncoming traffic or road furniture, unless you lift off the power or apply the brakes.

The Turanza tyre was able to do all the test manoeuvres quicker and with more control, while also giving more feedback to the driver. The Hifly at its limit felt similar to driving with slightly flat tyres and also felt vague at speed. Cornering was fun, but for the wrong reasons, as we found a new vocation as drift specialists - again there was no feedback to the driver on what the tyres were trying to do.

On a special wet test track, former Jordan Formula 1 racing driver Stefano Modenadrove us to demonstrate an even stronger case for avoiding cheap tyres. Using his freakishly deft touch, the Italian showed just how much more usable grip the premium tyres had over the cheaper ones. On a fast straight we also experienced aquaplaning only with the Hiflys. It's a strange feeling when you can only briefly feel the tyres get traction from the road as the car floats, uncontrollably, on a cushion of water.

With testing done and the previous day's talks with Bridgestone's extremely passionate and knowledgeable tyre boffins still ringing in our ears, we had to ask Bridgestone why the EU allows such obviously inferior tyres to be sold? The answer was a little vague, with market forces playing a big part. The ETRMA (European Tyre & Rubber Manufacturer's Association) is the European industry group that should be acting in a similar way to Euro NCAP - in the interest of consumers with regard to car safety. Apart from making tyre labelling and the "E" certificate stamp on tyres for sale in the EU mandatory, it appears the industry is doing little to force legislators to raise the minimum bar height.

Tyre labelling has made choosing tyres easier, but the three-category system falls short of giving the complete picture that the mainstream tyre makers want us to be aware of. Economy, wet weather grip and drive-by exterior noise are the rated labels at the moment (an A rating is best) but close to 50 criteria are used by the tyre giants when designing and evaluating a tyre.

Budget option

Labelling is a success, but Bridgestone tells us that we still ask about price first. Budget brands also have become better at disguising their origins with European sounding names and, of course, killer prices. Bridgestone says 77 per cent of replacement tyre-buying customers will seek the advice of their tyre dealer, but ultimately price remains the dominant factor in the final decision. The shocking truth is that a cheap tyre can be fine for some drivers if they ask little of their machines.

Bridgestone demonstrated that taking the budget option is one no motorist should contemplate. That said, Bridgestone (and the other well-known tyre brands) will gladly sell you its own sub-premium brands such as Firestone (bought in the 1970s) and Dayton at stepped price points, but Bridgestone and the other tyre giants appear to stop at the point when safety is at stake.

Unfortunately, many Irish motorists are still struggling to fund their mobility. Household economics and the NCT are forcing motorists to travel the potentially dangerous cheap tyre route. Buying the budget tyre featured in our comparison test would save EUR132 on a set of four - but in no way could we recommend anyone do this. Think about this when your next behind the wheel, you have just four postcard-sized patches of rubber keeping you in contact with the road. . . tyres should not be something to skimp on.