For the first time, I bought tires from China, relying only on online reviews and understanding that I was taking a risk… And now, after 8,000 km on these tires, I can confidently say that I didn't make a mistake: the tires performed excellently in very different conditions, which I'll describe in more detail.
During this time, the tires have worked in temperatures ranging from +8 to +35; they were used in the city and on highways of various quality (smooth, broken, with ruts, cobblestone, gravel); they've been on dry hot asphalt, in cold fog, and in heavy rain; I've mentioned the speeds above. And in all these conditions, there was no hint of uncertainty!
I'll tell you about a few extreme cases where the tires could have behaved inadequately…
On the way to Moscow on the M4 highway, while overtaking on the left lane, I had to brake sharply from 130 to 80 km/h in a very short distance, because the truck I was trying to overtake decided to move into its lane. The road was wet, and the distance was no more than 10 meters, with a concrete barrier on the left and the truck on the right – as a result, the tires screeched, the truck managed to return to its lane, and we managed to avoid crashing into it!
On the way to Loselfarm near Kostroma, we hit a pothole with the right side of both wheels at a speed of 60 km/h, with the car fully loaded (my father-in-law and mother-in-law, weighing around 180-200 kg, were with us) – the rear disc was slightly dented, but the tires were fine: no bulges, no vibrations.
On the way to St. Petersburg and back on the M11 highway, we had to brake several times from 150+ to 80-90 km/h due to trucks that decided to overtake their fellow drivers, who were traveling at 80 km/h, when they could have been driving at 82-85 km/h – I genuinely don't understand these guys, as crashing into them at such a speed would be a matter of seconds and would result in the certain death of several people. Usually, there was no one behind me, and after me, it would have been absolutely safe to make their Titanic maneuver… And the tires didn't fail us: we're all alive, and the car is intact. By the way, on the rough M11 highway, there was no tire screeching, even on wet pavement.
In St. Petersburg itself, on sections of road with three lanes, the middle lane was worn down to significant ruts – we had to drive there several times when the left and right lanes were congested, and it didn't cause any particular difficulties – the car didn't try to suddenly lurch anywhere. I consider this also a merit of the tires.
On the way from Kronstadt to St. Petersburg on the KAD highway, I almost missed my turn (the navigator said its authoritative "Turn right" at the last moment, when the speedometer showed 120 km/h, and I was in the left lane) – I had to make an emergency maneuver while braking and enter a fairly sharp turn – at one point, I felt like the front of the car would skid outward, but the electronic helpers did something, and the car turned into the curve. I think that on bad tires, I wouldn't have been able to do that.
And the last case was on the M8 highway on the way back from Moscow: in the Yaroslavl region, near Pesochnee – the road there has hills and bumps (that's where the name of the highway "Holmogory" comes from) – several pedestrians walked onto the road, looking at their phones, but not at the road. Yes, they were walking on a pedestrian crossing, but this is a highway (!), my speed was around 90 km/h uphill (the speed limit is 70 km/h), and the pedestrian crossing was just beyond this hill… Well, I had to test the tires' braking efficiency again – they handled it, again with screeching… And those pedestrians just kept walking, looking at their phones, and only one of them turned to look at us…
I'll separately discuss the noise from the tires, which directly depended on the road surface quality and speed. I even made some measurements using the Noise Meter app on my smartphone in different conditions.
In the city, with a tire pressure of 2.2-2.3 bar, the tires are still inaudible: whether it's the tires themselves or the wheel liners, I don't know. But it's pleasant. It seemed that with this pressure, the tires were slightly flattened at the bottom, and as an experiment, I inflated them to 2.5 bar. The car became more rigid, the steering wheel was slightly lighter, but the comfort decreased significantly: even small road irregularities started to be felt in the cabin, and the noise from the tires increased, with a hum appearing. I reverted back to the original pressure.
On the highway, I try not to exceed the speed limit too much and allow a speed of no more than 150 km/h, so where it was realistic on the M11, I drove at around 150-170 km/h, on the M8 at around 110-130 km/h, on the M4 at around 110-150 km/h, and on the CKAD at around 130-150 km/h. At speeds of 130 and 150 km/h, we made a series of measurements on different highways.
The M11 highway, although smooth and more suitable for high speeds, has a rough surface – the noise from the tires was the strongest there, and the total noise level, according to the smartphone, was 78-80 dBA at a speed of 150 km/h and 76-78 dBA at a speed of 130 km/h. Driving at 170 km/h is not comfortable for the ears. Maybe with music, it would be okay, though… On the CKAD and M4 highways, the asphalt is smoother, and the measurements were approximately the same: 75-77 dBA at a speed of 150 km/h and 72-74 dBA at a speed of 130 km/h. On the M8 highway, we couldn't drive at such speeds for an extended period, so there are no measurements. I don't know if this is a lot or a little – I have nothing to compare it to, except for the noise level before the tire replacement, but after the wheel liners were installed, at a speed of around 80 km/h, it was approximately 72-75 dBA (although back then, there were also some extraneous noises under the hood that haven't been fixed yet).
In general, friends, I'm satisfied with the tires!
