2024 Tyre Seeker Budget Summer Tyre Test

The British portal Tyre Seeker has published the results of a summer tire test in the size 165/70 R14, selecting six economy-class models and taking GT Radial tires from the mid-range segment for comparison. All tires were tested on dry and wet asphalt, and the comfort of the ride and noise level were also evaluated.

The tests used a city car, the Volkswagen up!, and the following tires were tested:

Admiral Rcb007 - a private brand of the British company Bond International;

Comforser CF350 - produced by the Chinese company Shandong New Continent Tire, which also offers Roadcruza tires;

Dynamo Street-H MH01 - a brand from the portfolio of Sailun, one of the largest Chinese tire manufacturers;

GT Radial FE2 - produced by the Singaporean company Giti;

iLink L-GRIP 55 - a brand of the Chinese company ZODO Tire, which also produces tires under the brands Grenlander, Zmax, Fronway, and Rockblade;

Joyroad Tour RX1 - produced by the Chinese company Zhongyi Rubber;

Powertrac Adamas H/P - a private brand of Qingdao Uni-Power Tyre (also owns the brands Atlander and Primetrac).

The first to be tested on the wet track were the Joyroad tires, which, as test pilot Steve Satkliiff noted, generally have a reduced level of grip, but what is more worrying, they increase the braking distance in difficult weather conditions, and this is generally typical for economy-class tires. At the same time, Joyroad are not really bad tires, and they behave quite predictably. The same applies to Powertrac, and although they clearly have weak traction, in general, they reach a satisfactory level of safety, but no more. Next, the iLink tires were tested, which, as the pilot commented, in terms of their driving properties, were able to get closer to GT Radial along with Admiral, although iLink do not have the same grip, and the reactions to steering wheel turns are somewhat blurred.

Regarding Dynamo, Satkliiff said that during the first ride, he was shocked by how weak the grip was when entering a turn, even compared to iLink. In general, Dynamo work poorly in any situation, both when accelerating and when braking or maneuvering, so it is not recommended to buy them. At the same time, if you have to choose between Dynamo and Comforser, then, according to the tester, it is still better to take the first option, since "CF350 is one of the worst tires I've ever driven". "In essence, these are commercial tires, and that's the problem, since they require a much heavier car to provide acceptable grip," Satkliiff noted, adding that "the weight of the VW up! is clearly not enough, due to which grip on wet pavement is almost completely absent".

In the dry track tests, all tires pleasantly surprised, and there were no frankly weak results, like those of Dynamo and Comforser on wet pavement. The best were recognized as GT Radial, which are noticeably more efficient than budget tires, which can be seen at least by the lap time. Satkliiff added that, in fact, the lap time is not of particular importance in the case of economy-class tires, and much more important are their braking properties and predictability of behavior, and the best in their class were again named iLink and Admiral. The Powertrac tires also showed good results, but they have noticeably lower grip in the middle of the turn, and Comforser had obvious problems, and perhaps this is due to the fact that the weather was hot, and the tires began to lose grip quickly from the heat. However, Comforser generally significantly inferior to all other tires in terms of stability and grip properties when maneuvering. The Joyroad tires showed themselves well, but the pilot noted that, although they are better than Comforser or Dynamo, but in fact, there is no significant difference between them on dry pavement.

The length of the braking distance from 100 km/h on dry and wet tracks, noise level, and ride comfort were also evaluated. According to the test results, Joyroad turned out to be the quietest and most comfortable among the cheap tires, while Comforser took the last place in both disciplines. The results of the braking efficiency tests were more alarming, as even the best of the budget tires (iLink) significantly lagged behind GT Radial, while the results of Dynamo and Comforser were called "shockingly poor", especially on wet pavement.

In conclusion, Satkliiff said that, in fact, none of the budget tires are worthy of the rating "Highly recommended", and the indicators of iLink, Joyroad, Admiral, and Powetrac can be considered only satisfactory, while Dynamo and Comforser did not even reach this level, and "in most cases, buying economy-class tires simply does not justify the associated risks".

Source: Tyre Seeker.