How do you tell a good tyre from a bad one?

[JonMad]

I got given a couple of 15" T1Rs and despite their reputation they did ok, iirc, on an autosolo on the front axle. Or maybe I've just got no ability to understand any tyre-related finesse and really they were crap and I'd have won a trophy if I was on better tyres.

I’m not sure your ability to win a trophy has any relevance to the question of T1R’s on an Elise or am I the only one that actually read the question?

Internet strikes again

My comment was about how I find it hard/impossible to understand whether another tyre would have given better performance.
In response to the Elise-agnostic part of the question:
> how do you jump in a car and tell whether a set of tyres are good or not? Or would someone like me, who's not very fast and probably not pushing their car to the limits ever going to know or feel the difference?

[Swervin_Mervin]

So the Elise came with Toyo TR1s (Not the older T1Rs which are known to be crap) and I can't find much about them regarding whether they are good or not. Realise this sounds utterly stupid, but without driving lots of cars and trying lots of different tyres, how do you jump in a car and tell whether a set of tyres are good or not? Or would someone like me, who's not very fast and probably not pushing their car to the limits ever going to know or feel the difference?

I think most modern tyres of any of the main brands, not even the "premium" brands, are actually pretty decent these days. And in most circumstances most people wouldn't be able to tell much difference.

But even so, sometimes you can still feel fairly stark differences between tyres on the same car and different cars. Conti SC3 on the 197 were woeful in the cold and wet, with terrible grip. Swapped to F1s and the difference was night and day, even in only moderately quick driving when commuting home.

F1 GSD3 on my E91 at the moment just don't feel that nice - hard to describe but maybe a touch soft - but they were fine on the 125i we had. By contrast I much preferred the Vredestein Ultracs I had previously.

So yes, I'm sure you would feel some difference. It's just about trying other options and seeing which you personally prefer.

[Jimexpl]

So the Elise came with Toyo TR1s (Not the older T1Rs which are known to be crap) and I can't find much about them regarding whether they are good or not. Realise this sounds utterly stupid, but without driving lots of cars and trying lots of different tyres, how do you jump in a car and tell whether a set of tyres are good or not? Or would someone like me, who's not very fast and probably not pushing their car to the limits ever going to know or feel the difference?

I think most modern tyres of any of the main brands, not even the "premium" brands, are actually pretty decent these days. And in most circumstances most people wouldn't be able to tell much difference.

But even so, sometimes you can still feel fairly stark differences between tyres on the same car and different cars. Conti SC3 on the 197 were woeful in the cold and wet, with terrible grip. Swapped to F1s and the difference was night and day, even in only moderately quick driving when commuting home.

F1 GSD3 on my E91 at the moment just don't feel that nice - hard to describe but maybe a touch soft - but they were fine on the 125i we had. By contrast I much preferred the Vredestein Ultracs I had previously.

So yes, I'm sure you would feel some difference. It's just about trying other options and seeing which you personally prefer.

I think the age of the tyre is more of a deciding factor in how it feels between the main brands these days unless you are driving to the limit. I'm treating the compact to new tyres on Monday - the current ones are so cracked I don't feel safe driving on the motorway with them, despite passing an m.o.t. All Pirelli with loads of tread left, but I think the youngest pair are ten years old. I hope to notice a difference.