Tyre speed rating - H is enough?

[craigowl 0]

In this month's "Car Mechanics" there is an article on tyres.

 

The writer says "Do you EVER actually drive at 130mph?....there is no point in paying all that money for a V- or W- rated tyre if you aren't actually going to do over that, because H-rated tyres are rated to 130mph...."

 

I do not know if you can get, say, 15" 205/50 tyres at different speed ratings with significant savings by avoiding Vs and Ws.

 

Any comments, guys?

[Louie Lungbubble 0]

Isn't it a case of err on the side of caution though?

 

I'm just shy of 16 stone, but I wouldn't want to trust my life to (say) a climbing rope that's only rated to take 17!

[craigowl 0]

Louie wrote

Isn't it a case of err on the side of caution though?

 

I'm just shy of 16 stone, but I wouldn't want to trust my life to (say) a climbing rope that's only rated to take 17!

 

Yes, sure. As always, I suppose you buy the best and safest you can afford and have peace of mind with.

However, I take the writer's point that paying extra for V or W rated tyres if like me you never drive at excessive speeds could be a waste of money.

(I am 10.6 stone!)

 

PS It does not matter how strong your top rope is if your dipstick partner is not ready for when you slip! (personal experience 40 years ago.)

[Kevin Bacon 5]

Yeah I read the same article but I find Car Mechanics to be geared more to simpletons, no offense! I just buy it for the tool company adverts etc :-) They completely excluded any mention of expensive tyres having superior grip to cheapy ones and just focused on price.

 

What I didn't know was there is a £1.50 'disposal' charge of old tyres, you learn something new every day!

 

The problem with H rateds, as they quite rightly pointed out, is the fact your insurance would be void if you were claiming for an incident resultnig from high speed. The car came on Z rateds, stick to Zeds ;-)

[Louie Lungbubble 0]

Well then yes, I agree. If you're only ever going to do 80-90 then H rated tyres *will* have enough safety margin to justify their purchase.

 

Thing is though if the car can do 140, isn't there an issue with MOT's?

 

Edit ^^^ beat me to it!

[vr6storm 0]

think yer ins co might be a bit concerned about you going for tyres that aren't rated for the potential top speed of your car,regardless whether you can't legally go over 70mph.......besides Ive found V-rated tyres for the std wheels to be very reasonably priced

[craigowl 0]

Thanks, guys.

I had 2 Uniroyal tyres fitted to Pug 205 yesterday - no disposal charge on invoice.

 

kev - Everything is relative. I disagree that Car Mechanics is geared for simpletons. Not entirely, anyway. There is a lot of advanced (to me) technical stuff appropriate to modern cars, dealing with electronics, diagnostics, etc, sometimes assuming you are using state-of-the art units costing several thousand pounds.

 

I agree, though, that the servicing articles on different vehicles are the same as they were 30 years ago when describing how to change oil/filters/brake pads etc. We all have to start somewhere and I expect they need to catch as many diy motorists as possible regardless of their level of knowledge.

 

PS - From his hairstyle, that columnist Ted Connolly looks like he is locked in a timewarp (page 80). The image of some of those dodgy geezers you see on "Rogue Traders"!

[carpy25 0]

i believe it's an mot fail to have tyres fitted with a lower speed rating than the maxium speed of the car ,i've never heard of anyone failing on that but a story i heard years ago off a mate (not normaly a bullsh1ter) was that the police pulled a cossie over on the m4 local to use couldn't find anything wrong but the tyres were h rated (130 mph i think ) they would not let him drive on ,he had to trailer the car away , this has always sounded silly to me as the top road speed in the uk is 70 mph but how many cabs carry a bale of hay and a bucket of water for their horse

 

maybe an mot tester on here can confirm this

 

if this is right how can people get away with remolds ,i know that they now also have speed ratings but years ago all remolds were max 85 mph

 

Rob

[Supercharged 2]

As Kev says it will invalidate your insurance to feed lower rated tyres, the difference in cost is negligable so the article seems to be pointless!

[craigowl 0]

supercharged wrote

the difference in cost is negligable so the article seems to be pointless!

 

Good. Thanks for that - I did not really know if there was a big difference in price in the ratings. I never really adopt cheapskate measures, really - just wanted to hear comments from some of you.

[Supercharged 2]

Craig, yeah it will obviously depend on make etc but most 'good' tyres will be V rated anyway - have a look on mytyres to compare...