Tyre test on video

• Why budget tyres could cost you
• We test budget and premium tyres
• See the shocking results on video

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• Tyre test - why budget tyres could kill

Cheap rubber might be easy on your wallet, but is it really worth the saving? We tested a selection of budget tyres against three premium brands to find out.

Pop in to your local tyre fitter and you’ll have the choice of dozens of brands. Some will be expensive – up to £100 each, including fitting, for a basic Ford Focus or VW Golf – while others seem a snip at half the price.

There can’t be that much difference in performance, can there?

We pitted three premium tyres against three budget alternatives in a series of braking tests, and the results were shocking.

In the wet, the budget tyres took an average of 14 metres – the length of an articulated lorry – longer than the premium tyres to pull up from 70mph.

Watch the video
See our video of the test, then click below to read the full feature explaining why buying budget tyres could cost you dear…