Cheap tyres: what to expect of them today

What has changed on the tyre shop shelf?

On car forums this argument has long resembled an argument about faith, and each camp has its own “proof”: “lasted five seasons without a single complaint” against “braked on it like on skis”. And the shop assistants, as a rule, nod along with both camps, depending on what happens to be in their warehouse today.

There was a time when “cheap Chinese goods” meant risk, and in the article on aquaplaning I advised choosing, for the same money, a conventional tyre from a reputable brand rather than a rain tyre from a world-famous maker called “Noname”. I do not take that advice back, but the market has changed beyond recognition. According to the European Commission, in 2024 tyres from China already made up more than a quarter of the passenger-car and light-truck tyres bought in the European Union, and from July 2026 the EU has imposed anti-dumping duties of 4.3 to 45.3% on them. Some Chinese manufacturers, to get round trade restrictions, have long been building factories in other countries, so the country of origin on the sidewall counts for less and less.

In Ukraine the picture is similar. According to market analysts, more tyres are shipped to us from China than from anywhere else, and budget tyres, according to sellers, already make up more than half of the market. A cheap tyre today is not necessarily bad, but not necessarily good either, and you can judge it only by the specific model, not by the price, the brand or the country on the sidewall.

Where does the floor lie?

First the good news: a new tyre cannot legally be sold in the European Union unless it has passed type approval under UN Regulation No. 117. It must stay within the limits for noise and rolling resistance and show wet grip no worse than the prescribed minimum. And since July 2024 passenger-car tyres of new types have had to confirm minimum wet grip in the worn state as well, and from July 2026 this is a requirement for all new passenger-car tyres in the European Union (old stock may be fitted until the start of 2029). So a model that, with a worn tread, brakes on the wet worse than the minimum can no longer get approval.

How can you check this yourself? On the sidewall look for a mark in a circle: the letter “E” and the number of the country that issued the approval, and next to it the approval number itself. The letters S, W and R after the number (for example, “S2WR2”, where the digits are requirement levels) mean that the tyre complies with Regulation No. 117 on noise, wet grip and rolling resistance.

But this mark is like a school-leaving certificate: a top pupil and a C-grade pupil alike receive one. The approval mark guarantees that the tyre is no worse than the minimum, but it does not say how much better than the minimum it is.

So how can a cheap tyre be worse?

In the article on choosing winter tyres I wrote that over 90% of drivers are unable to feel the difference between a dearer and a cheaper winter tyre, because they never drive at the limit. At the time that figure was my own estimate, not data from a study, but the point is the same: in everyday driving on tarmac you use only a small share of the grip a tyre can give, and you really will not notice the difference.

The trouble is that the reserve of grip is needed exactly when the usual amount is no longer enough: in emergency braking on wet tarmac, on snow, in a bend tighter than it looked. In the large tests of recent years the braking distance of the best and the worst tyre of the same size differs not by centimetres but by metres, and budget models keep turning up among the worst (some of them with all the proper winter markings). Does that mean a cheap tyre is always a bad tyre? Not always. In those same tests some inexpensive models get decent marks.

And one more thing: a low price has to come from somewhere. A tyre is always a compromise: a soft rubber compound holds the road better but wears faster, a hard one the other way round (more on rubber hardness), and what exactly was sacrificed to the price will not be written on the price tag.

How to choose without overpaying

1. Start with the label. The European label shows the classes for wet grip and rolling resistance, noise, and, for tyres that have passed winter tests, the snow or ice symbols as well; the QR code leads to the EPREL database (how to read the European tyre label). For a cheap tyre the most important thing here is the wet grip class, but it is stated by the supplier itself, so it is the supplier’s word, not a verdict.

2. Find at least one independent test of exactly this model, preferably in a size close to yours, and read it critically (how to read tyre tests). Tests are, as before, additional information, not gospel, but a failure in wet braking in several of them is already a diagnosis.

3. Choose a model, not a brand. One manufacturer makes both successful and disastrous models: a big name does not save an unsuccessful tyre, and an unknown one does not sink a successful one.

How much extra to pay for a reserve of grip that you may need only once (but at a moment when there is no time to think) is for you to decide. But a tyre that has failed braking on a wet road or on snow in tests is not worth any amount of money saved.

Buying online: what to check before you pay

More and more tyres are bought online. Before paying, find out:

• The date of manufacture of each tyre, in writing: the week and year from the DOT code (how to read the date of manufacture). In the European tyre trade a properly stored tyre is customarily considered new for up to five years, but that limit serves the seller’s interest, not yours: last year’s tyres should not cost as much as fresh ones (how long a tyre lives at all).
• Where and how the tyres were stored (a dry, dark warehouse is nothing like a metal container in the sun).
• Who will fit them, and where (what you save on the price is easily lost at a bad tyre fitter’s; how to choose a tyre fitter).
• Return terms (what if the wrong size or date turns up?).
• Documents and warranty (a price suspiciously below the market is a reason to be wary, not to rejoice).

With tyres bought online, the first thing a mechanic I know looks at is not the name but the date of manufacture, and surprises, he says, are not rare.

And finally, about the future. “Euro 7”, Regulation (EU) 2024/1257, for the first time requires tyre abrasion to be limited, and the limits come from the rules adopted in June 2026, UN Regulation No. 186: from 2028 for new types of passenger-car tyres, from 2030 for all types. So tyres that wear away catastrophically fast will disappear from European shelves, though not at once: those made before mid-2030 may be fitted until mid-2032.

To sum up: you can buy a cheap tyre, but you should choose it by the label and the tests of the specific model, not by the price, the fame of the name or the country of manufacture. Buy cheap, buy twice, and with tyres you sometimes pay in more than money.

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