Low cost summer tires 195/50/R16

[Krkwyt]

My wife's new 2003 P5, came with brand new summer tires (dealer). I had not heard of the brand. Since we are in snow country I suggested we should get her some snows (at least for the front)... she said the tires she has are doing fine in the snow. The past week it has snowed every day.
Being curious, I did a check on the make. They're called Matador and after a long hard search, I discovered they're real cheap. Only $47.44 each.

http://ssl.delti.com/cgi-bin/details.pl?ID=froogle&typ=127723&Country=US

Thought you might like to know. Seemed to be linked to the old American motors cars according to Tire Rack.

 

[TheMAN]

looks like real bad tires, period

do your wife a favor and get some snow tires or good all seasons (falken ziex 512 is what I recommend) before she gets in an accident and hurt herself!

 

[SeminoleMan]

...and get them on all four corners. Mismatched tires aren't typically any safer.

 

[Krkwyt]

TheMan, I take it you know about Matador tires from personal experience. What else can you tell me about them? I hate to toss them without further info.
As I said, my wife thinks they handle the snow very well, this surprised me as she is usually very hesitant and always insisted on snows before.

I've given them a try myself, we live on the brim of a high hill, as autos go by there is always slipping, we seem to be having very little problem so far. Hard to believe with cheap summer tires, but then that was the purpose of my post.

Thanks for taking the time to help.

 

[falsedawn]

You generally get what you pay for with tires - I have ziex 512s on, and they are fine in the dry, but after 6 months + of experience, I am not overly impressed with their wet performance - they are ok in the snow.

Never heard of matador tires - but I would doubt their quality to be honest.

Michelin tires are the best, but damn expensive - I have exaltos on another car, and they are clearly far superior to the ziexs.
A lot of people have good experiences with toyo proxies and pirelli neos.

 

[MyZmZm]

being in ontario, you can get a little or a lot of snow, ice, dry roads, etc... like most people will say (and have), you get what you pay for.

i personally would recommend the Nokian RSI winter tires, you can get them at KalTire. excellent in all types of winter weather, and won't wear excessively fast if you have dry roads or the odd warmer day (always the yo-yo here in Canada ). i would also recommend getting a set of 15" steelies to mount the winter tires on; it makes the changeover SO much easier, and less costly in the long run. plus, because they're steelies, who cares if they get all grungy and yucky?

because, after 4 seasons, my Nokians were about worn, i decided to try the Kumho KW19 winter tires. i like them, though not as much as the Nokians, but they are a lower-cost alternative and if you want to stick with the stock rims, they do come in the stock tire size.

oh, and for the recommendation of the falken ziex ze-512's as an alternative for winter? NONONONONO, not in the weather you will experience in winter. i had these tires (for summer), and they are NOT what you want in the snow.

hope this helps

 

[fonzinator]

Kumho SPTs

I run these on my P5 for the non winter months. Tirerack.com has them in our stock size (195/50/16) for $63/tire. They are a great summer tire for the money. The sidewalls aren't as stiff as some high-performance summer tires, but for $63 each, you aren't going to beat these in the bang-for-buck category. They stick like glue when they are warmed up and they are great in the rain too. Zero complaints from me. I can't wait to get them back on my car (running Dunlop Graspic DS-2 snows right now)!

Link to SPTs at Tirerack.

 

[5PADZAM]

I found a website that at least describes the tires. It appears they were developed to meet Volkswagon's requirements for one of their car models.

http://www.matadoruk.co.uk/index.cfm?module=ActiveWeb&page=WebPage&s=mp42

I say run them for summer if she's happy with them. They definitely are not snow tires, so I would put snows on it for her to use until winter is over. But I would put them back on for summer use. It's not like you are using the car for racing. Unless you have deep pockets, you might as well use them up.

As already stated, you generally get what you pay for with tires, but, you are also paying for the name when you buy a tires with a major name brand on the sidewall.

 

[Krkwyt]

Thanks everyone.
Shopping for winters as we speak. My wife would be pushing it to put 10,000 kms a years with very little highway. Mostly short 5km trips.
Price for 4 with rims are varying between $1069.55 on car (Cooper Weathermaster 205/50/16) incl.taxes and $868.87 (Hancook Icebear 195/50/16) on car incl.taxes.

Anyone have problems using 205s? Anything I should know?

 

[5PADZAM]

That size is fine. Looks better having a little wider tire IMO. I'm currently running 205/50r16's for my summer tires. No problems at all with this size.

 

[Krkwyt]

5padzam, thanks for the info, nice to hear and more choices for Tweetie.

 

[CTt3P5]

There are a lot more choices when you look at the 205/50/16 size. I am running that size now (all season tires) with no problems.

Good choice on getting the wife some snow tires....

After the successful establishment of MP 35 ELITE passenger tyres Matador is coming on the market with MP 42 ELITE 2 summer tyres. This new tyre was specially developed as a highly comfortable tyre in accordance with the requirements of Volkswagen Concern for the follow-up model to koda Octavia cars. It is a new summer tyre for medium, higher medium and luxurious class of automobiles in the speed categories H (up to 210 km/h), V (up to 240 km/h), W (up to 270 km/h) with increased content of silica and high safety of driving on both dry and wet surface.

 

[OmegaSport20]

I am also running 205s and I picked up some Fuzion ZRI tires from tire rack. They are summer only but I live in Arizona so I don't worry about winter. They also have a all season Fuzion tire for $63 each. I am very satisfied with them so far. I think I like them better than my BFG g-force sports I had on it before.