01/10/2010: What price cheap tyres in today’s market?

The news that the tyres on the Bugatti Veyron last only 37 miles at top speed and cost £23,500 for a set of four should be of great interest to potential buyers of cheap tyres. This might sound unlikely but it underlines one simple, yet very important fact, not just about cheap tyres but about tyres in general. This simple fact is that you only get what you pay for. And the truth is that in the market for cheap tyres nothing is quite what it seems and lowest price hardly ever means best value.

In the case of the afore-mentioned Bugatti Veyron, its seemingly not cheap tyres are made in very low quantities, by a very specialized manufacturer using highly exotic materials and to a design that has been refined by continuous and expensive research and development. These are not what you might call cheap tyres yourself but if you want to travel at 258 mph at a cost of 50 pence per metre for tyres, they may seem like cheap tyres compared to the overall costs involved. I wouldn’t know.

What I do know is that the makers of cheap tyres have to go through exactly the same process of carefully choosing the right designs, materials and processes in order to make their cheap tyres down to a particular cost band. However in order to reach your car, these cheap tyres have to go through an extensive distribution and retailing network. This means that the price you pay will ultimately depend upon availability, stock levels, volume buying and competitive discounting.

Harking back to the 50p per metre cost in use of the Bugatti Veyron’s tyres, you need to think about cost per mile if you want to be absolutely sure of the best deal in cheap tyres. Because higher priced tyres that give you a higher mileage might actually cost less than your lowest priced options at the end of the day. Remember a bargain isn’t a bargain just because it’s the cheapest price. Many online and high street retailers offer discounted quality products that are your best buy in cheap tyres.