I would deffinatly pay a little more for a British made product that's for sure. When I buy tools I always check the make out to try and find out where there made...... Sadly not in the UK
Whats up with ripspeed...
- Thread starter CeJay
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Whats up with ripspeed...
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I had a Ripspeed steering wheel in my Cinq 7/8 years ago. Nothing ostentatious, black leather with black spokes, lovely wheel to drive with, good quality. Didn't cost a lot of money either (think it was about 20 quid from Halfords).
On the flip side, someone in my family bought a Ripspeed HU a few years ago. It lasted 2 days before it broke and got sent back.
Stuff like EX500 weren't that great in my experience. However, the XR611 that replaced it and the NS-2 were decent tyres for the money paid. One of their latest tyres seems to have gotten favourable reviews too IIRC.
As for UK R&D, design and manufacturing, there's still plenty going on.
On the flip side, someone in my family bought a Ripspeed HU a few years ago. It lasted 2 days before it broke and got sent back.
Stuff like EX500 weren't that great in my experience. However, the XR611 that replaced it and the NS-2 were decent tyres for the money paid. One of their latest tyres seems to have gotten favourable reviews too IIRC.
As for UK R&D, design and manufacturing, there's still plenty going on.
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you got bedworth on your facebook? lost his bm for no reason the other day it found a hedge on new nankangs
Avon make (some) tyres in Wiltshire; Dunlop make some competition tyres in Brum; Michelin have 3 factories here. There's a chance that Pirelli have a factory near Carlisle.
There are 3 companies who make bicycle lights, Hope, Exposure and Lumicycle, in Britain. As well as firms such as Moulton and Brompton and Pashley that makes yer akshuell bikes.
There are also makers of cycle clothing.
Although there is only DAF (a Dutch company) making trucks here, there are plenty of bus makers and firms that make trailers and truck bodywork from refuse trucks to reefers to curtain-siders to tippers. There's even a British engineering firm that makes mine "ploughs" for the US Army and Marine Corps.
We, the buyers/customers need to accept that British goods mostly cost more than those made in Asia, and if we don't like it, we shouldn't moan when jobs that we have that pay £7 - 8 - 9 - 10 or more an hour disappear.
Mind you, we nearly all drive Italian cars so...........
That's something I just don't get. I can understand why if you drive a '98 Punto 60S and only drive to Tesco and the local town centre 5 miles away through a 30 limit, that you might buy a budget, or even part worn tyre.
But why would you drive "The Ultimate Driving Machine" and fit cheap tyres?
COST.
Some people, usually young males, scrimp and save to buy their 'dream' car without thought to running costs. You'll find that the servicing intervals will be stretched, the insurance will be the very cheapest possibly with massive excess, and the tyres will be budget.
I remember fitting quite a few sets of 'woosung' tyres to the various V8 powered SD1 rovers I owned in the early nineties and to be honest I never gave it a second thought, they were new and had lots of tread and that was good enough for me.
Like wise gav I remember fitting remoulds to my first panda 
something I'ld never do now but at the time rubber was rubber and so long as they were legal...........
something I'ld never do now but at the time rubber was rubber and so long as they were legal...........
because some people post on forums saying nankang are not as bad as they used to be :idea:
Going by the 100HP facebook page the Italians love em..
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Which is true, they have gotten better based on my own experience. What's your personal experience Dave? I seem to remember you making a big deal out of people discussing products without first hand knowledge or experience a few years back.
I had EX500s on my Cinq when I first bought it. There is, of course, a limit to how much the tyres gripped, but I never found myself in a situation where there was a danger of hedge/car interaction. When the EX500 was replaced by XR611, I tried them on the same Cinq (the only other alternative was nearly £100 a tyre, and the reviews on them were mixed). There was a significant improvement in all respects, I drove about 30,000 miles in that car with no tyre or hedge/car issues (well I had a flat once, shall I blame that on it being a Nankang?). I was also living in one of the wettest parts of the UK at the time
so they saw plenty of wet weather action. As a further example, I found Toyo T1Rs to not be the best tyre overall for a Mk2 Punto, contrary to you, Dave. Again, my own experience, based on tens of thousands of miles (and several different popular sports tyres in axle pairs). The tyres I found that were the best so far were slightly cheaper than the T1Rs (Uniroyal Rainsport 2s). Plenty of people in Evos would say that there are better tyres than the T1R for a similar price point.
Did I say Nankangs were the best tyre ever? No, I did not. I said they were decent for the price paid, which is a big difference.
Does that mean that they cannot improve? Of course it doesn't. As an interesting aside, I wonder who's supplying tyres to the Max5 championship this season...
To anyone unfamiliar with Bedworth's BMW, he has a very low (well it is Bedworth after all
) M3. As I understand it, he lost it on a greasy road at below the NSL and hasn't attributed blame to anything specific. Besides, having the world's best tyres doesn't mean you're infallible.
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Having driven a few high powered beemers on wet roads I would say cheap tyres are certainly not a deciding factor as to whether you make it home in one piece or not, they need to be treated with respect and so if I was a bit short of cash and I needed fresh rubber i'd throw the Nankangs on and keep on truckin..
I've driven a few cars with them on my yellow cinq had them, most recent was an A3 ( don't tell anybody) and they spun in the wet when slowly pulling away at junctions. they had plenty of meat on them.
and i wasn't the only one that rated t1r on a punto loads of us did, I still run them in summer on mrs daves and Uniroyal MSPlus6 in winter.
We're not on about THE Bedworth with the yellow Punto turbo are we? Anyhoo, I think we can rabbit on about tyres all day long, At the end of the day, anything is better than illegal tyres. Remoulds? Yeah, back in the day they were fine as long as you picked a decent brand and the 4x4 and rally boys still use them. Me? I'm in the position where I can usually pick up some decent part worns for peanuts or free and fit them myself.
Remember helz on here a few years ago had a 3 series diesel don't seem to recall it being on nankangs but it most definitely took her on a magical mystery tour through a hedge. I'd put money on it being more to do with rwd and high power than the tyres. Especially as Bedworths will have no ride height to speak of so could have bottomed or be running odd cambers.
Edit: come to think of it only seen one pic of his new car was he running stretched tyres as well?
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Also dont take my post i quotes as a personal dig, example of other posting is fastcar posting a plug for them on facebook ( i know its not a forum) on the 13/01/13.
the replies are interesting
Nankang XR611 is one of the best tyres in (165/55/13) I used for the cento!
Such a soft tyre and grips very well.
Ming
Such a soft tyre and grips very well.
Ming
There's absolutely no reason why any company that makes any product can't get better. I seem to remember Korean companies like Hankook being laughed at years ago. But then they only made small cars for their home market and the Hyundai Stellar, which was based on the Mk. V Cortina and was fitted with a 1.6 75 (ish) bhp engine so it wasn't exactly a high performance monster.
But now, as the Korean motor industry makes better, faster cars they've had to make better tyres as well, because, as we know to our cost in this country, if a car maker fails then the supply chain fails as well so it's in the interest of a country and its industry to have a healthy head and tail; and the tail is usually far larger than the head.
For me though, and it's an entirely personal viewpoint, I'd rather buy British, or European goods than Chinese. Not that I have anything against Chinese people per se, but I really do detest the government in Beijing. They haven't really changed their spots, just altered the shapes a little. They are still a totalitarian dictatorship that controls its population, manipulates its media, executes not only its citizens but members of its own government and true to the Internationalist nature of their Marxist/Leninist/Trotskyite philosophy are getting decidedly ar*ey with other countries.
They bought the only aircraft carrier the Soviet Union ever made and are now building their own to back up their sabre rattling with Japan over disputed islands. They propped up North Korea for decades and now are trying to convince the world they are a moderating influence on Kim. I'm sure it's a coincidence but North Korea also executes people it doesn't like.
Anyway, I'm digressing again as usual so I'll just shut up and mumble about how things aren't what they used to be. Until Mrs. Beard tells me to shut up as well.
But now, as the Korean motor industry makes better, faster cars they've had to make better tyres as well, because, as we know to our cost in this country, if a car maker fails then the supply chain fails as well so it's in the interest of a country and its industry to have a healthy head and tail; and the tail is usually far larger than the head.
For me though, and it's an entirely personal viewpoint, I'd rather buy British, or European goods than Chinese. Not that I have anything against Chinese people per se, but I really do detest the government in Beijing. They haven't really changed their spots, just altered the shapes a little. They are still a totalitarian dictatorship that controls its population, manipulates its media, executes not only its citizens but members of its own government and true to the Internationalist nature of their Marxist/Leninist/Trotskyite philosophy are getting decidedly ar*ey with other countries.
They bought the only aircraft carrier the Soviet Union ever made and are now building their own to back up their sabre rattling with Japan over disputed islands. They propped up North Korea for decades and now are trying to convince the world they are a moderating influence on Kim. I'm sure it's a coincidence but North Korea also executes people it doesn't like.
Anyway, I'm digressing again as usual so I'll just shut up and mumble about how things aren't what they used to be. Until Mrs. Beard tells me to shut up as well.
It might be a dictatorship but they make nice food! I remember "back in the day" when Jap motorbikes started coming over, the first thing you did was ditch the Yokohamas or Bridgestones for something better but now look at them! Yes, I'd rather buy British but since MG/Rover got sold up the river there's nothing for me to buy that I can afford. And no, I don't want a Chinese MG kit assembled at Longbridge, it just doesn't cut it. Talk about rubbing our noses in it.
most chinese resturans/take aways around here are run by people from hongkong and the food they sell isnt what chinese people eat in china.
