Can anyone give me any idea as to how much I should expect to pay for new tyres for a Suzuki Swift? Any recommendations as to what kind of tyre I should think about fitting?
I’ve been quoted NT$12,000, which seems rather high.
Don’t know about specific tires for the Swift, but brand name tires like Michelin run about $3-4000 each for my Bora. Local tires, like the Maxis brand are NT$2000 each. Check the size, then check Costco. They seem to have pretty good value on new tires.
Is Autobacs still around? They always had very competitive pricing on tires. I used them often for oil changes and tire changes.
I paid I think around NT$1,800 per tyre for my trusty Nissan Sentra last time. Not the cheapest and certainly not the most expensive – Bridgestone “Pissuparope” brand, I believe – but I haven’t skidded in a complete circle, nor have I done whatever it is one does when one has bad tyres.
NT$3,000 per tyre is taking the piss, Omni. Tell 'em to fornicate flatulently with their foremost finger.
depends on brand and size.
factory size should be easy to find and just matters on brand.
if u got aftermarket rims then it can get expensive. some size are not popular and they charge a arm and a leg.
Shit! You’d need to completely crippelise two whole people then, just for four tyres.
Your Swift probably doesn’t need Pirelli Zeroes, Omni. Surely just some Maxxis tyres or Kumhos or summat should be fine. You don’t drive like a loon, as I recall.
Thanks to all for the responses, and especially to Urodacus for endorsing the non-lunacy of my driving (though my sister-in-law says half jokingly that I drive very mengly these days, more and more like a local, which I hope isn’t true).
In the end, I shelled out NT$11,600 for a set of Yokohama tyres that the fellow assured me (most probably without an iota of truthfulness) are the ones used by Taiwan’s boys in blue. I have no doubt I was grossly overcharged, but the people in the tyre shop were very friendly, the service was good, and I feel it was a reasonable price to pay for a good set of rubbers twixt me and the asphalt.
i purchased my tires from one of those big local shops similar like Autobacs.
tire size 205/40/17
heck i shelled out $14,400 for maxxis made locally (great tires btw).
imported brands do cost more though.
i use to run toyo’s and they cost more.
well my 245/50/18 tires cost $10,000 each…and now it’s time to replace them 
yeah toyo is quite expensive now but still less compared to michelin or continental…my 225/45/17 toyo cost about $5,000 each
My advice is to go for a tyre that suits you 80% of the time. You won’t feel any benefit from an expensive low profile high pressure tyre at low speed in traffic so forget about showing off by paying an arm and a leg for top price tyres that actually make your ride more miserable than a set of higher profile lower speed rating tyres.
Large tyres for many people are a way of showing off simply how much money they have spent on their ride. Remember most car manufacturers already know the way the majority of people drive and have usually chosen tyres to fit that average.
I will state again that Taiwan’s road surfaces don’t generally suit high end low profile tyres unless really used as they were designed to and even then they may end up damaging the rims if not careful enough. You have to be pushing a car much of the time to really justify spending more than average for a set of threads.
If you are a city goer then I would actually recommend just going to your local manufacturer’s service centre and getting a quote as they may not be far off anyone elses and for the convenience as well as free coffee you will do just as well. Of course if you are after a higher quality tyre then you can give me your details and I’ll get you a quote if you like.
Perhaps two more important issues with an average users tyre might be weather suitability and noise level. Look around for ratings online to find more specifics and details that may suit you. Its often hard for any one person to recommend a tyre to fit your style and demands, although its often more simple to get information on where to get simply the cheapest of any one type.
I’m sorry local tyre stores and their prices are not my forte and this is the limit to my practical advice regarding general usability.
Yes super low profile probably isnt needed for a swift. Not the same pricing as Taiwan of course but you could review tires at tires.com to compare between tire brands , etc. And get a basic idea of their relative cost (to each other).
Most family car tires could range from 1500 to 5000nt a piece I would say.
In Taiwan they usually dont charge extra to mount them. Whereas with tires.com pricing (for the USA) you have to add bout 20 bucks to each tires cost to balance and mount and pay the sales tax.
I use them as a guide to what I should spend before heading down to the local tire shop.
Agree…I know there’s no benefit putting big rims here but for me, putting “reasonable” big rims is just a hobby just like people do fishing, playing RC car or riding big bike…I dont put any other bilng2x on my cars, just bigger rims…
I just got some new tires for my swift. I’m trying to find them online and am having some difficulty. They are GoodYear Assurance tires, I paid 2700 each…10800nt total.
But when I search for them I can’t find anything that matches them exactly…and by that I mean the tread.
goodyear.ca/goodyeartiresele … =Passenger
Oh and my tires says max air pressure is 51psi, but the shop filled them to 35psi. Is that right?
My first set of tires only lasted me 20,000km. And I’m guessing that’s because the shops kept under inflating them. As I don’t drive my car very aggressively (mainly because it’s normally filled with dogs and babies).
Hey mordeth, after visiting Taiwan i noticed how nice the Swift was in person. I think its a cool car. A lot cooler then a youtube vid makes it out to be.
does it drive mini like?
[quote=“tommy525”]Hey mordeth, after visiting Taiwan i noticed how nice the Swift was in person. I think its a cool car. A lot cooler then a youtube vid makes it out to be.
does it drive mini like?[/quote]
I took it on the go-kart track and came within 2 seconds of the kart times. And I only did a few laps with the swift. It’s an agile car to be sure, but I’ve never driven a mini…so can’t compare.
I came to like the Swift when I saw it in Taiwan. I think Suzuki is missing out big time by not selling it in the USA. I think it will sell well as the MINI is selling very well.
And the Swift looks very MINI like.
MY bud in Taiwan thinks the only bad thing is that it aint cheap to buy. Is it made in Taiwan, the ones sold there?
How much do they cost there ? Approx?
[quote=“Mordeth”]I just got some new tires for my swift. I’m trying to find them online and am having some difficulty. They are GoodYear Assurance tires, I paid 2700 each…10800nt total.
But when I search for them I can’t find anything that matches them exactly…and by that I mean the tread.
goodyear.ca/goodyeartiresele … =Passenger
Oh and my tires says max air pressure is 51psi, but the shop filled them to 35psi. Is that right?
My first set of tires only lasted me 20,000km. And I’m guessing that’s because the shops kept under inflating them. As I don’t drive my car very aggressively (mainly because it’s normally filled with dogs and babies).[/quote]
For best wear over-all you are supposed to inflate to the recommended tire pressures listed for your vehicle but of course never exceed the max pressure specified on the sidewall of the car.
If u are overinflating the center of ur tire will wear faster. If underinflating the outer edge will wear faster.
On my RSX I find that the carmakers recommended tire pressure of 33psi for front and 31psi for back is slightly harsh on ride and actually is a bit overinflated as the tires both up front and on the back are wearing more on the center. So i actually use 30psi in front and 28psi for the back. Its usually important to keep the same difference between front and back that the car maker stipulates tho for handling balance.
German makers are more precise in their recommendations with different settings for different usual loads (1 person or 4 persons in car, etc). American and Japanese makers usually only give one overall rating so you can slightly alter that .
A lot of air in the tires usually give better performance as the car doesnt have to work as hard, better fuel mileage too. But the tradeoff is a possible harsh ride and center tire wear.
My bud who drives a focus (which is a softly sprung car) always inflates his tires to 40psi instead of the recommended 30psi and has so far gotten 60,000 miles out of his goodyears and actually pretty even wear too. So a bit of experimentation is probably good.
MY Acura RSX is a very harsh riding car in the first place so a few PSI one way or other makes a noticeable difference in ride quality. I do notice much better acceleration with 33psi then 30psi though but i do 30psi for much better ride.
And less bounce in the turns.
Found my tires. They aren’t sold in America or Canada. But they are in Australia evidently: goodyear.com.au/microsite/
Edit: Cool it says my tires are bulletproof (well…it says they have a layer of kevlar 
)
[quote=“Mordeth”]Found my tires. They aren’t sold in America or Canada. But they are in Australia evidently: goodyear.com.au/microsite/
Edit: Cool it says my tires are bulletproof (well…it says they have a layer of kevlar )[/quote]
Given your relationship with the local police, that’s probably a wise investment.