Hello everyone,

I've been doing some research on getting two new tires for my car. I didn't want to spend too much money, so getting an all out performance tire is currently not an option at this moment.

I've come across several cheap off-brand tires such as Primewell, and I haven't had good experience with off-brands in the past. Also, I've driven several cars with these bargain "economy" priced tires, and they tend to be noisy and don't wear well, and need more frequent balancing.

For nearly the same price as the Primewell's, I came across these Barum tires sold at Discount Tire. Come to find out, they're owned by Continental. I also came across some very good tire reviews. Most of the reviews I found were over in Europe, where these tires apparently have been selling well for quite a while now. Looks like they're trying to make their way here in the States.

In conclusion, has anyone here had these tires before? For the money, they seem like a good deal.

Here's a link to Discount Tire's website on the Barum's...

http://www.discounttire.com/dtcs/tires/barum/vehicle/viewProductDetail.do?v=006825|2000&pc=12384

 

Anyone?

 

I just put them on my Audi a couple of weeks ago. A coworker had the first version on his wifes 03 Jetta for 5 or so years and he recommended them to me. Like you, I needed new tires and wanted something cheap as I'll probably only put 3-4k/year on the car.

I only have about 300 miles on them but so far so good. Fairly quiet. Good grip in wet, dry, and even snow. Although my opinion of the tires is somewhat irrelevant as I have 16's on a heavy AWD wagon, I have zero complaints yet.

The only bad thing I read was a few random sidewall blowouts

Oh, and all those little lines on the sidewall look kind of silly but you only see them up close.

 

Thanks for the response. I never even heard of Barum until I started doing research looking for tires for my car. Trying to find affordable 17's isn't as easy as I thought it was going to be. I thought that the majority of wheels out there now are all 18 on up, that the 17's would have come down in price since the wheel aftermarket dominates with 18 on up wheel sizes.

 

Get some 16's. Those tires are $67/each.

 

Nah, I like my SE's 17's.

I think i'm gonna pull the trigger on the Barum's. I was going to go to the local Discount Tire down the street, but they're closed on Sunday's.

 

I remember back home (my home country) Barum were the tires we always used on our cars... as far as I can remember I loved those tires... I am very surprised that they sell them here in the states... If I were you I would buy them before I spend my money on some cheap china knockoffs. Barum... that brings a lot of memories from the old country...

 

Thanks for your response on the tires. I know nothing about the Barum's other than doing some online research and reading reviews on them. They seem to get very good ratings.

As far as I know, only Discount Tire carries them, unless you buy them online. I never heard of Barum until I started doing research on tires for my car.

What country are you from? I see your current location is Columbus, OH. I have family that lives there, in the Dublin area.

 

I am from Bulgaria, but as I said I have used the Barum tires a lot back home simply b/c the price compared to the Micheline,Yokohama, Pirelly and all the other known brand name tires was just outrageous plus there were many occasions where you but nice tires for your car and the next morning your car is sitting on block lol... Just don't expect the same high performance tire and the big names, but for a normal everyday drive they will be just fine... I remember the Barum to be a 'soft' type of tire, easy nice smooth drive as far as the millage I remember getting well over 40,000 miles per set with regular rotation and alignment...

 

Thanks for all the info. I believe I'm going to go with the Barum's.

 

i had them when i had my 17" SEs that i got in a trade...they were good for DD purposes...never tried them around a corner like i did when i had my 19" federals, but they were good enough

 

I went ahead and bought 2 new Barum's. The front tires on my car were at the wear bars, so I had the rears (about 1-1/2mm above the wear bars) put on the front, and the new tires put on the back.

The tires seem to be smooth and quiet. I won't be able to get a good evaluation of them until I get two more installed on the front. However, so far, so good.

Here's a pic I found online of the tires so you all can see what they look like...

 

What is your opinion of the Barum tires now that you have run them for awhile? I am in the same situation as you, need tires but don't want to lay out a bunch of cash for tires just to drive to work.

 

I am getting a set of these BARUM's for my 03 SE and I will report back after I drive it for a bit.