My Barum Bravuris

I have been living with the Barum Bravuris tyres for more than a month now, with some mileages on the normal trunk roads, freeways and highways, plus a trip to Ipoh and back. Rain or shine, I think I can finally report on the performance of the tyres.

I bought two pairs of tyres at the end of June 2009 after being informed that my old tyres (Sime Astar, standard on some Waja) are left with 30% threads, and my sports rims are as bend as Beckham’s freekicks. I said, why not. The Sime Astar tyres are also more than 3 years old and replacement are long overdue.

Check out the deep grooves, and the peeble stones in it.

The suggested retail price for the Bravuris is RM330, but I managed to get it at a cut-price of RM160/piece. Reason of buying the Bravuris, instead of the usual Sime Astar, or Dunlop, or even the overpriced Michelins? What the heck, we only live once, why not try something new? Moreover, Continental (who owns Barum Tyres) must have conducted some sort of testing on the tyres before releasing it to the public. And it even been designed using Computer-Aided-Design (CAD).

The Bravuris footprints

Well, the actual test is when you’re actually using the tyres on a daily basis. What can I say? The tyres are:

• Not exactly cheap (I can get the Sime Astars at a cheaper price);
• Less tyre noises are heard compared to the nearest brand;
• Grips are nothing to shout about. On dry roads, the tyres are quite slippery and if pushes hard, you might be doing some drifting;
• In the wet, it’s a different story. The tyres are quite excellent in the rain, and you can push harder than on dry roads. Therefore, I suspected that the tyres are wet-road biased (check out the grooves on the tyres and you’ll know);
• The grooves on the tyres are excellent water channels (especially in the middle part of the tyres)
• Rides are a bit hard compared to the standard Sime Astar. Hopefully this will translates to long-lasting tyres.
• Tyre wears? None yet, but will let you know in 5 months time.