Product review: Ceat Czar HP tyres

Ceat recently sent over a new set of tyres from its Czar range of products. We fitted the Ceat Czar HP rubber onto our long-term Renault Captur to see how these, a range of premium tyres aimed largely at SUVs, handle our daily driving needs.

The news is largely good. At city, and even highway speeds, we were quite impressed by how quiet these tyres are. Road noise is very well controlled, the constant rumble that you expect on our notoriously concrete roads is kept in check. In keeping with this theme though, we would have liked these tyres to come with slightly softer sidewalls. The stiffer compound almost certainly adds durability but this has added a slightly stiff edge to the car's ride quality. It's not uncomfortable but is noticeable, especially over imperfections.

As far as grip is concerned, the Czar HP does a good job, given its price bracket. When the tyre is loaded up, going into a turn, all four tyres keep their composure with no deviation from the line that the car is taking. This continues in wet conditions too. It's only driving through very heavy rain at highway speeds, where you might find standing water on the roads, is when the situation turns a bit lairy. There's not enough traction in these conditions and the tread pattern doesn't seem adept at expelling this water quickly enough. But this improves as the speed drops, and you keep direction changes smooth. Regular highway driving in the dry didn't bring up any surprises. The grip is par-for-the-course and maintaining a steady cruise is not a problem in any way.

The Czar HP is available in four sizes. The ones we tested were 215/60 R17s, the other sizes are 205/60 R16, 205/65 R16 and 235/65 R17. All of these are standard tyre sizes, mainly popular with SUVs right from sub-4 meter ones to bigger 7-seaters like the Mahindra Scorpio. But these tyres aren't meant for off-road use, their tread pattern is biased towards on-road driving.

The Ceat Czar HP tyres are a good all-round package. They should perform well in most usage cycles, tyre life shouldn't be a problem too given the hard compound. This is further complemented by the prices. Ceat is currently offering up to a 33 per cent discount on its website, which make them very good value. Rounding off all this is the impressive 60-month warranty on manufacturing defects.

Prices 

205/65 R16 - Rs 6,225

205/60 R16 - Rs 6,805

215/60 R17 - Rs 6,940

235/65 R17 - Rs 10,350