It’s time for some new drive axle tyres. My tyre fitter tells me that Kormoran tyres are made by Michelin, and Barum are made by Continental and that both are identical to the original spec tyres, but marketed under a different brand name because Michelin and Continental don’t want to devalue their brand.
Has anybody got any experience of Kormoran/Barum, are they any good?
Had Barum from new on a Skoda car years ago can’t remember being particularly good or bad.
I have had Taurus mid-lift and steers which is a Hungarian Michelin brand and I do rate them.
Bridgestone always seem popular on here for drives I’ve got Michelin remixes on drives at the moment and seem ok but too early to rave about them.
barum are indeed made by continental and are a mediocre tyre i only ever use bridgestones now and wouldnt contenplate using anything else milage wise and price there spot on
Ask me in a year 
… we just fitted a set on the back so too early to tell… we’ll see how they work out… Kormoran is owned by Michelin… not sure if that means much, though. The price was very attractive so it was hard to say no.
I’ve used both brands before, but not on the drive axle, a few years ago I bought 12 Barum super singles at the right price which I used on short tri axle trailers delivering concrete beams to site where backing over crushed concrete/rubble ■■■■■■■■■ with bits of re bar in was common.
The Kormoran’s came when I purchased some remaining stock off a local haulier who packed up, these were 295 steer pattern which I ran on the mid lift of a Volvo fh
If it’s a choice between the two I would fit Kormoran’s in your line of work as they lasted v well for me, never had a problem with either brand though, having said that I never bought any more!
I do know a haulier that tried Barum drives and they didn’t do to well, saying that I’ve never done much good with continental’s either, these days I fit Hankook DH05 to the drive and Bridgestone R297’s to the steer and hankook AM15 to the trailer, I do know there’s not much between Hankook and Bridgestone as another local haulier is doing better on Hankook steers than he did with Bridgestone 297’s, also another member on here Dan punchard has done a test on one truck with Michelin on one side and Hankook on the other and after 12 months there’s less than 1 mm in it!
Its a case of pay your money and make a choice, if I say buy this type someone else will say they are crap, what I can say is I buy and fit all my own tyres and take a keen interest in other local hauliers choices in different areas ie (rigids and artics doing distance/ hi ab work and tippers doing quarry work) as I run a flat trailer amongst other things
Over the years we tried all sorts of tyres on the drive axle, we do a mixture of work farms long distance short haul etc. the only tyre that has given good mileage is Michelin normal 30 months before a recut, yes they are not cheap but we tried Taurus and only 12 months and there’s not much meat to recut ether. Remix on the rear new on front and encore on the midlift is way we go.
Rolling resistance!!!
I only use Primewell on the drive, decent price, good tread pattern and they last forever
I measured the tyres today they all have over 9 mm on ,all the same .
newmercman:
Rolling resistance!!!
Was expecting that much sooner 
bazstan009:
newmercman:
Rolling resistance!!!Was expecting that much sooner
+1
Denis F:
bazstan009:
newmercman:
Rolling resistance!!!Was expecting that much sooner
+1
Yes me too, still waiting for an accurate chart with the rolling resistance for each make size and tread pattern to be posted!
and before the old chestnut “speak to your tyre supplier” is mentioned I will just point out that I overheard a Scania salesman the other day pointing out to a customer all the problems a local haulier is having with his new Volvos, without mentioning all the problems the same haulier is having with new Scanias !!
I can post you a link to a rolling resistance chart if you want, but half the tyres on it will not be available and vice versa as I run my truck in Canada, so I don’t look what is available in the UK.
However the physics remain the same both sides of the Atlantic, so ask your tyre supplier to get you the rolling resistance numbers for the tyres you are looking at and compare them against the alternatives.
Rolling resistance is calculated to a specific standard, Michelin have done the most thorough testing and there are competitors tyres that score better than theirs in most categories, so it isn’t a sales pitch by them.
Any use as a price starting point?..(i’ve bought car tyres from this company several times)…tyreleader.co.uk/truck-tyres-295-80-22.5/
Most tyres (apart from the cheapies) have a ABC style score for rolling resistance, wet grip and noise.
I did run Kormeran steers 295/80/22.5 and to be honest they were absolute crap
I didn’t rate them at all
But however I don’t know what their drive axle tyres will be like
Michelin every time personally