Foreign made tires - Chinese vs. Korean etc.

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Originally Posted By: HTSS_TR
Originally Posted By: daves87rs
Sadly, My Balt's Sumi HTR T4's are made in china. But, they seem to be holding up very well. I think much of it too depends on the company's standard of quality...


Kumho KR21 is very well liked on Tirerack customer reviews and they are made in China.



I like em', but they wear out too fast here.
 
I have only tried Chinese trailer tires, with poor results.

One of our old tandem boat trailers had run 20+ years with the original General brand tires. With deep cracks in the sidewalls, we decided to buy new and Tires plus assured us their Taiwan made "Nanco" tires were the perfect replacement, and we bought 4, complete with new rims. Same size, load ratings, etc

Big mistake, we headed out for a sold show, made it 100 miles, KERWHAM one popped. Wow, must have got a bad one.... fortunately we had kept the Generals... still on the rusty original rims... in the bow of the boat.
Flipped on a General, made it to our destination... 300 miles.... but another Nanco was badly bulged. Put on the second spare, peformed two shows, stayed over night and headed back Sunday. Half way home..... POW, lost NANCO number 3 and no more spares. Continued on a lower speed with a 20 year old general taking double weight, suprisingly it made it.

Now of course we found that Tires Plus would not stand behind the product at all, claimed we were overloaded.... but we were not. Then agreed to "go half" if we upgraded to premium, high pressure Nanco's, and we did so. Biggest difference:
80 lb Nanco's last about 50 percent longer than 50 lb Nancos. And they make 50 percent more noise when they blow!!

By now, Tires Plus refused any adjustment, everything was all our fault. They had no explanation why the old Generals had run so long.... and in fact were still being used to get us home.

If any of you have ever been to a "tire school" there are clear signs of delamination....the tread is split between plies, lots of powder/dust when they blow due to the interply scrubbing action, etc. Even though Tires Plus proudly displays their signs showing every salesman has been to "Tires Plus University" they suddenly seem to have amnesia, and every blowout is due to abuse and road hazards!!!! Yes, even if the tow vehicle has no cut tires and the trailer blows out 7 tires in a row, we are driving over knives and razors that must be laying all over the road!!

Eventually we switched the trailer to Carlisle brand, made in the USA, and our problems vanished.
 
I also really wonder about the integrity of Tires Plus!!! Instead of contacting other dealers, informing their purchasing managers, pushing data back up stream to their corporate structure, they instead chose to go into total denial and pursue what must be their corporate policy.....

The customer is always wrong!
 
Originally Posted By: daves87rs
Originally Posted By: asiancivicmaniac
Originally Posted By: Ndx
Falken is made in Japan .. those are good tires ..at amazing price ..


Mine are made by Sumitomo in Thailand. They were the cheapest I could get but I would be lucky if I got 30k miles of use from them.


Which tires?


Ziex 912. Rated for 40k miles. I'm expecting 25k miles since when I rotated them at 5k miles, the fronts had worn off the first of the 3 rotation indicators. To be fair it's partly my car's fault.
 
Originally Posted By: fdcg27
You'll get exactly the level of quality control and proper materials use from a Chinese factory that you are willing to pay for.
If you are willing to pay dirt-cheap, you should not expect a Michelin-level tire.



This.

Call me stupid, but i even check the country of origin on the windsheild wipers i buy.
I wont buy them if theyre chinese much less the tire that connect my vehicle to the road.
I value my life more than that, and will spend the extra money to protect it.
 
The problem I have is that I cant justify spending $500 on tires for a car worth less than $1000.

I\m not looking for outstanding performance or anything. I just need tires that are safe and that will last at least 40,000kms.
 
If given a choice between a tire made in China, or one made in Korea.... I'll take the Korean one, thank you.

Hankook tires are making their way onto vehicles as an OEM tire.

Hankook is a Korean company (although it appears that they have a plant in China as well...)
 
Originally Posted By: silverrat
The problem I have is that I cant justify spending $500 on tires for a car worth less than $1000.

I\m not looking for outstanding performance or anything. I just need tires that are safe and that will last at least 40,000kms.


Don't you have clubs or warehouses where they have tires exclusive to their clubs that are cheaper but still good? Here at Sam's there are label exclusive to Sam's made by name brand manufacturers. The BFG touring for example is a decent tire for a reasonable price.60k-80k mile warranty depending on speed rating iirc.
 
Originally Posted By: silverrat
The problem I have is that I cant justify spending $500 on tires for a car worth less than $1000.

I\m not looking for outstanding performance or anything. I just need tires that are safe and that will last at least 40,000kms.


Korean made Nexen are fairly good low cost tires, you can get a set of 4 for your hone for less than $200, plus shipping+mounting+balancing the total should be less than $300.
 
A Chinese factory is as capable of producing quality product as any other.
As long as importers and distributors insist on having a really cheap product to offer, the "Made in China" label will represent an inferior good.
There are name-brand products made in China, and their quality is as good as those made anywhere in the world.
It is not so much where something is made as it is the level of quality the buyer insists on (and is willing to pay for) that matters.
Quality costs more, and many who contract production to Chinese factories are not willing to pay the price.
 
I've put Kumhos on a couple of my cars and they've worked very well. That said, I have usually been able to find Dunlops or Pirellis on sale at Tire Rack whenever I've needed tires, and I try to stick with those two brands.
 
Originally Posted By: asiancivicmaniac
Originally Posted By: silverrat
The problem I have is that I cant justify spending $500 on tires for a car worth less than $1000.

I\m not looking for outstanding performance or anything. I just need tires that are safe and that will last at least 40,000kms.


Don't you have clubs or warehouses where they have tires exclusive to their clubs that are cheaper but still good? Here at Sam's there are label exclusive to Sam's made by name brand manufacturers. The BFG touring for example is a decent tire for a reasonable price.60k-80k mile warranty depending on speed rating iirc.


We have Sams Club and stuff but they carry good tires for a decent price. I need decent tires at a cheap price.
 
Originally Posted By: silverrat
Originally Posted By: asiancivicmaniac
Originally Posted By: silverrat
The problem I have is that I cant justify spending $500 on tires for a car worth less than $1000.

I\m not looking for outstanding performance or anything. I just need tires that are safe and that will last at least 40,000kms.


Don't you have clubs or warehouses where they have tires exclusive to their clubs that are cheaper but still good? Here at Sam's there are label exclusive to Sam's made by name brand manufacturers. The BFG touring for example is a decent tire for a reasonable price.60k-80k mile warranty depending on speed rating iirc.


We have Sams Club and stuff but they carry good tires for a decent price. I need decent tires at a cheap price.


I second the Nexens...
 
Originally Posted By: silverrat
We have Sams Club and stuff but they carry good tires for a decent price. I need decent tires at a cheap price.


Riken Raptor HR is the low cost Michelin tire, it's decent tires at a reasonable price. It's only $57/ea at Discount Tire/America's Tire for size 205/60-15, it has 50k miles warranty and UTQG of 520 A A. The reviewers on DT/AT seems very positive about Riken Raptor.
 
Originally Posted By: HTSS_TR
Originally Posted By: silverrat
We have Sams Club and stuff but they carry good tires for a decent price. I need decent tires at a cheap price.


Riken Raptor HR is the low cost Michelin tire, it's decent tires at a reasonable price. It's only $57/ea at Discount Tire/America's Tire for size 205/60-15, it has 50k miles warranty and UTQG of 520 A A. The reviewers on DT/AT seems very positive about Riken Raptor.


Wow, you somehow guess exactly what size I was looking for.
 
I guess I'm lucky with my Wynstar Phaser R23, they were Chinese and are pretty good. Last time I heard the factory that made them were acquired by Michelin, so they probably also make Michelin for the Chinese market hence the good quality control.
 
Originally Posted By: PandaBear
I guess I'm lucky with my Wynstar Phaser R23, they were Chinese and are pretty good. Last time I heard the factory that made them were acquired by Michelin, so they probably also make Michelin for the Chinese market hence the good quality control.


What the heck are those?
 
10% of all tires sold in America are made in China. Only recently has China been manufacturing tires under their own brand.
 
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