Originally Posted By: mrsilv04
How about we let the experts at Modern Tire Dealer talk about the tier levels. Nor do they mention anything such as "braking performance".
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The tiers are used in the U.S. tire market to describe differences in terms of price and profit margin. Tiers do not correspond to performance.
"Tires in tier one are the major tire companies’ premium brands. They carry the highest price tags and have the highest profit margins for the manufacturers. They are can be original equipment on premium brand cars, light trucks and large SUVs. Tier one tires are marketed to automobile aficionados as replacement tires. Examples of tier one tires are the Bridgestone, Goodyear and Michelin brands.
"Tires in tier two are the tire companies’ mid-market brands. The marketing effort for these tires is not as extensive as for tier one tires. Therefore, they are not sold for the premium price found on tier one tires. As a result, these tires have a lower profit margin. Examples of tier two tires are the Firestone, Dunlop, BFGoodrich, Continental, Yokohama and Toyo brands.
"Tires in tier three are 'value' brand tires for consumers who look for value for the money. These tires are marketed to consumers who are more concerned with price than a brand name. Tier three tires have the lowest profit margins. In the 1990s, the major tire sellers in the United States, both domestic and foreign, decided to end U.S. production of tier three tires so most of the tires in this tier are imported. In addition to GITI’s GT Radial, Runway and Primewell brands, other examples include tires imported by Goodyear from Venezuela and Poland and sold at Wal-Mart under the Douglas brand and tires imported by Michelin from Indonesia and sold under the Riken brand."
The materials used to produce tires are made or controlled by five vertically integrated global corporations, whether that may be morally right or wrong is debatable. These five companies use their finest materials and best/newest technologies to build tier 1 tires, resulting in these same tires having greatly better performance. As mentioned in your article, these tier 1 tires are heavily advertised, but much of their higher profit margin is directed back towards R & D. Michelin spends 550 million Euro per year on R & D to improve their products. These same technologies and materials are used to build tier 2 & 3 tires made by these five companies, just in amounts corresponding to the market targeted by the tire. Other companies like Cooper, Toyo and the Chinese must buy most of their material from the five majors, driving up their production costs, often forcing them to buy inferior materials. The smaller companies have smaller R & D budgets as well, and the less scrupulous ones steal or reverse engineer technology. Nokian and Toyo buy most of their material from Bridgestone and are probably technology partners as well.
As to made in USA, plenty of tier 3 tires are still made in the US. Cooper makes mainly tier 3 products, the bulk of their production is in USA, sold under a myriad of brand names. Many Uniroyal & General tires are still made in USA, along with an occasional Fuzion. Tier 1 tires are made in China too, but the only companies I know of that are exporting so far are Pirelli and Nokian.
As remarked above by other posters about Goodyear and General: Many OEM tires may be branded as tier 1, but perform solidly in tier 2. Goodyear seems to be the most guilty of making these tires, Bridgestone probably comes in second, while many General tires perform good enough to be considered tier 2.
I have never read Modern Tire Dealer, but I have read some of the hack journalism that is printed in automotive sales industry magazines, so right or wrong as I may be, I can only imagine that Modern Tire Dealer consists of the same. I can easily imagine that article being commissioned to allow poor frazzled franchise owners to sleep at night after selling Primewell tires to their unsuspecting cheapskate customers.