Very Tempted but Sailun Tires

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There is a black Friday special going on at local tire chain. Buy two tires get two tires free for "value brands".

I don't need but always wanted winter tires for my MDX with oddball 255/55R18 that are typically expensive. Approx $170-$200+/tire for winter tires uninstalled on tirerack.com

For $455 I could can get 4 Sailun: Ice Blazer WST1. Chinese brand yes but that is installed!

Opinions before I join black friday madness.
 
Since it's an unknown brand in the States you're going to be a guinea pig for them if you go with it.
 
do you have a discount tire credit card?

they have ipike's for 174$ shipped
ends up being 700 - 50 -100 -40 or 510$+ install for a good name brand.
 
Cheap isn't always the best thing ... my Buick had some unknown Chinese tires on it when I bought it, they wore out quick and one broke a belt.

The two things in my opinion that should never be cheaped out on are tires and brakes. Not worth risking your life or others to save a few $$
 
Here is what I wrote earlier in another thread:

Would you buy a budget Chinese winter tire, from a Chinese company, manufactured in China? I was reading a review about the Sailun Ice Blazer WS L2 studless winter, and the article had some interesting comments. In this years testing from Test World/NAF, the Sailun came in 7th overall, 0.1 points behind the Blizzak WS70, and ahead of Vredestein and Dunlop, and tied with Pirelli. The Nokian R2 was tied for 1st place, with the Goodyear UGI2.

https://www.naf.no/forbrukertester/dekktester/vinterdekktest-2014/test-av-piggfrie-dekk-2014/

Some excerpts from the article:

…………... it’s true that Sailun is not a household name like ‘Tier 1’ national brands Michelin, Bridgestone or Goodyear. Nor, admits Sailun Canada, are they what is regarded as a ‘Tier 2’ company, comprised of brands like BF Goodrich, Hankook, Toyo or Yokohama.

…………..Sailun resides in what is called the ‘Value’ category – Tier 3 – along with brands like Hercules and GT Radial. But Sailun wants you to know that it punches above its weight.

By that it means Sailun tires may well cost much less than Tier 1 and Tier 2 level tires, but they deliver the quality and performance of at least brands from Tier 2.

“Actually, we’d like to say we match the National brands,” says Sailun Canada Vice President Marketing Brian Mielko, “But nobody would believe us. So let’s just start with Tier 2.”……………………….

…………….Sailun Canada executives are well aware that “Made in China” is not yet a recommendation for quality and that this is a reason for concern by some consumers, especially when it comes to a safety-related purchase like new tires for the family vehicle.

But according to Mr. Mielko, “China can build what you want. If you want a high quality, precision device like an iPad, China can build it; if you want a spacecraft that can orbit the planet, China can build that, too. And if you want something of lower quality, well, it depends on what you want.”

What he’d like consumers to understand about Sailun tires is that, “Quality is not related to the country of origin, but is directly related to the factory of origin.”

Mr. Mielko makes the point, therefore, that Chinese factories are more than capable of building excellent tires, and indeed the Tier 1 brands have large manufacturing facilities in China (although these are not Chinese companies, it should be said). Sailun’s heading for an annual global output of 30 million tires, which are sold in 120 countries and from Sailun’s point of view, the quality of its tires should be judged on their merit…………….

http://www.autos.ca/winter-driving/winter-tire-review-sailun-ice-blazer-wsl2/
 
Originally Posted By: eljefino
Do you have to buy the $169 alignment?


No just $455 for installed price of 4. Its a local chain that is relatively decent called Sullivan tire.

That all being said my wife are going to pass and go skiing instead of waiting at a tire place...Hopefully next year they have this sale again.
 
I think they are half decent, my garage actually sells them (and they don't use white box junk parts) and the sailuns aren't even all that cheap. I see a few cars at work with them too.
I don't think its actually that hard to make a studdable winter tire anyways, copy an aggesive tread pattern and use a compound a bit softer than an all season tire.
Also I like that they use their same brand name for their commercial tires, as I assume fleet managers figure out quite quickly if a tire company makes decent stuff or not.
 
I make a lot of fun of Chinese tires.

2013-05-31_17-01-04_933.jpg


It Mayrun, it may pop....who knows?

That's based on my experience with Cheng Shin Barracudas. They were useful for a few big smokey burnouts. That's about it. First corner they would be too cold and slide, second corner they would halfway grip, third corner they would be too hot and greasy and slide.
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But I really have (and I am loathe) to admit that they have improved greatly in just a few years.

I know people on scooter forums who swear by brands like Shinko and Kenda. If you are willing to sacrifice some of the service life and change tires every 4000-5000 miles, they seem to stick as well as any of the premium brands. At less than half the cost!

It's still a roll of the dice. That's Communism. There's no trademark...it's all owned by "The People". You could be getting a very good quality product made with western designs and quality control in a factory set up by a premium western company or you could be getting pure junk knock-off.
 
Originally Posted By: IndyIan
I think they are half decent, my garage actually sells them (and they don't use white box junk parts) and the sailuns aren't even all that cheap. I see a few cars at work with them too.
I don't think its actually that hard to make a studdable winter tire anyways, copy an aggesive tread pattern and use a compound a bit softer than an all season tire.
Also I like that they use their same brand name for their commercial tires, as I assume fleet managers figure out quite quickly if a tire company makes decent stuff or not.

You are correct sir. These tires are gaining a good reputation on the RV boards as a decent tire being run on large heavy motor homes. There is alot of wrong information in posts other than yours stating all Chinese tires are sub standard.
 
I use Sailun on my 5er. Best trailer tire I have used to date, very beefy and well made. Of course car tires are different than trailer tires but I post just to say they can make a quality tire.
 
Originally Posted By: CKN
Originally Posted By: IndyIan
I think they are half decent, my garage actually sells them (and they don't use white box junk parts) and the sailuns aren't even all that cheap. I see a few cars at work with them too.
I don't think its actually that hard to make a studdable winter tire anyways, copy an aggesive tread pattern and use a compound a bit softer than an all season tire.
Also I like that they use their same brand name for their commercial tires, as I assume fleet managers figure out quite quickly if a tire company makes decent stuff or not.

You are correct sir. These tires are gaining a good reputation on the RV boards as a decent tire being run on large heavy motor homes. There is alot of wrong information in posts other than yours stating all Chinese tires are sub standard.


The only tire worth buying is a Michelin. We all know that
 
The large western regional tire store chain, Les Schwab, sells Sailun as one of their value lines. Schwab guarantees the tires themselves, and has earned a very solid reputation as caring for the customers with good products and top service. On just this basis I'd give Sailun a consideration.
 
There are plenty of other things to save money on. I prefer not to save money by going cheap on something like a tire where if it fails at 70mph has a good chance of killing me.

If you want a budget tire get a Tier 2 brand from a big tire manufacturer.
 
The first thing Id do is write a nasty note to Honda telling them that I would never buy another one of their overpriced vehicles if they choose oddball size tires.

The next thing Id do is see what mainstream size tire I could buy that is slightly different but satisfies weight rating.

If that didnt work, Id then lean back on the likely false security that was the basis of buying an AWD SUV to begin with, and just drive slower and more carefully in inclement weather.
 
Gm man-your certainly entitled to your preferences. It the gross generalizations.....about Chinese products i.e. tires that are the issue from others on this board. As another poster said...if its not Michelin its not any good. Of course possible compound changes of Michelin tires and the seemingly tire life and reported dry rot issues are ignored.
 
Last edited:
Originally Posted By: JHZR2
The first thing Id do is write a nasty note to Honda telling them that I would never buy another one of their overpriced vehicles if they choose oddball size tires.

The next thing Id do is see what mainstream size tire I could buy that is slightly different but satisfies weight rating.

If that didnt work, Id then lean back on the likely false security that was the basis of buying an AWD SUV to begin with, and just drive slower and more carefully in inclement weather.


When I had the Taurus, it used an odd tire size ... now it is super common. Oddball tire sizes are not cool
 
My 14k GVW tilt trailer came with Sailun tires on it. it was the first I'd heard of them and was a little un easy at first but after doing some research on them decided to give them a try. 5 years and apprroximately 30k miles later, I am more than pleased with them. Will strongly consider them for the value and reliability next year.

http://www.sailuntire.com/technology.html
 
Originally Posted By: CKN
Gm man-your certainly entitled to your preferences. It the gross generalizations.....about Chinese products i.e. tires that are the issue from others on this board. As another poster said...if its not Michelin its not any good. Of course possible compound changes of Michelin tires and the seemingly tire life and reported dry rot issues are ignored.


One of my concerns with China-sourced products not produced under strict supervision by a non-Chinese parent company is the substitution of components to cheapen the product. Even WITH supervision, this has happened. I am sure if we take pause to think about it there are a myriad of examples that come to mind. Poisoned pet foot, leaded paint on kids toys, defective capacitors on motherboards, catching fire lithium Ion batteries, catching fire chargers...etc. Cisco had a line of their IP phones that were affected by a substituted component on the board inside them causing them to be unreliable and fail boot. They were recalled and Cisco issued a document regarding why, indicating the issue. That the component substituted by the manufacturing facility was not of Cisco-spec quality. And Cisco is a company that has some serious QC in place.

The Getrag transmission for member bdcardinal's Mustang (this was the replacement transmission for his defective first transmission) is a product of the Ford/Getrag Chinese joint venture. The casting quality is awful (something common with castings I've seen come out of China) and they forgot to put the front seal in yet it had the big sticker on it saying it passed inspection
crazy2.gif


Yes, China has the ABILITY to produce a product of any quality. But what many have discovered when setting up facilities to capitalize on that cheap labour is that you need to watch them like a hawk with multi-stage QC and constant supervision because they will cut corners whenever they can get away with it.

So then when NOT supervised in that manner, what exactly are you getting? Something the quality of those Chinese 4-wheelers that look the part but are structurally nowhere near their Japanese counterparts?

They seem to have no problem shamelessly ripping off other people's designs, showing absolutely no regard for copyrights or copyright laws. What sort of reassurance is there that they take a different stance on safety standards?

And this is avoiding the discussion about COO and buying products produced in countries with a similar standard of living as our own in order to maintain it.
 
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