Thoughts on the latest Guardsman LT tires?

[GeekPriest]

I have a beater pickup -- 2000 Isuzu Hombre with 194k miles on the 2.2 four-banger -- that needs tires. It takes a 205/75R15 tire, which is fine with me. One of the benefits of small trucks is that they can take car-sized tires. However, Firestone could only offer the Chinese-made Primewell in that size, since, apparently, 15" rims are dinosaurs now. I guess everyone likes monster 17+ rims now.

A local shop is offering to mount a set of Mastercraft AS4's for $380 drive out (tax, mount, balance, stems, disposal): basically, $90 per tire plus tax. The Mastercrafts are made by Cooper, whether in the U.S. or elsewhere, I don't know.

The Sears closest to me has more or less matched the Firestone price with their Guardsman LT tires, for a total of $321 drive out. (Only a 90-day balance, but I can live with that.) The newest Guardsmans are made by Omni, the people who make Radar and some other brands. The Singaporean company has only been in existence since 2003, so they're mostly sourcing tires from other companies, branding them as needed. It's unlikely such a young company has any in-house R&D at all.

Has anyone tried the newer Guardsman LT's? I can't find much in the way of reviews. For the $60 difference, the Mastercrafts seem more of a known quantity, but, truly, I'd like to spend as little as possible in this case in order to keep this truck rolling safely down the road.

Thoughts?

 

[Bgallagher]

I would stick with the mastercrafts personally.

 

[SwampSurvivor]

[BITOG CONSENSUS] Anything but the most expensive Michelin tire is a waste of money and dangerous [/BITOG CONSENSUS]

The Guardsman tires are made by Cooper. They are probably a few generations old, but should be a good tire. May not do so well in the snow, but will absolutely safe.

 

[GeekPriest]

Originally Posted By: Miller88
[BITOG CONSENSUS] Anything but the most expensive Michelin tire is a waste of money and dangerous [/BITOG CONSENSUS]

The Guardsman tires are made by Cooper. They are probably a few generations old, but should be a good tire. May not do so well in the snow, but will absolutely safe.


I think the Cooper information ha changed. The price quote from Sears indicated "Guardsman LT by Radar", and this article from Tire Business indicates Omni also:
"Sears is currently transitioning the sourcing of the Guardsman Plus to Omni United."

The warranty link on the Guardsman LT product page indicates Omni also.

As for Michelin, I have a love-hate relationship with them. They make some lousy tires, and some really great ones. The latter are seriously at odds with my budget.

 

[stephen9666]

Various companies have made the Guardsman tires over the years. I can't comment on who makes them now. You can look at the tire and the DOT plant code will tell you who made it.

EDIT - I just looked on the Sears site at the tire. This is very likely just a stock photo, so who knows if every size is made by the same company
http://www.sears.com/guardsman-lt-p205-7...pe=T1#Imagezoom

In the photo the tire has a plant code of PP, which translates to:
SHANDONG GUOFENG RUBBER & PLASTIC CO., LTD.
DAWANG TOWN
GUANGRAO
CHINA

Here's a link to that company's website:
http://en.goform.cn/

That's well into no-name Chinese tire territory, IMO. I'd be much more interested in them if they were made by Cooper or even Omni.

It looks like they sell tires under the Goform brand in the U.S., and maybe others. Here's a link to some models being sold on Tires Easy:
http://www.tires-easy.com/brands/goform-tires

 

[slacktide_bitog]

Try Walmart or Tire Rack. They have better tires, like the Kumho Solus TA11 and General Grabber AT2.

 

[GeekPriest]

Originally Posted By: stephen9666

That's well into no-name Chinese tire territory, IMO. I'd be much more interested in them if they were made by Cooper or even Omni.


Thanks for this bit of detective work.

Concerning Omni, from what I can tell at their Wikipedia page and other places, it's doubtful they manufacture anything themselves. If I had to guess, they're purely a sourcing firm.

Mastercraft is moving up for me, if only to buy from a manufacturer that actually does R&D.

 

[GeekPriest]

Originally Posted By: slacktide_bitog
Try Walmart or Tire Rack. They have better tires, like the Kumho Solus TA11 and General Grabber AT2.


I've researched both. Tire Rack has rather few choices in 15" tires. Walmart offers (IIRC) the Goodyear Viva 3 (blech), Douglas something or other, the Hankook H724 (a possibility), the General Grabber, Kumho Solus TA11, Kumho Sense Kr26, and a couple of others. Give Walmart some kudos for offering more in this size than anyone. However, I'd really like to keep this to $400 or less, so long as I'm not compromising safety. It's a slow truck, and I keep well within its limits. The Generals and Solus TA11 get me up in the $500-$600 range, once tax and mounting is tallied up.

 

[JTK]

To me, anything in the
On the flip side, I've had higher dollar tires do the same thing!

There's so many variables that effect tires.

 

[GeekPriest]

Originally Posted By: JTK
To me, anything in the
On the flip side, I've had higher dollar tires do the same thing!

There's so many variables that effect tires.


I'm certainly not looking for extreme longevity at this price point. I also live in an area with rain and snow (although I don't drive the 2WD truck much in the snow), and I have definitely observed some differences between brands on that front. This is where I find buying from a real tire manufacturer that's selling a design that's a generation or two old is a benefit. Sure, the newer more expensive ones are better, but the old generations were good in their day and still perform at that level.

Rambling, I know. If I knew I'd still own this truck in 40k miles, I'd be more interested in spending more.

 

[bullwinkle]

Tires-easy seems to be a good place for cheap tires, as well-I've bought a couple low end sets from them. For example, a cheap set by Kumho, the Kumho Sense, is $276 including shipping (to me, you may be more or less), then have WM mount & balance them (which is a LIFETIME balance).

 

[Nick1994]

TireRack has Kumho Sense & Kumho Solus tires on sale for $61 a piece. After shipping, the OTD price is $314. Walmart mounts and balances tires for like $10-$12 each.

 

[stephen9666]

Originally Posted By: dbiberdorf

Concerning Omni, from what I can tell at their Wikipedia page and other places, it's doubtful they manufacture anything themselves. If I had to guess, they're purely a sourcing firm.



You could be right. I haven't researched Omni too much.

I guess it could even be that Sears contracted Omni to source and distribute the tires and Omni is having them made by Shandong Guofeng.

If your local store has them in stock you could ask to see one and look at the DOT code to see who really made it.

 

[CKN]

Originally Posted By: Miller88
[BITOG CONSENSUS] Anything but the most expensive Michelin tire is a waste of money and dangerous [/BITOG CONSENSUS]

The Guardsman tires are made by Cooper. They are probably a few generations old, but should be a good tire. May not do so well in the snow, but will absolutely safe.



Yep-And 10plus year old Crown Vics are the best used cars ever........

 

[Brybo86]

With a model name like Izuzu HOMBRE...

I think you should stick with a Mexican made tire...

Bridgestone, Continental, Cooper, Pirelli all have plants there just gotta find the right tire.

 

[slacktide_bitog]

Originally Posted By: dbiberdorf
Originally Posted By: slacktide_bitog
Try Walmart or Tire Rack. They have better tires, like the Kumho Solus TA11 and General Grabber AT2.


I've researched both. Tire Rack has rather few choices in 15" tires. Walmart offers (IIRC) the Goodyear Viva 3 (blech), Douglas something or other, the Hankook H724 (a possibility), the General Grabber, Kumho Solus TA11, Kumho Sense Kr26, and a couple of others. Give Walmart some kudos for offering more in this size than anyone. However, I'd really like to keep this to $400 or less, so long as I'm not compromising safety. It's a slow truck, and I keep well within its limits. The Generals and Solus TA11 get me up in the $500-$600 range, once tax and mounting is tallied up.



The Solus TA11 will remain below $400 after tax and mounting. $74 per tire x4 = $296, plus the tire tax of $1/tire ($4 total). Installation is $15 per tire x4 = $60. So that's $360 plus tax, which should still keep it under $400.

However, as you know by now, you're not going to get much for that cheap price.

The Hankook H724 is also a decent tire, and Walmart has it at a good price.

One more thing to consider: the Grabbers are US-made in your size, if that matters to you. Even though it may cost more, it's probably the best tire you can get in your size and most likely worth the extra cost.

The last time I bought Guardsman tires, about 10 years ago, they were made by Bridgestone.

Originally Posted By: Nick1994
TireRack has Kumho Sense & Kumho Solus tires on sale for $61 a piece. After shipping, the OTD price is $314. Walmart mounts and balances tires for like $10-$12 each.


Walmart charges an extra $5 for tires not purchased from them.

 

[GeekPriest]

Thanks for all the feedback.

I've decided to give the Kumho Sense Kr26 a try. $61 per tire at Walmart, including shipping to the store, plus tax, environment fees, and $48 in mounting/balancing, and I'll be in for about $310-$315.

The General Grabbers are very appealing, but they'll push me close to $500. I don't take this truck off-road at all (unless driving through some grass or gravel to get to a fishing spot counts as off-road), so I suspect the additional capability would be wasted on me.

 

[GeekPriest]

Originally Posted By: Brybo86
With a model name like Izuzu HOMBRE...

I think you should stick with a Mexican made tire...

Bridgestone, Continental, Cooper, Pirelli all have plants there just gotta find the right tire.


Hombre must be Spanish for "Chevy S-10".

Because that's all it is, with the Brazilian body for that year. I've yet to find an S-10 part that doesn't fit it. Nonetheless, I do call this truck "Vato" (Dude, basically). IMHO, Toyota small trucks get all the attention, but the S-10/Sonoma/Hombre seem to be just as tough around here, for half the price.

 

[eljefino]

I picked up some sears tires for my camry in 205/65/15 for $38 ea. I hit some black ice (condensed fog) with them on one axle and starfire SF340s on the other. The guardsmen held. They are the chinese guys mentioned above. If you care about appearances they look as generic as all get-out.

Pro tip: buy the tires from sears online on sale for carryout then bring them elsewhere (walmart etc) for mounting. Sears gets at least $23/tire for that.

 

[GeekPriest]

Hmmm. Local Sears now has the Cooper Trendsetter SE for about $60 per tire.

What I've discovered over the years is that there is a great deal of margin built into the labor costs. I find a suitable deal on tires and installation somewhere (not even one I like necessarily, but needs to be kind of comparable), then take that to where I really want to buy tires (maybe because they have the ones I really want), and ask if they can meet that price. Quiet words about how you'd really prefer to buy their tire if you can only get the price to fit in your budget usually helps. Most of the time, they'll get really close.