All the Chinesium is made in Vietnam or Cambodia now. I’m leaning towards Falken or General for this car.
Are Chinese tires really that bad?
- Thread starter nthach
- Start date
Propflux01
$100 Site Donor 2025
I know a lot of camper trailer (RV) tires are China specials, and they seem to have a pretty high rate of blowouts, and the damage they do can be pretty substantial. I'd pass on the passenger car ones simply because of what I've seen on the RV side.
I have Nexen SU4 made in china, grip is good though noisy.
The General Grabbers I have are made in South Africa.
We look for US (or Canadian) made tires. Most of the better ones are made domestically. That's one place I won't skimp.
This lists most of the tire factories in U.S. by brand, and the factory codes. Also explains who owns what brands. Nokian built a U.S. plant in 2020 and greatly expanded it in 2022 when they pulled out of Russia
https://www.utires.com/articles/tires-made-usa-american-foreign-brands/
List of Chinese companies.
https://www.globalsources.com/knowledge/chinese-tire-brands/
https://www.utires.com/articles/tires-made-usa-american-foreign-brands/
List of Chinese companies.
https://www.globalsources.com/knowledge/chinese-tire-brands/
Last edited:
Falken has a production in Buffalo NY. Missing from that list.
I have ran Hercules tires, they arent the best but they seem to be safe. Just dont last long. I have a combo of 2 hercules and 2 dextero on my envoy. The dextero are terrible on a wet road, i have nearly soiled my pants and plan to change them sooner than later.
Westlake made by RC Rubber is a fan favourite. You can feel good about using their tires since they are sustainable.
Although I'd like to know more specifics about what kind of eco-friendly practices they use.
I think Continental used canola oil in their winters. I wonder if they are doing the same.
OVERKILL
$100 Site Donor 2021
You mean this Westlake by https://www.zc-rubber.com/ together with Goodride and Trazano.
They have not had a single tyre with good results in tests.
How sustainable are less safe tyres really.
Also doubt your claim that they are any more sustainable then any other premium manufacturers.
https://www.tiretechnologyinternati...re-recycling-project-recognized-by-cpcif.html
https://www.greenmatters.com/travel/best-tire-brands
https://www.tyrenews.co.uk/posts/michelin-leads-first-major-tire-recycling-plant-in-sweden
Last edited:
Michelin has been using sunflower oil for their winter and UHPAS tires(Pilot Sport A/S 3-4) for a while too. There’s a set on my parent’s LS430. They’re nice tires.
yum
We typically only run Goodyears on our fleet due to some sort of agreement…but $ is tight and I think the sizes we needed for our rollback forced us to source tires locally.
Our parts man knows nothing about vehicles so all he cared was the tire size and load rating, and to try to save a dollar.
Our rollback now has some off brand tires, straight steer tires up front and traction tires out back. We can’t get rid of a vibration, and when it’s loaded even with just one truck on the bed, it’s dangerously squirrelly. One on the bed and one on the wheel lift and you gotta keep your speed 60 and under.
This was never an issue with the factory continentals it had.
Our parts man knows nothing about vehicles so all he cared was the tire size and load rating, and to try to save a dollar.
Our rollback now has some off brand tires, straight steer tires up front and traction tires out back. We can’t get rid of a vibration, and when it’s loaded even with just one truck on the bed, it’s dangerously squirrelly. One on the bed and one on the wheel lift and you gotta keep your speed 60 and under.
This was never an issue with the factory continentals it had.
I’d stay away from low tier cheap Chinese brands. Depending on your budget, Falkens might be a good choice. Or the Kumho KU27 at Walmart. I recently switched out some cheap Primewells I had purchased last year with some Falkens. I’m very pleased.
Just driving the car back to back, it was noticeable how poorly the Primewells were designed to damp ruts and road surface imperfections out. Not to mention, if it got to about 45F in the morning, I’d have to be very very very gentle on the throttle on rainy mornings. Tread noise was also a constant companion on those at any given speeds.
General tires seems to be approaching tier 1 brand name pricing and imo, the RT45 isn’t quite a standout performer like the RT43 was.
Fwiw: Unsung heroes of the daily driver - Tire Rack’s tests from 2024 and the old one in 2020/21 didn’t seem to rank the General RT45s at the top of the pack. Falken seems to have stepped up their game quite a bit and I’m happy with them on my Corolla.
This info is very old: the Pirelli plant listed in Calif closed in 2001. It would be interesting to see an updated list.
When you save hundreds of dollars by buying Chinese tires:
I bought a tacoma a couple years ago with a set of brand new Laufenn tires installed. I had no complaints in the beginning. After about 15K miles, they are out of balance by quite a bit. Wear is not great, I'd expect them to be about done at 30-35K miles. Laufenn is a Hankook brand, who I'm generally a big fan of. Not sure what to replace them with, but it will be either Hankooks, Toyos, or possibly Falkens.
f355spider
$50 Site Donor 2025
TRUE! I got a recall notice for the Chinese tires on my horse trailer. Went online to see how this was being handled and learned the company and importer went bankrupt over the recall. My only recourse was to buy new tires immediately as the GF was freaked out about a blowout with her "babies" in the trailer....
