Bought a cheap set of Chinese Tires

[The Critic]

I got a bit more seat time with these tires today during the trip to and from Sears for the A/C recharge. They feel very stable on the road, and do not exhibit any of the "lane drifting" characteristics that seem to be common with the newer LRR tires. They certainly handle nearly as well as my former set of Primacy MXV4s on the Prius, and are miles ahead in handling compared to the Energy Saver A/S.

Noise is not a major concern since a 92 Previa is pretty loud by today's standards anyway.

 

[rjundi]

I had a set of four Pirelli P6 tires with two made in the USA, one in Eastern europe somewhere and another in Brazil.

Take a guess which ones developed problems?

Tire guy pointed it out.

My sis in laws Outback has p4's and they seem okay.

Pirelli tires are NOT Chinese tires. They are a global company who produces in China. There is a large difference between a Chinese tires maker/designer/producer vs a global company. I would have caution from a Chinese brand. They are good at copying but not replicating or leading/designing anything except maybe fireworks.

 

[PandaBear]

P6 is a low rolling resistance OEM type tire. Horrible traction and IMO is unsafe even in light rain.

 

[Volvohead]

Originally Posted By: rjundi
I had a set of four Pirelli P6 tires with two made in the USA, one in Eastern europe somewhere and another in Brazil.


Perhaps it's not fair, but I just pulled a set of German-made P6s off our SL. Despite ample tread left, they were over 7 years old, rode rock hard, and braking was mediocre at best on them. They looked pretty, and that was it.

Replaced them with a set of ContiExtreme DWS. One pair from Portugal, the other from the Czech Repub. The improvement was remarkable. Very comfortable AND very high performance. Not as razor sharp responsive as the RE970s we have on our R (or the PS A/S before that). But the SL is a luxury roadster. The DWS is perhaps the most "GT" feeling of the UHP A/S tires, and well-priced. Not the most attractive sidewalls. It's a good higher performance alternative to a grand touring tire. It's a great fit on an SL riding 35 series tires.

 

[measureman]

I bought a used car a couple years ago at the beginning of summer.The tires on it were bald so the car lot agreed to put new tires on it. When I picked up the car it had Capital Negotiator all season tires made in China. I was a bit worried because I do a lot of high speed freeway driving and with summer about to start those tires were about to get some high temp and high speed action.
So to cut to the chase these tires did great on the hot roads and great in the snow and ice the following winter. The bad part was they needed to be replaced at 31000 miles.

 

[CharBaby]

I too have Pirelli P4's for my '04 Altima 2.5 S(205-65-16) on the OE steelies. I use them only in the autumn/winter months(NOV-MAY) but, I'd love to keep'em on all year long as I really love these tires. The P4's are a sticky tire that has helped "minimize" the standing start wheel spin of the OE Conti's from the Altima's torquey 4cyl engine. What I like is:

1)Great snow/ice traction for a FWD vehicle.
2)Nice hiwy tracking with little wander in strong X-winds.
3)Handle very good for a "T" speed rated tire.
4)Very, Very good hydroplaning resistance.
5)Decent ride with no noticable noises except when evacuating water(which has a sort'a mild..."jjjjjjjsssshhhhh" sound!)
6)Nice steering feel
7)Yet to have'em rebalanced(4 winters now)

Yes, they can be a little stiff in the single didget temps but, that smooths out as the car is driven. For the way I drive(easy), this tire is nicely suited for the Altima's charactor, IMHO(or at least, what I perfer!)

I have a set of 17" wheels/tires for the other months(JUN-OCT) which look great but, they're only OK(G/Y Eagle LS) and difficult to keep balanced. They see little miles during the summer months as I have a summer car to drive as well.

 

[sparky123]

I have these tires on our '99 Protege and I'm very pleased w/this tire and would buy another set w/o hesitation. I have confidence w/these tires. Got me through a very nasty snowstorm on the morning of my first day on a new job!

 

[weebl]

Originally Posted By: mechanicx
As was mentioned this is a major Italian brand outsourcing the tires from China so they could be about as good as if made elsewhere. My experience with Pirelli has been they steer and handle sharply, but tend to get noisy with wear and also I've found them lacking in snow traction (but these were P4000 0r P8000). I'm not saying they are bad tires and since there are different models and results always vary. I think the P4s are pretty good. I would've probably went with the General since the Pirellis are outsourced to china.


I think for the major name brands, there are several different scenarios for Chinese sourced tires. Does it make a difference in quality control? Is there even a way to know which scenario the tire was sourced?

1. Tire company establishes their own plant in China, staffed with their own employees.
2. Tire company takes over or partners an existing Chinese tire manufacturer.
3. Tire company enters into a contract for a Chinese producer to manufacture tires for them, but otherwise no ownership or control of the manufacturer.

With so many other options in most cases, I would rather just buy something else not made in China. When it comes down to a size that's nearly obsolete and seemingly only made in China, I would then look for a major name brand over a Ling Long, Delta or Triangle.

 

[Darris]

Seems the P4 is manufactured in a different plant every year. I heard in 2010 all the 15's & 16's were made in Canada hence they were priced very low here. But earlier this year a Canadian Tire guy told me they are now on the imported list. Now OUR has gone up almost $100/set compared to last year.

 

[Darris]

Just about ANY tire you bought would have been 5 times better than an 8.5 year old tires you replaced! Car seems to stop better? No kidding!

In general many people keep old tires on the car way too long. Once the tire has been used for 4 or 5 years for whatever mileage (especiallyt if year round) you'd be better off selling it on the classifieds and putting the money towards something new (or newer).

You know when pouring through tire reviews on the big dealer's websites and seeing dozens of posts that claim what a big improvement their new tires are over the proevious ones (even when replacing with a much lower end product) - well yeah, your previous tires whould probvably have been at the marina buffeting boats a couple of years ago!

Instead people compensate little by little for diminishing performance of their rubber until it gets SO bad that there is no getting around it.

I've never failed to notice that a tire exposed to the elements 5 or more years is nowhere near it's prime anymore - maybe not entirely useless, but definitely on it's way down.

 

[Volvohead]

Yup. It's not like over one day during year 6 the rubber suddenly goes from supple to rock hard. It's an ongoing degenerative process that marches along from the day the tire leaves the mold.

Rubber that is 4 or 5 years old is not as compliant as new rubber. It just can start to reach a critical point as early as year 6.

By the time they're 7 or 8 they're really hard donuts no matter how they were kept or used.