Would you run a 265/65R17?
It's the factory size for the Tacoma so there should be more chocise available for less money.
Thank you for the suggestion! Had a look around yesterday, and there are some 265/70R17 tires but 265/65R17 is another size that is out of stock. If you want no name Chinese tires, those are plentiful but those are not tires I'd want to be rolling on.
I have three 18" Saab 9-7X wheels I got brand new, and I'm holding out for another one if I can find brand new as opposed to refurbished. If I had the forth one, 255/55R18 would be the new size that's 100% match, but I'll have to stick with the original size until then. I have custom springs and bigger sway bars on this vehicle, along with quite a few 9-7X specific suspension parts and Bilstein shocks. Despite coming with the factory "Firm Ride" package, the improvements are vast in comparison.
A lot of our cars come with that Bridgestone. Often need replacement at only 30k km. They are also very sensitive to alignment, even slight off and the tires will wear unevenly and get noisy. Still better than the Dunlops though.
Sounds like their lifespan pretty much matches the Michelin Latitude Sport 3. That must be some sort of new trend! Although the alignment issue does sound equally crazy.
Ditto in the US - I see mom & pop tire shops with name brand banners but 80% of what they install is LingLong, Ironman, Westlake, Sailun, Leao, Otani or other Chinese/Thai tires. I’m seeing JK Tyre, an Indian brand recently. The rental car companies have been using Chinese tires lately, and I almost always see Chinese tires(mostly LingLong, Ironman or Sailun) on cars seeing Uber/Lyft duty.
I wouldn’t even trust Chinese tires on a bike(maybe Kenda or Maxxis/Cheng Shin but they’re Taiwanese and have been in the business for a long time), the Thai have been making bicycle tires way before car/truck/bus tires. Michelin, Toyo and Bridgestone do make tires in Thailand, and Yokohama has a plant in the Philippines. I think Bridgestone also has a plant in Indonesia making some of their brand but mostly Firestone brand tires. Hankook also has operations in Indonesia. Vietnam has been the latest hot spot for tires - the Chinese makers, as well as Kumho have been setting up shop there.
There are lot of Chinese brands out there I've never heard of like Triangle, Goodride, Blacklion, Wanli and Jinyu. Ironically, all Chinese cars sold here are wearing Michelins or Continentals right off the assembly line, and none of them comes with Chinese branded tires.
There are some Indonesian brands that have actually been around for quite some time, such as GT Radial, and then you have some Taiwanese brands like Federal, Nankang, Presa and Maxxis. Oddly enough, Kumho, which I thought was Korean and has other brands like Marshal under its belt, is partially owned by Doublestar; another Chinese company. I haven't heard of JK Tyre, but an Indian brand that's somewhat popular here is Apollo.
I can understand setting up plants in places like Thailand and Indonesia, since that's where the rubber comes from. I got a set of Yokohama Geolandar H/T G056 (265/60R18 110H) tires for the '18 Pajero in November and they were made in Thailand. All the Michelin SUV tires I've bought over the years, to include the Latitude Cross and Latitude Sport 3, have been made in Poland. I went with BFGoodrich All-Terrain KO2 tires (LT265/70R16 112H) for my '00 Pajero, since the Latitude Cross is no longer available. The alternative was Michelin Primacy SUV, which is a highway tire made in Thailand, but that won't do me no good off road. The Pirellis I've bought, to include the P6 Four Seasons, Scorpion STR, Scorpion Verde and Scorpion Verde All-Season have been made in Brazil, the United Kingdom and Mexico.
Seems to me, in this market at least, the only tire company who exclusively only manufactures on home soil is Sumitomo, which includes the Dunlop and Falken portfolio. Bridgestone, Yokohama and Toyo has quite a few tires in their range that they manufacture in places like Thailand.