Here's the original story on the CR website with a video.
http://www.consumerreports.org/cro/news/2014/11/counterfeit-car-tires-pose-consumer-risk/index.htm
TLDR for people who don't want to read it:
-CR tested several no-name Chinese tires and found they were very bad.
-The owner of the brand name "Pegasus" contacts CR and says their tires aren't quite that bad.
-They swap info and API, owner of the Pegasus brand, says those tires were not made for API and they know nothing about them.
-API claims the tires were made after their contract ended with the Chinese-owned factory and claim the molds used to make the tires disappeared.
-Tire importer says they imported one load of the tires and no longer stock that brand.
In theory, API could be covering their rear ends because their tires are junk. But assuming they're telling the truth, this is a disturbing scenario where seemingly the retailer and brand owner claim any problems with the tire won't be handled by them.
My takeaway from this is to avoid no-name tires purchased through questionable channels. I don't love the idea of purchasing any tire made in China, but I think purchasing a real, brand-name tire from a reputable source will prevent these types of issues in most cases.
Originally Posted By: mrsilv04
This could explain that horrid set of Michelin LTX M/S tires that I owned...
Well, that seems like a little bit of a stretch, unless you bought those Michelins from a sketchy source.
The issues here seem to be that these are no-name brands marketed by a small company (API) produced under contract by Chinese tire companies and sold by a website that sells lots of weird no-name tires.
I think purchasing a reputable brand through a reputable channel can go a long way towards preventing these issues.