NANKANG vs Mastercraft vs KINFOREST vs Mayrun

[SwampSurvivor]

In a snowstorm I'd rather be driving with people on brand new Crosswind tires than bald Michelins. Having tread in the snow is better than paying a lot of money for a top of the line tire.

It may be a tax on the poor if the purchase price and miles the tire can be run do not work out in favor of the cheaper tires. But, they don't seem to be delaminating or having anything bad happen that I can see.

Longterm reviews of the Chinese tires really are not that great in the US - but the UK has a lot of reviews of the same exact Chinese tires as they have been selling longer. The reviews are pretty good for most of them.

Well, truth be told, I'd rather be driving with a bunch of people on snow tires, but that won't happen.

 

[soyeahiknow]

Originally Posted By: y_p_w
Originally Posted By: OVERKILL

Companies that are successful in utilizing inexpensive Chinese labour for manufacture have gone to GREAT expense to ensure consistent quality control with multiple checks in place. Companies like Apple and Cisco, both of which have been using Chinese labour for quite some time are responsible corporate entities that can be held accountable for the quality and performance of their products. Their products are not brokered through some fly-by-night sales operation looking to undercut everybody in the business with no regard for what they are selling, which is exactly what happened with the Westlake tire situation.

Companies like Apple aren't going to China because the labor is that much cheaper. Labor is a small part of the cost. They're going to China because those factories are run by Foxconn, Quanta, and Asus. Their ability to manufacture on-time and on-budget is why. Those contractors run an extremely tight ship. If you custom order something from Apple, there's a good chance it comes shipped straight from China.


It does come from China. We had a family friend that was Chinese American. He was going back to China for a visit when his friend asked him to buy an Iphone 4 from the US (the global unlocked version) to bring with him.

I helped him buy the Iphone from the Apple website since the nearest apple store was 100 miles away from where he lived to be shipped right to his house. I remember tracking it and saw it left China, went to Singapore(??) and then onto the USA. I remember laughing about that because my friend was extremely concerned because the original reason of buying it in the US was due to the perceived notion that it would be a better quality Iphone.

 

[OVERKILL]

Originally Posted By: Miller88

Well, truth be told, I'd rather be driving with a bunch of people on snow tires, but that won't happen.


Unless you live in Quebec, where snow tires are mandatory

In the maritime provinces there are annual inspections and bald rubber will have your car pulled off the road.

The point made by many others is simply that you can get a quality brand-name tire for not much more money. I'm not saying everybody needs to go out and buy the most expensive tires out there, we all have different budgets. But when the price difference between a Chinese tire of unknown quality and a decent Cooper or Goodyear is the price of a case of beer, I would certainly think that somebody can skip getting into it for the weekend and get the better tires.

 

[SwampSurvivor]

In NY the legal tread depth is 2/32'' of an inch. The tires are dangerous to drive in the snow long before they legally cannot be driven.

 

[y_p_w]

Tire Rack has some closeouts and bargain name-brand tires right now - especially with summer tires.

http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tires.jsp?...romCompare1=yes
http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tires.jsp?...romCompare1=yes
http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tires.jsp?...romCompare1=yes
http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tires.jsp?...romCompare1=yes

 

[y_p_w]

Originally Posted By: OVERKILL
Originally Posted By: y_p_w

Companies like Apple aren't going to China because the labor is that much cheaper. Labor is a small part of the cost. They're going to China because those factories are run by Foxconn, Quanta, and Asus. Their ability to manufacture on-time and on-budget is why. Those contractors run an extremely tight ship. If you custom order something from Apple, there's a good chance it comes shipped straight from China.


The cost of manufacture is cheaper. Labour is part of that and why these Taiwanese companies (Foxconn, ASUS, Quanta...etc) have setup massive manufacturing facilities in China. Cheap labour and its abundance is why these companies are there. So while perhaps labour costs were not the direct driver for Apple having its gear manufactured in China, it was certainly one of the primary reasons Foxconn located facilities there and subsequently netted Apple as a customer.

Of course we are speaking specifically about companies that contract out production here like Apple. The other side of that are companies that built manufacturing facilities for their products there and I would argue that cheap labour is one of the primary drivers behind that decision.

That's the incentive of the contract manufacturer to get the lowest manufacturing costs, but it's not really that critical to Apple. However, they want fast turnaround time, and these contract manufacturers deliver where an American contractor probably couldn't. And Foxconn has been making iPhones in Brazil for several years, although it's thought part of it was to escape import duties.

 

[zzyzzx]

I only put made in USA name brand tires even on my beater - a worthless 1995 Ford Escort that has well over 200K miles on it.