Opinion on weird tire brands

[thejon]

Just trying to get your thoughts. I'm shopping around for inexpensive tires for my wife's highlander. I look at Walmart and I see deals on tire brands I never heard of: Prinx, Master track, Scepter, leao, etc... Honestly, are these tires all made in the same factory, just rebranded? Are they complete crap and a waste of time/money?
I've got to find something cheap before the winter. She doesn't drive a lot, she basically takes our kid to school and runs errands. I'm also looking at used tires but with that, there's no guarantee... There's a ton of used tire shops here in Oklahoma but you don't really know what you're getting.

 

[walterjay]

Stay away from used tires. WM had a great black Friday sale on Goodyear Reliant tires. Check them out.

 

[Wireman1987]

Google search most are just off shoot brands of another brand. I have the Prinx saved in my cart.

 

[Sequoiasoon]

Maybe I'm odd. The only thing touching the road with my wife and kid (s) in the car is not the place I'm looking to save a couple $$ that "should" last 6-7 years if she doesn't drive that much. Many other places to save cash from daily coffee, cell phones, food, recurring services like streaming.

My wife has been packing me lunch everyday for over 30 years. 1 day of cafeteria food at work covers my sandwich/fruit/yogurt for the week with her making it. I'm definitely NOT malnourished.

Used tires can be found when dealing with places and some people doing take-offs. I got 3 season Bridgestone with 10/32" less than year old. Guy upgraded rims and tires for off road. I did the same with winter tires. Costco receipt, 1 season old, 9-10/32" moving to Florida from NY.

That said if what she has is totally bald, steel cords showing, you really can't afford an extra $20-30 per tire, then I'd rather see them on new, off brand ones. I'd still try for at least Douglas/Mastercraft and a couple others where you can track who made them. House brands are also an option from Discount Tire, Mavis, Pep Boys. The one shop I go to sells a lot of Westlake brand which is listed on Discount Tire's website.

 

[JavierH19]

Many of them are from a bigger brand but they still cheap out on thread life and performance so the cost per mile including installation, balance, disposal, and miscellaneous charges usually is worse most of the time with cheaper tires. Some much longer lasting tires that cost more are cheaper in a cost per mile or 1k mile basis.

 

[SC Maintenance]

Most are foreign made and can range from awesome to junk.

I would be willing to try them over used for sure.

Try reviews at tire rack , etc. the tires from Indonesia are supposed to be better than most of the other places.

 

[skyactiv]

NO, Asian tires are not all made in the same factory. Like anything Asian, there is good and bad with unfortunately most "Chinese tire buyers" are people zeroing in on cheap and many Chinese companies gladly make such cheap slip and slide tires in the rain.

You can dig deep into a DOT tire code on the sidewall and find out the physical location where the tires came out of right HERE.

 

[slacktide_bitog]

What is your tire size? What climate are you in? Does winter/snow performance matter?

If money is tight, I would recommend the cheapest all-weather tires, such as Prinx Hiseason 4S HS1 or Lexani Quattro Tempo

 

[AutoMechanic]

The only one of those I’ve heard of is Prinx. Personally I’d never run cheap tires but some of them might do well. I got me a set of extra tires and mom a set of tires on Walmart Black Friday Goodyear special. Not that I like Goodyear tires but they are certainly better than cheap ones. If you can find good used ones that is an option too.

 

[cheech279]

I'm OK with some of the larger tire makers that have plants in Vietnam and Thailand, but I'd never buy a no name tire brand made in China.

 

[SatinSilver]

A guy on here was raving about 3 sets of these he's bought for different vehicles. Armstrong Tru-Trac for $77.

https://www.tires-easy.com/225-70-1...GyHQ-1Nb7PZsVT4t3U5jenVGvSTn6U_4aAhKqEALw_wcB

I think tire size is 275/70R16 for the Highlander. Assuming it's an 03 Limited V6 FWD from previous posts.

 

[maw_76]

I threw a set of those Armstrong's on my Ram pickup with the intention of selling it because the tires that were on there sounded like it had a failing wheel bearing and rode terribly. I've since kept the truck and am not one bit disappointed in the tires.

 

[The_Jeff]

Many of them are from a bigger brand but they still cheap out on thread life and performance so the cost per mile including installation, balance, disposal, and miscellaneous charges usually is worse most of the time with cheaper tires. Some much longer lasting tires that cost more are cheaper in a cost per mile or 1k mile basis.

The reason that the rich were so rich, Vimes reasoned, was because they managed to spend less money.

Take boots, for example. He earned thirty-eight dollars a month plus allowances. A really good pair of leather boots cost fifty dollars. But an affordable pair of boots, which were sort of OK for a season or two and then leaked like heck when the cardboard gave out, cost about ten dollars. Those were the kind of boots Vimes always bought, and wore until the soles were so thin that he could tell where he was in Ankh-Morpork on a foggy night by the feel of the cobbles.

But the thing was that good boots lasted for years and years. A man who could afford fifty dollars had a pair of boots that'd still be keeping his feet dry in ten years' time, while the poor man who could only afford cheap boots would have spent a hundred dollars on boots in the same time and would still have wet feet.

This was the Captain Samuel Vimes 'Boots' theory of socioeconomic unfairness.

---

The actual issue I have with tire shopping is when I find value in a brand, eg it performs better than the price indicates, the same make/ model is either way more expensive when I'm shopping for its replacement, or unavailable.

 

[duck__dodgers]

honest Q, what's wrong with walmart's goodyear viva or reliant? (they're not CrossClimate 2s, you get what you pay for)

that's as cheap as I would go (or any other secondary brand from a big conpany: douglas, kelly, mastercraft, Laufenn from Hankook, etc)

or if you have a Discount Tire near you, their Arizonian.

with the caveat, take it easy in bad weather.

 

[JeffKeryk]

I hate cheap tires. Pay once cry once. You don't have to buy Michelins for everything, but junk is junk.

 

[IndyIan]

You definitely should inspect the used tires before they put them on, tell them your age limit, minimum acceptable tread depth. They will try to get rid of some old junk if you don't. Or buy some used tires on rims from someone in a nice neighborhood who took good pictures, that works well too, if you have some time to watch online.
I've never been burned on used tires once I knew enough not to accept junk. A used premium tire has always been pretty good, but the cheaper ones at 5-6 years are usually hardened pucks no wet grip IME, either right away or in a year or two.

For cheaper new winters I did get some GT radial Icepro SUV3's last year for the Outback. They were $80-90 less per tire than the top brands, but I was also intrigued to see that were at the very top of SUV/truck winter tires in Consumer reports testing! So I got a set as our 7-8/32 Xice2's were getting bad in slush, and were never that great in the first place. So far the Icepro's matched or exceeded everything that the set of Xice2 did when they were new IMO, so the CR test results seem to hold true for us at least. The only question mark is if they will lose wet grip as they age? And will they withstand a couple years being run as a summer tire? The Xice2's have been a good summer tire this year, now almost 6 year old, with reasonable wet grip, with 10-12k miles put on without excessive wear.

Also I just got a set General Altimax Arctic12's for the Impreza, this model has been replaced, so they were on sale, but my tires were made in this July in France! So far I can say the are very quiet for having such an open tread pattern, and they took a couple inches of fresh snow almost like it wasn't there. I think for winter road conditions near freezing, an open tread pattern clears slush so much better than an unstudded ice tire.

 

[k1xv]

I would never buy a tire from a brand I have never heard of. Go with something from Sumiromo, Nitto, Yokohama,or similar brand from Tire Rack. At least you know you will be buying a tire that meets some minimal standards.

 

[thejon]

A guy on here was raving about 3 sets of these he's bought for different vehicles. Armstrong Tru-Trac for $77.

https://www.tires-easy.com/225-70-1...GyHQ-1Nb7PZsVT4t3U5jenVGvSTn6U_4aAhKqEALw_wcB

I think tire size is 275/70R16 for the Highlander. Assuming it's an 03 Limited V6 FWD from previous posts.

That's a good deal. And good reviews. Thanks.

 

[thejon]

Maybe I'm odd. The only thing touching the road with my wife and kid (s) in the car is not the place I'm looking to save a couple $$ that "should" last 6-7 years if she doesn't drive that much. Many other places to save cash from daily coffee, cell phones, food, recurring services like streaming.

Yes... I hear you. Trust me, I scrimp and save where I can. I'm not looking to save money on my wife's tires because I'm cheap (although I am cheap), I'm just working with what I have. Which is why I'm doing research and asking questions.
The consensus seems to be stay away from used tires... That's what I was thinking too. You never really know what you're going to get.

 

[thejon]

What is your tire size? What climate are you in? Does winter/snow performance matter?

If money is tight, I would recommend the cheapest all-weather tires, such as Prinx Hiseason 4S HS1 or Lexani Quattro Tempo

275/70R16. Oklahoma, so winters aren't usually bad... Just want to stick to the road, we don't mind driving slow and safe.