Weird private-label tire names

Bought a used car with a set of Federal Formoza. Never heard of them. But they are 2017 vintage, and I estimate they have 12k miles on them and they are simply excellent in minimal wear with 11 or 10/32 remaining, and they drive and handle well. I bought another used car with a set of Venezia Crusader SXT also with a 2017 date and probably 20k miles on them best guess. They also drive, handle and perform well with 10/32 tread depth. I think these are very inexpensive tires.

This makes me wonder about the wisdom in paying premiums for high end brands.
 
CharlesInCharge said:
Bought a used car with a set of Federal Formoza. Never heard of them. But they are 2017 vintage, and I estimate they have 12k miles on them and they are simply excellent in minimal wear with 11 or 10/32 remaining, and they drive and handle well. I bought another used car with a set of Venezia Crusader SXT also with a 2017 date and probably 20k miles on them best guess. They also drive, handle and perform well with 10/32 tread depth. I think these are very inexpensive tires.

This makes me wonder about the wisdom in paying premiums for high end brands.
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Federals are actually one of the better third tier tires. They ship their tires all over the world.
 
Has Laufenn been mentioned? They were one of the few tires on island and in stock in 265/75/16 a few months ago.
 
Drewster01 said:
Has Laufenn been mentioned? They were one of the few tires on island and in stock in 265/75/16 a few months ago.
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They're a sub-brand of Hankook, pretty decent tires if you're on a budget
CharlesInCharge said:
Bought a used car with a set of Federal Formoza. Never heard of them. But they are 2017 vintage, and I estimate they have 12k miles on them and they are simply excellent in minimal wear with 11 or 10/32 remaining, and they drive and handle well. I bought another used car with a set of Venezia Crusader SXT also with a 2017 date and probably 20k miles on them best guess. They also drive, handle and perform well with 10/32 tread depth. I think these are very inexpensive tires.

This makes me wonder about the wisdom in paying premiums for high end brands.
Click to expand...
Federals are awesome, best bang-for-the-buck if you want grip. SS595 only flaw is a little noisy and wet traction isn't the best, but what do you expect from aggressive summer tread that doesn't destroy your wallet?
 
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Between my freshman and sophmore years in college I worked at an EJ Kovettes tire store in King of Prussia, PA. It did not sell any name brand tires, but what I call "off market" brands. One of them was Ajax. The salesmen claimed that they were made by Firestone. They came in 2 flavors: Ajax Standard and Ajax Puncture Seal. The latter had a thin layer of goop on the inside of the tire that would "supposedly" stop air from leaking out if the tread was punctured by a nail. Sold these by the truckload.
 
CKN said:
Federals are actually one of the better third tier tires. They ship their tires all over the world.
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Yep, they are Taiwanese. The Taiwanese have been making tires for a while, Cheng Shin/Maxxis and Kenda are the more well-known of them.
Jarlaxle said:
On an OTR truck yesterday: "JK Tyre".
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I’ve been seeing those as well, Nissan installed JK Tyre American Cargo on the NV200 as an OEM tire. They are from India.
 
Universal 475/500-19 made in Vietnam. High quality Model A tires for cheap price.
 
I had a set of Viking Snow King studless winter tires on the xB when I first bought it, had a little Viking caricature on it, believe Continental bought them out. I've had a few other weird ones, "Capitol" A/S radials on my mom's car for a while was one of them, along with some really weak "Road King" & "Freestar" junk trailer tires. I'm surprised at the hate for Hankook truck tires here, we've gotten 80K+ out of the OEM Dynapro A/S RH03s on the E-250s, and there's a set of them on the Express 3500 right now. The OEM Transit 250 Hankooks haven't been as good, though, I can only squeeze 40K out of them before something happens to them, usually bald or torn belts.
 
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