Are Kelly tires any good?

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My wife's van had to be towed to the shop recently to have the right side front axle replaced and when the guy from the shop called me he said the tires also needed replacing. I knew this and was planning on having the tires replaced soon anyway. He said he could give me a good price on a set of all season tires made by Kelly. I did some checking around and found his price was within $10-$15 of any of the other places with comparable tires installed, so to save another inconvenience of my wife having to take the van in to get the tires replaced, I decided to just have this place install the Kellys. The tire model is Explorer Plus. They decent tires?
 
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Kelly Springfield is a subsidiary of Goodyear. All the Kellys I've seen were made in Ohio so at least they are American made.

I've been pretty pleased with mine so far.

They stick quite nearly as well as the Bridgestone Potenzas in the dry, have been quite a bit better than the Potenzas and Exclaims in the wet/snow, and have already outlasted the Generals and Bridgestones.
 
A quick check with Google revealed an almost total absence of reviews on these tires. I was amazed at the low prices quoted, i.e. $52-75 for various sizes. Hmmm!
 
I had some Kelly Charger gt's on my 99 Accord that I was pleased with. 40k tire and I sold the car when the tires had 50k on them. They were still decent. They were a little loud which the tire guy mentioned about them before I bought them. He had a set on this car.

Other than that...good grip, wear was good, price was excellent. It was at the time the cheapest tire available. I'd certainly buy them again.
 
Originally Posted By: satinsilver
I had some Kelly Charger gt's on my 99 Accord that I was pleased with. 40k tire and I sold the car when the tires had 50k on them. They were still decent. They were a little loud which the tire guy mentioned about them before I bought them. He had a set on this car.

Other than that...good grip, wear was good, price was excellent. It was at the time the cheapest tire available. I'd certainly buy them again.


I would guess by the model name those GTs were probably an H or higher speed rated tire? The ones on my wife's van are S rated so I'm hoping they'll be quiet and smooth riding...I guess the only thing that has me concerned is Kelly is a brand made by Goodyear, and I've never had a set of Goodyear tires I liked...
 
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I've used Kelly Tires a few times. As already mentioned they are part of Goodyear. I found the tires to be reasonably priced and good. JMO
 
Originally Posted By: grampi
I guess not many people have Kelly tires?



My '69 R/T has a set of Kelly Road Huggers, and they've been very good muscle car tires. Plenty of grip, even wear, not "squrimy" under acceleration, etc. But they're very old now (I only put maybe 2000 miles/year on that car) so I doubt that model is made any longer and Kelly could certainly have changed for better or worse since then.
 
grampi, how much are they charging you out the door for the tires? what size? i sell kelly, and really like them, but i think you would be better off with the navigator touring golds if you can get them.
 
I have the Navi Golds on the wife's Cavalier....love em'! They are wearing very well, and eat nails for breakfast! (really)


I'm sad that they stopped making them in my size...
 
wow - years ago I used to run Kelly & Dunlops. But then everything I have went to Michelin & Goodyear
Now, on one of my SUVs, I'm trying the General Grabber HTS.
Been awhile since I heard Kelly Tires.
 
Originally Posted By: HWEaton
grampi, how much are they charging you out the door for the tires? what size? i sell kelly, and really like them, but i think you would be better off with the navigator touring golds if you can get them.


They charged me about $90 a tire installed. The tires are already on the vehicle.
 
Yes, your right they had a H speed rating. So your prob all set with the T rating.

The first set of tires I had were the oem Michelins followed by some Firestone Assurance tires that were awful. 60k tires that lasted 30k.
 
I've got a pair on the beater Quest - the price the local Goodyear dealer who is usually a rip-off was actually close to Costco. But the Navigator Golds are from my observation a better tire than the Bridgestone Turanza EL400 Costco would have gotten me for the same price before installation.

The Navigator Touring Golds look almost is if they were a more aggressively-treaded Assurance ComfortTred.
 
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Back in the 70-80's I used to run only Dunlop, Kelly and some private label tires from Cooper and loved them then. These days, I find them to be less than what I want on my cars. I still see them on lots of cars but, I just don't know. I've been trying to stay with tires that are rated high by customers and testing organizations and that actually have reviews on them.
 
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Originally Posted By: demarpaint
I've used Kelly Tires a few times. As already mentioned they are part of Goodyear. I found the tires to be reasonably priced and good. JMO


Agreed.

I'm currently running Kelly navigator golds, not expensive, fine in the rain, wear does not seem excessive for the ~20K I have on them.

I have dedicated snow tires so I cant really comment on the winter performance yet, I'll let you know if it snows before I get to having my x-ices put on. (maybe like tomorrow, lol)
 
Originally Posted By: El_Schaf
Originally Posted By: demarpaint
I've used Kelly Tires a few times. As already mentioned they are part of Goodyear. I found the tires to be reasonably priced and good. JMO


Agreed.

I'm currently running Kelly navigator golds, not expensive, fine in the rain, wear does not seem excessive for the ~20K I have on them.

I have dedicated snow tires so I cant really comment on the winter performance yet, I'll let you know if it snows before I get to having my x-ices put on. (maybe like tomorrow, lol)



Haven't needed snow for ours yet...
 
I remember years ago on a Blazer I got the Dunlop Mud Rovers - One thing you do not want to do is use them in the mud.
 
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