CHINESE TYRES vs BRAND NAME

[JustCruisn]

These tyres might be good, who knows.
I remember when Kumho came on the scene, they were rubbished.
Personally I got some with new wheels. I thought they would be crap. I got 50,000km on the 1st set and went on to own 3 sets in a row. After having many top brand tyres before them I was well placed to compare. They gripped as well as the expensive ones in the dry, not quite a good in the wet and lasted a lot longer, like 50,000km+ compared to 10-14,000km on Michelin & Pirelli.

Over time the Ku31 became the go to value sport tyre, getting great reviews and recommendations by forum members everywhere.
As for issues with safety, so long as they meet the speed & load ratings insurance etc should be fine.
Remember just a few PSI on pressure can turn a top tyre into an unsafe tyre. So it is not just the brand that make things safe.

If you save a bundle on them and they are good, that is great. If they suck you may have got what you paid for. No loss really.

Some food for thought...
Pirelli is a Chinese owned company, they make Bridgestone, Michelin, Continental and Goodyear.
So are Chinese tyres safe ??

[kamold]

They'll own everything at some point.
So to dismiss a 'brand' as Chinese and therefore crap is pretty naive.
Look at how Volvo is performing under Geely. Chinese ownership means access to capital not poor quality.

Sent from my HTC 10 using Tapatalk

[VW Convert]

Pirelli is a Chinese owned company, they make Bridgestone, Michelin, Continental and Goodyear.
So are Chinese tyres safe ??

You sure of that? I know the Chinese bought Pirelli a couple of years ago but I'm not sure they own the other brands you listed. Happy to stand corrected if you're sure of that.

Cheers

George

[feenix74]

These tyres might be good, who knows.
Some food for thought...
Pirelli is a Chinese owned company, they make Bridgestone, Michelin, Continental and Goodyear.

I believe that Pirelli is now owned by ChemChina but I thought that Bridgestone tires were made by Bridgestone Corporation (aka Kabushiki-gaisha Burijisuton) which I understand is a public company, listed on the Tokyo Stock Exchange. I believe that some of the cheaper Bridgestone tires we get here in Australia are made in their Thailand factory. I also believe Michelin is a French publicly listed company, listed on the EuroNext, I assume that they make all their own tires. Continental a German publicly listed company on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange, I assume that they make all their own tires. Goodyear is an American publicly listed company on the NASDAQ and I assume that they make all their own tires.

Disclosure - My Caddy runs Michelin XM2s, my Golf Mk3 CL is running Bridgestone MY02s, my Vento GL is running a mix of Kumho and HiFly (chinese tires), and my wife's Golf Mk5 runs Bridgestone RE003 (235/45 R17).

My wife and I like the RE003s, they seem to give good performance at a good price. Very good in the dry but can aquaplane a little bit in the wet, so need to back it off just a little bit in the wet. I just wish they had a bit more treadwear to them.

[amunra]

How many dollars are these tyres actually costing? I know you've said 1/3 - 1/4, but what is that in actual dollars? This allows us to compare them more easily to other things that might be available. I'm running RE003's in 225/40/R18 which cost me $980 fitted (in september 2015).

Having read one to two tyre reviews over the years as well as talking to people around the industry I've come to understand a few things.

Reputable tyre tests are usually done in a reasonable fashion, but they also tend to source tyres directly from the manufacturers which means you're getting brand new fresh tyres which isn't always the case in your local shop (depending on how popular they are they could be older stock). This means that they will be performing as well as they ever will and will only get worse over time...

In very broad terms tyres that grip better are softer and wear faster vs harder compounds which wear really well as the expense of grip. It's also worth noting that soft tyres tend to get harder as they age so you want something that maintains it's properties over it's useful life.

For those reasons (and as someone has already said) even low KM cars should have their shoes replaced at regular intervals to ensure the tyres are still doing their jobs.

Here is one example of some testing that's worth having a look at, it's last years test as I didn't see this years online yet.
Best Performance Tyres Test 2016 | MOTOR Performance Tyre Reviews | MOTOR

In any case it's interesting, there is about 20% in both wet and dry braking tests but it's less than 10% for the other tests. In real numbers that is 13.96m in the wet braking test vs 16.54m and 34.75m vs 41.75m in the dry tests.

Here is another one:
The best and worst tyres for your car

This review includes at least a passing reference to an old tyre. It doesn't say what brand/model it is, but the summary was it was reasonable in the dry but sucked hard in the wet, presumably this is simply down to the amount of water able to be displaced by the depth of the tread (or lack there of).

I'd love to see the same tests done to the same tyres in 24 months or 20,000km or something to get a real world story on age.

Here is another article talking about older tyres and little about the science:
How Old - and Dangerous - Are Your Tires?

and another:
The Science of Tire Aging


Bottom line, normal people are unlikely to ever be able to test more than "seat of the pants". Those 10% differences in driving are unlikely to be really felt on the streets. Even the 20% difference in braking is only a couple of car lengths and aren't the sort of thing you tend to do in real life (except when it's probably more important that it all works... like in an emergency). It would be great to see this end of the market included in some of these more scientific tests.

It would have been interesting if the OP has done a few dry brake tests on the old tyres then the same on the new ones at the same location... but then finding somewhere it's safe (and/or) legal to do that can be interesting too

Again, for most people, most of the time anything round and black is probably OK as we tend to not drive to the limit or be put in situations where it matters too much.... but then it's sort of like insurance. You don't pay for it because you think you won't crash, you pay for it in case you do. Plenty of people choose to self-insure and come out in front, even after an accident... others hit a Porsche on the way to the shops.

$95 per tyre installed. compared to michellin or goodyear $300 - $400 tyre per installed depending on which model you go with

[The_Hawk]

$95 per tyre installed

Thanks for that, it allows people to compare to the price of their tyre of choice!

Even if they only lasted half as long and wore quickly or went hard you're still miles in front.

[amunra]

so far driving around on the ****ty sydney roads they feel great ( sydney city driver will know what im talking about)... they definately are comfortable.. i can feel where maybe theyre a bit more rubbery / less responsive than the good years at super slow / car park speeds ( 5 - 15 km/ph) but boy are they comfortable on the low profile tyre which was my main concern.. there was no feeling worse than feeling the edge of ur rims in a ditch or pot hole especially those small but deeps ones you cant see..

also once you pick up the speed they are quiet enough probably about the same as the goodyear and they handle surprisingly well.

i was so confident that i gave my brother the keys and told him to do his best around some corners... even he said they handle well and he had confidence going around the same sharp bend on the 5th go.

Unfortunately the cars gone in for some panel work from an old accident so will be without it for the next 4 - 6 weeks so i wont be able to keep you guys updated till then..... but for the first few days of driving my impression are they arent just an OK cheap tyre.. they actually feel and behave like a good tyre... now whether they last the test of time.


you may also understand why i chose to only spend $380 for tyres instead of $1300 knowing i was going to be without my car for up to 6 weeks.

[Kachingg]

Wow 380 a set and they are the same size as mine
Colour me interested will want to know how wear ect goes but as hawk said 1/4 price hard to go wrong even if it wears quicker than the $400 tyres

[The_Hawk]

even if it wears quicker than the $400 tyres

Agreed, but only if they perform as well for that period of time.

[gldgti]

These tyres might be good, who knows.
I remember when Kumho came on the scene, they were rubbished.
Personally I got some with new wheels. I thought they would be crap. I got 50,000km on the 1st set and went on to own 3 sets in a row. After having many top brand tyres before them I was well placed to compare. They gripped as well as the expensive ones in the dry, not quite a good in the wet and lasted a lot longer, like 50,000km+ compared to 10-14,000km on Michelin & Pirelli.

Over time the Ku31 became the go to value sport tyre, getting great reviews and recommendations by forum members everywhere.
As for issues with safety, so long as they meet the speed & load ratings insurance etc should be fine.
Remember just a few PSI on pressure can turn a top tyre into an unsafe tyre. So it is not just the brand that make things safe.

If you save a bundle on them and they are good, that is great. If they suck you may have got what you paid for. No loss really.

Some food for thought...
Pirelli is a Chinese owned company, they make Bridgestone, Michelin, Continental and Goodyear.
So are Chinese tyres safe ??

I was thinking of the Kumho exapmple... but you know the KU31 isnt really a cheap tyre. I was quoted $233/corner in 245/45/18 recently. I bought Continental MC5 for $187/corner instead, and IMO the contis are better.

[gldgti]

so far driving around on the ****ty sydney roads they feel great ( sydney city driver will know what im talking about)... they definately are comfortable.. i can feel where maybe theyre a bit more rubbery / less responsive than the good years at super slow / car park speeds ( 5 - 15 km/ph) but boy are they comfortable on the low profile tyre which was my main concern.. there was no feeling worse than feeling the edge of ur rims in a ditch or pot hole especially those small but deeps ones you cant see..


also once you pick up the speed they are quiet enough probably about the same as the goodyear and they handle surprisingly well.

i was so confident that i gave my brother the keys and told him to do his best around some corners... even he said they handle well and he had confidence going around the same sharp bend on the 5th go.

Unfortunately the cars gone in for some panel work from an old accident so will be without it for the next 4 - 6 weeks so i wont be able to keep you guys updated till then..... but for the first few days of driving my impression are they arent just an OK cheap tyre.. they actually feel and behave like a good tyre... now whether they last the test of time.


you may also understand why i chose to only spend $380 for tyres instead of $1300 knowing i was going to be without my car for up to 6 weeks.

We have some ****ty tyres on our mk3, they are also really low profile (215/40/17) and they are surprisingly comfortable too.

However they are downright dangerous in the wet.

(The tyres were on the car when we bought it and since we rarely even drive the car at the moment, Im taking my time painting a replacement set of rims before re-tyring)

[gldgti]

so far driving around on the ****ty sydney roads they feel great ( sydney city driver will know what im talking about)... they definately are comfortable.. i can feel where maybe theyre a bit more rubbery / less responsive than the good years at super slow / car park speeds ( 5 - 15 km/ph) but boy are they comfortable on the low profile tyre which was my main concern.. there was no feeling worse than feeling the edge of ur rims in a ditch or pot hole especially those small but deeps ones you cant see..


also once you pick up the speed they are quiet enough probably about the same as the goodyear and they handle surprisingly well.

i was so confident that i gave my brother the keys and told him to do his best around some corners... even he said they handle well and he had confidence going around the same sharp bend on the 5th go.

Unfortunately the cars gone in for some panel work from an old accident so will be without it for the next 4 - 6 weeks so i wont be able to keep you guys updated till then..... but for the first few days of driving my impression are they arent just an OK cheap tyre.. they actually feel and behave like a good tyre... now whether they last the test of time.


you may also understand why i chose to only spend $380 for tyres instead of $1300 knowing i was going to be without my car for up to 6 weeks.

We have some ****ty tyres on our mk3, they are also really low profile (215/40/17) and they are surprisingly comfortable too.

However they are downright dangerous in the wet.

(The tyres were on the car when we bought it and since we rarely even drive the car at the moment, Im taking my time painting a replacement set of rims before re-tyring)

[feenix74]

The HiFly HF201 (185/60 R14) tires on my Vento were put on by my brother's mechanic for the ferry trip back from Melbourne (the two front tires were balded and age expired when I purchased the car and I asked my brother's mechanic to get me a couple of cheap tires). They were fine around town in Melbourne in the dry, good feel and comfortable but as soon as I got onto the highway I realised that their sidewall reinforcement were very soft and the handling was a bit dicey especially on sweeping corners in hilly sections.

I am still working on getting the car roadworthy so have not experienced them in the wet but their performance on the highway sort of indicates it would probably be pretty scary. Subsequently I have fitted two Kumho to replace the time expired rear tires, put the Kumhos on the front and swapped the HiFlys to the rear and the handling is much better even around town in the dry. When I get the Vento roadworthy I will get another two Kumhos to replace the HiFlys.

[amunra]

kumho sounds like the goto mid-priced tyre.. was considering them or NITTO but couldnt justify parting with the extra $500 for the moment to not use my car for 6 weeks.

as for the highway driving on these KINFOREST .. i went on the m5 a couple of times at 100 km/h.. they felt pretty stable.. mind you it was a dry clear day .. i wanted to make sure they could handle the speed and danger factor on a clear day before trying in the wet

[amunra]

I think the reaction of some people on here at what your doing come from the fact that the '10% of people' thing might apply to camry's etc but you're in a mk7 golf R doing some serious speeds in the blink of an eye, which kind of changes the risk/benefit relationship. A lot can go wrong fast and is more likely to with turd tyres. You can feel even premium brand tyres go off over time. There's also the simple fact that if you're under the load and speed ratings of the oem tyres and have a big one, the insurance company could wipe you.

yes the golf r is a fast car but it isnt as fast as you're making it out to be especially when its driven like any other car.. coupled with its haldex4wd its extremely stable on the road 100% times under general driving conditions and 99% in the wet or under MY hard driving compared to what you might go through with a camry (FWD) and most of the time i drive sensibly and at the speed limit ..

owning a golf R does not automatically make you drive 50KM/H above the speed limit at all times

and i dont see why an insurance company would "wipe you' for having an accident on tyres you bought from a legitimate store.

Yeh maybe if you were driving on BALD tyres at the time of that accident or were imported from china directly by urself and werent compliant through a legitimate seller and installer.