A little over 2 years ago, I got a set of tires for my wife's Mazda5 mini-minivan and don't know what I was thinking. Yes, we didn't have a ton of money at the time, but I could have done better than cheaping out like I did.

I bough a set of 4 Aeolus brand Chinese made tires, a brand that had just come to the US and since then has pulled out for getting in trouble for dumping practices and hit with huge tariffs. They seemed decent at the time but as time went on, they seemed to be wearing out at a rapid pace. One of the tires kept going low so I took a good look at it Saturday and the entire sidewall AND tread area seemed to be dry-rotting out in front of my eyes!

I immediately took the Mazda and got 4 decent Coopers and all is well again and my peace of mind is restored.

Moral of the story: you don't need to buy Pirelli's but don't go buy some unheard of Chinese brand, they are CRAP!

I agree!

But there are mid-price brands that can fit the bill also.

General, as you mentioned Cooper, Yokohama, etc...

Also good to understand the conditions you will use them for.

A driver in Las Vegas is facing different conditions - on average - than a driver in Detroit.

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I have bought nothing but Michelins for my cars for ~40 years at Costco. No problems, good service, great price.

The cost per mile for tires is often inverse to the purchase price.

quote:

Originally posted by 220-9er:
The cost per mile for tires is often inverse to the purchase price.

Quoted for emphasis.

I got talked into buying a set of "house brand" tires for my old Tahoe. Yes, i was trying to find a cheap solution and was not sure how long I was going to keep the car.

I learned my lesson when I got about 20k life on a 50k rated tire.

quote:

Originally posted by JALLEN:
I have bought nothing but Michelins for my cars for ~40 years at Costco. No problems, good service, great price.

Why the brand loyalty? And do you do any shopping other than, "just put on a set of Michelins" and let the "tire expert" pick for you?

Michelin makes some excellent tires, no doubt. They also make bargain tires which are... less good.

No, I never understand pure brand loyalty in tires (or pretty much anything else).

-Rob

I'll need Camry, and pickup tires, in a few months. Are the less expensive Michelin Defenders good? I've heard mixed results.

I have a 2003 Explorer Sport Trac That I have installed about upteen different brands of tires on, expensive or cheaper, nothing has been outstanding, even Michelins.

When these Cooper tires on it now are gone, going to buy some GY Wrangler RTS's.

Sorry you had that experience.

quote:

Originally posted by OKCGene:
I'll need Camry, and pickup tires, in a few months. Are the less expensive Michelin Defenders good? I've heard mixed results.

According to TireRack, this tire does not rate well after 11M miles of reviews.

Here's how the Standard Touring category breaks down:

https://www.tirerack.com/tires...ydisplay.jsp?type=ST

If you're not looking for a performance tire and it's Michelin you want, I would definitely spend a few more dollars and get into the Grand Touring category. The Michelin Premier A/S looks like a good bet.

See here: https://www.tirerack.com/tires...isplay.jsp?type=GTAS

-Rob

I put Discount Tire's brand on my old Silverado. They were perfect for Texas high aggragate content roads and were the longest lasting all-season I have had in my 25+ years of vehicle ownership. The downside was I moved to Alaska and they weren't worth a darn in winter. The likely cause is they were designed for longevity (usually hard compounds) at the expense of winter traction (soft compounds are generally better).

quote:

Originally posted by PASig:
Moral of the story: you don't need to buy Pirelli's but don't go buy some unheard of Chinese brand, they are CRAP!

I never buy no-name "bargain" brand tires, any more. I did once, a long time ago, and paid the price by ending-up with a totalled car.

quote:

Originally posted by BurtonRW:

quote:

Originally posted by JALLEN:
I have bought nothing but Michelins for my cars for ~40 years at Costco. No problems, good service, great price.

Why the brand loyalty? And do you do any shopping other than, "just put on a set of Michelins" and let the "tire expert" pick for you?

Michelin makes some excellent tires, no doubt. They also make bargain tires which are... less good.

No, I never understand pure brand loyalty in tires (or pretty much anything else).

-Rob

You use a product, have good to excellent results, try it again, then again. I would look around, check prices, etc.

Same reason I drove Volvos for ~30 years. Then I had an unsatisfactory experience and now have only Lexus. I had unsat experiences buying new, so only buy used cars, at which my experiences have been better. Actually, I hope to never buy a car again.

I don't really have the insight to evaluate tire ratings, and see no reason to trust some guy writing a review when my own experience is satisfactory.

Sorry to hear about your problem with Aeolus.

I work for a large tire importer, in fact we were the importer for the Aeolus. We didn't actually stock that tire but sold to select distributors. We had very little in the way of adjustments and Aeolus is considered a top tier Chinese manufacturer.

The anti-dumping penalized all Chinese manufactured light truck and passenger tires. Companies like Cooper, Hankook and others moved their molds to other countries.

Personally, I run Hankooks on my three vehicles and have for years. Not a cheap alternative but excellent products.

I wonder about the Korean brand "Nexen" that came on the new Chrysler Pacifica we just bought a few months ago.

Allow me to remind you that the tires are the only part of your car that touches the ground under normal circumstances.

and to answer Warhorse directly, I think nexen tires are just fine.

Tires and brakes are the two things you just can't take a chance on when it comes to cars.

I've always had luck with Nexen and Kumho even though they're not "brand name" like some other manufacturers.

quote:

Originally posted by Warhorse:
I wonder about the Korean brand "Nexen" that came on the new Chrysler Pacifica we just bought a few months ago.

They treated me just fine for 60k miles on the Hyundai Tucson that wore them from the factory.

A set of Hankook Optimos I put on my car in early 2015 have been more than satisfactory. I project close to 50K life, but I usually replace them before that. These are on the lower end of the middle of the price range.

I can't believe the number of cars I see with bald, even beyond bald and into cord, tires around here. Christ, at least get some Douglas from Wal-Mart if that's all you can afford. One such vehicle I saw had a baby seat in it. (Fortunately unoccupied at the time.) Driving around on dangerous tires with a baby does not sit well with me.

quote:

Originally posted by FenderBender:
Allow me to remind you that the tires are the only part of your car that touches the ground under normal circumstances.

and to answer Warhorse directly, I think nexen tires are just fine.

Thanks, I had never even heard of them before.

When I went shopping for tires for my 2015 Mazda CX-5, my original Toyo A23 just had so much wear for the mileage. I found through reviews and forums that they were very expensive tires for the mileage they were rated for. Definitely softer compound has to do with it. Did my research and found Nitto NT421Q for my CX-5 which were over 100 dollars cheaper than the factory Toyo A23 which were at the time I wanted to purchased them over a year ago, 286.00 each.

Nittos were 159.00 each. Still not exactly cheap, but a big savings if I were to buy original Toyos again. So far I'm very happy with the performance with rain and snow and also much quieter than Toyos. They also have a longer wear rating from 30k-40k to 65k to 75k.