esanmiguel

Had a flat last Sunday on one my rear tires. I have Dunlops 225/50/16's in the rears. I decided to change both rears since they only have 10% left in the treads. The only shop that was open near my area on Sunday was BigO.. I dont have a problem with BigO before, they seem to have pretty good prices and good service from previous experience. So, I take my car in there and ask for some Kumho's but the guy did not carry them in stock. He then pointed out some "Wynstars" radials for $60 each. That is mighty cheap for a 225/50/16 high perf tires. So I got these tires. They look good and tread pattern is directional. Traction A, Temperature A, Treadware at 600! (Dunlops only had half of that treadwear).

Further research on these tires and found out that they are made in China (no markings on the tire where it was made). The guy in BigO said they were Japan. Part of the reason why I went ahead and got them because he claims they are made in Japan. Big difference there between made in China and made in Japan..

Questions is, are these crappy tires? At 600 treadwear, does that mean that the compound is harder (thus, less sticky), than my Dunlops which had half the treadwear. Also, aren't tires "regulated" here in the US? Aren't they tested and approved before selling these tires here?

Jon Moeller

I'd expect oversteer city, as those tires are hard as a rock. No idea how the hell they garnered a Traction/Temp rating of "A". Honestly, you got the wrong tire. Not to say that you got hosed, just that you ended up with a tire whose performance will never match the performance of your car.

-J

theedge

Even the name sounds ghetto and budget....

Matt H

Jon - have you driven on them?
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Tom R.

Dont worry. just drive em. for $120 you cant go wrong. as long as you aren't tracking the car you shouldnt have much to worry about.

most bicycles are now made in china. when i bought my bike two years ago i was concerned about it. then it dawned on me that china has the worlds largest population, and few cars. guess they made more bikes there than anywhere else.

esanmiguel

Tom,
I've just actually taken the car to the twisties and the motherfuc*er sticks just like the old Dunlops.. Hey, people used to laugh at Kumho's saying its a piece of Korean made crap tires..But now Kumho is a big player in the track and in autocrossing. I guess the Koreans can prove that they can make as good tires as the Japanese, Germans, and US.

About the bikes..I used to be into Mountain Biking and bought nothing but Klein's. Now Trek owns Klein and other big makes. Most of Trek bikes are now made in China. So are Schwinn's. I also owned a Schwinn MTB and have abused it on the trails. Still runs good today as it was when new. So I guess its not so bad..

Its just scary how many things now are MADE in China. Years and years ago, people laughed at "Made in Japan". Now its rare to see things made in Japan, only high-end audio and video systems are still made in Japan. Not that long ago, almost everything you see is made in Taiwan. Now its China.

BeerBurner

I figure that if they drive well, then be happy with them. At this point, the only real risk is that they may wear out faster. If they do, well, you got a good price on them anyway, so it wasn't really a bad deal. Chalk it up to experiece and live your life.

Unless they're worn out this thursday or something...

BB.

Jonas Goldsmith

They won't stick like khumos, so i would say to go to the next autox and burn em up? Or just drive the hell out of em and get your moneys worth...

Tom R.

When we got rid of the Legend Coupe two years ago we shopped the Acura dealer. I sat in the RL and it felt as good as the Coupe. We both sat in the TL and felt something was missing quality wise.

Turns out the RL is made in Japan and the TL is made here.

The quality/feel of the TL was no better than Olds. So we bought the Aurora.

When I was a kid made in japan was tin toys. Now they make the best quality/most reliable automobiles in the world.

RSflared72e

If they feel OK on the road, go with 'em. For that kind of change if you get any kind of use out of them you're doing good.

odie

If they handle as good as your old Dunlops...**** on the nay-sayers. If they handle good , who cares where they came from. They are cheap because of labor costs, not material or craftsmanship.

I say you got a great deal on a set of daily drivers. If you are still worried, spend some big bucks on some fancy name brand track tires for Sunday afternoon.

I quit looking at brand names years ago. I look at the materials and specs.

Matt H

They are cheap because of labor costs, not material or craftsmanship.

You have no clue how wrong that statement is. I know for a fact you are not getting spec sheets from tire manufacturers. I could write about 3 pages on why the above is just plain wrong but I will resist unless someone would like to know (even then I will give the much abridged version).
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Jon Moeller

Matt,
No experience with these tires, but with a tread-wear rating of 600, I can't see how they wouldn't be hard. My opinion is based on experience with a few different tires from various manufacturers. I'm not an expert by any means, but my limited knowledge says that a tire with a 600 tread-wear can not be as sticky as one with a 180 tread-wear.

Do you have any experience with them? IIRC, you work with Bridgestone, which would definitely give you the upper hand with experience. Any comments on them?

-Jon

Matt H

I figured you might be comparing the UTQG numbers. For a real "base" comparison you would be correct, for the most part a 600 treadware is not going to last as long as 180 HOWEVER, the UTQG numbers can only be compared to the same manufacturer. I.e. you cannot compare this tire to a Dunlop as far as treadware goes. I would guess that with a 600 rating they are probably H rated and may even be S/T rated (we have them in that size in an S/T as well as the others). I have NO personal experience with them. BIG O is a TBC corporation holding and they sell generic tires for the most part. They are very popular in some parts of the country (mostly Midwest and the Dakotas but they have stores all over).

A tires treadware rating does not have that much to do with the "compound" of the tire, though it is an indicator of many other things that are.

As far as, it is a good tire? This is not a real good question. Let's just say, you get what you pay for. What you expect out of a tire greatly determines what you think of them. I, personally, think the Dunlops are OK at best. No one will convince me the Kumhos arent JUNK. I dont care about the race tires, the 712 and MX are garbage. Pray that the rain never touches the ground. That being said I do have experience with the Kumhos and I have a brand new spare for my BMW that is a Kumho. Wanna know why? You got it, cuz they are cheap!
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odie

labor IS the driving factor.

material cost differences between brands is almost negligilbe. Craftsmanship is somewhat loosely tied to labor costs but has more to do with an industrie's long term experience in a given endevor.

China probably has a fair amount of experience manufactuing everyday tires, but is pretty inexperienced at designing high performance tread patterns and selection of proper material compounds for maximum traction.

But I bet they are learning & copying pretty quick.

And treadwear numbers are meaningless. It is an arbitray number assigned by the manufactuer as a comparisson against other tires that THEY manufacture. It has no correlation to the treadwear number of another maker.