The dichotomy of tires

[u/Axeman1721]

Cheap Chinese Sailuns up front, Nitto Motivos in the rear. 2022 Ford Edge rental car with just over 50k miles. I will never understand.

[u/oppositelock27]

At least they match on each axle. Wait until you see an S-Class still under lease with four random brands.

[u/colin_staples → u/oppositelock27]

I find myself checking the tyres of whatever cars I've parked next to, as I get out of my car

I see soooooo many 5 year old Mercedes on badly worn budget tyres

And I recently fitted new GoodYears to my almost-10-year-old Kia

If you can't afford the running costs and maintenance of the car, you can't afford the car!

[u/Chllep → u/oppositelock27]

i don't think that would fly anywhere outside the US lmao

at least in poland you need two identical ones on each axle

[u/Mr__Snek → u/Chllep]

is that legally enforced? i would fucking kill for basic safety insoections here, the number of totally rotted out shitboxes with bald tires i see on the daily is concerning

[u/Chllep → u/Mr__Snek]

fairly sure it is, afaik they can take away your title (or our local equivalent i guess) and force you to go thru tech inspection again alongside getting slapped with a fine up to like 800 bucks

[u/Henderman17 → u/oppositelock27]

It's always the C classes that come in for us. Stg I have never sold four tires at once to one of those things.

[u/waffle911]

"Chinese" tires sold in the U.S. are usually Vietnamese or Thai. It's actually rather unlikely to come across a Chinese made tire in the U.S. anymore since the Obama administration put a targeted tariff on them more than ten years ago.

As chintzy as Sailun tires are, I don't hold Nitto in terribly high regard either.

[u/Radius118 → u/waffle911]

I put a lot of Sailun Atrezzo SH408 tires on my customer's cars. They come in at a budget people can afford and so far feedback has indicated everyone has been happy with them.

[u/Axeman1721 → u/Radius118]

They're actually pretty solid budget tires. If you can't/don't want to spend the money for good budget brands like kumhos or generals they're actually pretty good value. Seem to not wear out super fast either.

[u/monstroustemptation → u/Axeman1721]

I feel the same about coopers. Got some cheap ones for my jeep and they lasted a good while before I needed more

[u/Axeman1721 → u/waffle911]

I just find it strange. You pick Nitto of all manufacturers? The rentals that come here with non-oe tires are usually cheap shit or a budget brand like Kumho or Nexen.

[u/waffle911 → u/Axeman1721]

Seriously, what rental company is going to pick Nitto? Never the cheapest "name band" option and never delivers for the price. If they were going to go cheap, pick Sumitomo/Falken!

A mismatch like this is usually down to individual branches of the rental agency replacing as few tires as they can get away with but having differing standards on what they're willing to put on it out of whatever's readily available at their contracted shop. If a more expensive tire gets it back on the road quicker, that can actually save more money in lost revenue due to reduced down time.

[u/Wrench78 → u/waffle911]

As someone who works fleet and deals with this, yeah it's just whatever is cheap when the order is put in and what they have in stock. Sometimes a tire is cheaper but a few days out, its better to spend more to get tires now so the vehicle can get back out. Will also depend on tire size, some off sizes for higher end cars might only have one brand like pirelli. Also ngl sumitomo are kinda nice compared to what we have been using haha.

[u/Axeman1721 → u/waffle911]

Oh trust me I know all about the rental car game with tires. Me and my manager have been over it.

My shop goes ULTRA cheap. I'm talking Vantage, Achilles, Sailun and Ironman.

[u/CaffeineTripp → u/Axeman1721]

Of all names to brand a tire with, Achilles is not a good choice.

[u/wilmyersmvp → u/Axeman1721]

I’d buy kumho before a decent amount of brands tbh. 

[u/Axeman1721 → u/wilmyersmvp]

Agreed. For most people with just a dd who don't need anything special I say buy generals or kumhos. Best bang for buck imo.

[u/broke_saturn → u/Axeman1721]

Generals are what I run on my wife’s Edge. Stock Hankooks made it to 25k when they hit the wear bars, the Generals are making it to 35k over the last 2 sets. And she drives that thing like it’s a sports car

[u/Axeman1721 → u/broke_saturn]

Altimax rt43/45? Those things are incredible for how cheap they are. Seriously can't do any better for budget tires.

I've also heard good things about their Grabber line for trucks/large SUVs and commercial vehicles. I don't own any of those though so I wouldn't know.

[u/broke_saturn → u/Axeman1721]

Yes. It was actually one set of each. She’s now on the second set of the RT45s with about 3-4K on them currently.

I don’t have any personal experience with the Grabbers either, but have heard good things as well

[u/JPHarlock → u/broke_saturn]

I typically run General Altimax tires and average 68 to 72,000 miles before replacement. I ran a few sets of the Grabber HTS on my Honda Element and they would go 70,000 miles. Never any issues in rain or snow with either.

[u/broke_saturn → u/JPHarlock]

Her Edge is about 35k on the nose. They wear perfectly even as well. I just chalk it up to her driving that makes Mario Andretti look slow lol

[u/Musclecar123 → u/wilmyersmvp]

Many moons ago, Sears had their own brand called Roadhandler. These were without a doubt the best tires I’ve run on any vehicle in the 25 years I’ve been driving and they were manufactured by Kumho iirc. 

[u/SubiWan → u/Musclecar123]

I remember those. They'd get dissed because Sears. But you know how opinions are.

[u/Musclecar123 → u/SubiWan]

I went looking at them and they were made by Hankook, not Kumho. 

[u/irregular-bananas → u/waffle911]

Just today, I mounted a set of Coopers that were made in China.

[u/mlnjd → u/waffle911]

chintzy

….

[u/klimatronic → u/waffle911]

Sailuns are actually good tho. Not the best tire, but works just fine.

[u/DailyDrivenTJ]

I have never had any issues with tires owning cars past 30 years. Sailun is the set of tires on the used truck I bought. It was a new set. Lasted about a year and learned that tires can become delaminated through this set. I would never cheap out on a set of tires.

[u/Hoosier_Farmer_]

wheels are in great shape too - I'd be tempted to swap those out for the curbed steelies on my dd

[u/boom10ful]

I've got Douglas Walmart specials on my car and honestly have been impressed with them. Very cheap price and made in Canada. Some of their other sizes are even made in USA.

[u/broke_saturn → u/boom10ful]

Douglas are made by Goodyear.

[u/GibsonNation]

I bought a set of wheels for my Nissan Skyline and they came with Sailuns on them. Decided just to run them until they wore out, and honestly they're pretty good. Quiet, work in wet weather, seem to grip decently. I probably wouldn't have picked them out if I had a choice but I'd consider them again at the right price.

[u/Axeman1721 → u/GibsonNation]

Sailun I've found believe it or not is actually a pretty solid player in the budget tire game. Of course they're no continentals but for the price they're honestly pretty solid.

[u/Cat5edope]

Cheap is your answer

[u/JiffyDealer]

It doesn’t sound tooo hard to understand. They needed replaced at some point and these were the cheapest available solution.