Running cheap Chinese rubber?

i sell tires for a living for a major dealer and offer many brands including Chinese. My major flagship brand is Bridgestone (full disclosure) however we also have a private label Chinese tire. We sell LOTS of them. More people are only looking for what it's going to cost TODAY. Those folks are always going to want the "best" deal. It's NOT a good deal. We at the dealer level, if reputable, are not buying Chinese casings at all. They just don't hold up or hold value. The cost of ownership with the chino is not mathematically sound if you just consider the casing value as well as the labor cost having tires installed twice as often. They have their place in the market if you haul logs across town and never replace a tire at 2/32 because the tire is ruined well before then. We used to call these used tire customers. Now they just want chinos. Regarding the above mentioned balance guarantee......never heard of it. I think the rep is blowing smoke up your ###. Note to all here....be very cautious of manufacturer reps. Many of them (not all) lie extremely well, even to us at the dealer. Manufacturer reps see very few tires or have real world experience that a reputable dealer has. We see tires and speak with you, the customer EVERYDAY. In addition I own equipment whereas very few manufacturing reps do much but peddle one very specific brand.

Regarding the other post on Double Coin, full disclosure, I sell these too. They are not to be lumped in with all the other Chinese tires. They are definitely a tier 2 or 3 tire meaning that they are actually represented domestically and I can pick up the phone and talk to the manufacturer rep. That's not the case with 99% of Chinese tires. Actually Double Coin is the only new tire manufacturer that I know of that fully back the tire against defects up to 50% of the tread wear. As opposed to just 10% for all other major brands.

Yokohama is a great tire and value. Of course I sell these too, again, full disclosure. They are currently in the process of moving all their manufacturing back to the USA. They typically have better trade in value than Double Coin. Trade in value also differs in region based on what size is popular and how supply/demand is fluctuating.

@dustinbrock tires only wear according to how they are rolled. Your shoes wear according to how you walk. Tires wear (irregularly) because of many factors but even a cheap Chinese tire will wear out smoothly if all other things equal. Alignment, shocks, mechanical, air pressure, weight dictate how a tire will wear out. If you ever start wearing a tire irregularly because of an above mentioned reasons it will typically continue to wear irregularly even if the cause Is corrected.

 

I changed truck tires for 5 years and China has the toughest sidewall that will not bust if you hit a curb.Michellin has a soft sidewall and is weak.