I have 2015 AWD RDX with 34000 miles on it. Now its original tires are going out of tracks and I feel it is not safe further. I am in Seattle, so much of year is in rainy weather, and 100+ miles from here, I will start seeing snow in October/November.
BUT I will be leaving this country in November or December and will sell this car. So I don’t want to go with excellent tires. A set of cheap ones are fine, I guess. I can go to discount tires shop and ask them.
I am not sure if tire brands will affect the price of the car when I sell it. But I browse a few shops today and got a few options -
Alright. I visited a few shops today and got some prices.
Nankang Cross Sport - $503 inclusive all
Uniroyal Tiger Paw - $690
Kelly Edge A/S (it is on Goodyear website)- $679
I don’t know what is the reputation of Nankang, but the salesman was saying, it is a good one and while driving you won’t see the difference (against what internet review says that driving handling and experience can be less comfortable).
Be careful of cheap tires. Ride quality and road noise might be bad enough that people won’t want the car. I’d look for tire reviews in line and pick decent tires at a good price. I will say that General Altimax RT43 tires performed well for us on two different vehicles. Others here have spoken well of them too. You can get a set of four at Tire Rack for $571 plus installation. I mention Tire Rack only to give you a price to compare to the others. That cost includes tires, taxes, fees, and delivery. I don’t know what your prices include, it I’d get mounting, balance, tpms service. Expect to spend $75 to $125 for that (in my neighborhood). I’d get four wheel alignment, too, no matter how long you keep it. Poor alignment can lose sales too.
I mean that I had such good success with one set of those tires that I bought them for another car. The price is attractive compared to other tires in the class.
I also have been impressed with the General Altimax RT43. It’s top rated by Consumer Reports in the category All-Season Tires. I’ve had them on my Chrysler minivan for a few years. The tire decision guide at tirerack.com is a useful tool. These tires come up highly rated there, too.
Let’s not kid ourselves here. The OP is asking if it’s ok to “cheap out” on tires, because he plans to sell the SUV in 5 to 6 months, and thus doesn’t have to worry about long-term wear. I would argue that it’s not, because this is an expensive vehicle, and people who are willing and able to pay what this model is worth are going to expect decent tires, and will negotiate the price down accordingly.
You might get away with putting cheap Chinese tires on an old Chevrolet Cavalier or Ford Escort that you plan to sell for $2k or less, but putting them on a late-model expensive vehicle isn’t going to fly. You’re going to end up paying for decent tires one way or another…
I think, I can agree with your point. In this case Nankang is out of options, being cheap tire.
Uniroyal is cheaper option of Uniroyal and Kelly is cheaper option of Goodyear.
General Altimax RT43 seems to have some okay or good reviews. Is it considered to be a cheap (not decent) tire?
Any name brand tire will have tires that have different goals. Such as traction in all conditions , longer tread life and you are making this way to difficult . Just go to a local tire store and tell them what you need in a tire.
I have even had good results with so called house brand tires . I have gotten good service from Discount / American Tire and their web site is easy to use.
Not considered a cheap tire at all. But a very good tire for many users, and not expensive. 4 for $536 from tirerack (includes shipping to me, but that will vary with location) plus a local shop’s work to install, balance, etc., etc. My favorite small time local 2-bay garage was pretty close to that price so I just ordered from them.
I have had General Altimax tires and been very impressed with them. If you are buying them from Walmart make sure they are exactly the same model numbers as are sold at the tire stores.
I was duped by Goodyear Viva II tires from Walmart. They were gone by 25000 miles. I found out later that these were Chinese made just for Walmart and not sold in Goodyear stores.
If I wanted tires just until November I would try to find a used set.
Lots of major manufacturers produce “Second Label” tires which depending on your needs can be as good as or better for your purpose than the “First Label” tires.
Two that I’ve had good experience with are the Generals, second label of Continental made in France and Slovenia, and the Kellys, second label of Goodyear, which I believe were made in Texas.
On the other hand, several years ago a fleet manager decided to save a few bucks by buying an unknown Chinese brand and after 6 months several of the work vans had developed sidewall bubbles. Maybe they’ve improved since then but for myself, I’ll stick with tires made by a major manufacturer.
An yeah, if I’m looking at a car with mismatched or “el cheapo” tires, that an immediate $1,000 deduction to replace the tires and anything else they went “el cheapo” on.
I consider it an inexpensive, decent tire. If you can buy tires with demonstrated good quality at a price similar to the “cheap tire” you seem to want, why would you buy junk?
I’ll go a little off-topic . . . but it DOES relate to the topic
On “Nice Price or Crack Pipe” . . . if one of the cars featured for sale clearly has horrendously cheap house brand tires, many of the guys will often give it an automatic crack pipe. Some of them even clearly state that any car with those kind of tires gets an automatic crack pipe, no matter the condition of the vehicle otherwise. And the reasoning is this . . . if the seller of this fairly high end and/or sport vehicle cheaped out so badly on tires, what else did they cheap out on, or maybe not do at all, such as required maintenance?
Going to try this again , just go to a tire store pick a well known name tire at a price you want to spend and be done with it . It is not as if you are going for long term tire use for yourself.
I have had Goodyear , Uniroyal , Michelin , Cooper , Hankook , Pirelli and some house brand on a pickup truck . They all have been fine.
I put Goodyear Assurance Comfort Tread all-seasons on my van soon after I bought it. I was always a little disappointed in them - they never had as smooth a ride as I had expected and always seemed a bit imbalanced or uneven. The General Altimax have been much better and I have no complaints about them. I will probably put them on my Civic when I wear out my winter tires or summer tires.
If you look at all the ratings for touring all season tires, the General Altimax RT43 tires are the least expensive and have excellent ratings. You can probably find them at a store near you. Some tire stores have a four for three sale.