Les Schwab has their own tire brand “Caldera” which produces “Confidence C3” tires–
I can’t find any info about this tire–no reviews, nothing–anyone have experience with this tire? I drive an old Sentra–still in great shape–used mainly for local errands and such–so won’t be putting alot of miles on the tires, but am concerned about quality–
Info appreciated!
I think the lack of info tells you everything you need to know.
It may be an old car but those 4 rubber lumps are the only things keeping you from crashing. You might want to consider a slightly better known brand.
+1 to Mustangman’s comments.
And, these sites should give the OP some useful info:
Tires Made in USA: American and Foreign Brands (utires.com)
[Where Are Your Tires Made? - Consumer Reports]
(Where Are Your Tires Made? - Consumer Reports)
Name brand tires in sizes that fit a Sentra are easy to find and are not expensive. To me, it’s false economy to save $80 and be stuck with mediocre performance, or worse, for years.
There are good honest tire reviews in Consumer Reports and on tirerack.com’s site. You can choose tires that do well in the criteria that matter the most most to you. I care about reasonable price and snow and ice performance, but not every does.
I have had Michelin all-seasons and winters on my 1999 Civic for decades and even at ten years old they have decent tread and even wear. I wouldn’t trust just any brand to perform that well. I don’t know where they are made, but I trust that brand.
The General RT43 tires on my Chrysler Town and Country are made in the Czech Republic. They are doing well, too. I might go with those for the Civic next time it needs tires.
Is it true you have to czech the pressure more frequently in those tires? (i’m sorry, the devil made me say it)
+1
When I was planning on selling/trading-in my Charger w/in a few months, I decided to economize on tires, and I bought the house brand of a local tire store. The tire brand was Falls, and I have no idea whether that brand still exists.
Anyway, the truly bizarre thing about those tires was that taking a turn at virtually any speed produced tire squeal that sounded like I was taking a turn way too fast, and their traction even on a dry surface was lousy. I didn’t have those cheapo Falls tires long enough to be able to determine their tread life, but–suffice it to say that–they attracted a LOT of unwanted attention for the few months that I was driving on them.
That sounds like a sett of cooper tires I had years ago and did attract a lot of unwanted attention the only difference was they did have good traction.
They may well have been made by Cooper, but I really can’t say for sure.
Back in those days, there wasn’t a whole lot of info available regarding who made the off-brand tires, and the tire stores surely didn’t reveal the info.
Speaking of Cooper tires, there is a current recall on some of their tires, but it didn’t seem to get much publicity. If you have Cooper tires, or one of the other brands made by them, this info could be helpful:
https://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/cooper-recalls-430k-light-truck-tires-due-sidewall-76133291
Well I don’t know but I wouldn’t necessarily discount no name tires. When I was planning to get a year or two yet out of my Riviera but needed white wall tires, the tire shop sold me some pretty cheap ones. Don’t remember how much or their name anymore but couldn’t find any information on who made them. Might have been before the coding. At any rate they turned out to be very good tires. Good wet and snow traction, quiet, and reasonably well performing. I was surprised. My last set of tires for the Acura cost about $1100 so I don’t necessarily buy cheap tires. I put an importance on what the tire shop tells me though.
Don’t know much more than you about thses tires, I’d suggest checking out Discount Tire which at least for my car you can get tires with a better warranty for the same or less than what Les Schwab charges. I’d rather pay a little more for a more familiar brand.
Many years ago we bought their Z800 tires which turned out to be Toyo 800’s on the sidewall. They worked out just fine but at the time Les Schwab was one of the few to sell tires in that slightly unusual size for our Grand Voyager. My brother and I have both had great experiences with Discount Tire but it really can depend on how well the local store is run.
I saw an ad for Kleber snow tires. It was mentioned that the brand was original equipment on the 747 and Concorde. I saw some on the tanker aircraft assigned to our base. They might as well have said they were original equipment on a locomotive as far as anybody cared. The name might have been Klebar.
I can’t speak for the Caldera brand but I tried a set of Westlake tires some years back and they turned out to be excellent tires; and inexpensive to boot.
The Calderas all have a UTOG of 460AA which is good but things like that need to have a grain of salt to go with it.
The first set on my Lincoln worked so well I bought a set for my Sonoma also; and another set to keep around for when and if the existing ones wear out. At 30k miles and 40k miles respectively they still have 2/3 of the tread remaining with no issues in regard to traction and tire noise.
wolyrobb:
“Don’t know much more than you about thses tires, I’d suggest checking out Discount Tire which at least for my car you can get tires with a better warranty for the same or less than what Les Schwab charges. I’d rather pay a little more for a more familiar brand.”
I’m considering Discount Tire–they have “Falken Pro Touring A/S” apparently available only thru Discount Tire–four tires [$60/ea]+installation+tax = $370–Falken appears to be a quality brand–
VDCdriver:
“I decided to economize on tires, and I bought the house brand of a local tire store. The tire brand was Falls, and I have no idea whether that brand still exists.”
Hmmm…did you mean “Falken” fr/ Discount Tire? Though reviews are good for this tire, some reviewers did mention a squealing problem…
No, the brand was Falls. It was definitely an “off” brand which was sold by a local tire shop, and probably nowhere else.
Falken is a decent-quality brand.
Trust me, I know the difference.
Even if it was the tire made now is probably not the same as it was years ago . You are making this too difficult . I saw the Les Schwab tire site and they seem to back them well . They are foreign made but so are a lot of other things . If this is just a local driven vehicle then traction is your primary concern because they will most likely age out before the tread is gone.
I remember selling Falls/Mastercraft bias ply tires at a shop in the early eighties.
Why not buy tires - brand and model - whose performance has been tested and reported on? Or at least consider them before taking a chance on a brand and model that is less known?
Private label merchandise may or may not be as good as a company’s regular line. It often retails at a price below the regular line, with a higher profit margin for the dealer. That was my experience as a buyer and manager in sporting goods.
This was in the mid-70s, and nobody in my area was selling that off brand except for the Amalfe Bros. tire shop.
OK, then I guess I am wrong?
Not necessarily!
Mastercraft tires are made by Cooper, and it is entirely possible that those crappy Falls tires were also made by Cooper.
I doubt if the Falls brand existed just for one medium-size tire shop in NJ.
Maybe whoever marketed those tires made sure that they were “exclusive” in certain regions/certain states. Even though I never saw Falls tires anywhere in NJ except for Amalfe’s shop, maybe I would have found that brand at a tire store in a different state, where it would have been their “exclusive house brand”.