I want to get new tires… I made a mistake to got hankook k106 in 205/50/15 on a deal. They are horrible. My car came with 195/60/15. I want to put 205/60/15 since SoCal roads are awful. Will the 205 be ok?
My other question is. What tires I should get. They are seem to be made in china. All my asian made tires wore out unevenly and did not last long. I want to get cooper and is hard to get… I looked at hankook optimo H727 with a high tread wear and high warranty. I do not want to get doral, federal, etc…
The new issue of Consumer Reports rates tires. Tirerack.com also rates tires, as does 1010Tires.
These are you best sources of data, however realize that tires that might do well on the test cars may not do as well on your vehicle.
Oh, and that extra 10mm section width with the same aspect ratio as the original will give you altered handling, ride, and odo readings as well as possible rubbing in tight turns. I don;t recommend it. Going to the 205/50s may be what changed the ride for the worse to begin with. They may even be too wide for your rims. You may want to go back to 195/60s.
“They are seem to be made in china”
A number of people have already been killed in this country as a result of the exceptionally poor quality of Chinese tires. I want to save money as much as the next guy, but the last place where you want to cut corners with quality is your tires.
Look at what is offered on the website of Tire Rack, as they only sell good quality tires. Even if you don’t buy from them, you can see examples of good quality tires, and you can read customer reviews of these tires.
In view of the recent recall on Chinese tires, I would stay away from them. I had the same out of balance problem with Korean-made Marshall tires. My nephew owns a tire shop and their best sellers are Hankook, a good Korean make. They have almost no warranty problems, and Hankook tires are resonably priced. Going a size or two bigger should be no problem, except make sure there is enough fender clearance. Most cars are designed to accommodate various tire options, so you probably will be OK. However, Costco, for insurance reasons, will not mount any tires on your car other than the exact size it came with. When shopping make sure you get the installed and balanced price.
Happy shopping!
First, go to tirerack.com and put in the make/model/year of your car. The web site will give you alternate sizes
that you can use without messing up your odometer and speedometer readings. Then, you can narrow down your choices by reading the survey results (actual user reports). You will find that price and good ratings are not closely correlated. You can find some good tires that are fairly cheap, and some bad tires that are fairly expensive. Pick out one that fits your needs. Then, get the Tire Rack price and call around locally to see if you can get the same tire for the same price. Don’t forget to add in shipping and installation costs for both local and Tire Rack.
My advice is the “Pay the piper”, whatever that means. I think, in this case, it means buy the best, which, IMHO, means Michelin. I know there are other great manufactures, and many pooor manufacturers.
My experience with Michelin has been flawless. For example, we run Michelin Cross Terrain on our Mercedes SUV. Our first set went 85,000 miles. AND, during our entire ownership, the tires performed beautifully in every dimension; quiet operation, nice ride, great handling, and the aforementioned longevity. Our tires were rotated once in that period.
We did pay the piper in that these tires are $165 each. We could buy other brands at $100 or so, but is there really any benefit? I doubt it - the cheap tires will wear out much faster, perform much worse, and are likely far less safe. To me, Michelins are actually the best AND the cheapest way to go
when considering all factors.
Just my deux suis.
While there are about 2000 different BRANDS of tires being sold in the U.S., they are all made by maybe 20 different companies. The plant that made the tires is coded into the serial number branded into the tire near the bead. That’s called “shelf space”. The entire tire industry is a complete mystery to most consumers so they are sitting ducks for problems like you describe…Today, the profit in tire sales is in the added on extras that were all free a few years ago. If you push hard enough, they still ARE free…Don’t be afraid to bargain hard!
"Costco, for insurance reasons, will not mount any tires on your car other than the exact size it came with."
That’s not true. They will mount any size listed in the Michelin tire guide for your car.
If you have an economy car I would get the cheaper tires. Hero, Power King, or tires from Korea even. I look at the tread and see if it looks like it will give some grip without being too noisy. I would not have Cooper tires at all. I like looking at Consumer Reports, but I’m a different kind of (cheap) consumer. I do like Uniroyal however.
On “all my asian mdade tires wore out unevenly…”, that is 99% of the time not a tire problem but a vehicle or maintenance problem. Have you had your alignment checked and also do your rotate tires? If not expect uneven tire wear even if you buy the most expensive Goodyear tires for your car. If you buy inexpensive tires they typically do not last the mileage. The treadwear warranty is gimmick to entice you into a tire not longevity. Its the best case possible for the tire not average results. They payout little on replacement (fraction of useable tread) and you pay mounting AND have to buy from manufacturer again. A racket.
I would not worry on country of manufacture if you buy are known brand. I would peer a Kumho too as they make decent tires that on are about 75% of top tier tires.
I do rotate. I do have alignments every 6 months or so. Is just the tread couples or something like that. I do take care of my car, but does have some issues. I think I might get some Michellin Harmony. Used to have the mxv4 on 2 cars and were excellent. But 100 bucks a tire is kinda alot.
In another thread about tires, I pointed out that Hero tires are made in China. I don’t think that I can afford to save money that way.
How many miles do you put on in 6 months?
This was my personal experience buying Michelin tires for my Caprice, which had R70/205/15 tires, but the station wagon version could use R70/225/15. I pointed this out, but they would not budge and gave me the insurance stuff. I understand them not wanting to mount steamroller tires on some kid’s compact pickup, but this was nitpicking!! Thanks for the clarification.
I guess you wouldn’t buy Fortress-X. I don’t think I would do it again either. Did I mention that I never had them balanced? Do you remember Winston tires? I knew they were going out of business when they offered lifetime oil changes. I don’t remember if they were filtered or non-filtered. I won’t buy their cheapest ones either. They lasted 14,000 miles. Good luck on your search. I was in Sam’s Club and some of those tires have too many lines on the tread in different colors. They can steer themselves. The Michelins had no strange markings, or just fewer tires marked. It is a tough search for the good ones.