Foreign Tires

[davekc]

I am starting to see a wave of new foreign tires enter the market. Truck tires like Vesta (made in China) sold through General. I see some information on Toyo and Yokahama ect.
My question is, is anyone running these, and how well do they hold up?
Cheaper yes, but how is their durability?
We currently run Michelin and Bridgestones. The latter is our pick at the moment.

Davekc

 

[greg334]

I know someone who is using Vestas right now to try them out. I think the last I heard he has 23K on a set and had a few problems. If I hear for him this week I post his comments.

I had Yokohomas (19.5 rims) on my Dodge 3500 a while ago (second set of tires on the rims, first were Michelins) and was given a set of Toyos for the truck by a UPS contractor but I did not like either of these. The Yokohama’s ride was ok but it really grabbed those grooves and the truck steered itself at times. The Toyo’s I just didn’t like at all, I had one that had a seal problem and I never got it fixed, leak leak leak. Some swear by both of these tires and have good service from them but I found that I need to stick to the standards. The ride quality was one factor, wear was another, nothing beat Michelins. I now have Bridgestones and Michelins on my van right now and plan on a new set of Michelins early second quarter 06, they are worth the extra money.

Hope this helps you.

 

[davekc]

Interesting. I liked the Michelin for drives but they constantly cupped on the steers without alot of rotating and truing. Put Bridgestones on and never had a problem since.

I think the corners are of harder rubber and grooved differently.

Davekc

 

[ACE]

Bridgestone and Michelin are foreign tires.

Goodyear is a American Company.

We complain about imports and the loss of jobs at GM and Ford and how it will apply to our future, as stated on previous posts.

But we will buy tires from foreign owned manufactures instead of tires made by an American owned company.

 

[Refer Hauler]

No experience with Vesta but have run Kumho on the drives and they went about 200 K on the tractor drives. Now running Goodyear UniCircle the one piece caps have had mixed luck. Lost 3 caps in first 3 months, ( all replaced free ) no more problems in last few months, Wearing well will probably go about 150/175K before replacing will probably stick with same. Also have had steer tires cupping using Michelins, Switched to Firestone 590 and no problem. Ran Remingtons on a straight truck and they performed better than I expected at a very reasonable cost. For coast to coast runs a buddy of mine runs Goodyear LHR and gets close to 160K out of the steers which is very good, Regardless of what you run they have to be balanced and do a 2 or 3 axle alignment once a year

 

[The Gibster]

Dave, we run Yokohamas on the steers and Kumho Longmarks (insert your own joke here) on the drives, and have had fantastic wear and service from them.

This is our second set of Yokohamas, put the first pair on around last year when the forum was full of discussions about the wierd tire cupping and wear problems associated with FL70 steers.

We checked the front alignment then, it was in spec. Put on new Yokohamas and got the best price from Petro, even cheaper than we could of gotten with the Flying J 'discount' tire program. And they had the outside shoulder groove that was thought to limit the cupping problem.

About 7 months later the ride wasn't very good, we started getting some 'river-wear' along the inner tread grooves, so we installed centramatics on the front. Quite a difference in the ride, and it slowed down the wear problem. We finally changed out the steers last month, the wear had me concerned the tread may seperate in the future. We had gotten 116,000 plus miles outta them, so we're satisfied.

Replaced them with the replacement model of that Yokohama, again at Petro, and the one thing I constantly hear from the tire guys is "that's a d*#n good tire".

And like you said earlier Dave, if the front is wiggling your steers are outta balance, if the rear is wiggling it's your drives. After mounting the centramatics on the front I then could feel my rear wiggling going down the road (insert your own joke here) so we put centramatics on the back also. Now the ride is great!

When we pulled into the Speedco the other day the tire guys came over to measure the tread depth to try and sell new tires. We found we still have 14/32's on the Kumhos, and they are at least a year old!

They do good in the snow, only had to back-up a little to regain my footing in a snow covered unplowed lot in Kentucky one time. They have great traction.

We figured the cost of the steers at about .011 cents a rolling mile.
I can live with that!

The Gibster

 

[dukesadog]

This is something that might help the cargo van drivers, a while back we had a E350 ford that had a shake in it from the day it was new and eventually it turned out to be the wheels that werent straight.

So we ordered new wheels and put them on a balancer without tires, they were also bent and untrue, then we were told to try wheels from a passenger van as they are supposed to be different manufacturers than the ones that go on the service trucks etc.

They were perfect and it solved the problem.

dukesadog

 

[RobA]

Check the origin on those Goodyears.
They build tires all around the world.
A different plant builds a different tire.
Just because Goodyear seems American; doesn't mean all it's tires are American made.
Unless you are a shareholder in Goodyear; why worry about what the company name is?



>Bridgestone and Michelin are foreign tires.
>
>Goodyear is a American Company.
>
>We complain about imports and the loss of jobs at GM and
>Ford and how it will apply to our future, as stated on
>previous posts.
>
>But we will buy tires from foreign owned manufactures
>instead of tires made by an American owned company.

 

[ACE]

Rob A
I Know they have plants all over the world but the profits come back to the U.S.A., not Asia,or Europe.

When I state American Co. I am saying that the World Headquarters are in the U.S.A., and the profits come back here.

The reason I care is that we see are money going back to countries that do not support our views. They in turn buy U.S. notes which may give them an opportunity to effect our economy in the future. I am little more understanding if a foreign country supports U.S.A. policies.

I understand that we can not always buy a product manufactured in the U.S. or owned by a U.S. corporation, but as a citizen of the U.S. I feel we should give the U.S. coporations the first chance to get our business.

 

[davekc]

Dave, we run Yokohamas on the steers and Kumho Longmarks (insert your own joke here) on the drives, and have had fantastic wear and service from them.

Thanks for the information. We have never ran the foriegn tires and wondered how well they worked. We currently have had the best luck with Bidgestone as far aas milage. But, they tend to be more expensive than some of the others. They do a good job if cupping is a problem.

Davekc