[455Grandville]

I've heard stories about even trusted names in tires being Chinese junk; anyone heard of this or know a trusted brand ?

The four so called performance tires on the T/A are 2 years old and dry rotted ! They don't even have many miles on them , but the car does get used so it's not from sitting. The stories I've heard sure as hell seem to match what I see on the car , hmmm -

[goatnut]

Cooper tires are still made in the USA so are Good Year and also Yokahoma.

[Bill Meyer]

I have not had good luck with Chinese tires. Sent them back to the dist and got some Japanese/Korean ones. Would prefer American, but almost all have been shipped/moved overseas. At least the Korean ones were round. The Chinese make oval tires(I've been told)

[muscle_collector]

what have you had good luck with that was made in china?

[arbys]

What about the Coker tires? They're supposed to be made in Chattanooga.

[stevep]

Coker Tires are only good for going on and off a trailer in my opinion.

[66Post]

Originally Posted by arbys

What about the Coker tires? They're supposed to be made in Chattanooga.

Coker retails tires, I don't believe they manufacture them.

[Ben M.]

Originally Posted by muscle_collector

what have you had good luck with that was made in china?

The Chinese can make a quality product just as well as the Japanese, Koreans, or even us. The problem is that the companies who have outsourced to China are doing so solely to save money and thus quality is NOT being paid for.

I will ask what brand tires were dry rotted in 2 years? I've never had tires go bad that quickly, but I tend to buy brand name tires...

[stevep]

Those 2 year old dry rotted tires should be under warranty.
Brand name tires are just as bad in some cases.
You should look at the date code when you buy them as they could be a few years old by them.

[PMD1969]

Originally Posted by Bill Meyer

I have not had good luck with Chinese tires. Sent them back to the dist and got some Japanese/Korean ones. Would prefer American, but almost all have been shipped/moved overseas. At least the Korean ones were round. The Chinese make oval tires(I've been told)

You have some high standards!

[muscle_collector]

Originally Posted by Ben M.

The Chinese can make a quality product just as well as the Japanese, Koreans, or even us. The problem is that the companies who have outsourced to China are doing so solely to save money and thus quality is NOT being paid for.

I will ask what brand tires were dry rotted in 2 years? I've never had tires go bad that quickly, but I tend to buy brand name tires...

the bridgestones on my escalade dry rotted on all 4 of them and in a weird place. it was basically the centerline of the sidewall. 2 years old. needless to say that firestone replaced them

[eric65]

80% of tires sold in America are made else-where. Buying American made tires can be a challenge but it can be done, one problem is that a particular brand could be made in america and elsewhere. The only way to know for sure is to physically look on the tire. Most all tires are stamped on the side-wall with where they are made(i.e. made in USA. Not all are though, so you need to look on the side wall for the DOT #. For example, the BE after the DOT means BF Goodrich tire ( owned by Michelin) was made in Tuscaloosa, AL.

American plants and their 2 letter code after the DOT. All are union plants.

BE B.F. Goodrich (Michelin) Tuscaloosa, AL
BF B.F. Goodrich (Michelin) Woodburn, IN
AN B.F. Goodrich (Michelin) Opelika A.L.
VE/YE/YU/8B Bridgestone/Firestone Des Moines,AL
2M/3M Bridgestone/Firestone Bloomington,IL
D2/E3/W1/Y7 Bridgestone/Firestone Lavergne,TE
2C/4D/5D Bridgestone/Firestone Morrison,TE
UP Cooper Finlay,OH
UT Cooper Texarkana,AR
DY Denman (Penslar Capital) Warren,OH
DA Dunlap ( Goodyear) Buffalo N.Y.
JJ/MD/PU Goodyear Gadsden,AL
JN/MJ/PY Goodyear Topeka,KS
JE/MC/PT Goodyear Dansville,VA
JT/MK/TA Goodyear Union City,TN
JP/MM/PJ Kelly-Springfield (Goodyear) Tyler, TX
JF/MM/PJ Kelly-Springfield (Goodyear) Fayetteville,NC
CC Yokahama Tire Salem,VA

[irgoatmike]

A trip to SEMA will open your eyes to just how many overseas tire companies there are. I could not believe the number of booths of tire makers, most Asian based operations. Irgoatmike

[Formulabruce]

my Firestone Indy 500's are made in mexico. In fact they wait till enough of one size are ordered, them crank them out. The rubber seems to be a much better quality than say the crappo "carlisle" brand that show up on tractors in last few years

[77 Canamman]

Did you apply any tire dressings? These will dry rot a tire in short order, whether or not it was exposed to high levels of UV or not.

[muscle_collector]

Originally Posted by 77 Canamman

Did you apply any tire dressings? These will dry rot a tire in short order, whether or not it was exposed to high levels of UV or not.

no i never do.

[Alvin]

Originally Posted by Formulabruce

my Firestone Indy 500's...

Add a Pinto to those Firestone 500's and make me smile - cause They 'da Bomb!!!

[66Post]

Originally Posted by muscle_collector

no i never do.

Mop and Glow won't hurt them, neither will carnuba (sp) wax.

[PMD1969]

Originally Posted by 77 Canamman

Did you apply any tire dressings? These will dry rot a tire in short order, whether or not it was exposed to high levels of UV or not.

What was the reason why Armor All is not good for tires? I have a set of BFG's on my 69 (in the picture below) that were installed in 2001. They are in perfect shape but have extremely low miles and the car is always garaged. No cracks, dry rot, perfectly round with no flat spots and still ride like new.

[GT182]

Originally Posted by PMD1969

What was the reason why Armor All is not good for tires?

I use to use Armor All on the BFG T/A tires I had on my 79 Formula. If you got it on the tread they were slippery as all hell. Plus it attracted road dust like crazy and they were a PITA to keep clean. Since then I've used silicone out of a spray can and had no problems with dry rot. Dust wasn't and isn't as bad either. I've been doing the tires on the GTO with Silicone too, and they look better longer.