Originally Posted by The HACK
Believe it or not, I've spent some "quality time" working in the tire industry.
YOU GET WHAT YOU PAY FOR.
You really do. The technology that goes into making a tire last long, ride well, or grip better, it really isn't that different from one brand to another. Sure, you may pay more for one brand than another because one probably has a higher overhead than the other (size of company, distribution/logistics, warehousing, marketing, etc) but in the grand scheme of things, that stuff is but a small drop in the bucket for a ginormous industry. The margins are so thin in the tire industry that they usually make it up in volume.
In all honesty, this is where going to an off-brand or Chinese made tires makes little sense. They're cheap because they don't use any of the tech available that cost more money to make them either last longer or perform better in inclement weather. The cost of a tire is simple to break down. It's the cost of the reinforcement in the carcass, the cost of the rubber, and the cost of the mix in the rubber (silica, carbon, various oils etc). Nylon threads cost money. The more complicated weaves in the carcass cost more money. The more expensive nylon substitutes (like kevlar) cost MORE money. Rubber in itself cost the same across board, because there's only a handful of rubber plants around the world. Doesn't really matter where you get them and really, rubber is rubber. The MIXTURE though, we know the higher the silica count the better it is at repelling water and more pliable it is. We know there a certain ideal carbon mix for durability. We know the oil mixture changes the property of the rubber and its grip level. All these vary in cost and vary in cost in amount used in the compound mixture.
So why is an off-brand Chinese tire $60 per vs $120 for say, a Bridgestone?
Because you can remove a lot of the reinforcement in the carcass (use 1 layer of nylon weave rather than 6 layers of combination of nylon, kevlar, and with added steel reinforcement), use less sidewall reinforcement, use less silica compound, less of everything but still maintain high wear rating since less silica compound is used.
The end result is it cost a lot less to make, and in most conditions you will likely not notice a significant difference, and while increase in noise can be offset by tread design, and the tire may even feel like it rides more comfortably because it has less reinforcement...But come the first emergency braking in inclement weather, or running over a decent sized pothole, you'll either end up in the back of someone's car, or you'll blow out a tire and ruin your expensive rims because the sidewalls are too soft or the belts snap inside the tire.
In the tire industry, YOU GET WHAT YOU PAID FOR.
Which isn't to say some of the off-brand, no name tires are bad. Heck I'm riding on Maxxis tires on my MZ4 Coupe. I'm about to put a set of Achilles if I can secure another set of rims. Neither are considered competition to the THIRD tier of tire companies in the industry. And while I have no idea how much these tires are (I got them as take-offs from a race team), I can't imagine them being more expensive than say, Hoosiers for slicks and Michelin for R-comps.
As long as you understand what you're buying, the cheap, alternative brand tires do serve a purpose. The purpose they serve is to fill a niche in the market for budget conscious customers. If your primary reason is to save a few bucks, they're excellent tires for that specific reason.
It's just, somehow, I don't feel comfortable leaving the ONLY thing that connects me to the road to $60 budget tires, where you buy 3 get 1 free.
Just my opinion.
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