Would you use el cheapo tires from china on a heavy truck? ?

[fastfredracing]

I have been contemplating taking this 1975 meduim duty rollback truck from my buddy. It is going to need 6 new tires, and they are a weird size, specific to old split rims, and split ring wheels.
I can still get them here through my vendors, but in my searches, I have found them coming direct from ping pong din don zang china , or somewhere like that for a LOT less than I would have to pay here . Not sure if they would be DOT, I have to figure that out yet.
They must run these trucks a lot in other countries still.
I will not be doing any long hauling with this truck, but I will load it up to its limit ( and probably over sometimes )
What are your thoughts ?

[Steve Carlton]

Saves money for the funeral.

[Tobra]

I don't like using Chinese tires on a bicycle.

[fastfredracing]

Take into account that this truck struggles to maintain 60 mph empty

[recycled sixtie]

Since I believe in free trade I would buy the Chinese tires. Can you check opinions on them on Google? Perhaps they are good! Or else you pay more for home manufactured.

[id10t]

Will you be inspecting the tires on a regular basis? Is most of the driving gonna be at parking lot speeds around a construction site, etc? Is it impossible or cost prohibitive to convert wheels to something more "modern" and easily available at reasonable price from $PREFERRED_COUNTRY_OF_ORIGIN ?

Will state and fed DOT types allow that type of vehicle used in whatever way you will be using it with those tires?

[speeder]

Some of the best tires in the world come from Asia, (Japan, Korea), so I would imagine that China can't be far behind. It's one of the top manufacturing countries in the world and making tires is not exactly rocket science.

I also imagine that they run quite a few heavy trucks over there, (as well as ships/trains/earth movers/etc.), and I doubt they put tires on them that explode at low speeds when properly inflated.

So yeah, I'd jump on them for that application if the savings are significant.

[911 Rod]

I think that these days other countries have had to lower there standards to keep up with China and China has risen theirs.
It's not like you will have any high speed blowouts.
What can go wrong?

[rusnak]

I would not. I don't think my tire guy would even put them on anyway.

[fastfredracing]

Originally Posted by id10t

Will you be inspecting the tires on a regular basis? Is most of the driving gonna be at parking lot speeds around a construction site, etc? Is it impossible or cost prohibitive to convert wheels to something more "modern" and easily available at reasonable price from $PREFERRED_COUNTRY_OF_ORIGIN ?

Will state and fed DOT types allow that type of vehicle used in whatever way you will be using it with those tires?

I would only consider them , ir they were road legal DOT approved, and the correct weight rating.
When I am heavy, it will be 10 mile trips on 30 mph roads, but I am sure I will haul the occasional car 50 miles or so. If it is long distance, then I will just take my dually and trailer, way more comfortable
I'm a pretty safety oriented guy, especially when it comes to my trucks, cars, and towing etc. So, yes, I would keep my eye on them, the whole rig would be inspected regularly , and if I ever felt a shimmy, the first thing I would do , would be to stop and look at the tires

[GH85Carrera]

I would not use Chinese tires on my wheelbarrow, much less on any road vehicle.

Just my opinion.

[fastfredracing]

I have actually mounted a lot of china tires for customers . My one customer has a wholesale tire account with someone, and he uses nothing but chineese tires on all his regular vehicles.
I have been somewhat impressed with them in general, but these are all going on llight duty trucks, and cars . I can't think of one abnormal failure that I have seen yet, and they balance up normally, and seem to ride decent. They certainly do not last as long however

[GG Allin]

This came up when my Mack needed tires. There are good Chinese tires and there are ****. The general consensus is for drive tires you can use the good Chinese tires. But never for steer tires.

Some people will go with the **** tires if the truck will see no highway duty.

There's a Bulgarian guy around here who has a source for good Chinese tires. He buys them direct by the container load. It's pissing off all the premium brand dealers. They're cheap and the truckers are getting a lot of miles out of them.

That said, I put Goodyears up front on the Mack.

[svandamme]

I see linglong truck tires on a lot of semi's around here.
But i would expect that a tire blowing on a double axle truck, 2 tires per side, is more about lost time then anything else.. They also ride a lot of rethreaded tires.. So between a linglong or a rethreaded fancy brand, to them it's just an economic story, right?

did not check specific if they run other tires on the steering wheels

[fastfredracing]

I was thinking about doing the same thing. Good domestic tires on the front, and elcheapo on the rear .

[aschen]

When you guys talk about chinesum tires are you talking about DOT approved tires, or are these grey market tires brought in for china domestic use normally?

I have had good like with second tier USDM tire suppliers in the past: Kumo, hankook, fusion, etc.

[Tobra]

Kumho and Hankook are Korean and are pretty decent tires. Never seen any decent Chinese tires.

[stevej37]

Toyo tires are one of the best tires...but I think they are from Japan

[aschen]

Right so we are talking about tires from chinese based mfg not originally intended for USDM?

Im sure many of the major mfg otherwise make some of their products in china. I guess my point is that I wouldn't have trouble running tires simply because they are Chinese made, however It would scare me it they were not intended for the US market originally.

[GH85Carrera]

Korean or Japanese tires are something I would use. That is nothing like Chinese tires.

One of my friends was happy buying used "may-pop" tires. He never had more tread than the wear bar. He also drove beater vehicles and had more wrecks that I could count. Since it is the only part of the car that touches the ground, I want a good tire with good tread all the time. I am just weird about MY SAFETY. I have not been in a wreck in over 40 years and I plan to extend that much longer.