"Danger warnings on cheap Chinese tires" reported RV Travel in the summer of 2007, noting that the Hangzhou Zhongce Rubber Company had skimped on an important safety component on some half-million light truck tires exported to the US.
To a public already scowling at a "Made in China" label – after incidents of defective drywall, toxic toothpaste, poisonous pet food, and lead-painted children's toys – it was yet another example of how "cheap Chinese knockoffs" were substandard and dangerous.
But that is almost half a decade in the past, for one specific company. Is it still true today that Chinese-manufactured tires are cheap and unsafe?
International Tire Brands Made in China
Many internationally-renowned tire companies have shifted production into China in an effort to cut costs and maintain market share. This includes highly respected brands such as
- Toyo,
- Cooper,
- Pirelli,
- Michelin,
- Goodyear,
- Kumho.
“Because these tires are being built with the companies whose names are on the tires, the same specifications that would apply to a tire made in the U.S. would apply to a tire made in China," Consumer Reports is quoted as saying (Carney, Dan. "With Chinese tires, it's buyer beware", 9/24/2009. msnbc.com ).
This does not necessarily apply to economy-priced Chinese-branded tires intended for export.
However, it provides some guarantee that consumer buying an RV tire can get good quality by purchasing a name-brand tire at competitive pricing.
Chinese Tire Safety: What Experts are Saying
A little research provided some current information that offsets the 2007 "tire bomb" stories:
- The msnbc.com article notes that "Consumer Reports magazine tested 23 affordable all-season replacement tires, seven of them made in China... Of those seven, six finished in the top half of the field." That's an impressive result.
- “The Chinese tires coming into this country for the most part have been safe tires,” Roy Littlefield, executive vice president of the Tire Industry Association, is quoted as saying. TIA, an international group representing all segments of the tire industry, maintains that "...These [Chinese] tires are often an affordable solution to those drivers with limited budgets" and points out that “All tires - regardless of country of origin - must be held to all applicable [U.S.] Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards" (Okay, so what happened in 2007?)
- Keith Price, a spokesman for Goodyear Tire and Rubber Co., is quoted by Carney as saying, “Whether we make it in Oklahoma, Germany, Brazil, Indonesia, or China, the product standards are the same.”
- Jim Smith, editor of trade magazine Tire Review, says that “Michelin is very persnickety. At the Chinese plant you couldn’t tell if you were in China or in South Carolina. The plant has the same controls, the same machines and the same uniforms on the workers."
Still, the taint remains. "The OEM tires on all but high end trailers are cheap Chinese made tires that have a poor record on durability. We call them China Bombs!" wrote an RVer who tags himself "Hankster" on his TGIF:RV blog. That's a recent post, from July 25, 2011, four years after the Hangzhou problem.
Apparently, people like Hank figure that one Chinese tire is as bad as another. Despite the results of independent tests by Consumer Reports, despite the marketing effort of major brands like Michelin, Goodyear, Pirelli, Cooper, and others, people still don't trust Chinese tires.
It's hard to shake a bad reputation.
Thomas Alan Gray - Tom has been writing for over 30 years; curiosity leads him to dig into a wide variety of topics.
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