I am not looking to start a "who is better" thread, I would rather talk about religion

 

I have General Altimax HP tires on my 05 outback now. I am extremely disappointed about tread life. This summer they will need replacement, that makes them 40 months old and less less then 30,000 miles.

 

I dont need uber expensive walk on water tires, as I go camping, do occasional off roading etc.Looking ta tire rack, i see Kumho, Sumitomo, and Fuzion tires. On Blue i had Yokohama Geolanders and i loved them but they have gotten pricey.(what the hell happened last time I bought them they were 90 bucks a pop!).

 

I have till my next inspection in 12-14 to find tires so I will watch for sales. Anyone have knowledge of those above mentioned brands?

I don't have any experience with those brands. What type of performance are you looking to get from the tires? If youre after a basic all-season without breaking the bank, my better half has the Kelly Explorer Plus on her Forester and she really likes them. She does alot of driving in all types of weather and she's never complained about losing traction or feeling unsafe. Kelly's slogan holds true in this case - "A good deal on a great tire."

Good grief, are you going to start a 'best' oil thread next?

 

I have used the Fuzions, they're owned (and made?) by Bridgestone. I'll have to look in my records, the mileage I got out of them wasn't all that great - but for the amount paid I couldn't complain. Off the top of my head; probably got around 30k out of them, but at $50/tire + mount/balance, not awful $/mile.

 

I'm currently running some Kumho Ecsta LX's on my OBW, I picked them up because I went to bigger rims and they seemed like a good balance on price/treadware rating (both were higher). I'll check on those too, feel like they didn't quite live up to expectations mileage wise. Dry/Wet performance was good though, even snow grip was good for an all-season until they started getting some good wear on them.

Don't waste your money on Fuzions, they're just plain awful.

 

Sumitomo is one of those "surprise" brands where you could get something great or they could blow out on you in 6 months. Kind of in the same realm as Kumho. Decent tires, decent price, but I wouldn't expect more than 30-40k miles out of either of them.

 

Of the three, id say Kumho has the best compromise of price/ tread wear/ overall performance.

 

Kinda like good, fast, cheap. You only get to pick two.

Nononono hell no!   I dont want to hear about whose tires is best. I just want to hear about what people are getting out of economically priced tires. 

Do you guys have Hankook in the US?  So far my experience here has been good.  They are quiet and seem to last pretty well. They are also easy to find in all different sizes (even in sizes like 205 60 13) and relatively cheap.  Certainly they are not the cheapest  but at about $80.00 NZD per tire they are affordable.

 

Cheers,

 

Dirk

My experience of the three comes from selling/installing them and seeing which ones come back with problems.

The dealer I worked for stopped selling Fuzion because they were too problematic. Wouldn't balance properly, wouldn't wear properly. Brand new tires would be cupped and/or feathered in 3 months on cars with perfect alignment.

 

The sumitomos were never problematic, but didnt last very long. 20-30k miles was kind of the norm with those.

Kumhos would last longer for the most part.

 

I've owned a few sets of Kumhos and have had good luck with them overall. Had one blow out (tread separated) about 10-12 years ago, but those were the cheapest cheap tires I could get my hands on at the time. Less than $200 for 4 tires installed. (Old 12"wheels)

 

The last really cheap tires I bought for my 96 3-4 years ago I got around 30k miles out of. Under $250 for all 4 installed w/tax, stock size for a 96 L legacy. I don't remember the name, same as one of those cheap cigarette brands.

My Dodge van that is only two years old came with Sumitomos and they are wearing very quickly.  I bet I'll be lucky to get 30k out of them.

Ran the Kelly Explorers on the 90 Lego - decent tire for the money.

 

Have also run Cooper CS4 Touring tires - Great treadlife (started getting age cracking before the tread wore out) and pretty good traction in bad weather - not exactly cheap tho...

 

Another option to look into would be the Mastercraft brand (made by Cooper) absolutely love the Glacier Grip snows I am curretnly running, and will probably be getting the Mastercraft version of the CS4 for summer use if and when it ever thaws out up here...

Edited February 8, 201412 yr by heartless

depending on the model tire, I've never had tires last as long as Pirellis... I've had good luck with Michelins (but only as studless snow tires)

Hey nipper, you still waiting on sales to pop-up before purchasing?

 

Cooper is running a 60 visa card rebate on their CS4's, friend of mine had these a long while back and they seemed ok. Decent treadlife. The 60 off brings the price down a fair amount.

 

Looks like Goodyear and BFG are also running rebate programs.

We run Michelins on about everything we own. But on the other hand I was looking at the Cooper CS4 tires for my 14" equipped Brat. I have owned and used Coopers many times over the years and always had good luck with their upper tier tires. The CS4 tires have outstanding reviews. Even if they are a few dollars above your budget  I believe they would pay you back in the long run. Long mileage, good ride and handling. My local and only tire dealer quoted me $79.00 a tire for CS4s in 195/70-14 which I thought was pretty cheap for the reviews. Your local dealer may want much more, hard to say. They always give me outstanding prices that pretty much match Tirerack on Michelins. Comes from 33 years of dealing with their father and now his boys!!!

Actually 79.00 a tire isnt really bad. Next set of tires for the Justy I am going to have to get escort rims so I can move up to 14's.

 

I have to put off tires for a bit as the house and flood insurance went up

I replaced Hankook tires on the Brat and that is why I got the quote on the CS4 tires. I had about the last set of 185/80-13 tires I believe at the time left in the country. Took my dealer over 3 months to find them several years ago. The left front blew out when I hit some railroad tracks a few months ago with 20k miles on them. They had maybe 1/3 the tread left but they couldn't find any 185/80 tires so I busted my 14" Peugeot steel rims back out. I passed on the CS4 tires because they had ordered (4)185/75-14 Uniroyal tires for a person that never came and picked them up, so they were kind of stuck with them. I guess 185/75-14 is getting to be a kind of odd size too, they had them for nearly 6 months. I took them off their hands.

Last Fall, I put  4 each Ohtsu tires on my daughter's jeep. I bought the tires from a local Tire Barn store, here in Indy. I had never heard of Ohtsu tires, but I trusted the old experienced tire sales guy, that they are good tires. He was right. They have rigid side walls, and run well on a Jeep Wrangler. Seems to be wearing very well.

 

Since then, I have learned that Ohtsu is the Japanese company that also sells their tires under the Falken name. Falkens have a good reputation from friends who have run them. So, I would recommend Ohtsu or Falkens. Ohtsu seems to be cost a little less then the Falkens.

 

Anyone interested, do a Google search on Ohtsu to read up on them.

If you can get 60$ off the Cooper CS4s get them, I've got a set with 18k and 2 winters on them and they do great- tread life looks great, wear is even, and they Even look fairly newish despite some serious abuse.

 

Hankook as mentioned before are solid but wear a little faster,

 

Of those three I'd take the kumho.

 

But seeing as this isn't a best tire thread... Get the coopers 'cause they are the best! 'Merica, F$&k YEAH!!!

Now now now we don't want to start a discussion about religon, I will if this turns into the best tire thread

In that case, I swear by those tires!!! Hahaha

Another voite for the CS4s from me. 20k on mine so far and still at 9/32". Quiet, good wet/snow traction.