big_ole_truck

If I was in the same situation as the OP, the Chinese made tires would be at the landfill site before I left the dealership. My experience with Chinese made goods is less than desirable and there's no way I'm risking my life riding on Chinese made tires.

statikuz

I disagree with this attitude. Saying "risking my life" is being a bit dramatic. There are just as many cheaply-made American goods as there are cheaply-made Chinese goods. The Chinese have some of the most advanced manufacturing plants in the world; they can make anything they want at any quality level. Sure, the Hankook's could be called a "cheap" tire, but so are the Wrangler SR-A's (which are American made - does that automatically make them better? I think not!) The Goodyears (ranked 49 out of 69) have even worse ratings than the Hankooks (38 out of 69) on Tire Rack. They actually have "excellent" ratings in wet traction, the Wranglers are only "good." Sure all of this is subject to personal experiences and whatnot, but making the blanket statement that Chinese stuff is crap is ignorant.

rlwatts

They build the stuff in China because they and can build it cheaper, and this usually means crappier! Have you ever seen a real quality product come from China. Perhaps their wallboard as a example. There is not one good RV tire made in China that I would have on my rig. They produce crap and we make nothing!

dpeckford

Amen to that. My truck has the Goodyears and I have not seen a worse tire. Nearly worn out after 12000 miles and horrible wet weather traction. These have only been used on pavement and have seen no work. I would bet the Hankooks are no worse. So much for American Quality.

Turkey

As stated already in this thread, the Hankooks are a Korean made tire.

As for Chinese stuff, wait ten years and see how many Chinese made cars will be on the road. Why did Pontiac sell so many Sunfires when it was an ugly, useless car? Price point.

OEM tires are NEVER great. My WRX came with Bridgestone RE92's that were sh*t in all conditions. Hankooks got you spooked? Have you driven the Wrangler SRA's on icy roads? They inspire no confidence whatsoever. One of the worst tires I have used, period. I'm just waiting for my lug nuts to arrive to install my Blizzak DMV1 with a set of 04 wheels.

I would like a good LT all terrain tire like the Revos or Duratracs but they all come in a 10ply/E and I'm not sure I want that rough of a ride.

NorCal-09

Let me offer some more input into this lively debate.

First, I have respect for each of my fellow member’s point of view on this issue and I can understand why some have a certain perception on some products from the PRC.

China is a producing/manufacturing nation and we are, for the most part, a nation of consumers. Most Americans want a good deal, be the truck we buy, the TV, the DVD player, or even the tires on our cars. Accordingly, this is why stores such as Wal-Mart, Costco, and Best-Buy, do so well.

Within that concept, you have all levels of pricing and quality. This includes products from China. The Chinese can produce very cheap products, which are also of low quality. They can also produce moderately priced products which are of very high quality. Because labor costs are so low in China (albeit they have risen over the past few years) and coupled with their huge work force, and ultra modern manufacturing facilities, they can compete in the world markets very effectively.

Many US companies, manufacture their goods in China now due to the low labor costs and less restrictive government guidelines. Many do not realize, but many US company (logo) aftermarket and accessory products for MC’s, cars, trucks, boats, are actually manufactured in the PRC. Unless you dig deep, you may not realize via the packaging of the product that it was actually produced in China.

Most of us here, are in the American middle to upper middle socio-economic classes. We have each benefited because of less expensive imports from China. Each of our budgets, goes further each month, due to the fact that we can spend less due to the competition created by the less expensive products imported from China.

As a sidebar to this, we export a lot of ranch and farm products to the PRC. US pork producers, poultry producers, and farmers, greatly benefit from trade with this country of 1.3 billion people.

What has happened, is that some shoddy products did slip into the supply chain, produced by a few greedy individuals (greed knows no international boundary, ask Bernie). In this regard these products were identified and the Chinese government took swift and severe action against the perpetrators involved, be it toys, tires, or pet food.

Due to the liability concerns for both the Chinese manufactures and the US importers, I think you will see less and less of this type problem. Furthermore, due to the high cost of items such as tires, I think you will see more Chinese brand tires being imported to this country in the near future. Again, as was stated in the instant case, Hankook is a South Korean company and all of their design and engineering has Korean oversight and control, with the only interaction with China being one of their many production plants.

Without getting into political arguments of the left over job protection and union rules, or the right over human rights and national financial security issues, I think all in all, Chinese products can be safe and also provide a good balance of quality and price.

I have visited China (including all of the major manufacturing cities) ten times in the past four years and I have tremendous respect for the people, the culture, and their abilities as a nation. I can say this as a red blooded, Navy veteran, conservative American.

BTW, my wife was made in China, and she is the utmost of a 'quality' human being.

statikuz

NorCal - excellent and well-thought-out reply. Pretty much touched on everything I had left to say.
They are are Korean-owned tire brand - they have research centers and manufacturing plants in several places, one of them being in China, where the OP's tires were made.

2000xl_toronto

I would just like to add that I don't think you can go with Michelins for any application/vehicle. If I only had the cash to buy them!

stryker

Well, Ford is building it's 3rd plant in China. I wonder how many unemployed Americans are being sent to China to work?


http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/0..._n_299629.html

Bondo

There will be some Americans sent to China to work in the plant, mainly Engineering and Management. It is good we will be selling in China American owned goods just like Toyota and all the other Japanese car makers sell us their cars built here in the USA.

Where the unemployed Americans need to work is here in the Ford plants after we get rid of the UAW who are about to put Ford in a bad disadvantage by not voting in any consessions in thier new contract. What the UAW doesn't get is that they are one of the major reasons GM and Chrysler had to be bailed out. But then the UAW now owns about 17% of GM and 60% of Chrysler.

Ford didn't take any bailout money, so now members of the UAW are trying to leverage Ford so that maybe they can get a percentage of ownership of Ford too!

I have worked with the UAW. Fat worthless bastards period! They should all be let go from Ford and replaced with the many unemployed Americans who would be more than qualified to do their job.

In China they have no Unions. What China does have is the major ownership of all the Treasury bonds we print up to cover the debt on the Billions we have paid Wall Street and the Billions we have spent in the so called Stimulus Package. We better start selling durable goods to China or our grandchildren's grandchilrdren will still be paying interest in these bonds.

Way to go Ford! Sell the Chinese all the cars you can!

Bondo