Picking the right tires is an important part of road safety. As you shop for new tires, you should know the tire brands to avoid. You don’t want to spend money on tires that will need to be replaced in short order. Let’s take a look at some of the tire brands to avoid.
If you’re like many drivers, you probably think that every tire on the market must be decent quality. But you’d be wrong. Unfortunately, there are several low-quality tire brands currently on the market that you should avoid.
Key Takeaways
- Only buy tires from high-quality brands
- Do your research and ask questions when tire shopping
- Low-quality tires compromise your safety and cost more over the long run
The Worst Tire Brands
Here’s my list of the worst tire brands:
- Chaoyang
- Geostar
- Telluride
- Compass
- AKS Tires
- Accelera
- Westlake
- Goodride
- Triangle
- Geostart
While these are often sold side by side with other brands like Goodyear and Michelin, they don’t provide the safety and durability that you can get from the better brands.
Chaoyang
This is a company that has been around for a number of years, since 1958 to be exact. It is primarily a bicycle tire company.
Chaoyang has recently gotten into the vehicle tire market but their products are unsatisfactory. You should stay away from Chaoyang tires.
Triangle
Triangle came onto the market in 1976. This company initially started out by producing tires for sweeper cars in Indonesia.
As the car market in China began to get bigger, Triangle switched things up and started to produce car tires instead for their customers.
In 2011, Triangle made some changes that were meant to help them produce better tires. They signed a contract with the University of Akron to help improve their R&D.
While this looked like a great change on paper, the tires made by this company still leave a lot to be desired. ]
When Triangle tires get wet, they barely have any traction. This creates a dangerous situation on the road.
Geostar
Since Geostar is owned by Nankang, many assume that the tires they will be able to purchase from this brand will be great for the road.
But Geostar tires leave a lot to be desired.
These tires tend to do the worst on wet roads or roads with a lot of snow on them because they don’t have good enough grip.
AKS Tire
A little research into this brand of tire will show you why you should stay away from AKS tires at all costs.
These tires have horrible performance. Even when it is a bright, sunny day and you drive at slow speeds, the grip and traction of these tires make you slip and slide around, almost like driving around on plastic.
The performance in less than ideal temperatures or at higher speeds make these completely unacceptable to drive on.
Goodride
Goodride has been on the market since 1997. They make tires for buses, trucks, and passenger cars.
They focus mostly on tires for commercial use and advertise at a competitive price.
The durability of these tires isn’t as bad as some of the others and the wear is decent for an inexpensive tire.
However, the handling and traction you get from these tires are significantly worse than you’d get from other tires in the same price range.
Compass
This one is similar to what we talked about with Chaoyang. Compass started out selling bicycle tires and then moved on to creating tires for passenger vehicles.
Without a doubt, Compass is another tire brand you should stay away from. They’re a bit more comfortable than some of the others on this list and they’re a little bit longer lasting, but they’re still low quality.
Accelera
Accelera is an Indonesian brand that claims its tires are high-performance, but this is misleading (to say the least). Just one drive on them and you’ll wonder how they’re able to get away with such false advertising.
Like most of the other brands on the worst list, you will find that these tires will really struggle when the roads get wet or icy.
Some owners have complained that they had to be gentle with the brake pedals and the throttle to get anything resembling a safe driving experience.
Tarzano
This is a US-based brand that was founded in 2009, making it relatively new to the industry.
The company claims that they offer tires that are reliable and safe on any road conditions, but it won’t take long to see that this is false advertising.
These tires are made with a lot less tread in the center compared to the sides, which can put you in danger on the road.
Westlake
While Westlake tires are primarily sold in China, they occasionally pop up in North American tire shops. Make sure you don’t accidentally buy them!
Since these tires weren’t developed in North America or Europe, they didn’t undergo the rigorous safety inspections that we’re used to here.
This allows the company to make them inexpensively, but this can make them unsafe on the road.
As long as you keep to in-town driving and lower speeds, the tires aren’t bad. But if you ever need to go out of town or drive on the highway, you’ll quickly notice that the grip goes out the window, in dry and wet conditions, making these tires unsafe to drive on.
Sunfill
Sunfill is technically an American brand, but it still manufactures its tires over in China.
When they see an American brand, they assume that the tire will be better than some of the other options on the inexpensive list. However, this is not the case with these tires and it is best to stay as far away from them as possible.
Sunfill’s wet performance, like with most of the tires on the list, is some of the worst, and you will notice that the stopping distances are terrible, especially in wet and icy conditions.
This makes them very unsafe to use in winter conditions.
What Tires Should I Choose Instead?
The good news is that there are numerous great tire companies out there that produce high-quality tires.
Some of the tire brands I recommend include:
The one that you choose may be a matter of personal preference or depend on the type of vehicle that you choose to drive. You can talk with a tire specialist to help you choose which one will make the most sense for your needs.
How to Tell a Tire is Low Quality?
As you are shopping for a new tire, you need to keep quality and dependability top of mind. You want to get the best quality possible for your budget and the type of car that you own.
You can often tell whether a tire is high-quality or not based on looking it over.
Here’s a helpful list of things to examine when determining the quality of a tire:
The Rubber
When you see a high-quality tire, you’ll notice that it has thick rubber. Thin rubber is a sign of a low-quality tire that is unsafe and won’t last long.
Take a look at the quality of the rubber on the tire before you decide to purchase it.
Tread Pattern
The right tread is going to help you stay on the road and can prevent you from sliding around when the weather is lousy.
A tire with poor tread puts you in a dangerous situation.
Check out the tread on the tire before you make a purchase. Poor tread quality means you will spend a lot of money on repairing or replacing the tire often.
Poor Performance
Tires that make a lot of noise when you’re driving will perform poorly. If you notice that they make noise when they’re being inflated, this is a sign that they’re not going to give you the performance you need.
Lack of Information
The tire should display easy-to-find information on when it was produced and more. If you can’t find that information with a quick search, this is a bad sign and you should pick another type of tire.
Poor Inspection
Get information on how and when the tire was inspected by tire experts.
Customer Reviews
If you have time before you purchase the tire, go online and look at some of the reviews that customers have written to find out if this is a good tire for you.
It is important to take your time when picking out a new tire for your vehicle. The right tire is going to make a world of difference in whether you will be safe on the road or not.
Now You Know Which Tire Brands to Avoid
You won’t stay safe on the road if you don’t have high-quality tires. While it may be tempting to choose tires that cost less or to buy used tires for less money, you’re putting your safety in jeopardy.
Also, cheaper tires can cost more over the long run because of how often you need to replace them.
Make sure you stay away from the low-quality and disreputable tire brands we talked about here.