Road Lux Tires

[RIDER FAN]

Wondering if anyone has experience with RoadLux tires. They are manufactured by the Chinese. The tire guy i'm dealing with says lots of Semi,s are running these tires now and the Motor Home crowd is buying them like crazy.....??
The Chinese set up shop with machines imported from Germany and other countries and apparently are making a good tire. The cost is very attractive but there is no way i'm compromising safety. I have new Michelins for steering tires , my friend has a Chinese brand called "Hurculeus " all round on his Scepter and has 18,000 miles to-date with zero problem. He says save some $$ and run the RoadLux on drivers...........if you have experience with RoadLux I would appreciate your input. My size is 275 70R 22.5.
Thank you.

[robertgable]

Chineese tires will do a decent job, but beware they have very thin sidewalls and can easily be damaged by hitting a curb. They are also intolerant of lower air pressure. I have over the road trucks and have tried several Chineese brands due to low price, in the long run it was not worth it for me. Stick with big name brands for the best life. I would never use any for steer axle, safety is more important than $$. Just my 2 cents.

[rvarner]

I just ordered a set (6) Hankook AH12 tires and while doing research on forums and google, I never have seen or heard of a tire called RoadLux. Hard to believe they are selling like crazy in the motorhome community. I have seen Hercules tho and think they may be an OK tire.
Rich

I stand corrected. Just found them on SimpleTire. They are a steer tire too and may be ok.

[Gary RVRoamer]

I think your tire guy got a deal on a truckload of them and is blowing smoke at you. If RVers are buying them like crazy, why have the rest of us not heard of this brand?

China tire factories aren't inherently bad, but the off-name brands produced there often lack any semblance of quality control and the all-out goal is to produce a cheap tire. For not much more money you can get a known and reputable brand such as Hankook or Kumho (both Korean), or maybe even a Toyo or Sumitomo (Japanese). Some of their tires factories are even in the USA.

[Crasher]

I'm probably in the minority, but I have always run Good Year or Michelin tires on our motor homes. I really don't care what they cost as my family's safety and my peace of mind is too important. In 20 years with both brands, I have never had a problem, not one.

[blkcloud]

I bought 6 Chinese toyos last June..to this day they smell like a freaking hog lot.. They are almost unbearable when you try to sit under your awning and relax... I would give any Chinese tire the sniff test before I bought some...

[stuhly]

What about some Michelins that are built in China???? No body has much to say about that. The one post on here from the guy that found them on his MH has disappeared never to be heard of again. Don't believe it? Look it up.

[holycow]

I've not heard of this particular brand but keep in mind if they are imported and sold in the USA they have to meet the Fed. D.O.T. specs. Also check in Canada as Many of the Chinese truck tires are used there. There are Chinese made Michelins sold here as well. They all have to meet the Federal standards. Nobody making tires is making anything that exceeds those standards so the chinese stuff is worth a look. Prices on the domestic stuff are obscene and if you can make a better deal somewhere else,go for it.

Another brand to checkout is the Aeolus truck tire. Loves truck stops has them. Chinese made. Have to be careful making product recommendations on here. These moderators will draw and quarter you and make you walk the plank.

[Crasher]

A general comment here. When shopping for tires or any other consumer product, we humans tend to look for the lowest price. When we find it, we have to convince ourselves that the lowest priced tire is as good as the highest priced one. Once we have done that, we are ok buying the least expensive one. I often notice that the people that complain about lost jobs going overseas and away from the USA are the same people buying the cheaper products coming back from overseas. "WE" are our own worst enemy. Tires are just a small fraction of the result of our obsession of wanting a lower cost product no matter where it came from or what the impact to our economy is.

Sorry to rant on. I know we are in a world market, tires included, and probably no turning back now. But, think of what "we the people" have enabled China, Mexico, Japan, Korea, Pakistan and dozens of other countries to take from us? It all happened so slowly that we didn't know it till now it's too late.

[George Schweikle]

Vary appropriate comments . Unfortunately, it is sometimes hard to resist the temptation, as in buying products from Harbor Freight.

Originally Posted by Crasher

A general comment here. When shopping for tires or any other consumer product, we humans tend to look for the lowest price. When we find it, we have to convince ourselves that the lowest priced tire is as good as the highest priced one. Once we have done that, we are ok buying the least expensive one. I often notice that the people that complain about lost jobs going overseas and away from the USA are the same people buying the cheaper products coming back from overseas. "WE" are our own worst enemy. Tires are just a small fraction of the result of our obsession of wanting a lower cost product no matter where it came from or what the impact to our economy is.

Sorry to rant on. I know we are in a world market, tires included, and probably no turning back now. But, think of what "we the people" have enabled China, Mexico, Japan, Korea, Pakistan and dozens of other countries to take from us? It all happened so slowly that we didn't know it till now it's too late.

[Gary RVRoamer]

but keep in mind if they are imported and sold in the USA they have to meet the Fed. D.O.T. specs.

There is a misconception here about "federal DOT specs". The DOT does not enforce quality, or even specify any level of quality or reliability or treadwear. Most of the DOT spec is about labeling and requiring that certain size, load range, pressure and manufacturing plant information be included on the tire itself. There is nothing in the DOT regs that require that a tire be of some level of quality.

The DOT wants good tire information to be available to the buyer so an infoprmed decision can be made, and they want to be able to identify the plant of manufacture is defects show up or a recall is needed, but they do not try to insure there is some minimum level of quality in every tire.

[Gary RVRoamer]

Toyo has manufacturing plants in several countries, including the USA (near Atlanta, GA). They are a Japanese company and have multiple plants there, but also build in Malaysia, China, Australia and the USA. The big Toyo 295/80R22.5's I just bought come from one of their Japanese plants.

Most of the major tire brands now have at least some production in China, perhaps even in the very same factories that also produce some of the less desirable brands. However, they also have their own engineers and quality control people supervising to insure they get a tire consistent with their brand image.

[Smitty77]

Those little patches of contact of the tire touching the ground as they roll, are the only thing that allow you to go forward, backward, steer or stop.

Look at this as one of the most important safety items on your coach. Maintained well and PSI set for the four corner weight pr the tire manufactures recommended values.

Tires should last safely, 5-7 years, so amortize the cost out over that period of time.

As Gary mentioned, I have had tire dealers 'push' the tire of the month, based upon their inventory level, and price margins.

Do your research, and shop for tires that you specify. Compare 'out the door' prices, and also specify that you will not accept any tire with a Born on Date greater then 6 months of age.

In my recent research for tires, I felt that the Hankook AH12 were a great bang for the buck, and met my criteria on quality and safety. I did not end up buying them, as TCI Tire Center had my first choice of tires, Michelin XZA2's in stock with 3 months old Born on Dates. FMCA program helped some too.

Other tires I considered were Bridgestone, Toyo, Continental and Yokohama.

I was also going back and forth between 12R's, which were my OEM size, and 295/80 which would also work well for us on our 8.25" rims. I mentioned this, as the size of our tires, limited the models available to choose from.

China? Well, I've had some very good quality products from China, especially in the tubed HiFi component arena. And I've had junk that in some cases were defective when they came out of the packaging.

I would prefer non China tires, but would trust certain big brands quality control. So Michelin, Toyo, etc. Off name brands, well, they're off name 'labeled' brands - that meet a certain price point, and thus usually have product content that warrants that lower price point. I would not put 'no name' tires on my cars or RV.

I want every safety edge and I can get, for emergency maneuvering, and tires are one of the top things that give me a safety edge.

$.02,
Smitty

[RodK]

My Hankook AH11s were made in China. Going on year 3 with no issues. Very happy with these tires.