RV Tires Great Deal?

[Hooligan]

Originally Posted by Doc Vegas

Seemed a fair price based on internet search, but my big fear was the balancing! They added some kind of sand/beads to balance the tires. Seemed pretty bumpy on the way home. Did I get a bad story from these guys???

Thanks!

There are balance beads and a fine grain (sand) product "Equal". They basically have a good reputation, but like anything else, people tend to love em or hate em... I have used Equal on one set of new tires, had a vibration that required several trips to the dealer to resolve. They removed the Equal to spin balance and replaced one tire due to a tread runout problem. I stayed with the spin balance, but the vibration was not the fault of the Equal....

[StevenNSteph]

Originally Posted by mel stuplich

I found the lowest price for my 6 Michelins at Sam's Club...($180 less than the so called, FMCA "Michelin Advantage Program" price). Mel '96 Safari

Costco for me - they always beat the FMCA price by quite a bit. The only hassle is you need to take them somewhere else to be installed but the savings is pretty substantial when it's said and done.

[Doc Vegas]

Thanks for the thoughts guys. I understand the concerns with Chinese products, and I am not going to defend or bash on them. The fact, most things we use in the USA are made in China, which depresses me as I am a professor at a large university where most of our graduate students are from China. This leads to an undisputable fact, the vast majority of the chinese engineering students I teach are as good or better than the US students. This does not mean they make better tires, but I can assure you they are up and coming with a fleet of engineers are very well educated and trained. The food story someone posted early was a good one, but two of the people responsible were executed by the chinese government while others served served serious prison time.

I guess what I am saying is that likely many parts on all of our rigs are made in China and for certain many critical parts on "american" cars are made in china, including on my 2011 Ford GT500. Want a real challenge? Look for a pair of American made sneakers... or any shoes for that matter. Good luck!

I am not defending Sailun, but I did tend to trust the shop that put on my tires. The owner showed me that his entire fleet of trucks and his own RV was running them. I guess at this point I can only hope as there is no way I am going to pull them off now. The balancing still concerns me, so more comments on how to check to verify if they are, or are not, balanced would be appreciated.

Thanks!

[CruiseMaster]

Originally Posted by Cat320

I had Chinese tires on my last 5th wheel...no more Chinese tires.

What brand of tires are you talking about. Would like to know so I don't make same mistake. Some Chinese brands have good ratings and god experiences by other RV owners.

[laurier]

Originally Posted by Doc Vegas

Thanks for the thoughts guys. I understand the concerns with Chinese products, and I am not going to defend or bash on them. The fact, most things we use in the USA are made in China, which depresses me as I am a professor at a large university where most of our graduate students are from China. This leads to an undisputable fact, the vast majority of the chinese engineering students I teach are as good or better than the US students. This does not mean they make better tires, but I can assure you they are up and coming with a fleet of engineers are very well educated and trained. The food story someone posted early was a good one, but two of the people responsible were executed by the chinese government while others served served serious prison time.

I guess what I am saying is that likely many parts on all of our rigs are made in China and for certain many critical parts on "american" cars are made in china, including on my 2011 Ford GT500. Want a real challenge? Look for a pair of American made sneakers... or any shoes for that matter. Good luck!

I am not defending Sailun, but I did tend to trust the shop that put on my tires. The owner showed me that his entire fleet of trucks and his own RV was running them. I guess at this point I can only hope as there is no way I am going to pull them off now. The balancing still concerns me, so more comments on how to check to verify if they are, or are not, balanced would be appreciated.

Thanks!

Well said. REMEMBER when you use to say that Japanes car were pieces of Junk...Would you say the same nowadays.
And if you check scores at University or colleges, you will also notice that the one's that have the best scores are Chines, Vietnamese, all from countryes that social welfare is not a way of life.

[Fred1609]

Well Japanese cars were pieces of junk...the first Datsun my dad had was junk....I agree that they are now the premium cars.....that doesn't mean a hill of beans with respect to buying Chinese tires.....I'll wait for 20 years when they become the "premium" tire.....then maybe I'll buy them.....I also think there is a difference when a North American firm contracts a Chinese manufacture to build a widget.....The Chinese firm will build it according to the spec provided by the NA company....if the Chinese company decides to buld their own widget that is likely were the POS product comes into the market.....Or if the NA manufacture misses a quality control issue with the widget......We bought snow tires for our G35 and went with Michelin rather than a Chinese tire.....even after our garage suggested that we could save some money by buying Chinese tires....and showed us that the Chinese tire had the same thread pattern as the Michelins.....I will buy a Chinese built air cleaner, tooth brush, maybe even a vacuum cleaner...but not tires...too much risk....Everything in life has risk..its our job as intelligent folks to determine what is reasonable risk....and for me at this point Chinese tires tip the scale at unreasonable risk....and yes it may be that I am an uninformed nutter and the Chinese tires are ok......But old habits die hard....