Hey Scotty,
I know Chinese tires are a gamble, but I have no choice. I purchased from a dealer, a 2018 RAV4 and one of the tires had a nail in it that could not be plugged. I told the dealer that I don’t want only one tire to be replaced because it’s AWD. Car can’t pass inspection with a nail in the tire (NY). The dealer agreed to put on all four new Sailun tires.
Should I be concerned about these tires and replace them or just drive on it until they need to be replaced? I actually heard that this Sailun is a big and upcoming player in the North American tire market
I would never have bought the tires but where you got them for free I would just drive them until they wear out.
Now correct me if I'm wrong but rubber is just rubber in the end. I think the price is more indicative on the quality than where it's made.
I work at a dealership where I do tire storage. I've seen some Pirelli (italian brand) tires that were made in russia (funny enough). I've also seen some winter General Tire tires that were made in germany and also a summer General Tire set that was made in USA, even doe it's the same brand. I've also seen one Michelin Crossclimate 2 set, the tires cost 300$ each but they are supposed to last 60k miles. So I would say it's more a question of how much you pay then where it is made.
Rubber, tire design, and manufacturing quality vary widely and there has been no shortage of bad Chinese-made tires on the market. For what it's worth, reviews on Sailun seem to be mostly positive just about everywhere with some caveats that they wear out more quickly than the leading brands. So it appears they are not bad to the point of being dangerous, might as well keep them if they're performing OK.
We bought a Volvo a while back that came with Pirelli all season tires, but the compound and tread design made it very noisy, replaced them and a recent Honda came with Bridgestone all season tires that weren't very good in the rain and noisy as well so we changed them out with Continental. Just because a tire is from a name brand doesn't mean they're good for everybody.
Drive the Sailun tires see how you like them. Keep them inflated properly, rotate them timely, they might be alright.
I would drive them and keep an eye on them. If they don't wear properly or start acting up, swap them.
I run Pirellis exclusively for both my personal and business vehicles, unless I'm running Nitto NT05's out back and getting serious at the track.
My concern with those will be wet weather. Cheaper rubber might do fine on dry pavement but lose grip fast in the wet. A lot of low end tires have wet stopping distances 20-50 feet farther than premium tires at highway speeds. That’s often the difference between wrecking and not.
Give them a skeptical evaluation at the next rain. If they get squirrelly, I’d bite the bullet and buy brand name.
