Chinese Tyres

[abl567]

Well I can weigh in on both of the last posts, having direct experience in both situations
First the XM1+, I put a set on Six 3 days before the 2008 downunder rally and they have performed very well, good grip wet and dry, low noise levels, but...10,000 miles and they are almost down to the wear marks.
I must add they have done a track day at Oran Park (Thanks Michel) which was a very abrasive circuit and I produce the odd black line or two when the mood takes me.
And yes they are made in Thailand.
That said I have them on both the W202's my folks drive, a C180 and a C240 and they are lasting well, but a W202 does not wiegh nearly 2 tonne or have the torque of a M100.
Regarding the Hilux observation, I recently sold my 6 year old petrol (3.4 V6 4WD Dual Cab) on accountants orders and have taken delivery of a new Turbo Deisel Dual cab and the new one is miles ahead in refinement, road holding, comfort, convience and driving enjoyment, time will tell on the reliability side, I never spent a cent on the old one other than normal services.
And 820kms from 6.7l of deisel speaks volumes.
To use the old disclaimer...My 2 cents

 

[Styria]

Hi abl567, I think he was mainly referring to the engine itself, although his remarks seemed to cover the whole car...again, you can only quote what others have said "in their opinion". I mean, I have seen your latest acquisition, but could not have been more impressed by its appearance and layout of cabin controls and comforts. Regards Styria

 

[SEL_69L]

The Chinese are like what the Japanese were 30 to 40 years ago, when they had the flexibility to make anything to customer's requirements. The Japs were good at what I would call 'product engineering', with products engineered to a price, where they would make an article to the quality specified by the customer. If you wanted cheap, that is what you got, and conversely for expensive. The japs don't do that anymore, because like Australian and American companies they exported most of their manufacturing jobs th China, because anything could be made much more cheaply there. Particularly in Australia, and mostly in America too, export manufacturing industry is either dead or nearly so. With education in China since the Cultural Revolution there has been very heavy emphasis on mathematics science and engineering. This is the sort of educational revolution that Japan went through after the end of WW2. Now, as expected, it is showing up in Chinese commercial engineering capabilities. This explains why Daimler Benz is confident enough to set up the manufacture of E Class cars in China.

 

[BenzBoy]

On Friday I had my Continental fitted to the ML.
Colect car from work, fit new tyre to wheel, wrap auxilliary spare in bright yellow Continental bag (reusable to store the 2nd spare in the boot), rotate tyres, align, wash car and return car to work at exactly the time specified. Excellent door to door service. $300. I call that value for money and not a Chinese tyre in sight.... By the way, I now have 60,000 kms on the Continentals and there is plenty of tread left.
Regards,
And an unsatisfactory story: rear gas struts on tailgate were sagging. Local Benz Independent advised having the travelling repair man re-gas them but when I collected the ML they had been replaced by an unknown brand as it was the same price as regassing the originals. All good? No: I have recovered from the concussion I received when I first opened the hatch and the hatch flew up in an uncontrolled manner. I have yet to recover from the banging my head on the tailgate which now sits 5" lower than before.
Moral of the story? Pay peanuts and you buy crap. And guess where the replacement struts were made......................
Regards,
Benz-Boy

Benz-Boy

 

[Styria]

Hi BenzBoy, I read the good and the bad of your story. The $300.00 pick me up, wash me and drop me off job - is that the price for the purchase of one tyre ? I thought you were going to buy two Continentals.

The tailgate struts - are you indicating that the replacements were Chinese made ? ...and how can the tailgate sit, what is it, five inches (centimeters ?) lower ? If you could just clarify that for me.

I have also decided, and am about to pick up and have two new 2.35.40.18 Nankangs fitted to the two new rims I have bought. I had another look at the old units that I had to remove on account of uneven wear - after about two years, they still had about 4 mms of wear left - round about that, so they did last quite well. Regards Styria

 

[BenzBoy]

Hi BenzBoy, I read the good and the bad of your story. The $300.00 pick me up, wash me and drop me off job - is that the price for the purchase of one tyre ? I thought you were going to buy two Continentals.

The tailgate struts - are you indicating that the replacements were Chinese made ? ...and how can the tailgate sit, what is it, five inches (centimeters ?) lower ? If you could just clarify that for me.

I have also decided, and am about to pick up and have two new 2.35.40.18 Nankangs fitted to the two new rims I have bought. I had another look at the old units that I had to remove on account of uneven wear - after about two years, they still had about 4 mms of wear left - round about that, so they did last quite well. Regards Styria

1. One tyre.

2. The replacement struts do not have sufficient stroke to allow the rear hatch to reach full height!!

Regards,
Benz-Boy

 

[Styria]

Silly me ! I just couldn't work out how the tail gate could be five millimeters lower in the CLOSED position. As they say, there is one born every day - perhaps it had been my turn. Regards Styria - well, it's five inches. Wow !

 

[John S]

I had one of those gas strut replacement mobile vans come to our house and replace the struts in my wife’s little shopping trolley (failed just out of warrenty). He could have resealed and regassed the existing struts or replaced them, and as there were two different quality replacement struts to choose from we replaced with the top quality.

The replacements are noticeably stronger than we remember the originals, (but the originals may have been loosing strength over an extended period) but they are also smoother in operation.

As as this point it looks like we may have been lucky?

 

[BenzBoy]

And the finale to the story: the MB Independent replaced the Chinese struts with original equipment ones at his own expense this week. As a result the tailgate goes to its full height again - without causing concussion...
Regards,
Benz-Boy

 

[alabbasi]

I bought a set of michelins in 2009 for my 81 500slc and they began to dry rot within 3 months. I took them back to where I bought them and they refused to believe that they sold these tires to me because the dot date on the tires was 2006. I had the receipt with the serial numbers and they quickly began to back track and say that it's acceptable to have a little cracking on the sidewall.

I was having none of it so i made them order me another set of 205/70/14's. When they arrived, I saw that the dot stamp was also 2006 so I questioned them on it. The manager said that he also saw that but when he called the warehouse, they told him that Michilen makes so few tires in that size because they hardly sell them and that they'll need to clear existing inventory before they get more.

Needless to say, i would not expect a 3 year old tire in daily use to have dry rot let alone a brand new one so I got a refund and went to my neighbor who sells Chinese tires. He hooked me up with a set of Nexxen's for 1/3 or the price. They're quite, grip well and have no signs of dry rot in the last year.

I used to buy brand names all the time. The Michelin's on my 500SLC dry rotted. The Continentals on my 6.9 were completely rubbish and the car would go arse backwards at the first drop of rain.

I've had very good luck with Goodyear. The fact that I have had quality issues with brand name tires, and the fact that I have bought almost 30 cars in the last 4 years (most of which are 'projects'); It's getting harder and harder for me to justify dropping $600 on a set of brand name tires when I can spend $280 on Chinese tires of the same size.

I've had no problems with any of the brands that I have bought so far and while i'm sure that they are not state of the art, I don't think anyone has state of the art tires in the sizes that i look for anyway.

 

[BenzBoy]

The Michelin story is indeed very strange.
If you were to contact Michelin I am sure they would be most supportive - http://www.michelinman.com/contact/
Regards,
Benz-Boy

 

[Styria]

Hi Alabbasi, your story is an interesting one, yet also full of punch and 'mouth from the horse information". As most of you guys would know, 6.9s originally came with Michelin XWXs, 215.70.14 and some fastidious and 'must have originality' owners have paid huge bucks for new replacement XWXs - about $400.00 a pop.

Now, it just so happened that I had three of those tyres, brand new, on hand some little while ago. One was an original (not sure how old) XWX, and the other two were reproduction versions - in other words, from a batch of re-ordered and re-manufactured units, more than likely coming from France. What I discovered was interesting in so far as weight difference was concerned. Whilst I did not put them on a scale, there was no doubt that the remanufactured units were quite a bit lighter (to lift) and did not seem as sturdy in construction. Certainly, I do not know what significance should be placed on that, but you do have to ask yourself why they should have been different.

I must admit that, as a rule, the road traffic authority dictates that I need to dawdle along nowadays to keep within speed limits imposed, and there is certainly no way that I would lose Gleaming Beauty in adverse driving conditions. Even with rain, I have taught myself to stay well clear of cars in front of me, and unless someone else commits a stupid breach or action, there is no way that I'd ever be involved in a collision. The last accident I had with my Rover 3500S was caused by a 'P' plater coming out right in front of me and no matter what brand tyres were used, the collision could not have been avoided. Regards Styria

 

[alabbasi]

Styra

That was also something that I noticed, the Michelins had really soft sidewalls. I had to pump up those tires to more then 45psi for them to sit properly. I suspected that they may have been designed for much smaller cars even though I ordered them specifically for a 450SL (they did not list the 500slc).

I had a set of Toyos on my 6.9 that I eventually replaced because they were dry rotted. I suspect that they were very old. They also needed to be pumped up 45psi.

Neighbor again sold me a set of Hurcules tires for the 6.9 for $280 out of the door in 215/70/14 and they have worked out just fine.

The tire shop that i dealt with did call the Michelin rep who made the manager ask me questions such as "where do you park your car at night?" as they wanted to determine how my tires developed dry rot. They mentioned that it could have been caused by UV light!

As you can tell, I'm done with Michelin's but I'm still a huge fan of Goodyear tires which I will have no problems putting on a newer car. I'm in no way suggesting that these off brands are a better alternative to the brand names but choices for our cars are now very limited and I don't think that the brand name brands are supporting the tire size / load rating combo that we need.

As I have 12 cars, I seriously doubt that I could put 50,000 miles on each one in 3 years so it does not make any sense for me to spend more then double on a set that will more then likely dry rot before they wear out.

 

[John S]

There is an American brand, Cooper I think it is) that has been advertised for a couple of years, claiming extended mileage over other brands, has anyone tried them?

 

[BenzBoy]

There is an American brand, Cooper I think it is) that has been advertised for a couple of years, claiming extended mileage over other brands, has anyone tried them?

Cooper bought Avon to get the Avon technology and although the Avon factory runs seperately, Cooper also make a copy of the Avon called Mastercraft. Both Avon and Mastercraft have excellent reputations as does Cooper which is often the preferred tyre for serious off-road work. Cooper also give you a written warranty as to the mileage and I understand they stand by their word.
Regards,
Benz-Boy

 

[KenM]

Cooper's are the goods for four wheel drives, they do live up to the mileage promises and Cooper are pretty good about warranty claims as I understand. They are much quieter on the highway than tyres like the Goodrich TA and better in the wet as well, on tarmac anyhow. Avon of course have been around for years, I put Avon tyres on my last road bike and they stuck like poo to a blanket, but when they went off they went off big time, lost grip in a real short space of time. Expensive but worth it.

Cheers,