Mozella
New member
Well, you might not normally expect a less expensive tire to match a premium tire in ALL areas of performance, that certainly doesn't make it impossible. Furthermore, pretending that two vastly different automobiles are a valid comparison tool is faulty logic. A dead dog may float, but that doesn't make it as good as a real lifejacket, if that's what you need at the moment. My Rolex doesn't keep time as well as my cheap Casio watch. Elvis's old Cadillac may be worth lot of money, but it is hardly a better car than a modern .......... (name any car here).
Tires are different from cars and watches, mainly because they are (nearly) a utilitarian product. Because of labor costs, local taxes, import tariffs, safety regulations, and other market factors, a tire made in some less developed country may very well be a better value than one made in a country like France, for example, where labor costs are high and costly regulations abound.
To use another example, the French are famous for their wine, but when it comes to relatively inexpensive table wine (a utilitarian product), you can do much better in neighboring Spain or Italy. And, even considering transportation costs, inexpensive table wine from Argentina can be an even better value as long as you live in a country which does not levy a heavy import duty on South American wine. There is a great similarity between wine and tires, as funny as that may seem.
Furthermore, matching in ALL areas is not required for a tire to be "good". I suspect many people would be willing to sacrifice 20% longevity in return for a tire costing one third as much if all the other performance perimeters were equal. I know I would.
Having said all that, I should reveal that I purchased a set of Michelin snow tires this month. They cost a lot more than similar looking Chinese tires, but they offered (according to various tests and reviews) superior performance where it counts; i.e. bad weather.
It is interesting to note that these Michelin's were made here in Italy. Is that a good or bad thing? I don't know. Would I (or you) have a different opinion of these particular tires if they were branded Michelin but said "made in China" rather than "made in Italy"? I certainly wouldn't be surprised to see "made in China" on some premium brand tires in the future but I don't yet know if that might effect my purchasing decision.
I've bought a lot of Japanese tires over the years, but I have yet to purchase any tire made in China. However, that doesn't mean that next year when I'm shopping for summer tires for my Alfa, I won't give them serious consideration.
