Altenzo Sports Comforter

Hi, I'm driving a Kia Rio 1.4 in Brunei. Considering its purpose as a cheap runabout I use budget tires. To my knowledge Ling Long Sports Master (55BND) and Altenzo Sports Comforter + (65BND) are quite popular for the particular tire size. I've used Ling Longs for 15,000KM and switched to Altenzo therefore I thought it's best to provide a comparison so it's easier for the budget minded individual (why else are you reading this??) to make a decision.

Dry Handling - the sidewalls are too soft in the altenzo and doesn't have stiff blocks in the tread. When you take a corner hard, you can feel the tires bend and hear them screech. Comparatively the Linglongs can hold a lot more lateral Gs without squealing. For example 80kmph max on Altenzo before understeering while linglongs can do same corner 100kmph. One good thing about Altenzo, it will screech before starting to understeer while Ling longs won't make any noise before giving up. Dry Grip, definitely Ling Long are better.

Dry Braking - Linglongs definitely felt better during hard braking with less squirming from the car. Brunei roads are quite uneven but still people drive 100kmph+. Ling Longs clearly better at keeping car stable while steerable under hard braking. But nothing wrong with Altenzo as long as you are not speeding.

Wet Handling - I'm not suicidal enough to push hard in corners in the wet with chinese made tires. Straight line though you still have the confidence to do 80kmph in the Altenzos and Linglongs but not more. Feedback (confidence) in the wet both are similar. Good enough for the law abiding citizen.

Wet Braking - No amount of redbull, midlife crisis or road rage will make me fully brake test in the wet. I wouldn't recommend you to either. Keep plenty of space with the vehicle in front. Same goes for Ling Longs.

Comfort - linglongs were very comfortable tires. The brunei road tarmac is super rough and noisy. When I bought the car it had semi worn bridgestone (damn good they were!) But they were super noisy. The linglongs were quiet and the ride became soft too. But believe me or not altenzo is even more quiet and comfortable. Definitely recommended for people looking for a quiet and comfy ride who doesn't seek corner thrills.

Wear - it's too early to tell. Linglongs lasted 15000km but judging by how the Altenzos look after 2000km, I think they will last longer. But this is just a guess.

Overall - I can cautiously recommend this tire to peeps who looking to just drive about in comfort for the lowest price and high durability(possibly). If you are looking to drive a bit sportier (in a rio really?) The linglongs are a better choice. But honestly speaking if you have the money, upgrade to mid range tires like GT Radial or Kumho as they would probably be safer in the wet. Good luck! Hope this helps.

Put these on to replace Pilot Sport A/S 3's. These were fresh tires (manufacture Feb 2020, installed Aug 2020) and they perform well for the couple thousand km I've put on them. The tread is soft and the pattern is not aggressive so the noise levels are very low and the ride comfort is exceptional. This could also be because they are freshly manufactured. Steering response is good, but the sidewalls are a lot softer than the PS A/S3. Good for comfort, bad for handling and steering response. Still, it's a good trade-off for me. Grip levels are not at the level of the Michelins when new, but are far better than the 5 yr old worn Michelins, obviously. No noticeable wear yet. I got these, including installation, balancing, and HST (tax) for C$400 in 225/50R17. The PS A/S3's would cost about 3x. So for the price it's a no-brainer if you want to save a few bucks. Most of the performance for 30% of the price. Obviously the comparison isn't perfectly fair since these are Summer-only vs the Michelins being All-seasons, but I would never drive the PS A/S3s in winter. I tried it once and it was suicidal - they might as well call that one a summer tire, too.

Got these tires cheap(half the price) in start of 2018(on tire sidewall it sayed 4017 so fresh tire) first summer season i was amazed of the grip level. I have quite long hard right turn in my daily road, where speed limit is set 70km/h, but even going much faster that than- i could push the car hard and it still wouldnt even sqeek. Second year the same corner tires performed also good, but on daly basis i could feel that they dont grip as well as they did, also in hard rain and standing water i could def feel the difference as it was much easyer to aquaplane on highway speeds that prev. year. On start of third year and about 5mm thread left, when i placed them on i noticed that there where littlebit chunks biten off side and middle blocks, not too much to get worried, so drove them hard because i knew that probably this was the last season for them. They got decent grip(didnt slide at all in good weather) but in previous mentoned turn they started to sqeek and even car started to wobble and i wasnt that comfortable anymore to drive that turn that hard... No complains in the feedback section, it was good in all years and i didnt notice any bad feedback. When i turned the wheel, car went that way... no matter the speed. Today as my yearly car inspection is coming this week, i looked at them measured about 3.6mm of thread left on all of them but also on all of them bitten chunks got much bigger i wasnt comfortable for highway safety(and that i would pass inspection) so i swapped them. And because of the bitten chunks i got different brand and not the same. Oh and lastly i will add - i unsuccesfully turned on a curbe and damaged one tire side wall, not too deep and tire fold wasn't seen. So drove them like that last 5k km with regular checks and no bump or lump on the tire occured. So structurally it was good construction tire. Note i swapped on season basis back to front and back. i drive around 17-20k km yearly. For the half price i got them (35€/piece) i consider them a good buy. But for full price score would be lover for this tire. Overall if you can get them cheap, as i did, i would recommend them. As i have no big complains driving them for 3 summer seasons even when i pushed them hard i was comfortable of my safety.