As my father is not doing a lot of miles, I decided to fit Chinese tires on his car - first ever and probably last time - in order to save money. The manufacturer Yohohama BlueEarth-A tires had start cracking near the rims - not so on the sidewalls - after 18650 miles (30000km) and the Iran war was pushing prices upwards, so I broke my rule of never changing tires during summer; second mistake.
After fitting the tires and driving home, for 12.5 miles (20km), they felt OK. However, after that point they became very harsh and this comes from someone who is driving a Honda Civic Type R (FD2), with coilovers, on Brigdestone Potenza Sport! The curious thing is that the sidewalls of the tires looked as if they were underinflated. Hankook has that appearance, usually and I hate it. I drove to the nearest gas station at night, with cold tires and very low speed to check the air, which was perfect. I lowered the pressure by 1 psi, on each tire and drove home. Same thing... the dashboard was shacking. I talked to the owner of the tire shop, who is a friend of mine and he suggested to lower the pressure further. I did that and still nothing changed. I even tried the tires with a bit more air, because some tires tend to settle that way. Nothing. Comfort my@sster!
Strange as it may seem, this is not the worst aspect of this tire. I have driven lots of cars, under any conditions that you can imagine, and I never had to correct my line once I turned the wheel before a corner. With these tires, on this car, I must make THREE corrections during a long turn! It's like driving on jelly sweets, you have no steering feel, and the front end starts to wash out, WITHOUT running and/or pushing the car.
So, to summarise my review. You have a tire that:
1) Has already a high rolling resistance (high fuel consumption) and you must deflate it in order to be comfortable, which even then is not, so even higher fuel consumption. By comparison, Yokohamas were at least 0.5lt/100km more efficient
2) Has projected high wear (lower mileage), but because of 1) you will get even less mileage
3) Has no feeling, it's like aquaplaning on a dry road, quite often
4) Has no good handling, never mind inspiring.
So, you are NOT paying less money at the end of the day (and the tires), maybe more, with 0 satisfaction and controversial safety.
As much as I wanted to like these tires, based on Chinese evolution in so many fields, so quickly, I regret removing the Yokohamas, because even after 30000km they were MILES better in every aspect than these tires. Furthermore, I regret that I have not installed a reputable brand :-(
I would be very curious to see what Jonathan has to say, once he tests them.
