On Sunday i went with our kid sister, to look at some cars that were on her shortlist.
Every single car that we looked at, had Chinese Brand Tyres, i was very surprised.

3 Dealers, 8 Cars of different makes and models and all on Chinese Tyres, what is the motorist world coming to ? No wonder so many cars end up in ditches.

On return home, i checked out some of these 15", 16", 17" chinese tyres / brands on tyreleader.co.uk, no wonder people buy them at £20 to £30 a tyre mail order for V or W rated rubber....Unbelievable.

V or W *rated* or just V or W *marked*???

I bought an approved used Alfa MiTo and the dealer had fitted new tyres - God bless him: Accelera Alpha tyres - easily the worst tyres I've ever driven. In the wet, accelerating down a slip road, the traction control light was on in 3rd gear all the way up to 65mph. On roundabouts in the wet, I could change lane just with the throttle - shocking rubbish. I complained to the dealer who just retorted that they are "legal". They shouldn't be.

I don't think that just because tyres are made in China it necessarily follows that "so many cars end up in ditches".

I expect that as time goes by, more tyres - of a range of quality - will come out of China, just as the case has been with countless other products.

Indeed, I would be surprised if some major manufacturers don't make tyres in China, possibly under other names.

That said, I'm sure there are crap brands at knock-down prices, but it's not a foregone conclusion.

Rated, some with XL ( Extra Load )

Strange that...One of the cars was a Alfa Mito Cloverleaf, Ding Ling Rubber Tyre Company on the sidewalls, strange tread pattern as well.

Chinese tyres are awesome. One of my motorbikes came from the factory with Manlung tyres, it couldn't get round a corner if there was rain due later in the week, but I'd never had a set of tyres last over 20,000 miles before.

Brilliant !

Our second hand Leon cupra came with Woosung Dark Horse tyres (great name) on the front driven wheels.

They literally wheel spun in the wet in 3rd gear !

Immediately changed to Pirelli P6000 at the time, which was a vast improvement.

On the subject of Accelera Alphas, we have them on our Bongo (they are van tyres - extra load) and they've been absolutely fine. I accept that the Bongo isn't exactly a performance vehicle though. The body roll will exceed the grip in most conditions anyway !!

On the front I have cheapo Rotalla van tyres. Which have also been fine.

When we brought a corsa for our daughter they had cheap nasty looking tyres on! I guess I'm a snob, but it was more a case of I could afford to buy decent tyres so I would never forgive myself should she lose control in the wet on crap tyres!
so it was a no brainier michelins on only £200 for four but some people's attitude is well she won't go fast why worry!

It's like anything there is a conscious line between best you can afford and what you think you can get away with (risk management)

My X1/9 had odd Chinese tyres on it at the back when I got it.

I drove it home from Belfast the Liverpool ferry on wet motorways. I was scared to take it above 6o mph, it was that twitchy.

Handling was diabolical wet or dry, I put on a new pair of Falkens and it was transformed.

And yet ten years ago - even today, for some - Falkens would have been sneered at as rubbish.

Things change, as the technology catches up and filters down, but at the moment I wouldn't put the discount end tyres on anything. They're legal, but I don't necessarily trust the rating and certainly don't trust the wet grip.

The interesting thing about the Accelera's (which aren't Chinese) is that they (apparently) weren't particularly cheap. It's what really upset me - had I known, I'd have paid the dealer the extra £30-odd to put proper tyres on it. As it was, I paid to swap them for better tyres and insisted that the tyre fitters destroy them: they were really THAT poor. The label said "A" for traction but I'd say they are worse than my race tyres (with almost zero tread) which are rated "B". Good tyres are "AA"

me too, sold those on ebay with nearly full tread and swopped to falkens all round. Worth the money, acceleras are far too hard to live with at normal psi for the coupe.

so true, good medium budget tyres

Accelera Alpha
Had them on the front of my 156 - no probs.

Me dad had them on his crv - no probs - and that's fwd unless it detects slip which it didn't.

Alfa forum guys managed to avoid the ditches too.

I think in normal, everyday driving they're fine.

My mate has Ling Longs on his 3 litre gtv and doesn't get understeer or ditched.



The only tyres I've used and didn't like were Pirelli P6000. The Chinese Mohawks that replaced them had much better grip and resistance to aquaplaning.

Well, they were quite simply the most dangerous tyres I've ever driven. And, whilst looking up their providence, I came across masses of similar opinions on the various tyre review forums. I didn't spend £120-odd quid or whatever it was changing them because I didn't like the name on the sidewall of tyres that were almost brand new. I simply wasn't prepared to compromise the safety of my wife or daughter driving a car with such rubbish fitted to them.

Another AROC member was in a tyre fitting place where a customer was complaining his car had no wet weather grip. The tyre fitter said he wasn't surprised given he had Accelera Alphas fitted...

It's possible, of course, that they've corrected the issues with the tyres.

Won't be buying Woosung Dark Horses, despite the fab name. But they will catch up in time. I remember as a student, a friend had a Suzuki bike on Bridgestone tyres that rembled hard plastic rings - totally gripless. But now Bridgestone are making very good tyres.