Obama's Tariff on Chinese Tires, is a Tax for Americas Tire Purchasers.

Forbes/the lid ^ | 9/21/09 | The Lid

[PugetSoundSoldier]

Michelin, Cooper, Coker, Goodyear, Goodrich, Firestone, Bridgestone all get some tires made in China.

And remember that the biggest tire recall in US history - the Firestone/Bridgestone ATX tire recall, after dozens of crashes and several deaths - were for tires made in Illinois with that great “union labor”.

[Alberta's Child]

Good question — I don’t know. I don’t think I’ve ever owned a set of Michelin tires.

[PugetSoundSoldier]

Tread separation is the same defect that led to the recall of millions of Firestone tires in 2000. At the time, tire failure was linked to an increased risk of rollover of light trucks and S.U.V.’s.

Remember, those tires were made in Decatur IL with union labor, at a plant that was closed after the defects were revealed...

I guess we ignore shoddy union labor because it's "BUY AMERICAN" that's important, doesn't matter if people die from that American union labor.

[Old Professer]

Spoken ‘posthumorously’...

[Paladin2]

Firestone had "issues" for decades. After the Firestone 500 debacle, I bought a couple of Firestone 721s, one of which had a partial delamination.

I've never had a manufacturing quality problem with Michelins and found them to be universally round.

Goodyears have been OK and Goodrich's OK over the years. Bridgestones have been fine in "professional" experience though I've never personally owned any.

Tires are a very complex product with ~ 12 significant attributes, most of which are not available to retail buyers.

[Paladin2]

I’ll take that as a (well detailed) no.

[PugetSoundSoldier]

Michelin has a massive tire factory in Shengyang, China. There’s a good chance your Michelin tires came from China.

This isn’t about where it’s made, it’s about how it’s made. There is good and bad engineering, there is good and bad QC. Sometimes it’s from an overseas vendor, sometimes from an American vendor.

Michelin and Goodyear both use a LOT of Chinese labor in their massive factories in China, and both have great quality. You pay more, of course... Bridgestone/Firestone cut corners here in America and had a 13+ million tire recall for tread separation.

I don’t look at the country of origin, I look at the company and their history of product quality. Quality is put in by design (engineering) and you make sure it’s there with QC. Manufacturing will make or break you economically, but the quality comes from engineering and QC - what happens before and after manufacturing.

[Paladin2]

All of my Michelin tires are at least 4 years old and none have been mfg in China.

I'd agree that the engineering and QC are the most important attributes to examine as a consumer. Michelins from China are likely to be fine. I've also had a great experience with ~10 Winterforce tires, mfg in Brazil by Bridgestone/Firestone.

Firestone as a standalone company was apparently never able to master radial tire design. Michelin made radial bicycle tires that worked great.

[investigateworld]

" Foreign competition has brought many benefits to consumers and pain to union thugs. "

Actually, 'labor arbitrage' has brought us a socialist in the White House, and a Democrat controlled legislative bodies.

I believe the long term damage these folks will do will far offset any savings from cheap overseas labor......

[Neidermeyer]

Firestone as a standalone company was apparently never able to master radial tire design.
*****************************************************
Firestones “500” and “721” problems had nothing to do with design ,, it was QC ,, the “500” problem was union backstabbing ,, intentionally gluing all the tread plies in the same spot instead of staggering them around the circumferance,, many of the tires could never be balanced. The 721 was the same ,, unions intentionally hurting the company.. The Ford Explorer debacle was mostly a Ford issue ,, they were selling a heavy compact SUV to (mostly) women ... and they specified a tire size that had just enough extra capacity for the truck WHEN PROPERLY INFLATED. The tire size was also one which was commonly used on cars (in a lower load rating).. The problems came when tires overheated from underinflation and the drivers reacted improperly to a blowout... I would hazard a guess that more accidents occurred with replacement (non-truck) tires on an Explorer than with the OEM Firestones.... With that said there can sometimes be a huge difference in quality between an OEM tire and the “same” tire sold at retail , the Firestone Affinity is HORRIBLE as an OEM and GREAT as a retail buy. Bridgestone has been much more careful with QC on their own name than on Firestones.

[Paladin2]

OEM tires have to meet specs. Should a tire not pass the uniformity standards for the OEMs, it can still be sold in the retail market.

Hence some models of tires at retail are the tails of the distributions. Plus the same "model" can have different constructions in retail vs. OEM.

The Explorer OEM tires didn't apparently have a construction detail common in other truck tires and had a non common failure that would cause all sorts of handling issues.

[television is just wrong]

he has one word in his vocabulary, TAX!

[socialismislost]

I will be sure to look closely next time I need tires. I will not be buying anything made from China. I will buy American made and I will encourage my friends, family and co-workers to do the same. For any Chinese made product. Food, textiles, tires, etc.