Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

How cheap Chinese tires might explain Russia's 'stalled' 40-mile-long military convoy in Ukraine
The Week ^ | MARCH 3, 2022 | PETER WEBER

Posted on 03/05/2022 11:35:44 AM PST by TigerLikesRoosterNew

How cheap Chinese tires might explain Russia's 'stalled' 40-mile-long military convoy in Ukraine

MARCH 3, 2022

PETER WEBER

As the eighth day of Russia's invasion of Ukraine began Thursday morning, Russian forces appeared to have gained tactical control of their first city, the southern port city of Kherson, but Ukraine is still holding out in Mariupol, Kharkiv, and Chernihiv, despite heavy shelling. Deaths are mounting on both sides.

Big explosions were heard in Kyiv overnight, but according to the British Defense Ministry's Thursday morning update, the main body of the 40-mile-long Russian military convoy advancing on the capital remains nearly 20 miles from the city center, "having been delayed by staunch Ukrainian resistance, mechanical breakdown, and congestion. The column has made little discernible progress in over three days."

/snip

Trent Telenko, a retired Pentagon staff specialist and military history blogger, suggests another big reason may be Russia's tires, as he explained in a long, illustrated Twitter thread based on photos of deserted Russian Pantsir-S1 wheeled gun-missile systems and his own experience as a U.S. Army vehicle auditor. "When you leave military truck tires in one place for months on end," the sidewalls get brittle in the sun and fail like the tires on the Pantsir-SR, he wrote. "No one exercised that vehicle for one year."

Karl Muth, an economist, government adviser, and self-described "tire expert," jumped in, agreeing with Telenko but adding some details about the tires.

Karl T. Muth @KarlMuthReplying to @Noahpinion

Bit of a tire expert here. Those aren't Soviet-era heavy truck radials. Chinese military tires, and I believe specifically the Yellow Sea YS20. This is a tire I first encountered in Somalia and Sudan; it's a bad Chinese copy of the excellent Michelin XZL military tire design.

(Excerpt) Read more at theweek.com ...


TOPICS: Extended News; Foreign Affairs; News/Current Events; Russia
KEYWORDS: biden; putin; rasputitsa; russia; tires; ukraine
Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first 1-2021-4041-6061-80 next last

1 posted on 03/05/2022 11:35:44 AM PST by TigerLikesRoosterNew
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | View Replies]

To: TigerLikesRoosterNew

Russians and chinese both get black eyes.


2 posted on 03/05/2022 11:38:17 AM PST by refermech
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: TigerLikesRoosterNew

Don’t those tires come with a 50,000-mile warranty?

Great article 👍


3 posted on 03/05/2022 11:38:54 AM PST by Pez149 (Time to stop saying a theory is fact....)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: TigerLikesRoosterNew

“Might”. Based on one photo of one vehicle.


4 posted on 03/05/2022 11:39:32 AM PST by alternatives? (The only reason to have an army is to defend your borders.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: TigerLikesRoosterNew

Yep. The invaders are losing $15 million air defense systems because of cheap knockoff chicom tires and lazy maintenance.


5 posted on 03/05/2022 11:39:45 AM PST by lodi90
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Pez149

Saw some flat ones. Air inflated? Aren’t ours 100% rubber?


6 posted on 03/05/2022 11:40:14 AM PST by DIRTYSECRET (S)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 3 | View Replies]

To: TigerLikesRoosterNew
Yet another joke post from fake news media.
Are these the same Chinese who make the super high quality iphones, iPads etc etc which Americans just love?
7 posted on 03/05/2022 11:40:35 AM PST by SmokingJoe
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: TigerLikesRoosterNew
I've been waiting for 3 years for cheap China concrete to cause 3 Gorges Damn to burst.

Xi needs something to shift his focus.

8 posted on 03/05/2022 11:41:58 AM PST by G Larry (Tolerance will rise until intelligent people are banned from thinking to avoid offending imbeciles)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: alternatives?

Worst thing to do. Let vehicles just sit. Much better to wear them out than just sit. All kinds of problems.


9 posted on 03/05/2022 11:42:17 AM PST by refermech
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 4 | View Replies]

To: TigerLikesRoosterNew; lodi90

I heard an early report over a week ago now that the forces coming down from the north are largely from Belarus and that those forces were not battle ready like forces from Russia proper. That might explain morale, readiness, and maintenance issues.


10 posted on 03/05/2022 11:46:05 AM PST by Magnum44 (...against all enemies, foreign and domestic...)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: TigerLikesRoosterNew

Do you mean Chinese tires could be the chink in Putin’s army?


11 posted on 03/05/2022 11:48:25 AM PST by jigsaw (God Bless Our Wonderful Troops.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: TigerLikesRoosterNew

Sources on Telegram and Twitter are saying that many of these vehicles have dry rotted brake lines and so forth from no maintenance.

*side note: China is watching very closely because many of the weapons Ukraine has been given have also been given to Taiwan. They now know that any invasion fleet crossing the Strait will be destroyed.


12 posted on 03/05/2022 11:48:29 AM PST by Vaden (NOTICE: Rooting for Ukraine does not make me a neocon)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: refermech

Given the long border and historical face-off between China and Russia, bad tires derailing Russia’s military vehicles might have been a planned feature. Astounding that Russia wouldn’t have tested the vehicles every now and then.


13 posted on 03/05/2022 11:50:07 AM PST by Chewbarkah
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 2 | View Replies]

To: SmokingJoe
..make the super high quality iphones, iPads..

They are just assembling them according to quality control set by Apple. Electronic components for them are usually imported from outside.

Their knock-off copy of Russian war planes are not doing well either.

14 posted on 03/05/2022 11:50:45 AM PST by TigerLikesRoosterNew
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 7 | View Replies]

To: DIRTYSECRET

We use Pirellis. Dago through mud, dago through snow, and when dago flat, dago “wop, wop, wop.” /Lightfoot.


15 posted on 03/05/2022 11:51:40 AM PST by gundog ( It was a bright cold day in April, and the clocks were striking thirteen. )
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 6 | View Replies]

To: TigerLikesRoosterNew

Might be the tires. Or it might be the bridge ahead of them that blown.


16 posted on 03/05/2022 11:52:34 AM PST by moehoward (.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: All

IF ONLY Putin had ponied up for Michelins. Well, maybe next time Vladimir.


17 posted on 03/05/2022 11:53:57 AM PST by BipolarBob (This space for rent.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: TigerLikesRoosterNew
They are just assembling them according to quality control set by Apple.

Un, nope.
The components are made in China too for the most part. The Chinese ARE making the iphones and have been doing so for a long time.
Partly explains Apple's super high, insane profits.

18 posted on 03/05/2022 11:54:54 AM PST by SmokingJoe
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 14 | View Replies]

To: refermech

If you think Chinese tires are bad, you should get a look at their handcuffs.


19 posted on 03/05/2022 11:56:29 AM PST by Mr Ramsbotham ("God is a spirit, and man His means of walking on the earth.")
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 2 | View Replies]

To: TigerLikesRoosterNew

“’stalled’ 40-mile-long military convoy in Ukraine “

Are they really stalled, or are they building up and positioning? I guess it depends on who you ask.


20 posted on 03/05/2022 11:56:34 AM PST by BobL (I eat at McDonald's and shop at Walmart, I just don't tell anyone.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first 1-2021-4041-6061-80 next last

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson