Abandoned by American tire makers...

Thanks. Good to know they're a good tire. And this all confirms my gut feeling - I did feel more like an idiot than a douchebag. If I gotta get import tires to get the damn thing rolling, so be it. Got nothing against 'em, I just wish I could choose. Thanks everyone!

 

I've had Hancooks for 2 1/2 years and their still round, if that helps any.

 

I usually like to buy American as well BUT when I bought my '56 Ford it came with Korean tires on it. Man did I not only drive the s*** out of those tires but I drove everywhere including Regina, Saskatchewan to San Jose, California and from Nor Cal to So Cal and back about a million times and all over New Jersey and New York with no problems. I eventually bought Coker tires because I wanted WWWs and the Korean tires were still good so I gave them to a buddy for his '52 Chevy. Those were one of the best set of tires I ever had they just couldn't be killed.

 

I guess being from Houston (I'm from Austin actually) must have some significance....

Let's not split hairs...the bottom line is you are too cheap to pay the price. You might have decided 2X is what you'll pay for an American tire - but so what? You don't set market prices. And I'll promise an American worker is making more than 2X a Korean worker so there goes your argument out the window.

You should be thankful any tire maker is making tires for a crowd that probably represents .0001% of the tire market.

 

Unless you earning union wages and still have a job you prolly can't afford to not buy them! Not knocking unions, just stating facts, unfortunately.

 

Switch to 15 inch wheels tire availability will be much better

 

Hancock for 3 or 4 years now and happy with them.

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I got news for you - if you'd have bought that size tire from diamondback it would have most likely been a hankook or a toyo tire. They don't manufacture tires.

 

My thoughts exactly!
I had Hancooks on my Imperial. They looked great and were cheap!

 

Do what you can afford to do to get rolling and enjoy your ride. Tires are wear parts, you can always get a set of pricey MIUSA's down the road when you wear the Hankook's out and have money in the budget.

Russco has a point here too. I have a slew of 16" wheels but it was more economical towards getting my project rolling to buy a set of 15" wheels and new tires than a set of 16" tires for me right now.

Getting On The Road > Burning Domestic Rubber

 

Possibly a lot of the American buyers have abandoned the American tire makers,,I don't buy foreign cars or tires. HRP

 

About the only complaint I've ever heard about the zillion variants of Michelins is price. Never belt/tread separation, bizarre vibration issues, massive balance weights required, odd handling.

Well the well worn junkyard Michelin X's I bought in 1967 by mail for my beat up old MGA tossed a chunk of tread, but I also changed them myself and broke the beads by crushing the tire under a car.

 

While this is true, the quality of there work is horrible. I had so much more respect for Koreans before moving here, they have no copyright laws (that are enforced anyways) and they make everything super cheap and crappy and there are hardly any regulations on these factorys here, Never buy korean anything, sorry if this comes off raciest but They are (for the most part) very greedy and will scam your money out from your wallet and your tires will show up made of chewing gum.

 

I was around when Goodyear Polyglass gt`s were new and couldn`t afford them ,wanted them bad then. They are available now at high cost and still have a hard time buying them because of the cost but if you want what you want,there is allways a way to get it.Its a matter of priorities. There is always a way to earn extra money if you look hard enough.

 

I'm still trying to see where you were 'Abandoned' ?
Tyres are the only thing between your car and the asphalt , price shouldn't be a major consideration over quality.

 

When "polyglass tires first came from Goodyear I sold them. They were the hardest riding, out of round, crooked plied, tread cupping tire ever produced and we ate every one of them. I unknowingly put them on my own Pontiac 'cause they were wide and white lettered and got rid of them shortly thereafter!
Early American made radials were almost as bad. Michelin has always been the best passenger car tire on the market( the one thing the Frogs did right) but most radials from anywhere are great today

 

I just bought (5) Hancook 205/75R14's and they were narrow whitewalls....
I didn't use the whitewall side, but so far like them very well...
Good luck...

 

a victim of the propaganda spewed out by the green ( we want to control your life and thoughts) revolution

 

I forsee this thread being shut down due to bullshit in the near future.

With that being said, buy the best tire you can for your budget. I'm working overtime just to get what I want for the roadster.

 

I don't think so,,this kind of thread seems to go on forever. HRP

 

The last three sets of Michelins I bought were made in the USA. Going to put a set on the Falcon, soon. I will pay more for union-made domestic products.

 

I bought Hankook because no American Company offered the sizes I wanted in a blackwall tire.

 

http://www.ohiohistorycentral.org/w/Cuyahoga_River_Fire?rec=1642 It's not like you could set fire to a river or something.

 

Get a set of Guardsman at Sears.

http://www.sears.com/guardsman-plus-p205-75r14-95s-wsw-all-season/p-09533211000P

 

Too bad this is not 1950. You could go into business recapping tires yourself. You could march up to the courthouse steps in Vernal, Utah and and buy your choice of tire manufacturing equipment listed on the sale bill below.





For a period following the post-war expansion of General Tire in Salt Lake City, Wheeler General Tire was in partnership with Frank's Tire Shop in Vernal. Apparently, that relationship did not end well. I found these photos and clippings while researching the history of my Diamond T. I think they provide an interesting glimpse into a simpler time.

 

Of course, that wouldn't solve your problem of finding that particular metric size for your hotrod, or the safety questions.

And you would open up the potential for this headline from 1952-the good ole days.

 

I would not trust that Coker is a straight shooter, he probably has a sweat shop just like Martha stewart does, lol.

 

At one time Michelin did own an almost 10% stake in Hankook. They sold it at somewhere around 550 million, back in 2011.

Also of note, Michelin is a french company, not American.

 

Hankooks and Kumhos are excellent tires. And as has been mentioned, Korea is one of our closest allies so it's not like you're supporting China (which I hate to do). Heck, if I buy a product that has no American equivalent and it's made by one of our Allies, I'm generally quite cool with that (Like my OT cars).

Another issue is.... Whitewalls in 70 and especially 75 series are now obsolete sizes. What was the last car to use a 205-75-14? FWD Cadillac up to 1988? Maybe a Buick Park Avenue up to 1990 or so? I don't think that a car has been sold that's used that size in 20 years. It's probably like trying to find 6.70-15s in 1980, there's so few of these cars left that use them that it's not worth it for manufacturers to produce them anymore.

 

My family was with GOODYEAR tire sine 1922, we had 7 locations at one time. By the late 1980's Goodyear sold out and abandoned any input from the independent dealers that made them famous. It's a long story, but basically they let some "new" people come in and destroy a great company. By late 1990's we were selling with Bridgestone / Firestone, but by late 2008, they abandoned us also, because we didn't sell enoug of their product, so they abandoned us and thousands of other dealers who didn't sell enough........ it's a long sad story of how the BIG American tire company's have screwed up so badly that now only the imports are taking over, selling waht people can afford.