Eighty dollars. That’s all I spent on each all-terrain tire I have wrapped around my 1991 Jeep Wrangler YJ’s 15-inch five-spokes. Typically, I think tires are one area where one should not ever “cheap out,” but I took a risk this time at my local neighborhood Walmart, and I’m glad I did. Here’s why.
Oh I’m going to get some flak for this one. Mention “cheap tires” in any car-enthusiast community and you can expect to get eviscerated. And I get it! Tires are the glue between a vehicle and the ground; without good ones, you can kiss acceleration, braking, handling, fuel economy, road noise, and all sorts of extremely important vehicle attributes goodbye. Tires are just too important to compromise.
My philosophy for the longest time has been to purchase junkyard tires. My view was that I’ve purchased many used vehicles without immediately replacing their tires, so used tires have been good to me. More importantly, junkyard prices meant I could get high-quality, brand-name rubber for less than a brand new cheap tire. “A quality-brand tire is more important than the tire being brand new,” I reasoned after checking the tread depth with a gauge, reading the manufacturer’s date on the sidewall, and inspecting the tire closely for defects.
This strategy has worked out great for me. I’ve had all sorts of fantastic Michelins and Firestones and Goodyears and Nexens and BFGs and all sorts of other quality brands on my vehicles — all from junkyards. It’s just one of the many ways working on my own vehicles and frequenting junkyards has let me drive vehicles with components that are much, much more expensive than I could ever afford new.
But my move to California has put what I hope is a temporary halt on my access to cheap, used junkyard tires, so a few years ago when I bought my 1991 Jeep Wrangler YJ, I headed to Wally World.
The Kumho Road Venture ATs that came on my Jeep were too large, and were rubbing on my rear fender flares. What’s more, they were old and dry-rotted. They had to go.
I wasn’t really up to spend a ton of money, but when my local junkyards and Facebook Marketplace came up short, I went to Walmart.com and filtered for all-terrain tires under $90. These are the two I got, with the very cheapest tire being one called a Dextero All Terrain DAT1:
Only $80!
To put that into context, the average 235 75R15 all-terrain tire probably costs about $130, with the cheapest name-brand being the Goodyear Trailrunner A/T at $105 a pop at my local Discount Tire-equivalent. Multiply that $25 delta by four and the Dexteros save you $100 even over those cheap Goodyears.
Image: Walmart
“But who the heck even is Dextero?” you might wonder. Well, according to the brand description on Walmart’s website, the tires are actually made in the good ol’ US of A!:
The DEXTERO ALL TERRAIN DAT1 is an AT tire designed to deliver excellent performance on or off the road. The tread is designed for superior grip on wet or dry roads and offers great self-cleaning for off-road traction. The rugged tread compound features long tread life and improved cut/chip resistance. Five-Pitch pattern technology reduces road noise for a quiet and comfortable ride. The DEXTERO ALL TERRAIN DAT1 is a fantastic choice for your SUV or Pickup Truck, with most sizes proudly made in the USA.
The brand itself isn’t American, though. It’s actually part of Singapore-based Giti Tire Group, which operates eight tire manufacturing facilities, with one having opened in South Carolina back in 2017. Still, the fact that these tires are made in the U.S. makes me feel less uneasy about buying them this cheap, and any remaining unease disappeared once I installed them on my YJ. These tires are surprisingly decent both on dry pavement and off-road.
On pavement, the tires are fine. I’ve really only driven it on dry roads, so your mileage may very in the wet (admittedly, Southern California roads represent the easiest testing-ground for a set of tires, as there’s rarely any moisture, so perhaps my expectations for these tires were too low). Tire noise is good, ride quality/comfort is good enough to where I don’t notice it on my already-bumpy Jeep Wrangler YJ, grip is more than I need for my application, and fuel economy isn’t something I’m going to be able to test driving this old brick. Treadwear after 5,000 miles appears normal.
Off-road, the tires have great grip on dirt and rocks. I tend to air my tires down to 20 PSI when I’m off-road, and that made for good ride comfort to go along with the grip.
If there’s one complaint I have it’s that some of the lugs get damaged every time I go off-road. Here you can see some broken pieces and just general wear (of course, I’m sure if a more expensive tire would have fared much better.):
But for my use, these USA-made Dexteros have been fantastic and worth every penny of $80. At least on my old Jeep in Southern California conditions, I just don’t know that spending even another $25 per tire on nicer rubber would have netted me significant enough benefit — or at least not one I can prove with data. And that’s exactly where I like to operate: On the “knee” of the benefit-cost curve, right at the point where spending more cash yields diminishing returns.
I’m not the only one. The tires have over 3,700 reviews on Walmart.com, with an average rating of 4.5 stars. For the most part, based on my internet research, it seems these tires are considered a solid value.
P.S. For my wife’s car, I bought Michelin CrossClimate II’s at an outrageous $1000 a set. I will do this again when they wear out.
The only car that cheap, off brand tires go on is my air-cooled Beetle. I drive it maybe 500 miles a year, mostly in town, always in dry weather. I think the last set I got were like $70/tire or something. And whitewalls!
But for my daily I always buy ultra high performance all season tires. My go to for years has been the Continental DWS 06+. They aren’t cheap but I’m happy to pay extra to get something that’s been around a while from a well-known brand. They’re quiet, have great grip in the dry and rain, and good enough for the occasional snow we get around here. If I’m keeping pace with traffic going 80+ or hustling down back roads, I want the best rubber I can get between my car and the road.
Are your wheels the 225/45/17?
Yep! They’re a set of TSW Nurburgring wheels I’ve had for ages. Although I ended up getting 235 tires, just a bit more grip and sidewall to protect against curb rash.
Those are $190 a corner where I live, ouch. I get it though, I’m about halfway through the ‘lifespan’ of my cheapies and they’re going to be trash soon. I’m doing all the front suspension next weekend, so I’ll probably get my new ones then adn pay for the alignment
I had some time so I hunted for a good deal, I got mine from Tire Rack and had them shipped to my local Discount Tire. I want to say they were about $160 or so apiece and I got a rebate from Continental. Still not cheap but worth it in my opinion.
I have the DWS 06+ on one of my cars – great performance, but the lifetime is a little less than ideal – I think they typically last in the mid 20K miles region.
That sounds about right, honestly, though so much of it is driving style. My fiancee is a more relaxed driver than I am and he’s probably going to get closer to 35-40k on his. I managed 30k on a set back when I was in college despite being a pretty enthusiastic driver at the time. I’m willing to sacrifice lifetime for better driving dynamics, though I understand that’s not everyone’s use case!
I’ve stated it before. I am only buying Goodyear after a certain “world leader” told his countrymen not to buy from basically the ONLY wholly USA based and owned tire company. Imagine that, a US president telling citizens NOT to buy American
Titan Tire
Vogue Tyre
Cooper Tire
Douglas Tire
I’ve had great luck with Wal-Mart’s Douglas brand tires on my truck. I’m on my second set of them on this truck. I get around 5 years out of each set.
I also add the road-hazard warranty so if I run over a nail/staple/box wrench and it’s not in the sidewall, they just fix it for free, as well as lifetime tire rotation for free, too.
My only complaint is having to wait at Wal-Mart while they fix the tire, and having them not know how to re-install my hub caps afterwards.
My dad put a set of these on his Suburban, they’re surprisingly good.
I’m sorry, but you cannot print a good-faith tire review that does not include an assessment of how the tire performs in wet conditions.
The tires on my Toyota when I bought it were cheap, but they were okay for driving in dry conditions. The first trip in the rain was a rude awakening; it was a nightmare and bordered on being unsafe. In the snow, they proved to be almost impossible to drive on until the streets were cleared.
No doubt to fully understand the performance of this tire, it needs more time in the wet, which is why I made that mention in the story. My test conditions are super favorable, which is a reason why I felt comfortable buying the tires in the first place.
I wish he could have bought something from an independent local tire shop to help the local economy but they can’t compete on price anymore.
For my toys, I generally try to buy used from local shops/’yards. But the used market here doesn’t offer a ton of savings.
I feel ya there. In Austin, a lot of tire shops sell used tires for $40 or more… I’m not paying that when I can get new 205/55/16s for $8 more at Walmart for either my Kia or my fiancee’s Honda.
I agree , local independents just can’t compete on price which is sad.
They can provide a rich source of great stories told while swapping tires though , which sometimes is worth the price of admission!
Local independent tire shops can most definitely compete on price.
Serious question….
New tires from an unknown manufacturer or used tires from a premium brand/line?
As I said in the piece: Used tires from a premium brand for me.
I was onboard until you talked about the chunks coming out when offroading. That’s a fairly core useage for that tire. Seems like the $105 Goodyears would have been the sweet spot.
Pulling chunks out of the tread is part of off-roading; there is no way around it, good tires or bad.
I’ll give you that. I used Wrangler Duratracs on my Jeep when I lived in CO. I had a few pieces chunk off, but it was when going over the really nasty stuff. I did have trips where nothing happened to the tires. He didn’t clarify how crazy his offroading adventures got.
It’s too bad that they don’t make Mucho Macho tires in your size!
Cosmo MuchoMacho Tires | Find & Buy New Tires – Online
I just can’t bring myself to buy off-brand tires. My shopping process is usually to first look at what Tire Rack has. If their review results are good and there is some sort of rebate, that’s what I go with. That’s how I ended up with Continentals on the minivan and my daughter’s Forester, Goodyear Eagle Exhilarate on my son’s WRX, Falken Azenis FK510 on my Boxster, and General G-Max on my 500 Abarth. We killed SIX tires at the Lucky Dog endurance races a couple of weekends ago, so tires are just something that I have to send money on.
I have had Falken Azenis in a previous fast and furious life. Those babies were soft and sticky. I loved ’em.
How are they treating your Boxster?
They are doing well. These are not the 200 treadwear Azenis 615K+ or 660+. I have used 615K+ on the racecar and they are grippy. The Azenis FK510 (which I have on the Boxster) are a 300 treadwear tire so they are a good Ultra High Performance 3-season tire. I have replaced the rear Falkens once already – I got 4 years of mostly mountain road use since 2020 – because the Boxster eats rear tires if driven with any aggression.
For an engineer that worked for a major OEM, you make me shake my head sometimes. Though maybe that’s the point, you certainly generate a reaction.
Read about WalMart’s dealings with Kitchen Aid and Vlassic Pickles…
Now come and tell me that the tires supplied to WalMart aren’t a lesser grade than seemingly similar products at a different vendor.
FFS, buy a decent tire from a name brand that actually has a fully developed R&D department that actually tests and vets the products. Giti is better than some, but you’d have been miles ahead with something from one of the Big 4, and might have supported domestic jobs while you did it.
Counter-point: these are vastly superior to bald, worn, or long-aged-out-and-cracked tires.
Which would you rather see mounted to the Nissan Altima passing you in the rain?
No question about that… You’re absolutely right there, but in this case, the extra $25 per for the GY’s would have been money well spent.
The less money spent at Wal-Mart, the better off everybody is.
Doesn’t matter, the Altima is still hitting something.
I can certainly relate to this as I was searching for 16 inch tires just about the time they were all finally replaced by 17 and up rubber. as a result I had to source two of the same exact tire tire(on paper) from the Walmart shelf. Imagine my surprise when I tried to put all four on and realized that even though the named/brand and tire size was the same, the trad pattern and overall tread width at the point where the sidewal met was in fact different. enough so that I used two of the non walmart ones in back as they looked physically wider on the car as well.
Talked to a guy at the Tire Factory in Des Moines about that since they were Firestones and he believes they send old tooling to China to be used or repaired and then used in Walmart factories over there. Basically Walmart has pushed so hard and has so much clout that corners get cut drastically on Walmart parts.
There’s a reason I know from which I speak, your Tire Factory contact isn’t completely correct in that WM does not manufacture their own tires, but the quality of ANY name brand of tire sold there is less than those seemingly same tires sold elsewhere.
As you noticed, at least one major manufacturer has elected to change the tread patterns and names of their WalMart exclusive products so as not to dilute their more established products.
Dude.. I couldn’t agree with you more. Don’t skimp on tires this much, your safety relies on them, especially with a family.
Think I’m being dramatic? Maybe.
But I was a dealer tech at the tail end of the firestone recall and was an EMT at the same time. And YJ’s are not the most unflippable vehicle I’ve ever seen…I don’t care how good of a driver you are.
I’m not trying to flex here, and I apologise if I sound arrogant… I’m just saying that once you see certain things first hand… it changes you.
My job as an engineer is to optimize. That means not paying for capability I don’t need. This is a vehicle I drive maybe 3,000 miles a year, and in a dry climate. They’re supporting domestic jobs (they are made in the U.S.), and they are highly rated by people who use them for jobs much, much more challenging that I’m going to put them through. This was just a smart purchase.
Ok, well, hope it works out.
It’s been working out for two years now!
Unfortunately, tires are kind of like a seatbelt in that you won’t need the full capability until you do, and when you do, you’re going to need it really bad, right now.
I’m glad they have glowing reviews, and undoubtedly, they’re better than what was on there… but that’s all that can be said for a WalMart exclusive tire.
David – you’ve been away from engineering too long. No objective tests to verify that the tires are just fine in any condition. Other than noise and comfort, you have no idea if these are junk unless you perform traction limit testing. The main reason to pay more for good tires is the results of these limit tests. Taking an extra 50 feet to perform 60-0 mph is the difference between no accident/mild accident and something serious. It’s also the $100 difference for your safety….
I’m disappointed in you for writing this article.
No need to be disappointed by my opinion of some tires. I’m not going to lie and tell you they haven’t been good for my needs, because they have been.
Empirical data is GOLD, I totally agree. Sadly, not a whole lot exists, whether for the Dextero or the Goodyear Trailrunner. What does exist is thousands of user-submitted reviews based on experience, and that has value in the absence of concrete data. Take that, the fact the tires are made stateside, the fact that they’re seeing limited use in a favorable climate, and the fact that they’re going on a vehicle like my YJ, and these tires meet my personal Functional Objectives very well; I’m 100% satisfied with them, as are the vast majority of users.
There’s always a performance-cost tradeoff on… pretty much anything. You want to make sure you are spending the money where you need the capability, and you could easily argue: You do need the capability! What about an emergency stop or maneuver? Totally. I just wish there was anything to show me those Goodyears would perform better, because in a capitalist world where every penny is pinched by everyone, telling me “That brand on the sidewall means it’s better” just isn’t necessarily true (I’ve had some horrible Goodyears, for example). Sadly, the “$100 difference for your safety” quote is not rooted in data; I wish it were!
Of course, as I mentioned in the story, I knew I’d get Flak just for purchasing a budget tire, and it’s worth reiterating that your mileage may very! I myself almost NEVER buy budget tires (I bought my wife CrossClimate IIs for her Lexus, and I’m buying some expensive ATs for my Comanche, which will see more use/load and probably snow), but I did this one time and the tires were good. No need to be upset about my opinion of how these tires have performed for my needs.
CrossClimates and II’s are very very good, at everything.
They are incredible.
I was skeptical, but these have a center stability and handling rib. They must be good
You’re a brave man, David. I never would have considered Dextero as a smart tire choice. I’ve known too many people who have bought Dextero and regretted it.
The cheapest tires I’ve ever bought were Mulli Mile/Grand Ams and Prime Well, and I came out well. I was really pleased with Prime Well, which are the only Chinese brand tires I actually recommend.
At least you didn’t choose Ling Long. Those things are a crime.
Forceums….at least it was not Forceums.
Forceums? That’s a new one for me. Sounds like one of those brands sold at the tire shop that was an abandoned convenience store two weeks ago.
And on that matter, someone opened a tire shop in my area earlier this year. It looks like a shack that was hidden in the woods yeas ago, and yet I hear they’re doing good business. Still, I’m not going there.
I’ve had good luck with random name Walmart tires. Especially tires from horizon tire. I believe they are the US branch of Linglong one of the biggest tire manufacturers in the world. Milestar was also a bargain tire that seems to have made a name for themselves as well as general both tawianese. I have Dexteros on a truck and they work fine giti is mainly Indonesian I believe Chinese Indonesian but headquartered in Singapore for the normal reasons. They also make primewell that seems to have a growing reputation as a decent cheap tire.
Prime Well, yes. Ling Long, no. My friend worked or a tire shop and said Ling Longs were terrible to mount and align. the only reason people bought them were because they were cheap. My employer once had Liong Long mounted on a company fleet car. I drove the car after it came back from the shop, and argued with the fleets manager until he took the car back and exchanged them. I wasn’t going to spend the company’s money on cheap-ass tires.
And we can forget about Good Ride and Double Coin.
The horizon tire brands seem to be well made the ling long branded tired I’ve seen in the us seem to leave a lot to be desired. I know someone who claimed you just had to know how to balance them. I wouldn’t be surprised if the ling long branded tired we get in the US are the rejects that get thrown in a shipping container and sold for cheap.
I get it, especially when I look at what AT tires cost. My uncle put a set of milestars (I think) on his truck and has been really happy with them, cost was on the order of half of what a set of KO3s will be for my 4runner. If It wasn’t my wife’s occaisonal commuter and out main long trip car I’d almost be tempted in spite of the iffy luck I’ve had with cheap tires.
For me its business in the front, party in the back. Every season I shred a set of rear tires on the V, so I go with cheap rear tires with decent reviews.
My old M Roadster used to murder rears as well so I tried the same. It unsettled the car and made it kinda tough to feel what the rear was doing. Not so bad that I replaced them early (not hard when they only last 8-10k) but that thing was a little loose/squirrelly anyway, so I went back to paying thru the nose for Michelins at both ends.
I was warned of that as well but lucked out! The different rubber doesn’t seem to cause any problems (so far) but I dont take it to a track or anything like that.
I started doing the cheap new rear tires thing 10 + years ago when the Craigslist supply of stock 275/40/18 rears dried up. The dry rot Goodyear Eagle F1s were cheap and made good smoke shows
Yeah, my E46 M3 used to go through rears in about 10,000 miles, even without burnouts. Just didn’t seem to matter. Fronts would usually last 25 – 30k. But brand can be important. While out of work, I put a set of General UHPs on as they were quite a bit cheaper than the Michelins, and there were some favorable comments on a forum I followed. They were crap. As soon as I could afford it, I replaced them with the standard Michelins.
Nest post:
Here are all the places I got stuck and eventually crashed my YJ…
How they last may be another thing entirely…
In the article, he wrote, “But my move to California has put what I hope is a temporary halt on my access to cheap, used junkyard tires, so a few years ago when I bought my 1991 Jeep Wrangler YJ, I headed to Wally World.”
So he’s already had these a few years before he wrote this article.
I think it’s a fair review… But then again, I buy Wal-Mart tires, too.
I put the cheapest ‘West Lake’ brand tires on my full sized van one time. They were fine. I drove several hundred miles on one trip in that van and the tires were totally good on the highways. For a non-high-performance application, cheap tires are fine. In my experience, the worst tires are Bridgestone tires. They maybe name brand, but they never come close to rated mileage and my Bridgestone runflats self-destructed when I ran one flat for a day. Continental runflats on the same car never did that.
See, I actually had a terrible experience with West Lake tires lol. Horrible in snow; I mean undrivable.
I’ll be uneasy for you then. That sounds worse than the similarly priced tires from other countries, at least to me.
Where are they saving money to make tires at a profit at only $80, in 2025? That doesn’t sit right with me.
They save money by not spending millions on advertising them. They don’t own a blimp. They don’t sponsor racing teams. They don’t supply all the tires to Formula1. I assume they don’t pay David to be an influencer…All that costs A LOT of money. And it all adds to the cost of the end product, no matter if it’s good or bad or sometimes feels not quite worth the cost of entry after plunking down a lot of money.
Walmart likely makes FAR less per tire than most other places that sell tires and is happy to do so. Why? Because you’re sitting at Wal-Mart while they put them on, you’ll very likely be doing other shopping while you’re there. They’ll make their money on you by just having more other stuff to buy while you wait.
“Where are they saving money to make tires at a profit at only $80, in 2025?”
A royalty free design, fully amortized equipment, disposable right to work labor and massive tax breaks?
I’ve been a sucker for Vredestein. My Smarts came new with Continentals and they sort of just suck for the application. They wore quickly, were slippery in light snow, and were a relative fortune for how cheap of a car they were mounted to.
In 2017, I found a set of new Vredestein Quatrac 5 tires on eBay, and it was like night and day. They lasted twice as long, had better winter traction, and were nearly half the price. I don’t even think about Continental anymore.
Vredestein tires are decent. I had a 3 peak snowflake all-season tire on a S60R and was shocked at how good they were at everything, for the price.
The Vredestein Pinzas on the CrossCab are legitimately excellent, as you’ll soon find when you rally it in Texas.
The Vredestein Quatrac tires have been one of my favourites I’ve used. Unlike other All-Weather tires, they seem to excel in cold/wet and, yet, still perform like a proper all-season when it’s hot out. Albeit, a slight tradeoff for the snow compared back against something a bit more winter-focused (like Nokian)
That being said, for an all-weather, I have not had anything yet as good as the Michelin CrossClimates. They work everywhere, any time, in any weather.
On another vehicle, however, I have a set of the Vredestein Hypertrac tires and I’m not impressed. Far from the performance I had with a set of Pirelli PZero AS prior.
I swapped the OEM tires on my Impreza for Good Year Weather Ready 2’s this past January. Good in the snow, great in the wet, very good in the dry. Came through a very hot summer just fine, do not see excessive wear. Cost about 2 mpg compared to the OEM’s which are hard as rocks in the winter, I will be very happy to get 40k miles with still safe tread left. Saves me a fortune in mount and balance for winter tires, once in the late fall and then again in the spring, or buying a second set of rims and winter tires and having those swapped twice a year.
For $100 you can just get goodyears? That’s not enough savings to take this gamble…
TBH in my experience Goodyears are not all that great.
My experience is that the Goodyear premium lines are good, but everything below that is inferior to other brands at similar pricing.
That tracks…
I had a set of Goodyear’s on my DeVille that doesn’t get a lot of miles, and they degraded so quickly and balanced horribly. But they were Walmart cheap Goodyear Marathons. The name on the sidewall is not everything. They were replaced with more Walmart Goodyear Reliant because at black Friday they were even cheaper than the no name brands… They were still making some money on those at $69/ea.
On the other hand the Goodyear Wranglers on my S10 Blazer were older than the first set of DeVille tires, and they are still in better shape. So the name is one thing, the line is very much another.
Sure, but he passed on Goodyear Wranglers. But, that’s what gets views “I tried the cheapest tires I could find”
I was about to buy those same Dextero tires for the 99 XJ that doesn’t get a whole lot of use on or off road. Then I found some Summit Trail Climbers on FB that were new/unused for $50 each and went with those instead.
I have a set of whatever the cheapest thing NTB was selling in my size, and I bought them out of desperirate necessity. Altezza I think? I know they don’t seel them anymore. They were a 48k mile, and now I’m at about 22k on them and they’re already worn looking and pretty much all grip they had is gone. I didn’t expect them to be great, but after the first rotation I noticed how worn they were already, and started putting money aside for something better. I’m going to be lucky to even get 30k out them at this point. I’m going full Vimes Boots theory for the next set I buy.
tires are outrageous. the OEM replacements for my 2014 JK unlimited were the BFG mud terrains. they were approaching $300 each when i was getting ready to put a set on. I just could not accept that. I got on FB market place and found a guy that dealt in take offs. went from the factory 255/75 17 to a set of 5 sahara 255/70 18 A/T’s on the rim ready to bolt on minus the TPMS for $450 with less than 1000 miles on them.