Why Your Next Set Of Tires Might Be Way More Expensive

Beyond the Dodge Ram truck with 20 turbos and slammed, mid-engined Hummers is a part of the SEMA experience that most car enthusiasts here are likely to avoid: the Global Tire Expo. While it lacks the flash and excitement of some of the other halls, its importance to the average American consumer is hard to overstate.

All the badges at SEMA identify who you are, so mine has a little green strip at the bottom that says “MEDIA.” In some parts of the sprawling Las Vegas Convention Center, this grants me some level of status. Car builders want to reach content creators, both to show off their work and to justify the expense. But there are huge halls where the key signifier is the red strip that says “BUYER.”

Many of the vendors from various Thai, Vietnamese, Chinese, Cambodian, and other tire manufacturers took one glance at my badge and quickly looked away. Because I didn’t represent a regional tire chain like Mavis Tire, I couldn’t do anything for them.

Tires are an expense that most people can’t delay for long, and it’s one of the few areas left in retail where there’s a high percentage of independent and regional chains. That means there’s still space for competition from various manufacturers, but it also means that buyers have to be aware of how tariffs are suddenly impacting costs.

Do You Know Where Your Tires Were Made?

If you’re reading The Autopian, it probably means you’re an enthusiast, so you may only put nicer tires on your car (unless you’re David, and you buy the cheapest A/Ts at Walmart [Ed note: Those tires are made in the U.S. and not subject to tariffs! -DT]). Tire manufacturers and sellers talk in terms of tiers, with brands like Michelin and Continental at the top as “Tier 1” tire suppliers. Below that are slightly more affordable “Tier 2” tires, like a Firestone or Uniroyal. These are always shifting, but if you can recognize the name of a tire, it’s probably at least a “Tier 3” tire. Think Nankang.

And then there are the “Tier 4” tires. These are brands you don’t think about until you have to think about them, and that’s probably the first time you replace the original tires that came on your car. Then, all of a sudden, you’re driving out of your regional tire company with a set of Roadlux rubber.

The mix of distributors here at SEMA makes sense when you look at who imported the most tires last year. According to the industry trade publication Modern Tire Dealer, the biggest importers in 2024 were Thailand, Mexico, Vietnam, Indonesia, Canada, South Korea, and Cambodia.

With everything getting more expensive, the buyers for these tire chains were looking for tire manufacturers (and tire accessory companies) who could help keep costs down.

How Style Is Making Tires More Expensive

I spoke with a representative of a Chinese and Vietnamese tire manufacturer who provides a tire for nearly every passenger application, ranging from your basic all-season tire to ultra-high-performance tires. These tires are sold under various names and, if a tire installer wants to order enough, the company will even slap a custom brand on the sidewall (the volumes are too high for us to do an Autopian tire, unfortunately).

He explained to me that, with OEMs trying to fill the wheel wells with ever bigger wheels, there’s a sticker shock that comes when a consumer wants to replace the 20-inch Continental tires on their crossover and comes to discover that replacing them is the equivalent of 2-3 car payments.

All of a sudden, that customer might not care that those Continentals are suddenly being chucked in exchange for a set of LingLongs. Walking around his tire offerings, there was really a tire for everything.

His company’s UHD tire looked curiously like a perfect replacement for a Michelin Pilot Sport 2, which is a $300 tire depending on application. His tires? About $89-$120 a pop, wholesale.

Will those prices go up? The tires he’s important are made by a Chinese company with manufacturing in Vietnam, where he says the current tariff is around 19%.

Tire Tariffs Aren’t New, But They’re Making Everything More Expensive

While there hasn’t been as wide-ranging a tariff regime as this one since the early 20th century, it’s not like tariffs haven’t been regularly used by various administrations. Back in 2009, then-President Obama instituted a tariff on Chinese tires. More recently, the Trump administration announced another round of tire tariffs targeted at medium- and heavy-duty trucks to go along with the more recent tariffs on tires and other parts for regular passenger vehicles.

As another article in Modern Tire Dealer notes, it’s becoming hard for dealers not to pass on those prices, as one of the retailers interviewed for the article noted:

It depends where (the tires) are coming from. We try to keep a tier-one, tier-two, tier-three and we dabble in tier-four. A lot of our tires are from Indonesia, Thailand, South Korea, Vietnam and Cambodia. Companies are watching their costs more closely.”

Watkins says he’s been forced to pass some tire costs onto his retail customers, adding that the price of “everything else is going up, too. Fuel, insurance, my payroll — all of that goes up, so I can’t afford not to pass it on. And most of the level-headed customers we have understand why we’re doing it. Their prices are going up, too.

Here’s more from an April story in Rubber World Magazine:

A record 63.4% of tires sold in the U.S. last year were imported. With tariffs ranging from 26% to 46% on tires from these countries, consumers can expect higher prices at the checkout. JPMorgan analysts have warned that the full effect of these price increases may not be felt immediately, as companies stocked up on tires before the tariffs were announced.

While domestic tire producers might see a slight net benefit from reduced competition, they are also facing tariffs on the import of raw materials like rubber. This dual impact could lead to increased production costs and supply chain disruptions, further complicating the market dynamics.

It’s hard to pin down exactly what the costs will be to the average consumer because a lot of it depends on how much stock a company has and which country the tires are actually coming from. It’s also a moving target, because tariffs with various countries seem to change on a whim.

This, coupled with the fact that people are holding onto cars longer, means there are more folks driving cars that aren’t worth a lot, so there’s likely to be more demand for Tier 4 tires both by consumers and retailers. This might help keep prices down for some consumers a little longer while tariff costs are still being evaluated, but likely not forever.

Top graphic image: Matt Hardigree