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
There likely will still be cheap tires Walmart is famous or infamous for tire sourcing depending who you ask. Even some goodyears are Walmart specific. Plus all those tire importers and new or tier 3 or 4 brands and tire shops sometimes go in together for local production or contact production with a local plant. The last time this happened the tawianese really came in the market. This time maybe Argentina or somewhere else with preferential treatment. Though Vietnam is trying hard to get deals but then will do something very dumb and derail the whole thing.
I just use a bunch pool noodles covered in duct tape wrapped around the wheel. Works like a charm and no pesky blowouts.
Okay, Red Green
But how many miles do you get out of a roll of duct tape?
And are they any good for off roading?
Perhaps another side effect will happen when the owners of 15-year-old beaters are faced with a need for $1000 worth of tires. So to save cash, they just replace the 1 tire that got a puncture. Which then trashes the gearboxes on their AWD crossover.
Nope, I don’t do wagon wheels. The largest tires on any of my machines are the 17s on my Mercedes and BMW – downright tiny by today’s standards.
The secret to tires is pay attention and plan ahead. I have gotten seriously good deals on closeout tires a number of times. Most recently a set of excellent General G-Max for my Mercedes for ~$400 for the set from The Tire Rack.
Wish you all the best with the Generals.
I bought a set for my rarely used truck a few years back. I live in a rainy area, about 60 inches per year.
TBH they were the most unsafe new tire I have ever owned in 50+ years.
The guy I sold the truck to has barely driven it, maybe 15 miles total, in the last 4 years because of these tires. He’s waiting for them to age out…
Seriously hope yours are better for you.
Pay now or pay later – just buy the good tires up front and you will not regret it. MPGs/range, comfort, handling, durability, etc are all going to be better on the more expensive tires.
There is a happy medium. I have never found most Michelins (Pilot Sports are an exception) to be worth the price. But my tires rot off the cars long before I wear them out. But for sure I have no use at all for cheap crap Long Duck Dong tires.
DONG! WHERE IS MY AUTO-MO-BILE?
Lake. BEEEEG Lake.
Plus 1 for the movie reference.
The Dong rules even 40 years later.
Don’t forget tier 57, which is almost all of the ST trailer tires. I finally gave in and shelled out for Good Year Endurances last time after my third crappy trailer tire failure (yeah, I’m a slow learner).
LOL – my new utility trailer came with wheels with a sticker on them saying do not exceed 55mph. I don’t plan to.
Hey, tariffs pay for tax cuts for the rich so they can’t be all bad. Can they? I mean, the rich pay rates much higher then those lazy freeloader poors so they deserve a break. Tariffs don’t hurt rich people very much, but they sure do motivate the scum to work harder or suffer for their unwillingness to just do what it takes to be rich. Walk if you can’t afford tires.
(This post brought to you courtesy of dripping wet sarcasm. Sorry DT.)
Even in the most modern factories, tyre making is very artisanal and often hands on.
Which is why I stick to Michelins, made in France, where I live, so I know that if there is a manufacturing fault the person who made the tyre will be more likely to get a bollocking.
They are likely to have gone to trade school too and got some qualifications than some of the Asian factories, where Chinese bosses put in Viet managers, who boss immigrant Cambodians and Malayans…
Michelin went through a spell about two years ago where our local garage refused to use them on SUVs, because so many of the larger ones ripped while being put on wheels, but they seem to have solved that problem.
They also cracked the “eco-tyre” promising 2% fuel reductions, and my tests showed they were straight on. Not as sticky as race specials but then I do not race.
If not made in France, made in Poland also good, Kebler, I think they are called, but they last about a year less.
Have heard some recent blowout stories from Asian specials — if that happens it is just chance whether there is no traffic and you end up stopped at the side of the road, or career out of control into on-comming traffic.
Glad I got all three vehicles shod with new rubber over the past couple years. Not that it wasn’t a sizeable outlay of cash – tires are too important to cheap out on – but would likely be even more expensive today. Incidentally, the tires, all Goodyears, came from Canada (2x) and Chile.
Pretty much will only purchase Goodyears or Continental brands at this point.
Continentals, Michelin’s, Hakkapelittas, Bridgestone Blizzaks. There are only 4 things touching the ground while you drive, get the best no matter the car.
This.
Have never bought Michelins yet.
But who knows what the future holds?
I will probably “age out” before my Conti’s wear out though.
Had to replace tires on my Model Y recently due to a flat. Why a new set? When the tires are 4/32″ and a sidewall gash it’s prudent. That was spendy. At least it’s set for a while.
May these tariffs get struck down. They’re a regressive tax on people.
I just dropped from the factory staggered 21″ wheels to a set of square setup aftermarket 20″ wheels. After rebate and tax, around $1,400 for Michelin Cross Climate 2 tires shipped to my house along with 2 years of road hazard care insurance. Was supposed to be ~$125 to get them mounted and balanced but the guy at the shop undercut his employer and it was done for $80 cash. Saved a few hundred dollars vs staying with a 21″ wheel, slightly better comfort and better looking and lighter wheels. Overall, not bad – paid well over $2k 2 years ago to put the same tires on 21″ wheels for a different car.
Mine’s on the factory 19’s. It could have been cheaper but I needed the car back ASAP. Good, fast or cheap: pick two applied in that instance.
That is what I did. My car had factory 19s so I dropped it 18. Much better ride and cheaper tires.
I find it somewhat mind boggling how prices on tires can vary. OEM replacement 25″ tires on the Bolt- $250. High end 31″ mud tires- same, $250. Winter tires, just the tires, in the original 17″ wheel size for the Bolt were as much as getting cheap 15″ steel wheels and the same exact winter tires in 15″ size.
I think going part DT and going to a junkyard and getting whatever is the smallest wheel size that will fit a new car, then getting the less expensive but quality tires for the smaller wheel might be the way to go.
Did that for my Crown Vics winter tires. Found a full set of 16in steelies and new winter tires for a nice price. Did have to spend a fair chunk of time derusting 2 of them but it was worth the price imo.
“Just buy made in USA. There will be no price increase.” Said every keyboard trade warrior.
Exactly. Sure is a coincidence that American made steel prices are 30% higher in the last few months.
It’s going to be heckin’ expensive because there are very few good 15″ options left, so I guess I’m looking at wheel upgrades.
David doesn’t always buy cheap tires.
He put a set of Michelin CrossClimate 2 tires on his then-fiance/now-wifes car, which was enough of a recommendation for me to put a set of them (in 18″) on my first-gen Volvo XC90.
$1,200. from a place in Burbank. I hadn’t bought tires in a while, so it was a bit of a shock.
I put those tires on my wife’s and sister’s cars. They’re phenomenal. I would have put them on my own too if Costco didn’t want $1200 for the set. Instead for $1,000 I got 4 Dunlop summer tires, 4 Blizzak winter tires, 4 used OZ Racing wheels, and 4 new TPMS sensors. Even managed to give the wrong-size Blizzaks that came on the rims to an intern who could use them.
They are exceptionally nice tires. Especially if you’re a live on the flats, drive to the mountains kind of person who would burn through true winters very quickly.
I run only the finest bias-ply tires I can find on my International, which is to say 7.50-16LT STA Super Traxion® tires made in either Pennsylvania or Tennessee:
https://www.stausaonline.com/tires/sta-super-traxion/
I don’t know their tier but if they’re “[p]opular on industrial and agricultural skid steers for non-directional grip” then they’re more than good enough for me. The truck’s suspension seems to be happier with them than it was with radials, too.
Just priced out KO3’s for an 18″ for my Tundra, $1700 bucks. Making me really think hard. Replacing Toyo AT’s so not like I haven’t paid a lot for tires, but I did the wheels and tires for less 4 years ago. Now wheels and tires is $2500-3k+
SAD!
Domestic manufacturers, due to reduced competition pressures, will raise their prices because everyone else raised theirs. Not to mention the increased costs of everything else that goes into making the product.
It’s self-fueling.
This – the bit that idiots never seem to realize about tariffs. Of course it’s GREAT for the owners of those domestic manufacturers.
I just buy like new takeoffs from champtires for 1/2 or less. like new grabber a/t for $40 a piece? i almost bought an extra set
this is a great method too
I got a set of Continental HDR 19.5s for $95 each Canadian as take offs- great tires until it snows but they are on my motorhome so I am okay
.
Shhhhh lest they get wise to these methods!
“Tires are an expense that most people can’t delay for long”
You clearly never met my Dad.
Walking through parkinglots in Southern states.
Bald, bald, bald, bald, bald… Good thing it doesn’t rain often in Arizona.
And then there’s Florida.
I lost my first car to standing water on the highway in Florida. I noticed my rear tires were due for replacement when airing up before a trip and planned to replace them when I got home. Hit a strip of standing water at highway speed and the rear of the car just immediately started rotating the car and I did a full 270 before exiting the highway backwards and only a chicken wire fence sparing me from a watery grave in a canal.
Nice to meet you Florida Man.
It really is terrifying to walk through a Walmart parking lot here in Florida (on several levels).
I am a HUGE fan of mandatory annual safety inspections.
Florida is just Alabama’s dumber sibling.
Same feelings at Walmart here, and same level of tire wear observed.
Were the tires your dad bought tires only in the academic sense? As in they were round and had once been made of rubber?
It was long ago so I don’t recall the brands. The only thing I knew for sure was they had steel cords.
You have to break them in for a while.
A decade at a minimum.
To be honest, I rather lost track of time with my Spitfire. When I replaced the tires a couple of years ago, they were 19 years old (maybe 10-12K on them). Dunlops, replaced with Kumhos (all I could readily get in the small size). Zero dry rot on the Dunlops, but they were rather hard. But that car is so light and the limits are so low the only real difference is the new tires are smoother at highway speeds.
Was the roughness due to flat spots from sitting too long?
I wonder if the hardness might have softened up with use. A few heat cycles and some flexing might distribute what plasticizers remained. Some tire conditioner may have helped too.
No, that was never a problem with those particular tires (the Continentals and Nokians on my BMWs don’t like sitting though). I drive the car nearly daily all summer in good weather, they were never any worse or any better. They were just old and hard, and it was long past time to replace them. The new ones ride much more smoothly. I am sure the Dunlops were the same when they were new.
It just sucks how few choices there are today in 175/70-13 even if you don’t care how much they cost. Kumhos were literally the only decent brand tires I could get. In theory, Michelin, Continental, et al still make tires in that size, but nobody had them in stock. Everything else available was Chinese crap.
The first snow of the year seems filters out all the folks put off tire replacement here.
The first few snow storms there are people off the road all over.
When I was young I used to exclusively buy Nankang tires for my rides because I used rubber bands and they’d pop all the time. Now I either only get Michelin Pilot Sport 4s or whatever OEM tire the car came with. It’s more money yes, but I’m not interested in buying cheap tires for a performance car and I judge people that do have exotics with tier 4 tires.
I’m the guy that before I spec a new car with the larger wheel option, goes out to Discount Tire or Tire Rack to see what the additional bill will be over the smaller tire when I have to get new ones. And I’m typically looking at Tier 1 and 2. I’ve had nightmares with a lot of Tier 2 (Yokahamas specifically, which I assume are Tier 2) so I’m willing to bankrupt myself.
I would expect Yokohama to be tier 1 honestly, they have some stellar performance tire options, and the prices reflect that too. I’ve always loved mine.
Part of the reason I went with a mid-level trim on my new car is because it has 17″ wheels over the 19″. There’s a substantial price difference plus more sidewall > bigger rims.
I kick myself every time I have to get tires for my wife’s Sienna SE with it’s 19s compared to the normal 17s. Luckily they last a long time so I think I’ve only bought 2 sets, but each time I seriously consider buying a set of smaller wheels. Now it doesn’t get driven all that much and I don’t care anymore.
I’m looking to downsize on my 22 Accord Sport, not a big fan of 19’s for a lot of reasons. 17″s are what I want but oddly enough I’m finding the tires for 18″s are generally cheaper at this point, likely due to just sheer volume.
Same. Got my Charger with 18s instead of 20s knowing how fast EVs can grind down tires. Worth losing a half second whenever I finally get a chance to autocross it.
I’m not trusting my family’s safety on a cheap set of Ling Longs, thank you very much.
I remember back in the 80s, younger guys would buy IROC Zs and then replace the wheels in a year because the gatorbacks were too expensive. Those had to be 50 series, 16”…
My Mazda has 19” wheels and tires are pretty expensive and not much to choose from.I get they are less expensive but are they trustworthy?Are they durable and safe?I almost bought an off brand last time but went with Yokohama and got about 45k out of them.
We aren’t talking about decals, trim pieces, or cup holders. This is one of the critical parts of the car. I’m not buying some unknown Tier 4 tire. You can read lots of reviews on Tire Rack and find a decent tire that’s not necessarily the best but might have decent pricing. But I’m not skimping and buying the cheapest tire.
Exactly, the rubber on your vehicle is the ONLY thing that makes contact with the road. It should be the absolute last place you should cheap out on.
Exactly, the rubber on your vehicle is the ONLY thing that makes contact with the road. It should be the absolute last place you should cheap out on.
Funny cars don’t have tread and there’s really only two options
Goodyear and Hoosier…..
Just kidding I agree with you all the way
Quite a few years ago, when I had a bit less disposable cash, I put what must have been Tier 4 tires on my E36. They didn’t wear out too quickly and I never had any issues with them, but they drove like absolute shit. Completely ruined the car’s handling.
Same thing with my old Acura TL. The tier 4 tires I bought for it as a student never seemed to wear, but oh boy were these “all seasons” hockey pucks in the snow and noisy even on dry pavement.