Date: Sat, 7 May 2016 08:43:43 -0600
Reply-To: Jon VonOhlsen <jondvo@GMAIL.COM>
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From: Jon VonOhlsen <jondvo@GMAIL.COM>
Subject: Re: hankook ra-08 copies
In-Reply-To: <CAHTkEuLZd4n7SbFtwPVWOZoCpb6URbe4sTS_wGiQBEpfjzQ_Hg@mail.gmail.com>
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The GoForm G520 185 or 195r14 tire has a load index of 86(195) or
88(185), or a capacity of about 1250#. I'll stick with a real
tire...unless there is some other version from Tires Easy.
Jon
On 5/7/2016 8:23 AM, Don Hanson wrote:
> I, too, was skeptical when I bought a pair of these to make it home from
> the desert one spring...being short of cash, though, I had no choice.
>
> They've surprised me by consistently performing just as well as the
> higher priced tires they claim to have copied... Thanks to Ron for taking
> the time to look up the back round info.
>
>
>
>
>
> On Sat, May 7, 2016 at 6:41 AM, The Bus Depot <vanagon@busdepot.com> wrote:
>
>>> what is the name and where can you
>>> get the chinese copies of the hankook tires?
>>> Go Form
>> I looked into this claim after it was repeated here several times (by the
>> same individual, I believe). I also spoke to Hankook about it. The GoForms
>> come from a company called Qingdao Gloryred International Trade Company,
>> whose advertising headline is trade publications is (not kidding) "Sell
>> cheap tyre." Qingdao Gloryred has no affiliation whatsoever with Hankook.
>> Hankook has not shared any technology with them or licensed any technology
>> to them. Their claim of using "Hankook technology" is based solely on the
>> fact that their technical engineer used to work for Hankook. Given that
>> employees often change jobs, by that standard almost any company could
>> claim a connection to any other company. It is not uncommon for off-brand
>> Chinese companies to make false claims of affiliation with or endorsement
>> by name brands in order to lend legitimacy to their products. For example
>> there are several other off-brand Chinese companies that claim to use
>> "Michelin technology" but have no actual connection with Michelin. Laws
>> against false advertising are not the same in China. Interestingly, these
>> companies don't make those claims in the U.S., where they would be forced
>> to retract them immediately.
>>
>> Consumer Reports tested several off-brand Chinese tires (although not
>> GoForms) a couple of years ago and found that they all performed at the
>> absolute bottom of the pack for safety and for lifespan, even though some
>> had copied the tread pattern of better known tires. They interviewed
>> Clarence Ditlow, executive director of the Center for Auto Safety, who
>> explained this disparity by pointing out that “the composition of the tire
>> is more important than the mold.” In other words you can make the tread
>> look the same cosmetically, but if the rubber compound is different, it's a
>> different tire. The tires they checked were also "iffy" in other ways, such
>> as using counterfeit date codes on the sidewall. Consumer Reports - whose
>> goal is to find bargains and "best buys" - concluded by advising its
>> readers to stick with the name brands, which were actually better bargains
>> in the long run even just based on treadwear alone.
>>
>> I have not tried the GoForm tire so I can't comment on it specifically.
>> For all I know it may be a decent cheap tire on its own merits. But it has
>> no more connection to a Hankook RA08 than any other cheap Chinese tires
>> does, except perhaps skin-deep.
>>
>> Ron Salmon
>> The Bus Depot, Inc.
>> www.busdepot.com
>>
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