Date: Sun, 8 May 2016 07:50:33 -0600
Reply-To: jondvo@GMAIL.COM
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From: jondvo@GMAIL.COM
Subject: Re: hankook ra-08 copies
In-Reply-To: <CAHTkEuLOiJXLqk++oeiBhuHG2=2k4jF+if5yZeCbF+raD-qwHA@mail.gmail.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=utf-8
The Go Form tired don't have the proper load range is what I meant
Sent from a rotary phone
> On May 7, 2016, at 9:22 AM, Don Hanson <dhanson928@gmail.com> wrote:
>
> "A real tire"?... Like perhaps 50% of the still new looking used Michelin tires I've seen come my way recently? <(Sarcastic) With the tread bulges and separations? I've given up on Michelin..
>
> I don't advocate the Go Form brand or any particular tire from them, just passing on my own experience with these, in answer to a query.
> DH
>
>
>
>> On May 7, 2016 7:43 AM, "Jon VonOhlsen" <jondvo@gmail.com> wrote:
>> 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
|