Tires are really a great invention that we too often take entirely for granted. The mechanisms of an internal combustion engine are what made the modern automobile possible, but it’s the tires that ensure they can roll around on the road. To be clear, it is the tire that’s come the longest way. For many centuries, even millennia, we did have wheels. We had stone wheels, and then wooden wheels, and they did have their utility, but they wouldn’t do for automobiles. We needed those strong yet flexible rubber tires that provide great traction, stop on a dime and can handle at high speeds. Tires deserve far more credit than we give them, and they deserve a lot of attention from all drivers.
This is especially the case with winter tires. Now that we’re getting down into winter, we’re going to be dealing with snow, ice, slush, and other sorts of mess out there on the roads. It’s going to be important that your tires can handle this sort of terrain in the winter. We want to help you here by telling you which tires to avoid.
6 Tire Brands to Avoid for the Winter
We would tell you to avoid things like summer tires or those sorts of tires with low tread, but in all likelihood, you probably already know that those sorts of tires are to be avoided. So, to try to be a little more specific, let’s go over six of the brands that have been reviewed the worst in 2020 for their winter tires.
1: Chaoyang
This is one of the worst-reviewed brands of tire in the world for the winter. For the summer, who knows; you might find a few good ones. Though when it comes to their ability to maintain traction on icy roads or go through the snow, they’re not very good at all. Brand-wide, there have been thousands of complaints about how this company’s tires simply do not handle well in the harsher elements. They’re known primarily for being an economical choice of a tire, which is a nice way of saying bottom-shelf products, and so perhaps they’re one you should avoid. We’re not trying to say they’re a horrible company or anything; we’re just relaying the information that their tires are not very well reviewed for winter use.
2: Goodride
An offshoot of the previous company, Goodride is a part of the ZC Rubber group, which has its roots in China. This particular company was founded in 1958 and actually had quite a few great years where they produced great products. However, after being bought up by the Chinese conglomerate, their products started to come under some serious scrutiny. Their tires are said to not hold traction very well at all in bad conditions, slipping and sliding all over the road. The tread designs aren’t really great at all, and you just end up with the equivalent of a low-tread summer tire, even if you’re getting one specifically for winter.
3: West Lake Tires
This is a surprising entry on the list, but the user reviews are pretty telling when it comes to the number of people who claim these tires aren’t good in the winter. West Lake Tires is actually a US-based company, which is why it’s a bit surprising. There’s usually a lot of quality control in the states, so for a tire company to operate here yet to be so poorly reviewed is really very telling. They claim to specialize in tires for SUVs and light trucks, though their tires do not seem to perform well at all in the winter and in those sorts of conditions. There are many people out there who have had very bad experiences while driving around on these tires.
4: AKS Tires
This is a weird brand. We can’t find a whole lot of information on them. They seem to be a distributor, not a larger manufacturer, and mostly they deal in selling Silverstone. To be clear, that is actually a pretty good brand of tire. Though the AKS Auto & Tyre Center does have some in-house products that they sell, and they seem to be almost universally panned for their shoddy performance. We cannot speak to the overall quality of this brand, or any of the brands on this list, to be clear; however, the people who use these products have been voicing their opinions and their concerns over the way these tires perform during the winter.
5: Telluride
Telluride Tire is a very small tire plant from the US, as far as we can tell, and they mostly deal in just a few options. The silver lining here is that they’re so small of a brand that you probably wouldn’t be able to find their tires anyway. However, what makes it a bit problematic is that if you did manage to find their tires, you might be inclined to buy them since they’re so affordable. In this instance, it’s a case of getting what you pay for. We weren’t able to find a solidly positive user review about these tires on any site. Everyone had a little something negative to say about the tires, especially when it came to how they performed in the winter. With all the big brands out there, it should be fairly easy to avoid this one.
6: Compass Tires
The winter wheel options from Compass Tires aren’t the worst on the list, but they certainly aren’t anywhere near the best. We wouldn’t include them in a top-50 list, and that should tell you everything you need to know. Compass seems to be a wholesaler whose products can be found at places like Walmart. If their number one means of distribution is a big box store, then the odds are good that they’re not a very good brand. The best brands in the business have tires that are used for professional racing and are sold by professional distributors. These tires are somewhere in an aisle next to toilet paper and baked beans. That’s all you need to know about their performance.
There are dozens of high-quality tire brands out there who sell types of tires for the winter that are durable, safe and affordable. We just want you to know what people are saying about these brands so that hopefully, you spend your money on something safer for your travels.