Chinese tyres

[Saleen836]

According to the ADAC tyre tests Chinese tyres are out performing leading market brands in certain tests...

https://www.tyrereviews.com/Tyre-Tests/2026-ADAC-S...

[blueST]

More good competition on the market is good, it'll make everyone do better in the long run. But.... The difficult bit is designing a tyre that works well across all aspects of it's performance. A very cursory look at those results indicates LingLong has sacrificed a lot in wear and rolling resistance to get the grip results. For someone doing low mileage that might be a compromise well worth considering, but could be a false economy if you are big miles driver. I love the German tests for allowing us to ponder these conundrums.

[mmm-five]

Despite all those 'wins', that Linglong Sportmaster was ranked 16th out of 16, and it's sub-brand sister finished 15th. Both mostly due to lack of predictability in handling. So they were good in a straight line, but disastrous with any quick steering input.

Here's the translated version of the original German article...
https://www-adac-de.translate.goog/rund-ums-fahrze...

ADAC said:

Linglong Sport Master

Conclusion overall assessment: The Linglong Sport Master does not go beyond a sufficient rating in terms of driving safety. Although it performs best in the test on wet roads, it shows significant weaknesses on dry roads. But it does not go beyond a sufficient assessment of the environmental balance either. The overall result is therefore also sufficient – we advise against buying it. Conclusion: Driving safety: The Sport Master shows pronounced weaknesses on dry roads. It reduces power significantly as the operating temperature rises and then offers the driver just sufficient feedback on the steering wheel. The driver finds it very difficult to hit the steering angle required for the curve right away, as the tire responds to steering commands with a delay,feels very elastic and this changes the driving radius when cornering. But the linglong is also critical in the border area. He tends to oversteer very quickly during evasive maneuvers – this behavior quickly pushes inexperienced drivers to their limits. However, the braking distance from 100 km/h is at a very good level. The grip is good, but the tire is constructed in such a way that the front and rear axles are out of balance. On wet roads, the Sport Master secures the best grade in the test and is the only tire to perform very well. It offers the shortest braking distances and also performs very well in handling. The test car can be guided absolutely safely, easily controlled, and precisely via the wet handling course. Its longitudinal aquaplaning behavior is classified as good,In the transverse direction he just misses a good grade. Conclusion of the environmental balance: The Linglong Sport Master also performs only adequately in terms of environmental performance. This is largely due to high abrasion. However, its projected mileage is also low and is rated as only adequate. In terms of efficiency, the tire does not go beyond a satisfactory rating.

Seems to follow the same trend that a lot of budget brands have been using for the last 20 years...i.e. excel in one area and fail drastically everywhere else.

The mid-range and higher range (and price) brands tend to try and be at least 'better than average' everywhere, and top 5 in the other areas.

It might make sense to change a tyre that costs 3x less, 3x more often, but if it's a very cheap tyre then you may lose out due to the 3x cost of fitting/balancing?

[vikingaero]

We're laughing at them now, but give it a few years. Remember a couple of decades ago when Hyundais were only just a level above Ladas, and now they make better Japanese cars than the Japanese themselves.

Some of the Chinese tyre companies are buying up European brands and factories and getting their tech and knowhow.

[Saleen836]

vikingaero said:

We're laughing at them now, but give it a few years. Remember a couple of decades ago when Hyundais were only just a level above Ladas, and now they make better Japanese cars than the Japanese themselves.

Some of the Chinese tyre companies are buying up European brands and factories and getting their tech and knowhow.

Agreed, if i was one of the many that pootled around everywhere at 30/40mph holding up traffic Chinese tyres wouldn't phase me, the saving in cost over premium brands would be a priority

[mmm-five]

vikingaero said:

We're laughing at them now, but give it a few years. Remember a couple of decades ago when Hyundais were only just a level above Ladas, and now they make better Japanese cars than the Japanese themselves.

Some of the Chinese tyre companies are buying up European brands and factories and getting their tech and knowhow.

Well, Linglong celebrated its 50th anniversary last year, and I'm sure they're getting better all the time. Give it another 50 years and they may be at the same level of performance/price as the premium brands (assuming the world is still here following WW3 and/or we're not all using flying cars or teleportation instead).

You may also want to read up on the alleged labour violations that have plagued their Serbian plant.
https://www.rferl.org/a/serbia-china-linglong-fact...
https://www.business-humanrights.org/en/latest-new...
https://support4partnership.org/en/news/linglong-c...

Edited by mmm-five on Monday 9th March 14:40

[E-bmw]

Well, not really as it is just 2 specific tyres not all "Chinese tyres" and secondly as above to do so "well" (by extremely small margins) and then for the total to be so far down that it comes last by including other bench marks just says the full story rather than the salicious headline.

[wyson]

Those Linglongs had really high wear, cost more per mile than the premium brands.