15 of the Worst Tire Brands on the Market Today

We don’t like to admit this, but it’s true. The best tires are typically more expensive because of the high level of engineering that goes into making them. The other side of the coin: the worst tires are usually the cheapest.

We surprisingly care more about the pump price of gas than the quality of the tires we buy, but factors like tire pressure, tread depth, rigidity, and size can directly impact vehicle performance and even prove critical in road safety. For example, an NHTSA study published in November 2012 found that a 1% decrease in tire pressure results in a 0.3% decrease in fuel economy.

Let’s take a look at the worst tire brands you’re better off avoiding. We looked at what users are saying at online communities and seven different tire dealer websites and identified the brands with the most knocks for their quality and/or performance.

Accelera Tires

Accelera is yet another Asian tire brand with a misleading name. Whatever the name might mean in Indonesia, it sure sounds like the company is hinting at how the tires support your car’s acceleration. As it turns out, Accelera tires do the exact opposite.

Users complained bitterly about how the tires tend to lose traction upon hard acceleration. The tires want you to slow down, right? Wrong. Accelera tires equally stand accused of handling hard braking as poorly as it does quick acceleration. Wet driving conditions exacerbate this problem.

Compass Tires

Just when we thought it’s a good sign when a company manufactures various tire types for multiple applications, a reviewer at TireHungry comes along with a somewhat damning perspective that presents Compass as a wholesale business with a manufacturing plant.

Like Chaoyang above, Compass makes tires for bicycles and passenger automobiles, which would be just fine if the company actually makes them to high standards. Notably, Compass has an infamous history of failing to meet safety standards, and several of the brand’s models are liable to burst or suffer tread separation. It’s like they say: Jack of all trades, master of none.

Carlisle Tires

The problem with Carlisle Tires begins with poor quality control, as users have consistently accused the manufacturer of cutting corners to save on manufacturing costs, leaving the final product wanting in durability and performance.

Users noted the tire’s propensity for quick, uneven wear as well as instances where the tires burst due to extreme heat and/or erratic temperature levels.

Westlake Tires

Customers with first-hand experience of Westlake Tires would cringe at a glowing review we found on an affiliate blog: “A low-priced tire is one thing, but a cheap tire with a solid pedigree… is quite another.” The problem with this review is that “cheap” and “a tire with a solid pedigree” in one package is almost always a scam.

Westlake is one of the worst tire brands because of poor quality, safety concerns, and high noise levels. At least, the Falken Ziex model above performs satisfactorily until the tread begins to wear– Westlake can’t say the same, whether on dry or wet terrain.

AKS Tires

Five of the seven websites we consulted while preparing this article mentioned AKS tires as one of the worst tire brands on the market. Apparently, AKS has a notoriously short lifespan, poor grip on dry and wet roads, and deterioration.

The online community has almost nothing good to say about the brand except that it is substandard, and they don’t even know how to contact the manufacturer. It’s important to note that AKS may come in different branding, depending on the marketer.

Goodyear – G159

The Goodyear G159 is a shining example of why you don’t have to trust a tire model based on the brand. Goodyear is known and respected globally as one of the largest tire companies. It is present in 22 countries and counting. They’ve been around for over a century and make some of the best tires in the industry, trusted by reputable carmakers in the US and elsewhere.

However, Goodyear missed the ball with the G159 model, as evidenced by the recall of over 170,000 G159 tires made between 1996 and 2003. These tires posed critical issues, including overloading, underinflation, and tread separation on Class A motorhomes.

GeoStar Tires

On paper, the GeoStar, specifically the RX-615 model, seems to have achieved the magic formula for affordability and high quality. They lure prospective customers with a sweet 50,000-mile warranty and all-season performance.

If everything worked as described on paper, the GeoStar would’ve easily been the most cost-effective tire brand on the market. In reality, GeoStar has no business with “all-season performance.” It is widely accused of riding rougher than many other brands in its class and having a propensity to lose grip when cornering.

Autogreen Tires

Cheap tire brands like Autogreen remind shoppers that it is easier to make an affordable economy car than a cheap tire with premium-quality performance and durability. Autogreen’s main selling point is affordability, making it an attractive option for shoppers on a budget.

The problem is that Autogreen will cost you more in the long run, as you should expect from a brand with a reportedly poor grip, even on dry roads. The anxiety alone from feeling the vibrations when you’re speeding is bad enough, as it is a scary reminder that your car is struggling to plant its feet firmly on the surface.

Chaoyang Tires

Chaoyang is a famous tire brand in its home country. The company makes tires for various applications, from bicycles and motorcycles to passenger cars and commercial vehicles. The fact that it’s Chinese is not why we think it’s one of the worst tire brands best avoided.

In fact, most of the brands on this list are from China, but Chaoyang is here because it is guilty of premature and uneven wear. It is popular because it is cheaper and available in various sizes and models. However, any tire brand that is overly susceptible to punctures and tends to burst at high temperatures because it is too soft is a no-no for us.

Triangle Tires

Triangle is also a Chinese brand, present in 180 countries and counting, and has been making tires for almost five decades. That said, even the biggest, most reliable brands in any sector have their highs and lows, hit and miss– but it’s unacceptable for a big brand like Triangle to have customers complaining about core quality issues like premature wear, uneven tread wear, and frequent blowouts.

As always, applying cost-cutting measures to create an affordable tire always backfires, as seems to be the case with Triangle.

Goodride Tires

Don’t let the name fool you: Goodride is a literal noise maker. Yes, the supposedly “good ride” tire brand stands accused of discomfiting passengers with excessive road noise and vibration. We only wish that’s where the problem ends, but noise and vibration are tale-tells of traction problems, posing a safety risk.

Combing through relevant online communities, almost no one has something nice to say about Goodride unless the words “crappy” and “cheap” fit your “Nice” vocabulary.

Firestone Destination Tires

Judging by the mixed reviews and disproportionate weight of the cons against the pros of the Firestone Destination Tires, you don’t want your car wearing them in the snow or ice. The tread material used in making them is best for gravel and dirt surfaces; they don’t have good traction for winter driving.

This is particularly disappointing because this brand is supposedly made for SUVs and light trucks, which probably explains the tire’s first position on WorstBrand’s list of worst tire brands to avoid at all costs.

Falken Ziex Tires

Expert reviewers have raised a red flag over the Falken ZIEX ZE310 EcoRun model of the Falken Ziex tires. The brand performs just fine in terms of traction on wet and dry surfaces, but the tread life triggered the red flags.

Since purchasing a new set of tires is a significant investment for which you look forward to a rewarding ROI, a tire brand with a short tread life is a bad investment. Not only that: Testing showed that the ZIEX ZE310 EcoRun provides poor steering feedback on dry roads, and the brand’s weight is bad for your car’s fuel economy.

Unicorn Tires

This time, we won’t tell you not to let the name fool you. The Unicorn Tire brand is, figuratively speaking, a unicorn in the sense that you hardly ever see it with that name. It lends itself to multiple brand names, including Sunfull, Travelstar, and Mastertrack.

In our book, it is a huge red flag when a company does this, and we stand vindicated by the brand’s reputation for churning out consistently low-quality tires. A user noted that Unicorn probably has the longest stopping distance in wet driving conditions, which, if true, is bad enough that you should never touch the brand with a ten-foot pole.

Low-End General Tires

Before you come for our heads, the emphasis on this one is “Low-End.” This brand is here on this list because of feedback from users. Yes, we’re referring to the same General connecting F1 drivers and NASCAR racers to the pavement. There’s no doubt that General is one of the top tire brands in the industry, but you want to steer clear of the low-end models with an ugly reputation for poor quality.

Some reviewers believe these to be cheap knockoffs or replicas of the General Tire brand. Their only attraction is the low-cost pricing, but what you get in return is a product made with inferior materials.