Tires
Tires
I have just purchased a new to me truck about a month or so ago. I put new tires on my truck. Her name is "Grief". Now I bought what I could afford so I have a couple of years but what is the best American made tire I can put on my truck. I live in the north country so we get rain and snow. She will mostly be a tar-baby. She runs 20 inch rims and is a 4wd quad cab.
All Star
Joined: Feb 2011
Posts: 928
Likes: 0
From: South Texas
Well, it really depends on what you consider to be "American made".
Goodyear and Cooper are the only two American owned tire companies left. Some of the manufacturing is done in America, some is done overseas, to include China [1]. Cooper was nearly bought by Apollo Tyres in India, but it fell through at the end of 2013 [2].
Firestone [3], BFGoodrich [4] and Uniroyal [5] were purchased by foreign companies many years ago, but much of their manufacturing is still done in America, so they are still technically American made.
Then there is Bridgestone Corp. and Groupe Michelin, which not only manufacture lots of tires in the U.S., but are also now the parent companies of the aforementioned Firestone, BF Goodrich and Uniroyal. Michelin states that "the vast majority" of its tires sold in North America (Can, USA, Mex) are also made here [6]. I assume it is including its child companies in that statistic. Michelin also makes most of the aircraft tires for our military, has made tires for the Shuttle and has been producing tires in the U.S. since 1907.
To keep it real simple, you can look at the DOT code (or TIN, Tire Id Number) stamped on the sidewall. The first two digits are for the manufacturing company and plant [7]. I couldn't find a complete list for free, or an online decoder, but the source link has what you need.
[1] http://coopertire.com/About-Us/Facil...acilities.aspx
[2] http://dealbook.nytimes.com//2013/12...andons-merger/
[3] http://www.mytireguys.com/firestone.php & http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Firesto...to_Bridgestone
[4] http://www.mytireguys.com/bfgoodrich.php & http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BFGoodrich
[5] http://www.mytireguys.com/uniroyal.php & http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_..._Goodrich_Tire
[6] http://us.michelinman.com/US/en/help...#1393412894928 (Where are your tires manufactured?)
[7] http://www.aflcio.org/Blog/Other-New...ca-Union-Tires
Goodyear and Cooper are the only two American owned tire companies left. Some of the manufacturing is done in America, some is done overseas, to include China [1]. Cooper was nearly bought by Apollo Tyres in India, but it fell through at the end of 2013 [2].
Firestone [3], BFGoodrich [4] and Uniroyal [5] were purchased by foreign companies many years ago, but much of their manufacturing is still done in America, so they are still technically American made.
Then there is Bridgestone Corp. and Groupe Michelin, which not only manufacture lots of tires in the U.S., but are also now the parent companies of the aforementioned Firestone, BF Goodrich and Uniroyal. Michelin states that "the vast majority" of its tires sold in North America (Can, USA, Mex) are also made here [6]. I assume it is including its child companies in that statistic. Michelin also makes most of the aircraft tires for our military, has made tires for the Shuttle and has been producing tires in the U.S. since 1907.
To keep it real simple, you can look at the DOT code (or TIN, Tire Id Number) stamped on the sidewall. The first two digits are for the manufacturing company and plant [7]. I couldn't find a complete list for free, or an online decoder, but the source link has what you need.
[1] http://coopertire.com/About-Us/Facil...acilities.aspx
[2] http://dealbook.nytimes.com//2013/12...andons-merger/
[3] http://www.mytireguys.com/firestone.php & http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Firesto...to_Bridgestone
[4] http://www.mytireguys.com/bfgoodrich.php & http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BFGoodrich
[5] http://www.mytireguys.com/uniroyal.php & http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_..._Goodrich_Tire
[6] http://us.michelinman.com/US/en/help...#1393412894928 (Where are your tires manufactured?)
[7] http://www.aflcio.org/Blog/Other-New...ca-Union-Tires
Last edited by Brandon Anderson; Mar 20, 2015 at 08:07 AM.
