It's better to deal with reputable companies selling real tires overall.
A lot of "Value Engineered" products are out there. Cooper, GY, etc, ALL sell private label sub-brands.
They take a well known model, and, a seller, Sears, Big-O, etc, says, hey, make a us a version we can buy from you at $45/tire if we get 200,000 of them.
So, they take the expensive rubber compounding out, and substitute a cheaper compound, remove a ply or two from the carcass, use thinner tread or sidewalls, less sturdy beads, have it made in India or China, or whatever they need to cut corners on to hit the target price volume.
And people who just shop price buy those tires. People who do a little research say, oh, they're made by goodyear, so I am really getting a goodyear tire for less, etc...not knowing the rubber, etc, is different.
And so forth.
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