The only time your ordinary Israeli consumer notices the tires on the jalopy is when there's a flat, or the car flunks its annual vehicle-licensing test. Yet the condition of the tires is critical to the car's grip on the road, not to mention the ability to brake on a dime. Ignoring tires can mean your life. Worn tires or inadequate tire pressure not only increase the probability of having an accident, but also increases fuel consumption and even the background noise during driving.
There is a huge variety of tires out there. Pricing aside, how is the average consumer to know which is best? They're all black, round things.
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Let's start with the consensus among experts that buying used tires, or even a new one that's been sitting on a shelf for years, is a false economy.
Eldad Greenfeld, a senior teacher at Trigger Strategic Driving Center, says the lifespan of a tire that had been stored for not too long under optimal conditions is four years. "But that depends on other factors, such as whether the driver is wild or whether the tire had high exposure to the sun," he says. "If that's the case, it's best to change the tire before four years have passed."
The editor of the magazine Hege (steering wheel), On Yaakovson, who is also the owner of the driving school Drive Art, warns there are a lot of used tires out there that can be a serious health hazard. A Hege survey of tires in December 2007 found that after two years, tires start to lose their edge and to hurt the car's performance. After four years, a tire is a real menace, in Yaakovson's opinion.
But the Israeli consumer is charmed by cheapness, says Dudi Yaniv, acting head of the Tires Department in the Association of Garages. "In the Arab sector, for example, there's a serious problem of used tires. In Tira and Taibeh they install used tires that can be extremely dangerous, and all of Kfar Sava buys there," he shakes his head.
But it isn't only in Tira and Taibeh that used tires are sold. TheMarker set out to see what neighborhood tire fixers are offering in Ramat Gan and Bnei Brak.
As a rule, the new tires they were offering had been on the shelf for no more than a year, which is fine. But we also found plenty of used tires for sale, and some of these were more than four years old, and some looked tatty indeed, even missing tread. In one place, which had a sign stating "No warranty on used tires," we were told the tires they were selling came from cars that had been in accidents - "total loss."
But, they added, the tires in stock had been cleaned and had all stones and nails removed. (Great.) Holes had been repaired, and the tires had been painted. When we asked about the actual quality of the tires, the store asked when our car faced the license test: They were afraid the tires would fail.
A used tire generally costs about NIS 150, and it is legal to sell them. The result is a market of cheap, sometimes dangerous, tires sold without supervision. New tires of a known brand will cost anywhere from NIS 270 to NIS 700 each, but it's an investment that could save your life.
Every year the papers report on some tire or other (usually made in China) that the Transportation Ministry has banned here. All tires imported to and sold in Israel must meet Transportation Ministry standards, which are based on U.S. and European standards. Also, the tire shipments are sample checked; if a tire fails, the brand is banned for import and tires already sold are recalled.
But tire industry sources claim some Chinese manufacturers fake quality certification, and you can't always rely on the date of manufacture stamped on the tire. Also, Transportation Ministry tests check the tire's ability to withstand stress (speed and weight), but they don't consider braking or road grip, which are pretty critical to your health.
"One of the conditions for importing tires is the original of a manufacturer's declaration, stamped by a notary, that the tires meet the required standards, quality and freshness," the Transportation Ministry says. The ministry also demands the original of the certificate from an authorized laboratory in Europe that the tire is good, and adds that the Israel Standards Institute double-checks the veracity of the certification. "All tire importers have to open a 'product file' with the authorized lab in Israel, which checks the authenticity of the documents before import," the ministry said. "After import, the lab inspects every shipment to verify the actual products match the product file."
The Transportation Ministry's checks are insufficient, say some experts, and you can find Chinese tires sold in Israel that aren't safe enough. Dr. Itamar Sharon, a tire expert, recommends checking the Uniform Tire Quality Grade (UTQG) standards, which aren't required in Israel but are in the U.S. For example, the higher the Treadwear mark, the more slowly the tread will wear, he says. The Traction mark is a function of road grip: AA is the best. B and C grade tires don't grip the road as well but do meet the American standard.
Marketing manager Roy Inselberg of Autoluxe, which among other things imports Chinese car products, insists the Chinese tires are cutting-edge. A manufacturer builds up a good name over years, Inselberg says, adding the Chinese tires will build their reputation over time.
"Today there are excellent tires that don't have well-known names, and their low price does not attest to their quality. The price is based mainly on raw materials and technology, not the low cost of manpower or low quality of construction," he says.
In practice, all the tire fixers we consulted had Chinese tires for sale, but recommended other ones. In one place, in a remarkable demonstration of cynicism, they suggested we buy the cheaper Chinese tires only if we meant to shortly sell the car. An Auto-Depot outlet offered us a Chinese tire called Westlake and explicitly recommended that we not buy it. The Transport Ministry recalled one model of Westlake last summer because of serious manufacturing flaws. But the other Westlake models passed the tests and continue to be sold in Israel.
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