Dirt Cheap Tires

I was looking for some cheap tires for an Infiniti G20 I picked up for Sister Zero.

Since the pickings are slim for 14" tires, it appears I can choose from Doral or Nankang.

My favorite tire wholesaler on eBay has Doral SDL-A for $160 a set with the Nankang SP-9 a whopping $20 more.

What say ye ole peanut gallery?

I'd go with the Nankang. No reason. Just because 

Check around and see if you find any Sumic brand in correct size. They seem to have a lot of legacy sizes. I just got 4 cheap 175/70-13 for my X1/9. They work very well in rain, not as good as no longer available Sumitomo in the dry, but no other options except dry Hoosiers or dry only Toyo at 4X price.

We raced on Nankangs once. No complaints. Same thing, we were looking for a tall 14" tire.

I have some Nankang mud tires on my Montero and have no complaints at all. That's only semi-relevant but based on what little info I have I wouldn't hesitate to try more Nankangs!

In reply to Vigo :

What size? Where did you find them?

I like the Sumic GT40s. They were great on the miata at least, in the stock 14"size.

I had nankangs on the back of the Vic. They held up fine, but at autocross in the rain, there was no traction to speak of. Fine on the street though. 

The spare 14in on my truck is a doral and the spare on my Mercedes is a sumic.  Think the sumic was like $45 to my door from amazon.  Havent driven on either so cant comment on that.  

I’ve used nankangs extensively on fleet electric vehicles at work. They’re not a secretly awesome tire but they seem to do the job. I wouldn’t hesitate to use them for a car I didn’t expect anything from. 

$144 from Simple Tire Cordova brand.

I have not personal experience with the brand or the seller.  Says shipping is free. I'm not sure about sales tax. 

Sumic GT40s are not recommended for an SN95 Mustang. Thats all I have on that topic.

Westlake are $151.44 on Amazon and that is after sales tax (whi h may vary)  $141 before sales tax. 

I have bought Westlake. The were round, black, and held air but I would buy again if those were my only requirements. 

Thanks for all of the suggestions thus far. The size is 195-65-14.

The only requirements are round, black, hold air, and safe to transport a family.

In reply to Strike_Zero :

Sounds to me like 185/70-14 would be a better size for all sorts of reasons.  Availability, more options, AND usually cheaper too.

In reply to Knurled. :

Thanks! I was considering that as well. A quick search this morning returned the same brands @ $10-40 cheaper a set.

Doral used to make some decent cheap cigarettes. Never tried their tires.

Nankangs are better than they should be.

In reply to ultraclyde :

I'm not the only one who thought this. 

Nankang SP-9 purchased, mounted, balanced, and installed. I even got to test them out tonight during the gully washer. It it is not a bad tire for DD duties  . . . especially for the amount spent!

I just picked up some federal ss595 (Chinese) on amazon for 170$. Free shipping. 

But what does it cost to mount and balance them , install on your car and get rid of old tires ?

Is it about the same as Walmart ?

In reply to californiamilleghia :

Having a cheap neighborhood tire guy helps. My guy will mount and balance four tires for $20 if he's slow. The most I've ever paid him was $50 for dismounting old tires, disposing of them, taking off the old pressure sensors and installing valve stems, mount and balance. I'm happy with that price, he's just over a mile from my house, and his nephews play soccer with my kids. 

Find yourself a cheap tire guy. 

Had Nankang tires on my DD and had no issues with them. They were smooth and quiet on the road. Wet traction was just ok. Right now, I run uniroyal tires. They are not the cheapest but still affordable. So far, I'm satisfied with their grip and cornering response.

In reply to californiamilleghia :

I used the installer option thru Amazon. It was $80ish @ the local Pepboys. I've used them before, so it wasn't a problem for me.