Vee Rubber City Star tires

[Mark]

there are a lot of bad reviews for the city star tires. federal seems like the best inexpensive option so far. anything with such a silly title like vee rubber city star kind of throw me off as being legitimate. i will have to keep a look out for the kumho solus's as i have had good experiences with kumho.

Yeah, seeing Kumho in a 165/65r14 size was a new one for me. Even the Kumho website for the U.S. doesn't list a 165/65r14 tire, but I have a hard time believing White Bear would list a tire for a Mirage that doesn't exist.

165/65r14 Federal tires can be found for $40-50 most of the time. For some odd reason their price on the Walmart site really varies. Thus, it pays to check the other sites. Amazon's prices do the same thing. They are constantly changing their suppliers, & I am sure that is part of it. My small hometown tire shops will often do better than large discount chains, because they don't overcharge for their services. Competing with Walmart, however, is always a challenge.

If a person needs to take on some snow with their all-season tires, the Vredestein Quatrac 5 may be the best alternative to snow tires in 165/65r14 tires. There are hundreds of reviews on these tires on tirerack.com, & customers are putting them on other vehicles like Subaru, BMW, & other vehicles.

I noticed a set of Quatrac 5 tires on a Pontiac Vibe while my driving student was parallel parking behind it the other day. It's not a tire company I had been aware of in the past, but anyone who offers 165/65r14 tires may get a look from U.S. Mirage customers.

[Basic]

165/65r14 Federal tires can be found for $40-50 most of the time. For some odd reason their price on the Walmart site really varies. Thus, it pays to check the other sites. Amazon's prices do the same thing. They are constantly changing their suppliers, & I am sure that is part of it. My small hometown tire shops will often do better than large discount chains, because they don't overcharge for their services. Competing with Walmart, however, is always a challenge.

Tires are one of the few consumer goods where the price is never the price. Tires are more like a commodity like grain, or oil. Notice that you will never see a Tire manufacturer list an MSRP? That's why. Supply and demand plays a huge part, purchase quantity plays another huge part... its all variable. Walmart is in its own little world, because they buy in such huge quantities partially, but in reality because their products are often a special SKU made just for them. The supplier thing holds some weight, because your local shop deals with multiple distributors, and sometimes product just needs to get moved and good deals can be had. Its really a weird product on a business level...

If a person needs to take on some snow with their all-season tires, the Vredestein Quatrac 5 may be the best alternative to snow tires in 165/65r14 tires. There are hundreds of reviews on these tires on tirerack.com, & customers are putting them on other vehicles like Subaru, BMW, & other vehicles.
I noticed a set of Quatrac 5 tires on a Pontiac Vibe while my driving student was parallel parking behind it the other day. It's not a tire company I had been aware of in the past, but anyone who offers 165/65r14 tires may get a look from U.S. Mirage customers.

Vredsteins have traditionally been exceptional tires.

To the OP, as the resident tire engineer, I always tell my friends to buy the best tire they can afford, from their preferred brand that they have heard of. 9 times out of 10, if you haven't heard of it, it's probably best to avoid if you can afford something else.

[benwerks]

Yeah, may be the best alternative to snow tires

i also checked kumho's site to no avail for the 165 solus...

https://www.walmart.com/ip/165-65R14...Tire/142773735

i dont remember on the sticky but have the studded nokian been mentioned or used? id like studded snow tires for out here in the rockies

[Mark]

i also checked kumho's site to no avail for the 165 solus...

https://www.walmart.com/ip/165-65R14...Tire/142773735

i dont remember on the sticky but have the studded nokian been mentioned or used? id like studded snow tires for out here in the rockies

Studded tires are not allowed in Wisconsin or the surrounding mid-west states, but I have a pair of the Nokian Nordman 7 snow tires that I used up front on my Mirage the past two winters. Nordman 7 are a 165/65r14 snow tire that are available in the U.S. as studded or non-studded.

Nokian tires are known for their snow tires, & the Nordman 7 is one of their cheaper versions. The Nordman 7 should do well with studs. I bought mine from tires-easy.com at the time & mounted them on $50 steel rims (free shipping included) that I purchased from onlywheels.com. Onlywheels.com carries a nice selection of steel wheels, but you want to make sure you get the correct 4 hole pattern & center hub opening, which I believe is 56.1 mm.

My Nokian Nordman 7 were made in Russia. Then again tires are made everywhere these days. Finland & Russia surely deal winter & snow.

Walmart's few 165/65r14 tire options change almost daily. If I knew that I wanted Federal tires, I would buy them when they are around $40/tire. A day or two later they may be $85/tire @ Walmart. I don't bother buying/storing them, because it seems like you can find Federal tires for a decent price somewhere most of the time.

I was a bit skeptical of Federal tires at first, because it wasn't a brand I was familiar with. Federal tires are somewhat legit, & they've tried to increase their presence through the racing industry.

I try to keep an open mind to options, too. If a decent Kumho tire with a 60,000 warranty was available, I would add them to my list to consider, too!

[Mark]

Tires are one of the few consumer goods where the price is never the price. Tires are more like a commodity like grain, or oil. Notice that you will never see a Tire manufacturer list an MSRP? That's why. Supply and demand plays a huge part, purchase quantity plays another huge part... its all variable. Walmart is in its own little world, because they buy in such huge quantities partially, but in reality because their products are often a special SKU made just for them. The supplier thing holds some weight, because your local shop deals with multiple distributors, and sometimes product just needs to get moved and good deals can be had. Its really a weird product on a business level...

I learned years ago to not rule out the small town tire shops, & if you have a problem (pick up a nail & need a plug) they are there to help out.

A nearby town discount store (not Walmart) will advertise buy 3 tires get 1 free quite often. You can't walk in & buy those tires, however, without buying their services. Cooper will run tire rebates in the spring & fall. Buy 3 tires get 1 one free and receive a $40 VISA gift card. Sounds pretty good!

Years ago - I got an exact quote from that discount store that was running that exact offer along with the $40 VISA card. I bought a set of 205/70-15 Cooper CS4 tires for my 2000 Honda CRV from my local mechanic for $80 less a few days later, & I still received the same $40 VISA gift card offered by Cooper. I didn't ask my local mechanic to beat their offer. I just asked what 4 tires were going to cost me mounted/balanced. I wasn't go to drive an extra 35 miles & pay $80 more to have the exact same tires installed on my vehicle.

It pays to shop around, & I learned to not rule out your local small town tire shops. It surely doesn't hurt to give them a call. In my area, they will pick up my car while I am at work. They will install the tires, return my car, and leave the slip on the passenger seat. After school, I drop by & pay the bill. If I remember to give them my credit card number ahead of time, I don't even have to do the last part. How hard is that?

[benwerks]

How hard is that?

not very. finding 165/65r14 tires seems to be a challenge in any area though. i had a very difficult time finding them while i was driving west and had to size up to 175 and now i want to go back to the stock size

[Adam - UK]

http://veerubber.co.th/2016/?page_id=79&v=79cba1185463

http://veerubber.co.th/2016/?page_id=215&v=79cba1185463

Thailand Brand by the looks of it

I Would stay with a tire Brand you know

[stevedmc]

Low quality tires can kill you.

[Mark]

not very. finding 165/65r14 tires seems to be a challenge in any area though. i had a very difficult time finding them while i was driving west and had to size up to 175 and now i want to go back to the stock size

165/65r14 tires would be hard to find anywhere in stock, except large tire warehouses. A few Mitsubishi dealerships may keep them in stock, but I would never expect to find a 165/65-14 anywhere else. Likewise, I wouldn't expect to find the tires I want for my Subaru in stock somewhere, unless I am willing to settle for whatever is on hand.

Most tire shops can get tires in one or two days. Most of these tires sites will get tires to your home in 2-3 days. There no reason to settle for something you don't want, but I also understand the situation you found yourself in. When I lost a factory tire to a sidewall issue, I was near home. I didn't even bother to pull out my spare. I borrowed another car, & I went home to get my floor jack & one of my snow tires. While I waited a couple days for a pair of new Federal tires to arrive, I used my extra pair of snow tires. If you are a long distance from home, you aren't going to do that.

If you want to go back to factory tires, you could buy them sooner rather than later. Watch for a good deal & take advantage of it. If you take a long trip again & have some extra room in the car, throw a new tire in with your other stuff. If you have a tire issue somewhere far from home, you'll have the needed tire on hand. You would just need to have someone mount/balance it for you. When you finally get back home, you could decide what to do next.

I honestly don't trust my factory Dunlop tires, & I still have a pair on the rear of my Mirage. If I take a longer adventure & have room, I throw one of my snow tires in the car. I don't worry about that around home, because I can count on the small donut spare for that.

Just something to think about?

If Walmart works best for you & you are interested in trying Federal tires, just keep checking their website every now & then. A few weeks ago, the 165/65r14 Federal SS657 tires were approximately $43, & they had been that price for a few weeks. Then they jumped to over $80, then about $75, and tonight they are $56.85. Eventually, they will drop back down to $40 something again. Just be patient. When you are ready to have them mounted/balanced, bring them back to the store. If you are in no rush, just keep checking.

Federal SS657, Vredestein Quatrac 5, Bridgestone Potenza, & Dunlop Enasave are the major players of 165/65r14 tires (sort of listed from lowest to highest price). Dunlop has lost me as customer. If Enasave tires were 50% off, I wouldn't buy them (but that's just me).

A 165/65r14 NEXEN N-PRIZ AH5 tire has started to appear on more tire sites, & it has a 50,000 warranty. It seems to be priced between the Federal & Vredestein. Nexen is more of an unknown Korean tire company to me, but someone else may have some experience with them?

[Cobrajet]

Cobrajet - You make some excellent points!

I once bought a cheaper front tire for one of motorcycles. I took it back in twice, & we could not get it to balance. Spending a few extra bucks for a better front tire was the only solution.

That's why I would never order tires like Vee Rubber from someone like simpletire.com. Imagine ordering the tires, taking them in somewhere to be mounted, & then realize they are crap (bad enough that you can't really use them from the start). Now what do you do? It's not worth taking that gamble. Just because something is cheap doesn't mean it is a good deal!

I want to say I bought these tires in early 2017? I jumped on them because they were among the first 165/65-14 tires I had seen for sale here in the US other than the expensive OEM Dunlops or the equally expensive Bridgestones. I believe they were about $40 each. But Pep Boys didn't send what was advertised...the "Nika" tire. Instead, they sent the City Stars. I remember being annoyed about paying slightly more from Pep Boys' website than I would have paid for them ordering them on Ebay...from Pep Boys.

I was unfamiliar with the brand, but I figured, "Hey, for $40 a tire how bad can they be?"

The answer was...pretty damned bad! Pep Boys stopped selling them on their site shortly after I bought my set. I suspect it was because they were having a lot of these tires returned to them. I didn't need to have them installed until the fall of 2017, so when I found they were defective there was little chance of returning them. My ex-girlfriend had already had a set of these installed on her Mirage...at my suggestion...over the summer. She texted me to gripe about how terrible they were. I assumed there was another problem with her car, and the City Stars were fine. Once I had these tires installed on my car...I had to admit SHE WAS RIGHT.

Here is the thread from 2017 where these tires are discussed.

https://mirageforum.com/forum/showth...V312-165-65R14