If you’re wondering if Westlake Tires are worth your hard-earned dollars, here’s why Westlake tires are probably a good investment if you’re the budget minded motorist.

Westlake Tires are a Chinese tire currently ranked as a Tier-3 supplier part of the Hangzhou Zhongce Rubber Company family of tire brands. Other ZC Rubber tire brands include Chao Yang, Goodride, Trazano, and Yartu.

Official US Website- WestlakeTireUSA.com
Facebook- Westlake official page
Walmart- Walmart.com

Westlake tires aren’t a premium tire nor do they supply OEM car companies with tires. Instead, Westlake tires are marketed as affordable replacements for your original equipment.

Established in 1958 and with over 60 years of tire manufacturing experience, ZC Rubber, including these new Westlake tires, are definitely not a fly-by-night tire company and are here to stay.

ZC Rubber in and of itself is a huge company. As per their press release from last year, they are the number one largest tire manufacturer in China and 10th largest tire manufacturer in the world with $3.6B in sales.

Where are Westlake tires made?

Although Zhongce Rubber Group co. LTD has factories in Thailand, most likely most, if not all Westlake tires are made in China at their main factory in Xiasha, China.

Tire Lineup in the United States

Westlake Tires in the United States are imported and distributed by Tireco based out of Norco, Calif. Their tire lineup is simple with tires for cars and trucks.

  • Cars
    • RP18 Radials
    • SA07 Sport tires
  • Truck
    • SU316 Radial HT
    • SL309 Radial A/P
    • SL 369 Radial A/T

Are they any good?

I will focus on one car and truck tire, the RP18 and SL309 as my basis to form my opinion on Westlake Tires, which I’m posting a bit of information about both below.

Based on what I’ve read, and what you’ll read below, Westlake tires are an exceptional tire for the price. In addition to being a good, basic tire, there’s one quality that stands out among numerous tire reviews I’ve read about them and it’s road noise, or the lack thereof. Westlake tires seem to be extremely quiet throughout its entire lineup.

It is of my opinion that, since ZC Rubber has been in the business making tires for industrial use, long before making passenger car tires, ZC Rubber excels when it comes to light truck and truck tires.

As a matter of fact, most Westlake tires I’ve seen have been on trucks of all makes and models, from a Ford F-150 to a Nissan Frontier.

Westlake RP18 Radial tires

Westlake advertises the RP18’s as

…engineered for year-round performance and provides unmatched value in its category. Utilizing an all-season touring tread design with four circumferential grooves fused with a multitude of lateral siping for optimized wet traction, steering response, and handling. The symmetric tread design also allows for tire rotations which supports prolonged tread wear.

With sizes ranging from 13″-16″, these are definitely a small car tire that will fit lots of Honda Civics, Toyota Corollas, Nissan Sentras and the like.

Here are a handful of reviews on the RP18 via Mavistire

“I like these tires. They are quiet (much more so than what I had on there before). They were good all last winter–had no trouble at all. All four tires are Westlake.”

“I have a 10-year-old car that I was going to have to drive to JFK from Smithtown in the near future, during rush hour both ways. So I wanted some good rubber for safety. I made that trip daily for a month and was very happy with the performance. Great tires at a great price.”

“They are good basic tires that do the basic job. You get what you pay for. I was paying for decent tires to get me around. They’re not performance tires by any means, but they’re doing their job so far, which is what counts.”

As you can see, the RP18 is a fine tire for basic motoring needs. You won’t get Ferrari levels of grip but good enough. True to its name, all-season, RP18’s will get the job done in both rain and snow.

Westlake SL309 A/S Tires

Westlake advertises the SL309 as

The SL309 is an all-purpose, heavy duty performer for your light truck application. The M+S all-season tread design incorporates open shoulders and circumferential grooves that help dispel water and debris, while lateral-siped tread blocks improve traction performance on paved, gravel, and dirt roads. Robust steel-belted construction provide optimal treadlife along with heavy duty construction for load hauling.

Here are a handful of reviews on this tire, again, via MavisTire.

“Bought these tires for my f-350 dump truck because they were affordable Compared to the big name tires. Couldn’t be happier, great tire aggressive tread, great with a load, in the dirt and great traction plowing snow. I would definitely buy them again”

“Smooth, comfortable ride. Looks good on my Ford F350 dually, good price.”

“I drive an 8000 lb. Chevrolet Step Van. These Westlake Tires are a nice firm ride. No shake no shimmy. Seems to be a heavy duty tire. I am not sure about wet handling or winter traction because I am in Phoenix. Time will tell, but so far so good.”

Should you buy Westlake tires?

Short answer, yes! If you’re on a budget and need a set of quality tires but aren’t looking for Laguna Seca track driving levels of grip, buy Westlakes.

If you have a truck and are looking at Westlakes, it’s a no-brainer.

Here are a couple of videos from people on Youtube that bought Westlakes.

4 COMMENTS

    • What would make you think that these Westlake tires would have to be rebalanced every 3K miles?? Have you ever owned this brand of tire before?

  1. I’ve had Westlake tires for 2 years now and still have plenty of tread. I drive about 1000 miles a month and take it offroad in my Subaru and has never had any problems with the tires. No complaints here especially since I purchased all 4 tires with install and balancing for less than $400.

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