Affordable tires from a tire maker you’ve probably never heard of.
Company website: www.en.hdtyre.com
Shopping for large, low-profile, or off-road tires and you’ll probably come across Haidas.
Found at big box stores like Walmart, independent tire shops, and online, Haida tires are often marginally cheaper than premium and so-called Tier 2 tire companies (Hankook, Nankang, Federal.)
So, should you gamble on a set of tires from a tire company most tire shoppers don’t know exists until they sort from highest to lowest priced?
Let’s find out.
Haida Tires is a Chinese tire company, one of 25 separate series of tires, under the Haida Rubber Group, makers of construction, commercial, and passenger car tires.
To make it clear, Haida tires are Made in China.
According to Import Genius, Haida Tires, at least in North America, does business under “Toee Haida Tyre Co., LTD” importing tires from the Haidan District of Beijing, China (hence the name) to North American ports in Washington, New Jersey, Texas, and California.
Hillyard’s Rim Lions has a great quote about Haidan Racing tires and sums up what the company specializes in pretty well.
“(Haida Racing) makes a lot of low profile, performance tires. They make a lot of odd-ball sizes, a lot of really, really, low-profile tires. They make a lot of tight rubber bands of rubber.”
And when HRL describes their HD921 tire.
“We’ve got your generic directional tread pattern, decent sidewall, sidewall’s kind of OK.”
This should give you a general idea what kind of tires Haida tires make, and what to expect.
When you buy Haida tires don’t expect to buy a Michelin, Pirelli or Yokohama-type tire experience, Haida tires are very much a “you get what you pay for” type tire.
With that out of the way, are Haida tires any good?
Let’s find out.
Haida tires strengths
-Affordable
-Good off-road tires
-UHP tires are a hit-and-miss, but the HD927 seems to be a hit.
If you click the company website above or even look on prioritytire.com, you’ll see Haida offers over 30 separate models ranging from all-season, UHP, and even off-road tires.
Haida has a lot of range.
Based on what sells the most on Amazon and WalMart, the most popular Haida tires seem to be the Haida Mud Champ 868, HD927, and Haida Racing HD921, so, I’ll be basing my opinion of this tire brand on those specific models.
The largest selling point for Haida tires is the price.
Take, for example, a set of Haida Mud Champ HD868s priced at $978 for four, compare that to Yokohama Geolander M/Ts at $1,416 for a full set. A $438 difference is remarkable.
For the price of four Geolanders, you can just about buy six Haida Mud Champs.
And, according to reviews on Prioritytire.com, HD868 owners seem to love them.
“Pretty good for some cheaper tires, actually impressed, not much road noise, very little vibration, had 500 miles on the truck when installed and now I’m almost at 5k miles and I have no complaints,” says Garry H on March 9, 2020 “Will purchase more.”
Most of the reviews of the 868 are much of the same, reviewers impressed with what they got for the price.
This is a theme I find with a lot of these “Made in China” tires.
These tire companies “cut their teeth” on commercial and construction tires, so it makes a lot of sense they’d make a good M/T, A/T, and X/T tire, too.
A quote about their HD878 RTs I love is from Youtuber Slipped Wrench (video posed below) when he said, “if you have a mall crawler, these (HD878s) are great.”
It’s a great point, if you’re going to buy off-road tires, honestly don’t off-road and are only going for the looks, why spend money on the premium stuff when these Haidas will do just fine.
It’s something to consider.
And, while their HD921 UHP is not a fan favorite (see below,) their HD927 hints that there’s some UHP magic in Haida tires after all.
Reading HD927 reviews on Priority Tire, a lot of purchasers are really impressed with these asymmetrical summer tires.
“For the price, this tire is unbeatable,” sayas Zeb on July 29, 2020. “Very little road noise at all. I was worried that the tires would need more wheel weights to balance out. But they took less than the expensive Continentals I had on my 2015 Mercedes ML63. My SUV is lowered and I was going through the Continentals within 6 months. That’s around 1600 dollars for a set of tires every six month. So I Figured why not give these inexpensive tires a chance. And it was the best decision I’ve made for myself. Saving myself so much money. I only wish I would’ve changed sooner!”
If Zeb had 295/35/21s found on ML63s, a set of Haida HD927s in the same size is just $620.
So, if you’re on the fence if you should go for a so-called no name brand, close to $1000 in savings might be that push you need.
Haida Tire weaknesses
-HD921, a Loud UHP tire
If you’re considering buying their Haida Racing HD921, it’s worth your while to read the reviews from tire-reviews.com.
Tire-Reviews is for mostly European tire shoppers, and, generally speaking, the European driver is more discerning compared to an American driver when it comes to performance.
“The HD921 is ranked 175th of 190 Summer High Performance tires.”
That being said, they’ve put the HD921 threw the wringer, mostly commenting how loud they are.
“These tires squeal in the dry, slide in the wet….and most of all make the most noise i’ve heard from tires,” the top review says. “Getting swapped now”
“These tires are okay for a temporary fix, says a more forgiving review on Nov. 2, 2017 ” I bought a set of 4 and I was impressed with the grip, but after a few days of driving, you can feel and hear the quality of the tires decrease. Road noise will be the first thing you take notice of.”
This was a tire characteristic HRL pointed out in their HD921 review, blaming the HD921s treads set too far apart for the loud sound.
The American reviews on Amazon are a lot kinder to the HD921.
“The tread design sets these tires out in parking lots setting next to stock tires,” says Chris Owens on March 15,2021 “It’s a great looking tire. I will look through hundreds to find the right tread. I don’t like stock treads.
See what I mean by less discerning, American reviews seem to be more apt to comment on how good they look over how well they actually perform.
Relevant videos
Conclusion
Haida Tires offers serious value for the price, case in point, the Mud Champ HD868s and HD927s.
But, as mentioned, Haida Tires aren’t perfect (HD921) and, if you decide to choose Haida over a premium brand, you might have to live with their misgivings (loud noise and subpar wet handling.)
And for that, it’s important, if your tire budget is tight, to do your Haida model-specific homework to suss out the home runs from the strikeouts.
If you haven’t clicked on my links above, I’ve listed what websites I’ve visited below.
They’re a good place to start for that aforementioned homework.
Sources:
