Why you’ll feel confident spending your hard earned money on these American-made tires.
Big O website: www.bigotires.com
You’ve seen their stores, know that they sell tires, but, did you know this (now) Palm Beach based tire company also sells their own brand of tires?
According to a comprehensive history of Big O from Reference for Business, Big O tires officially started doing business under the brand Big O in 1962 and started selling its own brand of tires 12 years later in 1974.
If you’re wondering where Big O tires are made the company’s history goes on to say, “…in 1992 Big O switched to U.S.-produced tires for all its stores because of difficulty in receiving adequate supplies of tires from companies such as Kumho and Hankook of South Korea.”
It’s a practice that Big O-branded tires still adheres to till this day.
Big O tires are made in the United States by the Kelly-Springfield tire company.
Kelly-Springfield itself is a subsidiary of the Akron-based Goodyear Tire and Rubber company.
As of this writing, this is the Big O tire lineup. As you can see, half the tires are geared towards light to heavy off-roaders and the other half are street tires.
With a bit of history and where they’re made out of the way, are Big O tires any good?
Let’s get into that.
Pros
Made in America
For the past 30 years, Big O Tires are American-made and, for many tire shoppers, that’s a big deal. In this (as of this writing) time of historic inflation and with companies outsourcing production across the border and overseas, it’s good to know all the dollars you’re spending goes towards an All-American product.
Exceptional value
Big O tires aren’t cheap, let’s get that out of the way. Take Big O’s Legacy Tour Plus, their popular all-season street touring tire in sizes 15″-18.”
A Legacy Tour Plus in 195 60 R15 costs $144.95 per tire or $579.80 for a set of four.
Plug that tire size into Google and you’ll find all sorts of so-called value brand and tier 3 tires that are much cheaper, in some cases, almost a third the price.
But, with these value brand tires, even if they boast tire warranties 50,000 miles and over, a quick read through of reviews reveals their tires don’t nearly last as long. And, if and when you do need tire warranty service, U.S. based customer service is lacking.
Some value brands of tires don’t even have tire warranties, mileage or otherwise.
Sure, these cheaper brands may fit the bill but, if you absolutely rely on your tires to get you through some tough times and “have your back” (re warranties,) do you really want to cheap out where the rubber meets the road?
It’s a caveat I put on most of the other value brand tires I review.
For the “premium” price you pay over a value brand, Big O tires delivers exceptional performing tires that, as far as I’ve read (reading dozens of reviews) meets or exceeds tire longevity claims per the limited mile tire warranty.
Customers seem to love their best sellers
By far, Big O’s most popular tires are their Legacy Tour Plus and Big Foot AT NTs, two models I’m basing my impression of Big O’s brand of tires on.
Legacy Tour Plus tires seem to be an overall really good tire, delivering on performance and a premium ride at reasonable prices.
“Not only is it a good tire for the price, it’s a really good tire overall,” says 4 out of 5 star Legacy Tour Plus reviewer named Allen. “They’re quiet, smooth, and handle and ride great. I had been using a much more expensive competitor, and I cannot tell any difference except for one thing.”
On top of that, a theme I’ve found reading reviews of their Legacy Tour Plus including their other tires is that Big O brand tire purchasers are repeat buyers.
“Third set of tires from them (Big O,)” says a 5 out of 5 star reviewer named Jester6. “Great customer service and they back up what they say.”
When it comes to tire buyers demanding a lot from their tires, truck and SUV owners looking for a good AT (a tire good for light to medium off-roading that can handle long freeway slogs) demand a lot of performance for the price, and Big Foot AT NTs seem to deliver and then some.
“This is my second set of tires on my ram 2500, I do a lot of mountain driving hauling trailers and the E rated tires hold up to the loads,” says a four out of five star Big Foot AT NT reviewer named Dodge03. “The average lifespan of the tires I have used ranges from 15000 miles on the low end to these on the high of close to 40000 miles. They preform well in the snow and are decent in the mud, they are not mud tires but have really good traction for all terrains.”
Tire industry-best warranty and customer service
Big O Brand tire purchasers get a full suite of limited lifetime of tire protection warranties. On top of their pro-rated limited mileage warranty you get (if I’m reading this right) rotation and rebalancing for the useful life of your tires and 3-year 24/7 flat tire changing assistance and reimbursable benefits.
As far as I know, Big O is one of the few (if any) tire makers to offer a free rotation and rebalance service for their tire purchasers, a big plus to consider if you live within a stone’s throw of one of their stores.
Here’s a screenshot of their Big O Brand tire warranty and what that flat tire changing assistance service entails.
Cons
Price
The only con about Big O tires worth writing about is price. Big O tires slot in between Tier 2 tires and Value branded tires, they’re not as expensive as Tier 1 Premium tires and are a smidge less expensive than Tier 2 tires, but, not by much.
Tire purchasers have a lot of choices and, for a lot of families scraping by, who need a new set of tires yesterday, dropping over $600 on a set of all-seasons is just not in the cards, customer service and tire longevity aside.
If price is you’re largest determining factor buying tires, Big O tires probably are not for you.
Regardless, if you let a Big O tires rep know that money is tight, with service in mind, they’re more than willing to work with you.
For one, I’ve seen a handful of Big O tire reviews stating they honor a Veterans discount.
And, Big O tires seems to always be running some sort of sale.
Case in point, this Facebook ad.
Conclusion
Big O’s brand of tires is the real deal, offering exceptional performance at reasonable prices.
While you may end up paying more than you wanted, seeing how cheap tires can get, at the end of the day you’re paying for the piece of mind that comes from a tire company and set of shops that will more than likely honor any tire warranty issues or limited mileage warranty claims.
It’s cliché to say that you get what you pay for and, with Big O’s brand of tires, that’s largely the case.
