I was invited by Sailun Tires to a PTPA (Parent Tested Parent Approved) event so that a few blogger could come by and test out their tires. I drove up to Brampton to spend the day finding out more about what makes this tire a PTPA winner! It was an day full of information and test driving.
Although Sailun Tires is new to the Canadian market, they were established in 2002 and they are available in Asia, Australia, Europe, South Africa, North America, Mexico and South America. Sailun Tires manufactures and distributes various types of passenger and light truck, medium radial truck, and off-the-road tires. Sailun currently invests approximately one third of its resources in to Research and Development – that in any industry is impressive.
The team from Sailun Tires was looking for some honest feedback and direction was give to us by independent car reviewer John (see picture below). Reviewing cars and tires is what he does for a living so giving us guidance as to what we should be looking for and what we should ‘feel’. It was very helpful when you don’t really know a lot about tires. He took the time to explain to me the difference between performance, all season and winter tires. More importantly he explained why sipes are important for traction.
Not knowing a lot about tires (that is my husbands domain) is not necessarily something I would care about. The thing is, that is pretty stupid. Other then at my home office the one other place I spend the most amount of time in is my car. I drive A LOT. Whether it is to my kids’ programs, to Toronto, “shopportunities” in Port Huron or to Montreal for fun, I spend a considerable amount of time on the road. I drive under all sorts of conditions: hot summer days, driving rain in spring or snowy and black ice conditions in the winter.
Having a good tire that keeps my family safe is essential. When I thought about what was important to me in a tire, these factors stood out for me: safety (great traction), warranty (stand behind their product) and value (budget-mined family). As I listened to the Sailun sales team, I was surprised by the price difference in tires. We were going to be testing tires that were 70% less then the high end tires. Would we be able to tell the difference?
We did a ‘blind’ test (as in we didn’t know which was Sailun and which was the competitor). We got to both drive the car ourselves and also be a passenger with a professional driver pushing the limits. The track was varied and safe enough for amateurs like us to manoeuvre. In the afternoon, they opened up the test area more and we were able to really pick up some speed and tackle some tighter corners. The best ride was when I was with John and he just… well, let loose. Nothing but fun! He took the corners far tighter then I would have and with more confidence. I guess when you test cars for a living and write about it, you know what you are doing.
Both the Sailun and the competitor’s tire performance were very similar and I only felt the difference when it came to stopping. I thought that the competitive tire performed a bit better in grasping the pavement but the difference, in my mind, was not huge.
I really enjoyed how the Sailun tires performed as I was driving around the track. They gripped the road well and did not squeal (as much as I thought it would be cool to do that, it is actually the sign of a bad tire if it starts to squeal – learned that fact too). Although in the video below it doesn’t seem that we are going fast, I was going fast enough to make it fun but not fast enough to get into trouble. The thing is I never felt that I was losing control of the car and that is a good thing! If you listen to the video you might thing that my passenger wasn’t so sure . We were encouraged to really to take it to task and I think most of the bloggers did just that.
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Sailun Tires is a Parent Tested Parent Approved product. It has earned the PTPA seal of approval. For more information about PTPA please visit their website.
Margarita Ibbott is a travel and lifestyle blogger. She blogs about travel in Canada, the United States and Europe giving practical advice through restaurant, hotel and attraction reviews. She writes for DownshiftingPRO.com and other online media outlets.
Fariha: thank you for the kind words about the pictures. Most are mine but some are from the event organizers with much better cameras then mine. Thanks for dropping by and make sure to that a good look at Sailun tires they are great!
Tires are so important! My FIL was a mechanic and for years this was instilled in us. To this day I think everyone should have a pair of snow tires if you live in Canada. The difference is staggering.
Very cool! Looks like it was a fantastic event. I had never heard of Sailun tires until only recently but would actually consider them for a future purchase. Love your pics!
I know my hubby would have liked this lol! Lucky ambassadors!
I didn’t know it at the time of the Sailun Tires event, but Hubs truck needed 2 new tires… and guess which ones our mechanic picked out?!? Sailun Tires!
I think that is amazing…I love your post. Made sure to linked it in my post because I thought that was so cool. It was great meeting you at the Sailun tire event Kate. I hope our paths cross again.
Great post! looks like you had a great time at the event as well!! Love that they are PTPA approved too!!
I am new to PTPA but they did a great job of making it interesting for us. I hope to work with them but there are so many great bloggers in Canada.
after being in a serious car accident on black ice tires are super important to me. Thanks for the product info, we’ll consider them.
I can’t imagine how scary it is to be in a serious accident. I spun out on black ice when I was a new driver. Fortunatley, I only hit curbs not anything else… Thanks for dropping by Julie.
Great post! Safety is so very important and I couldn’t agree more Sailun meets my families safety needs with a great price tag. Thanks for sharing our video review, much appreciated!
Tammy, honestly, I loved your video. It inspired me to try a bit more video work. It was so great meeting you IRL at Pioneer Camp. I hope we meet again!
Tire safety is so important! I don’t know anything about them and I should get some more education!! Thanks for sharing
They were a great sponsor to work with. They worked to get an honest opinion from us and they listened. Really listened. Great experience.
I wouldn’t know anything about tires either. Which is funny because my husband does involve me in decisions like this. I guess I’ve got a bit more to learn. Thanks for sharing.
Besos, Sarah
Blogger at Journeys of The Zoo
I hadn’t heard much about Sailun until I read your post – thanks! It gives me lots to consider for our next tire purchase.
Thanks for dropping by. As I said, they are new to Canada but not to the market. Make sure and check them out when you need tires. 🙂
ooo those look like a nice set of tires to have! I need to remember these next time we change out our tires!
Durability and price…2 musts when we shop for tires. Have to look into this brand and share this info with Hubs.
Nothing is worse than a tire losing thread so early into the purchase.Blowouts are not fun!! good to know about this brand.
Thanks for stopping by be sure and take a look at the Sailun Tire website, there might be something that you find of interest. Thanks for coming by.
Oh wow, driving on a test track and letting loose sounds like all kinds of awesome! You all look like you had fun! 😀 The right tires are like the front line for safety! It always troubles me when I see a car on the Toronto streets with tires that either look decorative or are completely not helpful for the current season. Thanks for the into to Sailun! 🙂
I am so glad that you enjoyed the post. I am working hard to make it interesting for my readers. I appreciate you stopping by and commenting.
As a car owner who drives in NYC which has the worst streets in the country, this is good to know. I always wonder how my tires can take the bad roads.
Mitch
Mitch: I have to say, I love NYC, I was there last summer and my family fell in love with the city. We can hardly wait to get back. Thanks for dropping by.
I really don’t know much at all about tires… I need to get on that. It sounds like you guys had a fun time, while learning a lot of important information. I would have been screaming like a little girl 😛
LOL… that was really funny. Thanks for the laugh!
We are actually in the market for new tires and after reading your post, we will certainly be checking out the Sailun brand!
It is worth a look at. The reps were so great and helped us understand what was important.
your right having good tires is very important
Thanks for dropping by I love your blog.
I never considered that there would be a big difference in tires. I just figured there were “old” and “new”, “snow” and “performance” and never put much thought into the quality differences. Now I’ll take that into consideration. Thanks!
I have to tell you when he told me about the sipes I felt a bit foolish that I knew NOTHING about what makes great traction on a tire. Glad you learned something.
We are actually in the market for some tires. Some for our lawnmower and some for my hubby’s car!
I am not sure if they make lawnmower tires but you never know. 😉 Thanks for dropping by and leaving a comment.
Like yourself, my hubby takes care of all the tire details. I should pay more attention too. Like you said, we do spend a lot of time in our cars. I however am the one who is always paranoid of not having enough air in the tires and I constantly check the air in the tires! Yes, I can do that! hehe
Kudos to you… I can’t say I check the tire pressure all too often. I have to admit, I will be going with my hubby to shop for those winter tires – Go Sailun!
What a cool experience! It would be lots of fun to take tires for test drives. And you learned lots too. Thanks for sharing the info!
I have to admit, it was a great surprise to be asked to participate and I absolutely loved it. I love writing reviews 😉