I have a set of yokohama avide not sure how it spelled and there rated at 60,000 miles and i will tell you what these tires are well made and quit ,nice ride and very good handling .I went with a taller tire save on gas instead of a lower profile you can get them for about 400.00 out the door at discount tire and also had a alignment done which i really needed ... also bf goodridge radial ta i had before were also good tires but a little more money

 

The thing to remember about tires is that the softer compounds typically wear faster BUT give you more traction in the process. It's all about the needs of the individual. Heading to the track? Faulkens may be the right choice. Looking for every mile available? Rockstones may be the ticket! I agree on the Chinese tires though.... would never have a set on my ride!

 

I'm not automatically bashing everything made in China, heck, you can't escape things made in China these days. But that being said, your tires are the probably the most important thing on your HHR, and for my money and piece of mind....no Chinese rubber will ever fill my fenders.

Unfortunately for the OP, and really for any HHR owner due to our tire sizes, the chance of finding that magic combination of "cheap" and "high quality" is one that takes some looking and compromising in price vs. tread wear.

 

I personally swear by Cooper tires. Good price and they all seem to last a long time. Never had issues with any Coopers.

 

I have an Expedition that I use for plowing in the winter. It has the Mastercraft Courser tires on it and they are made by Cooper. I like them! Great traction and are wearing good too. It's not a well known name but becoming more and more popular. I would not hesitate if the right size was available for GIZMO.

 

I've had Coopers before, always liked them. Running Goodyears now on the HHR though...

 

I will say the original firestones that came on it lasted 65k. But they rode rough, were very nosiy, and had lousy traction in my opinion. When I put the Coopers on it, it was like I was driving a new car.

 

I'm probably one of those not 'qualified' to give opinion , as the closest I've come to putting Chineeze tyres on any of our vehicles is Kumho (Korean).

It's moments like this that cause me to realize how lucky I am to live within a very short drive to Tire Rack (South Bend) and that brings me to opinions. There is a wealth of knowledge through customer reviews on their site that render frank opinion regarding all forms of tyres that to me appear more candid than when one is pressed to render opinion in response to a question.

Now if you were to ask about Chineeze tyres for a motorcycle or bicycle, I do have first hand experience and that is probably why the closest I've come to putting Chineeze tyres on a car is Korea.

While it wasn't asked, I'll also chime in that I prefer Tire Rack installing my tyres over Discount as it is much easier for me to remove a tyre that has been hand torqued to spec. by them than one that was installed by my neighbor's kid using the 750# impact wrench at Discount.

 

Wow...this is getting almost frustrating. Anyone who has said you can get a set of $400 tires is bonkers ,not reading my sig or any of the comments, or needs to post links to prove that I'm an idiot for not turning them up in my searching. I have said this is an SS. Discount tire's cheapest is $125/tire for a 30k mile warranty Kuhmo. Total out the door for that set at my local discount tire, per the website, is $624.74. tirerack.com cheapest is Sumitomo (who might as well be sunny or nexen for as many as I have seen in the wild) $123.00/tire, $538.88 shipped to me, then I have to have them installed, call it $688.88 out the door.

I DO know how to price shop. That said I currently find myself in a position that necessitates decisions I might not normally make...like used tires or cheap Chinese tires. I have a few hundred dollars I can lay my hands on, and that's it. I'm already leveraged enough that I can't swing a "small" monthly payment and I refuse to finance hundreds of dollars at 15%+ interest on a credit card until some indeterminate point in the future that I can pay it off. So all that said, even though from the look of things no one will read it, my options are a little limited.

The only reason this discussion is here is that an end must be reached with a certain limited amount of resources. If I COULD buy nice tires, I would. That is a non-option at this time. So, I'm just trying to weigh options. It seems like the local used tire places are having a hard time coming up with something that fits, so I'm trying to explore other avenues, which brought me to these brands. I was just hoping maybe someone had actually owned a set or knew someone who has, and could make comment.

The SN3970 seem to get decent reviews, the SN3800 less so. Some people seem a little drama queen-ish, and as I said previously; any time I look at these review sites, I generally weight positive reviews more than negative as one is usually less likely to go out of their way to post a positive review. http://www.tyrereviews.co.uk/Search/sunny

 

Im sure you have already thought about this. Just figured id throw it out there anyway. These front wheel drive cars are more than nice to rear tires. Are either the fronts or backs good enough to use and just purchase a set for the front?