By Shari Prymak

After four months and over 10,000 km, we have reached the conclusion of our testing period for the Sailun Inspire Touring all-season tire. Our goal was to determine whether Sailun’s latest all-season tire could serve as a suitable alternative to the commonly considered top tier tire brands. Sailun’s claims for the tire were certainly confidence inspiring. The Inspire Touring boasts levels of traction, performance, and longevity comparable to that of a top tier tire. It also offers a competitive 5 year or 120,000 km tread life warranty, as well as a 1 year warranty for damage as a result of road hazards. Perhaps most importantly of all, it manages to offer all of this at a significantly lower price point than top tier tire brands.

In terms of on-road performance, including control through corners and traction over different surfaces, Sailun’s claims certain appear to be justified. Over four months and 10,000 km, our test car experienced everything from long distance freeway trips, stop and go city commutes, to even extreme weather conditions through an exceptionally wet spring season. The Inspire performed flawlessly through all of it, delivering a suitably clam and quiet ride, along with impressive levels of traction and grip over both wet and dry roads. Help delivering that exceptional performance is the Inspire Touring’s new proprietary tire compound and a new tread pattern designed to optimal comfort, control and safety.  The company’s own slalom tire testing demonstrates the strengths of these technologies when compared to rival all-season tires.

The Inspire Touring’s performance benefits are clearly evident, but what really sets this tire apart from its rivals is the confidence-inspiring warranty to back up the claims. As previously mentioned, the Inspire comes with a 5 year or 120,000 km tread life warranty, which is one of the best on the market. Perhaps more significantly, Sailun also includes 1 year warranty against road hazards and damage, such as punctures from road debris, which a huge bonus and something that’s not commonly offered in the market. The warranty coverage is really a testament to the durability and longevity that owners should expect to receive.

Despite the impressive performance, longevity, and warranty claims, the Inspire Touring doesn’t command any kind of price premium when compared to rival all-season tires. In fact, Sailun continues to offer the strong value for which they are well-known by pricing the Inspire well below that of top tier brands. Using a popular Canadian tire retailer, we searched for a set of four all-season tires in a popular size, 215/60R16, suitable for many compact cars, to compare pricing. In the end, we settled on a few highly-rated all-season tires from reputable brands, which included the Bridgestone DriveGuard Touring all-season and the Continental ContiProContact Touring all-season. So what were the price tags? A set of four Bridgestone DriveGuards came to $519.80, and the Continental ContiProContacts came to $526.28. As for the Sailun Inspire Touring, a set of four came to only $437.08. That represents a savings of approximately 20 percent, which is quite impressive indeed.

In the end, the Sailun Inspire Touring all-season proves to offer an impressive balance between premium comfort, confidence-inspiring performance, and an excellent warranty. Best of all, it manages to offer all of this at a very compelling price point. It checks all of the boxes that the average consumer is looking for in a quality all-season tire, and for that it gets our recommendation.

For more information, check out www.sailuntire.ca  For further advice and recommendations, members can also contact our team of consultants at Car Help Canada.