Buying tires for your JDM ride might not be as exciting as fitting a new exhaust or upgrading the engine or suspension but they serve a large purpose when it comes to performance and safety. Buying a pair of high-quality tires will not only serve you in your daily driving but lap times on the track as well. And not to forget safety, the tires on a vehicle are the one single link to the road surface. Luckily, Japan has quite a few really great tire manufacturers to serve your every need. These are the best JDM tires money can buy.
Bridgestone is one of the oldest and largest tire manufacturers in the world. In 2020 they were the largest tire manufacturer in terms of revenue and a close second in 2021 with Michelin at rank one. Bridgestone didn’t become this successful based on chance. They’ve been around for over 90 years and are thus considered one of the most trusted brands when it comes to automobile tires.
Bridgestone has expanded to more vehicles than just cars as they sell tires for heavy vehicles, motorcycles, mining vehicles, as well as for aircraft.
Bridgestone is always seeking the best quality; thus, the company is putting a lot of resources into research and development to come up with new materials.
Bridgestone offers some of the best quality tires in the field and the tires are produced to be durable and provide utmost efficiency. And although they might be pricier than some of the competition, you’ll find that you don’t have to change tires nearly as often.
Their website: https://www.bridgestonetire.com/
Type of Tires Offered: Winter tires, all-season tires, mud-terrain tires, all-terrain tires, high-performance tires, touring tires.
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Another big name in the tire manufacturer business, Yokohama has been manufacturing tires for over 100 years now, making it one of the oldest tire manufacturers in the world. Although the first 50 years of its existence were mostly spent producing for the Japanese domestic market. Ever since the late 1960s, Yokohama started to become a really popular tire brand in the west and is now considered one of the best tire brands in the world.
Alike Bridgestone, Yokohama also offers a wide range of different products. Just for the Western markets, Yokohama offers up to 76 different products spread out between cars, heavy trucks, aircraft, and construction vehicles. Yokohama is also known for producing the fantastic performance tire, ADVAN.
Their website: https://www.yokohamatire.com/
Type of Tires Offered: Winter tires, all-season tires, mud-terrain tires, all-terrain tires, high-performance tires, touring tires.
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Ever since the end of WW2 Toyo Tires has manufactured performance JDM tires with a large focus on always using the latest technology. Unlike some of the other tire manufacturers, a large part of Toyo Tires’ budget is spent on research and development. They’ve developed technologies such as ‘Nano Balance Technology’ which more or less means that Toyo Tires has developed such advanced materials that each molecular part of the tire is made at the “nano level” (1 nanometer = 1 billionth of a meter). In short: they use great materials.
Both their performance and offroad tires have got a lot of great feedback from customers. Within the JDM culture (and any car culture, really) Toyo Tires has got a strong presence, both in terms of racing, drifting, and car shows.
Their effort in research and development has also helped them produce some of the most environmentally friendly tires out there as they’ve earned top remarks for environmental performance time after time.
Their website: https://www.toyotires-global.com/
Type of Tires Offered: Winter tires, all-season tires, all-terrain tires, high-performance tires, touring tires.
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A key player when it comes to tires, Sumitomo was founded in 1919 Osaka, Japan, and produces popular JDM tires such as Dunlop, Ohtsu, and Falken Tires (in certain regions). And although their product portfolio is relatively limited, they offer great performance for a relatively cheap price.
Sumitomo offers a range of winter tires, and that comes as no surprise as their main focus is achieving optimal traction. In other words, Sumitomo aims to achieve the best possible performance out of their tire.
Tires can be found for your everyday car, truck, crossover, or SUV. They also produce a range of different performance wheels suitable for track driving.
Considering the low prices, Sumitomo doesn’t produce the best of the best, but they offer great performance at fair prices which makes them desirable for your everyday bloke.
Their website: https://www.sumitomotire.com/
Type of Tires Offered: Winter tires, all-season tires, all-terrain tires, high-performance tires, touring tires.
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Even though Falken Tire is officially owned by Sumitomo Tires they still act and produce independently from them. Chances are that If you’re into Motorsport or drifting you’ve likely seen Falken’s signature green and blue color scheme. Their large involvement in the racing scene might give you an indication of what type of tires they produce. Falken is your go-to Japanese tire brand when it comes to high-end performance.
Falken produces anything from slick tires, wet-tires, but also offers ordinary winter and summer tires as well as the occasional all-terrain tire. No matter the tire, their main focus lies in providing the largest amount of grip and traction at all times. That means that Falken offers a large variety of wheels to be used depending on the surface and conditions.
In order to be able to manufacture tires with these criteria, Falken uses advanced 4D Nano Design technology for simulation in order to speed up production while maintaining quality.
Their website: https://www.falkentire.com/
Type of Tires Offered: Winter tires, all-season tires, all-terrain tires, high-performance tires, touring tires
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If you’re also interested in some of the best JDM wheels available then we’ve got another top 5 articles covering them right here!
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