Sailun Inspire Review: Blind Comparison Test
Editor’s Note: Sailun arranged for Mike Schlee to test out the Sailun Inspire All-Season tire by flying him to Homestead Miami Speedway. Mike was not directly compensated for his review.
Can a tire be all things to all people and still be a great value? That’s the goal of Sailun’s latest all-season touring tire called the Inspire.
Billed as balancing premium comfort and advanced performance, the Inspire is a tire designed for a multitude of machinery from compacts and sedans to crossovers and SUVs. It’s available in 63 sizes for wheels ranging from 14 inches to 19 inches in diameter.
Sailun’s goal with the Inspire is build a tire that is quiet and comfortable, while still delivering good performance and a long tread life. It comes with a 60-month, 70,000 mile (120,000 km) warranty. That’s a fairly long warranty period which is a good indication of how long the company expects the tire to last.
The special compound found on the tire is what Sailun refers to as SertaGrip and is intended to increase traction in both wet and dry conditions while keeping long lasting tread life. Sailun also incorporated the brand’s SilentTread™ pattern that features a variety of tuning technologies built into the tread, to keep the tire quiet during operation.
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Sailun Inspire Blind Test
To see if the Inspire is as good as advertised, we arrived at the NASCAR-famous Homestead Miami Speedway in Florida to conduct a blind tire test. A pair of Honda Accord sedans greeted us, ready for evaluation.
A high-priced, high-quality tire was installed on one of the cars, but the name and badging had been scrubbed off. Let’s just say it’s a Good tire that’s on sale this Year. On the other Honda, Sailun installed the Inspire. Although pricing can fluctuate from vendor to vendor, on the average, expect the Inspire to cost about 66% of the price on the competitor tire featured in this test.
We put both cars through a variety of tests including acceleration, panic braking, emergency lane changes, and slalom. The point of the test course wasn’t to see how fast we could complete it, but rather how well the tires perform during real world, regular consumer driving, hence the Accord test vehicles.
Although the driving was done blindly without us knowing which tire was which, after all the evaluating was completed, we were informed which vehicle had the Sailun Inspire and which was equipped with the competitor.
Sailun Inspire Dry Testing
Under acceleration and cornering, the difference in tire performance was nearly indistinguishable.
Both tires were composed through corners, with predictable levels of grip and a linear drop off in performance when exceeding the tire’s limits. Neither tire squealed excessively nor slid when encountering cracks in the pavement.
We did find the competitor tire performed slightly better under braking, stopping a fraction quicker. But due to the excessive heat and abuse our test vehicles were receiving, this could be due to the vehicle’s brakes overheating more than the tire itself. When it came to road noise and comfort, the Inspire was the quieter tire at low to moderate speeds. The difference may not be a lot, but it was enough to be noticeable.
Sailun Inspire Wet Testing
In the wet, the two tires featured similar levels of traction and braking ability. We were impressed at how well both tires channelled out water. Transitioning from damp pavement to standing water did adversely affect the vehicles intended path.
The competitor tire did exhibit slightly more grip under extreme cornering, but that’s when the car was pushed beyond reasonable limits. In day-to-day drive, the wet weather performance would be indistinguishable.
Sailun Inspire: The Verdict
So, after our testing, the tires were a wash; a basic tie between the two.
Normally, this would be a wasted tire comparison for a manufacturer. An opportunity lost. But it’s exactly what Sailun hoped to achieve. The company wanted to demonstrate that indeed, the brand’s value tire can perform just as well as a much more expensive, tier one tire. And we can honestly say, Sailun succeeded.
Pros | Warranty, Price Point, Dry and Wet Performance |
Cons | Slightly reduced wet weather performance, Still unknown in much of the market |
Bottom Line | A Value Tire that Performs as well as Pricier Competition |
A 20+ year industry veteran, Mike rejoins the AutoGuide team as the Managing Editor. He started his career at a young age working at dealerships, car rentals, and used car advertisers. He then found his true passion, automotive writing. After contributing to multiple websites for several years, he spent the next six years working at the head office of an automotive OEM, before returning back to the field he loves. He is a member of the Automobile Journalists Association of Canada (AJAC), and Midwest Automotive Media Association (MAMA). He's the recipient of a feature writing of the year award and multiple video of the year awards.
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Just scheduled an appointment at my local Belle tire to get four of these on my wife's car before we head out next week on spring break. The savings was more than $100 per tire between the Sailun and the next available for her make/model.
I had Sailun Inspire tires put on my Honda CRV at 65000 miles. They were mounted, balanced and I also had the vehicle aligned. With each 4,000 mile oil change, the tires were rotated Less that 20,000 miles later (2 years), I am told I should replace them before winter as the tread is at 5/32"!! They are supposed to be 70,000 mile tires. I am so dissapointed and will let everyone I know to steer clear of these tires = $600 in the wind!