I had a set of yana tyres, they served me for 4 years. I also had balancing issues. The drive was uncomfortable, especially over last 1 year, due to the balancing issue. On the plus side, they were quite handy - esp offroad, the wear and tear on them was not too much, i even sold each for 1000 to those Kirinyaga road guys. Punctures were minimal.

I changed them for Apolo tyres, so far so good. The drive is definitely much much better, i barely notice when driving past 100. With the yana, the car would really vibrate as you approach 100, a sort of imposed speedometer.

I have used GT (Indonesian) 182/70 for the last 1.5yrs and no complains so far.

My experience with their size 185/70R13 (kwa matatu) left me feeling thoroughly cheated. Tyres would wear out unevenly despite alignment and balancing (even on the hind wheels), develop bumps on the side wall, vibrate beyond certain speeds, etc. Thank heavens for the GTRadial (Indonesia). Been using them since 2011 (at a fraction of Yana's cost) and have absolutely no complaints.

That mirrors my yana experience. For me there was no way I could believe the batch was faulty because every single tyre I bought from them had the same fault. Mpaka siku moja karibu tushikane mashati hapa na the local dealer akikataa kubadilisha a two-week old tyre that had turned out faulty

GTRadial Indonesia is said to be higher quality as compared to GTRadial China. This is just anecdotal info I gathered when I switced, never used the Chinese one on any of the units. At the time I switched, a yana was going for 7500/= while GT was going for 4500/=.

Interestingly, on the larger tyres (we use 195R15C on shark) GT doesnt fare so well. Hapa, the good ones I know of are Maxxis/TruckMax (which is what I use) and Apollo (what @Prime uses). A friend was telling me recently that CEAT is good too but I'm yet to try them. There was also another brand called Arrow something or the other, best tyres ever lakini siku hizi sizioni sokoni.

haiya--thanx mypesa, thanx Wazua...I was going to pick a set of two yana tyres at Lang'ata by 10....waoh how timely can a thread get...my buddy works for yana and he was going to get me the tyres at 30% or 40% discount
I have a small car and no experience on tyres since someone one else does my procurents...but the latest I have have become malfunctional in less than a year (no idea what they are...but had been bought for 5200 each)...hmmm mebb niligongwa...
Since I have no budget (it is the usual)but I need to buy two tyres for my car to move ...what is the cost of these gt radial indonesia ones

I have used both Gt-indonesia and Linglong.
The two linglong tyres have been superb so far. The Gts are nice but i think the linglongs are superior. Ill conclusively be sure in two years to come but so far after about a year the treads are very impressive.

By reputation apollo tyres seem to be very good but usually they cost slightly more. I think 7500 would be a good deal, have had quotes of 9k and above before. Apollo tyres is an indian company.

The linglongs have served me very well so far. They are made in different varieties. I think their high end tyre is the "Green max eco touring".

Came to learn about the varieties when buying the second linglong tyre and I settled for the green max.


They scored very in a certain finnish tyre test in 2011 (cant tell the credibility of the test though) beating world renown brands. Linglongs are made in china.

The finnish test


a new zealand article on linglong


Linglong Site

I get the Maxxis/TruckMaxx at 8,000/= each, size 195R15C. Price used to be 9k but has gradually come down to the current 8k. One of my sources is a wazuan who had posted about the tyres here sometime last year.

Apollo are good too. The reason I haven't used them is at the time I switched from the initial Arrow brand, I was unable to find any Apollo of that size so opted for Maxxis which has turned to be a good deal so far. ( As an aside, generally Indian parts tend to be of good quality actually. If you ever find some brake pads made in India called Matatu Special and distributed by C&G, try them. You won't be disappointed).

I have been using 195/15 Apollo 3G Maxx on my car for past one year and the treads still look like new. The tyres still have the tu-hairs. Never even had a puncture. Bought @7500 hapo kirinyaga rd.

Hi all,

Would like to replace my car tyres, they are 205/55/R16.

Any updates on the affordable and durable brands in the market?

Would appreciate price indications and contacts of suppliers.

@Rankaz13, kindly share the contacts of your Wazuan supplier

Asanteni