The treadwear rating is reasonable as well without being overly optimistic; Sailun rates the tire with a 60,000-km tread wear life. The street price for the SVR LX tire is closer to $180 a tire – that’s close to a $400 savings for the set of tires for my vehicle. In my opinion that’s worth the risk.

To be honest, my biggest concern with trying a different type/brand of tire was noise. My LX570 is whisper quiet on the highway and I wanted it to stay that way. Too many times a tire has ruined the ride and NVH levels in a vehicle I have owned and it concerned me.

I mounted up the Sailun tires and headed out around the neighbourhood. First impressions were good, they seemed just as smooth and quiet as the Michelins, so did I luck out? Sailun claims their grooved tread walls help reduce road noise and enhance high-speed stability. After a few highway runs with the radio turned down to zero I listened carefully – this tire is good. To be fair the Michelin tires were dead silent, not a peep could be heard, and while the Sailun tires are very very quiet, there is a slight hum that can be heard on the highway depending on the road surface, with the radio on at all though it is unnoticeable and the hum is barely audible even with it off – I’m being very “Princess and the Pea” picky here.

The grooves in the Atrezzo SVR LX are deep and in the rain these tires perform just fine from what I can tell. I’m testing these on a 2,720-kg (6,000 lb) SUV after all, I’m not about to head out to the racetrack or through a slalom course.

Also on Autos.ca: Tire Review: Sailun Z4+AS

I’ve also had a chance to tow a very heavy trailer with these tires fitted and I haven’t noticed any sidewall deforming causing a unbalanced or tail happy ride, which can be a very stressful factor when towing on the highway.

Overall these tires have impressed me. I’ve put close to 8,000 km on them now and they look and sound good as new. I was very concerned about mounting anything but the OEM-selected Michelin Latitudes on my ride but these tires have proven to be just as good at a substantial savings.

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