Tire Brands

MasterCraft is a subsidiary of Cooper Tire & Rubber and was founded in 1909 as a tire company that offers premium products to tire dealers across North America. (click here for their website)

Yokohama Tire Corporation is the North American manufacturing and marketing arm of Tokyo, Japan-based The Yokohama Rubber Co., Ltd., a global manufacturing and sales company of premium tires since 1917. (click here for their website)

Bridgestone was founded in 1931 by Shojiro Ishibashi in Japan. Japan started slowly producing automobiles in the 1930s, and Bridgestone became the first tire manufacturing company to offer tires nationwide… (click here for their website)

In 1888 John Boyd Dunlop’s son is struggling to ride his tricycle. To make the child’s ride more comfortable, Boyd fits his tricycle with tires made of canvas bonded with liquid rubber. Boyd patents what turns out to be a very big idea… (click here for their website)

The Firestone Tire and Rubber Company was founded in 1900 by Harvey Firestone in the rubber capital of the world—Akron, Ohio. (click here for their website)

Hankook Tire was founded in 1941 under the name “the Chosun Tire Company” in South Korea. The Chosun Tire Company changed its name to Hankook Tire in 1968. (click here for their website)

MICHELIN® was founded under the Michelin Rubber Factory in 1888 by Édouard and André Michelin in Paris, France. The original Rubber Company has since grown into the second biggest tire manufacturer in the world, behind only Bridgestone (click here for their website)

Kumho Tire Co. Ltd., formerly known as The Samyang Tire Co., Ltd., was founded in South Korea in 1960. Samyang Tire produced its first tire in 1961. (click here for their website)

Giovanni Battista Pirelli founded Pirelli & Co. in Milan in 1872, and rubber production began within two years. Pirelli began producing bicycle tires in 1890, and the first automobile tire followed soon after. (click here for their website)

The Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company was founded in 1898 by Frank Seiberling in Akron, Ohio. That year, the company had only thirteen employees, and began producing bicycle and carriage tires. (click here for their website)

Established in 1894, Kelly Tires is the oldest American-made tire brand. Kelly Tires was founded in Springfield, Ohio. (click here for their website)

Cooper Tires, started in 1914 in Akron, Ohio, is an American company that specializes in the design, manufacture, marketing and sales of replacement automobile and truck tires, and subsidiaries that specialize in medium truck, motorcycle and racing tires (click here for their website)

BFGoodrich® Tires became the first rubber company in the United States when it was founded in 1870 by Dr. Benjamin Franklin Goodrich in the rubber capital of the world, Akron, Ohio. (click here for their website)

Continental has been a leading automotive industry supplier for over 100 years. Continental was founded in 1871 in Hanover, Germany. (click here for their website)

The General Tire and Rubber Company was founded in 1915 by William O’Neil and Winfred E. Fouse in Akron, Ohio, the rubber capital of the world. (click here for their website)

The Nexen Tire Company was established in 1942 in Korea under the name Heung-A Tire Company. Nexen Tire was recognized as the first Korean tire company in 1956. (click here for their website)

The Toyo Tire & Rubber Co., Ltd. was established in Japan in 1945. In July of 1966, U.S. operations of Toyo tires began in California. (click here for their website)

In 1892, Uniroyal® was founded in Naugatuck, Connecticut as the United States Rubber Company, which later became Uniroyal® Inc. in 1961. (click here for their website)