Landsail Tyres Review & Buying Guide 2023

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As we’ve discussed in our previous tyre manufacturer buying guides, there are a huge number of tyre manufacturers out there. Some make good tyres, some make OK tyres and some make tyres you should avoid. 

Most have heard of premium brands like Dunlop and Continental, but might be put off by the price of these premium tyres. Therefore, they gravitate to tyres that are slightly cheaper, but maybe don’t have the same reputation - like Landsail.

I’m a mechanic who has fitted tyres to vehicles for over ten years. In that time I’ve fitted some of the very best Michelin tyres and some of the very worst budget tyres to almost any car you could think of.

If you have come across Landsail tyres and you’re looking to put some on your vehicle in 2023, I’ve done a full review of Landsail tyres with all the data you will need to make a decision about whether they’re suitable and safe for your car.

Who are Landsail?

Landsail is a Chinese manufacturer and a fairly new entrant to the UK market, coming onto the scene in 2011. In that time they have established themselves as one of the main players in the budget tyre space, selling approximately one million tyres every year.

Landsail is well established in over 90 countries around the world. The parent company of Landsail, Sentury Tyre Co, was established in 1992 and also sells tyres under the Delinte brand. Sentury Tyre Co also makes aviation tyres, and one of its products is the main landing gear tyre for the Boeing 737. 

The Landsail tyre range is huge, and given the breadth of its’ size and pattern options, you’re almost guaranteed to find a Landsail option for your car.

If you want to learn more about Landsail, you can read more about them on their website.

Our picks for the best Landsail Tyres

Of course, the exact Landsail tyre you go for will be dependent on the vehicle you have and your tyre size, but we’ve picked out some of the best performing Landsail tyres on the market relative to other brands.

You can purchase these tyres on Amazon or through our tyre partner, ProTyre. ProTyre have over 160 locations across the UK and 8 out of 10 of their customers would recommend them to a friend. 

If Landsail tyres are not available at any of our partners, we recommend Runway or Autogrip tyres as equivalents.

How do Landsail tyres perform?

Handling and safety

In the dry

Let’s firstly take a look at the easiest test to pass for a tyre - the dry handling test. We’ve taken a look at a variety of Landsail tyres available on the market, and have formulated some conclusions based on some of the most common comments we see across a number of different reviews and ratings.

Generally Landsail tyres receive comments about poor handling. In fact, in the 2021 Auto Bild UUHP Summer Tyre Test, it was remarked that while the Landsail LS588 UHP had low rolling resistance, it had very poor handling and was ranked 8th out of 9 tyres. Of course, this isn’t the only tyre Landsail make, but it’s a very common tyre offered by garages in the UK and so this is something you ought to be aware of.

Additionally the same tyre was remarked to have very long dry braking distances. These findings were supported by the 2015 Test World Summer Tyre Test, which remarked that the LS588 had very slow response to steering, the tyres coped poorly in emergency manoevre situations and lateral grip and stability was weak.

It must be said that Landsail tyres are soft across their range - whether this is by design to optimize for road comfort or whether it’s just due to the makeup of the rubber compound that Landsail uses is not known. However, don’t expect a tyre that handles as well as a Michelin or Goodyear.

In the wet

This is unfortunately where we see a real pattern in the comments made about Landsail tyres. This is specifically looking at some of the most common tyres likely to be fitted to your car in the UK - the LS388 and the LS588. Similar comments, however, were observed about Landsail’s higher-end and performance tyres.

Generally these tyres perform quite poorly in the wet - leading to understeer if there is moisture on the road, and very poor aquaplaning performance. Both the LS388 and LS588 have been commented to aquaplane very easily in the smallest amount of standing water, and the reason is obvious - they seem to be very thin compared to most tyres on the road.

This was again remarked in the 2015 Test World Summer Tyre Test, that the LS588 was very susceptible to aquaplaning, as well as unstable handling in the wet (although it was remarked that wet weather braking was excellent.) There have also been reports of large stopping distances that contradict industry tests, however, so this is something you’ll need to judge for yourself as and when you fit Landsails to your car.

A worrying comment that was seen quite often was that in a straight line in the wet the car can almost feel as though it is floating - as if it was on the verge of aquaplaning and as such is very unstable to drive. All in all, a poor show in the wet, and this is something you will really need to consider when buying tyres in the UK because it rains often and you need a set of tyres that perform well in the wet.

In the snow

Of course, in the snow, the LS388 and LS588 aren’t going to be much good to you as they’re summer tyres, so we’ve looked specifically at the Landsail Winter Star for the snow and ice test.

By all accounts there are a few grips regarding this tyre - specifically that winter weather stopping distances are quite large, and the tyre tends to understeer in ice and snow conditions. It’s been remarked that it has little grip on ice and can feel almost like the car is floating - a similar complaint that we observed in the wet weather test.

However, it’s also worth mentioning that there are a lot of commendations about the way this tyre performs in the snow, specifically deep, fluffy snow. It has excellent grip, and generally if you’re driving a car with AWD or 4WD it won’t kick in unless you’re really pushing it around bends.

If you need to drive in the ice and snow regularly, however, we wouldn’t recommend this tyre or this brand, and would suggest a mid-range or premium tyre.

Wear and longevity

There have been a few complaints observed regarding Landsail tyres’ build quality and longevity, and this is an area that really does need some attention, as the longevity of your tyres should determine what you pay for them. It’s pointless paying half price for a budget brand versus a premium brand, if you’re going to need to replace the budget brand twice as often - you might as well have just bought the premium brand.

One of the more concerning complaints observed across a number of comments and reviews online was the fact that sometimes Landsail LS388s and LS588s have split and delaminated at very low mileage points - some as low as 15,000 miles. Of course, a delaminating tyre could cause a blowout, and if this happens at high speed it can be very dangerous.

You will also need to pay particular attention to your MOT advisories as there have been numerous complaints about exposed cords on the inner sidewalls at low mileages - and this again is a problem as it can cause blowouts and tyre failure at higher speed.

These are very soft tyres, and soft tyres can wear more quickly than harder tyres - so just be aware that you won’t get as long out of a set of Landsail tyres as you will out of other brands.

Ride comfort

As we’ve mentioned, this is one area where Landsail does well. The rubber compound that makes up Landsail tyres seems to be softer than other tyres and as such this makes for a comfortable ride. This was actually commended in the 2015 Test World Summer Tyre Test, where it was remarked that due to the softness of the compound, the Landsail LS588 was a comfortable tyre, despite its other shortcomings.

Cost

Landsail tyres are budget tyres. Therefore you should not expect to pay as much for Landsail tyres as you would for mid-range tyres like Nexen and Falken, or premium tyres like Goodyear.

In order to give you a rough idea of how much you might expect to pay to fit your car with a set of Landsail tyres, we’ve done some research by picking common cars on the road and we’ve found out what it might cost to fit your car with four Landsail tyres, as well as on a per-tyre basis.

This information came from a variety of sources, including BlackCircles, Halfords and ProTyre, and is correct at the time of writing (but may have changed by the time you read this.)

I will say that in many cases, mid-range tyres actually turned out to be cheaper than Landsail tyres - make of that what you will. I'd much rather have a set of Falkens on my car than a set of Landsails.

Road noise

This is an area where we get conflicting reports. Landsail tyres seem to be made of a softer compound than other budget tyres, and this makes for not only increased ride comfort, but reduced noise. 

The majority of tyres we looked at in this review, including the LS388 and LS588, score between 69db and 72db - which is probably not as quiet as some premium tyres but for a budget tyre is more than acceptable.

Do budget tyres wear faster?

The old adage “you get what you pay for” applies not just to Landsail tyres, but budget tyres as a whole. You may think that just looking at the tyre online or on a shelf, it looks similar to the premium tyre next to it, but there is a difference in construction quality and performance.

As such, yes, budget tyres will likely wear faster than premium tyres. This can represent real false economy if you only buy budget tyres, as it’s likely they will wear out quicker, and you will need to replace them sooner - meaning if you had gone for a set of premium tyres in the first place you likely would have got more mileage out of them and wouldn’t need to replace them so often, saving money.

However, as we’ve mentioned, it’s almost entirely down to the kind of driving you do - you would likely be wasting money if you opted for a top-end set of Michelin Primary 4s for a Peugeot 107 that you drove to the shops and back once per week. However, if you’re doing 20,000 motorway miles a year, a budget tyre isn’t right for you and I would recommend you go for at least a mid-range tyre like Nexen, or a premium tyre like Dunlop or Pirelli.

Are budget tyres dangerous?

Tyres in the UK are made to a specific standard - in that they can’t be sold unless they meet minimum standards for quality and safety. With this in mind, budget tyres aren’t dangerous, but won’t perform anywhere near as well as premium tyres. This can lead to experienced drivers who are used to good tyres opting for a cheaper brand like Landsail and getting the impression that the tyres are “dangerous” because they perform worse than they are used to. 

So we wouldn’t say budget tyres are dangerous as such, but are certainly not going to perform as well as a tyre at the higher end of the market, and if this is what you’re used to, you may be in for a bit of a shock driving a car with budget tyres on because it won’t perform as well or as safely.

Where can I buy Landsail tyres?

Landsail tyres are widely available at most garages across the UK. We would recommend you purchase them from ProTyre as they will fit, balance and dispose of your old tyres for free. There’s also a huge range of other brands available if Landsail tyres are not what you’re looking for.

Alternatively you can order them on Amazon and have them fitted by a trusted fitter or fit them yourself.

Summary

And there we have it - everything you need to know about Landsail tyres.

We've written about a number of tyre manufacturers, so if you're comparing tyres, you should check out some of the following reviews.