Founded: 1996
Founder: Sonar
Headquarters: Taipei, Taiwan
Parent: Nankang Rubber Tire Corp.
Website: http://www.sonartire.com/en/
Sonar tires are alright. That’s a very precise assessment of their performance. They are manufactured by the Taiwanese out of the medium-grade materials and with good technology.
Like many other manufacturers from East Asia, Sonar sells their tires cheap. They are fast in the budget category, even though there are several rather more valuable tire models – the high-performance SX-1 & SX-2.
Next to them, they are also very keen on creating tires that provide great traction, especially at winters. It’s their primary concern, and they actually did a sizeable effort to make sure the tires stick to the ground, be that under wet or dry conditions.
Still, most tires of this brand handle awkwardly. They grip the ground well, but struggle during turns and sometimes during braking. They are in the cheap category, after all. Furthermore, their durability is quite alright, too. They don’t run very long, but it’s long enough to get new tires if these disappoint you too much.
The usual passenger tires are a bit disappointing, even for their price. They are very standard and don’t have much to praise for. Now, the high-performance tires – especially SX-2 – are very well-done.
They put a lot more effort into creating this, which resulted in some very effective tires. The grip is outstanding in wet and dry, around turns and during precarious brakes. And they don’t cost very much, too – these are still very much budget rubbers.
If you consider buying yourself a few Sonars, it’s highly advised to buy high-performance models inside of the usual passenger options. The passenger ones aren’t bad, but they sure aren’t good either.
SX-2, however, is an alright tire. For its price, it’s a very good deal. Even though they clearly intended it to be a tire for rough conditions, it’s very welcome to use it as standard tires.