BFG used to make (and maybe still does) a tire specifically for Wal-Mart that looked similar to the AT KOs. But they sensibly changed the name, albeit redundantly, to Land Terrain. If a Goodyear tire says MT/R, it certainly better be.

As I understand it, the tire manufacturers want the huge sales volumes that Wally, Costco Sears etc offer so they provide a 'unique' version for that seller which may not have any notable difference outside of cosmetics so they don't alienate their standard chains/dealers supply channels.

This differentiation if any is so they may sell the same product via as many venues as possible.

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Hare on my Chest

the hankook dynapro MT RT03 is a nice tyre and its bloody quiet on the blacktop

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aussie KJ Lost No#150605
3" OME lift + Rancho RS9000xl's front and rear
prototype Airflow snorkel
Magnaflow cat back
265/70R16 Hankook MTRT03 on MOABS baby
4.10's and a truetrac up front
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coming soon
a myride wireless controller

I used to work for a company that made products that were sold to Kmart and Wal-Mart. The quality was never negotiable. They both demanded the highest quality we made. They just made us sell them our product at pennies per unit profit. They bought enough volume to make it worth it though. Now individual suppliers may try to cut corners to squeeze a few more pennies per unit out, but in the business we were in, there was no arrangement with Wal-Mart to allow us to send lower quality product to them. We sold our 2nd's somewhere else.

Rescu2000

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2003 Liberty Sport 4X4
DIY Frankie Lift, BBS Rims, Aussie Locker Rear, DTT Front, Renegade Rack & Light Bar, Custom Front Bumper w/ Warn XD9000i, Custom Rear Bumper, JBA UCA's, Full Skids(Mopar, Kilby and Super skid), CRS Rock Rails, CB, EVIC, Nav, power dim mirror, (2) 8" subs under front seats. http://www.cardomain.com/ride/2512777

I spoke with a Six Sigma Master Blackbelt yesterday who used to work in the automotive industry. She said that Michellin (as an example) has six sigma control limits on their process. Anything that falls outside of these limits, but is still in specification, gets sold to the "Sales" industry. Anything that is inside the limits gets sold to the Automakers industry. That does not mean that the "Sales" tires are defective, just that they have more variation from tire to tire (weight, roundness, etc). There are only two categories, Sales and Automaker. She said that they did not differentiate the "Sales" group into any other quality segments. So any aftermarket seller has the same quality tire as another.

Now, with that being said, my cousin owns a car lot and can get tires at dealer's cost. A somewhat shady guy in town opened a tire store in town and he was able to SELL the tires for less than my cousin could BUY them at dealer's cost. So apparently there is some way to get a "discount" tire that is probably a 2nds.

Hope that helps

Rescu2000

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2003 Liberty Sport 4X4
DIY Frankie Lift, BBS Rims, Aussie Locker Rear, DTT Front, Renegade Rack & Light Bar, Custom Front Bumper w/ Warn XD9000i, Custom Rear Bumper, JBA UCA's, Full Skids(Mopar, Kilby and Super skid), CRS Rock Rails, CB, EVIC, Nav, power dim mirror, (2) 8" subs under front seats. http://www.cardomain.com/ride/2512777