Price fixing among tire manufacturers

Hi All,

I've been recently looking for tires (size 205-70-15) and I am finding
among the retailers that for the mileage I'm looking for (80K) and
the UTQGS ratings (treadwear 700, traction A, Temp B) that the
prices are virtually identical. The biggest difference is pricing for the
road hazard warranties and for balancing, etc. from the tire dealers.

What I really don't understand is why this is the case. For example,
Goodyear tires are manufactured in the US, by an American-owned company.
Michelin, and Bridgestone/Firestone tires are manufactured in China by an
American-owned company. Lastly, Toyo/Tourevo tires are an Asian-owned
firm and are manufactured in Asia.

I understand reading from the trade rags that US companies have
outsourced manufacturing to Asia to save money. I also understand from
the trade rags that CEO's of Asian companies don't take the gigantic
pay amounts that US CEO's do.

So, in principle, the Goodyears should be the most expensive, followed
by the Firestone, then the Toyo stuff should be the cheapest.

Yet, this is not the case. Pricing differers very little, in fact the
Toyo
stuff is a bit more expensive.

Of course, if I compare a house brand (like Walmart's Goodyear Viva)
that has a much lower UTQGS treadwear rating against the others, I see
big differences. But, I would expect this to be so.

Now, maybe the tire dealers are making up the differences on the mounting
and balancing costs - but I kind of doubt it. The equipment they use is
all expensive and they are paying a lot of employee salaries, I can't
imagine
they do anything more than break even on those costs.

Anyway, the point is that there seems to be a wide difference in what the
wholesale cost of the tire ought to be due to structural differences - the
dealers I've looked at seem to have widely different purchasing power (
Comparing Walmart against say Firestone dealers) and the tire manufacturers
have widely different corporate structures and the manufacturing is also
different. I cannot believe all these dealers are paying the same money for
tires. But, they all seem to be selling them for the same money.

What happened to competition? Seems to me there ought to be a big
case here for an anti-trust price fixing lawsuit against the tire
manufacturers.
Anyone have any ideas?

Ted