Originally Posted by
GTechR
Now the thing is, it's not that long ago that Toyo was classed as a budget tyre and it's only really down to the Toyo marketing people getting the name out there that they are now classed as a high perfomance tyre.
This bit should answer your question! As you said Toyos were seen as proper budget shit back in the day. By giving their tyres away to anyone in the industry with a remotely performance based car they changed their image completely.
It kind of helped that all the journos who blagged tyres said they were 'fantastic' when in reality they were just 'ok'. There was an 'emperor's new clothes' thing going on, and they're now a well respected tyre and have managed to get into the OE market. They've now turned away from the modified car market, as the OE stuff is where the money is.
I can see Maxxis doing the same thing if they've got any sense.