Outlet profile

Tire Business

U.S. trade press (tire dealer and aftermarket industry)

Owned byCrain Communications Inc., a privately held, family-controlled Detroit publisher founded in 1916. Tire Business is part of its Global Polymer Group, with Rubber News and Plastics News.

FundingMainly advertising from tire makers, distributors and suppliers, plus print subscriptions, events and related industry products. It has more than 30,000 print subscribers.

On the administrationmostly neutral

Background

Tire Business launched in April 1983 as an extension of Rubber & Plastics News. It is based in Akron, Ohio, long the center of the U.S. tire industry, and Ernie Zielasko was its first editor and publisher. It is published every other Monday in print, with news updated daily online. Crain Communications, founded in 1916 by Gustavus Dedman Crain Jr., is a private company still owned by the Crain family. Tire Business sits in its polymer group alongside Rubber News and Plastics News. It serves independent tire dealers, wholesalers, retreaders and others in the aftermarket. Its content is market news, company moves, product launches and regulatory developments, with no mission as an opinion outlet. Political topics appear when they bear on the trade, for example tariffs, trade policy and safety regulation. Its commercial dependence on industry advertisers is a point worth noting when reading its coverage of the sector. I did not find a documented record of significant controversies, and I did not review its recent coverage of the administration closely, so the stance rating rests on the outlet's trade-press format rather than a detailed review.

Sources

Profile compiled 2026-10-28; refreshed when ownership, funding, or the administration changes.

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