New Tire Tests from Tirerack.com

[F8L]

I thought it may be helpful to post these tire tests in one place so consumers can easily find them and see how different tires perform so they can make a purchase with a bit more confidence.

TireRack.com's Testing Program

I'll start with a few newer tests and add more as they become available. Please feel free to suggest other tests that I miss and I'll add them to this first post. Thanks!

Eco-Focused All-Season Tires: Do They Deliver on the Promise?
http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tests/...ttid=155&cid=&

General Altimax HP, Michelin Hydroedge, Goodyear Assurance Tripple Tread, Hankook Optimo H727
Testing the Goodyear Assurance TripleTred All-Season

Eco-Friendly all-season tires - How do the measure up
Eco-Friendly All-Season Tires — How Does Performance Measure Up?

When Round and Black Becomes Mean and Green
When Round and Black Becomes Lean and Green

Comparing Top Rated Passenger Car all-season Tires
Comparing Our Top-Rated Passenger All-Season Tires

GrandTouring all-season Tires
Testing New Grand Touring All-Season Tires

Even Grander Grand Touring Tires (2007)
Even Grander Grand Touring Tires

WINTER TIRE TESTS
Newest Crop of Studless Ice and Snow Tires
Testing the Newest Crop of Studless Ice and Snow Winter Tires

Testing Winter Weather Specialists: Studless Ice and Snow Tires
http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tests/...y.jsp?ttid=135

WinterTesting at the Arctic Circle - Ice and Snow Tires
Winter Testing at the Arctic Circle: Studless Ice & Snow

Michelin X-ice Xi2 Introductory Drive
Michelin X-Ice Xi2 Introductory Drive

Are Front-Wheel Drive and All-Season Tires Enough for Winter Driving?
http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tests/...y.jsp?ttid=154

[dhanson865]

A quick little summary/analysis of the test data for LRR / MPG purposes

*(not sure how they got this as 581.4/574.7 and inverse don't give that percentage difference, same goes for 25.8/26.1 and inverse)

July 26, 2011 tirerack test 205/55/16
Michelin HydroEdge Green X ---
Hankook Optimo H727 -1.17%*
Goodyear Assurance TripleTred All-Season -3.17%
General Altimax HP -3.57%


July 9 2010 tirerack test 205/55/16
Goodyear Assurance Fuel Max ---
Continental ProContact w/EcoPlus -0.36%
Kumho eco Solus HM KR22 -1.44%
Michelin HydroEdge Green X -1.44%

Combining those two test sets into one comparison I get

Goodyear Assurance Fuel Max* ---
Continental ProContact w/EcoPlus* -0.36%
Kumho eco Solus HM KR22# -1.44%
Michelin HydroEdge Green X** -1.44%
Hankook Optimo H727*** -2.59%
Goodyear Assurance TripleTred All-Season## -4.56%
General Altimax HP**** -4.96%

# One tirerack review mentions this tire having very poor wet traction. Not a lot of reviews on tirerack. Probably worth avoiding.

## considerably more expensive than the Altimax HP.

* Good fuel economy at the cost of poor to average winter traction. Might be OK for summer tires in a Summer/Winter rotation.

** considerably more expensive than the Altimax HP but at least it gets better gas mileage and has good performance characteristics.

*** Superior winter performance and quiet / softer ride at the cost of a little bit of jiggle / slow steering response. Can be improved by running at higher PSI in the summer.

**** The Value choice for those who don't put a lot of miles on their car, strong performance at the cost of higher rolling resistance than the LRR crowd.

Sep 17 2010 tirerack test 205/55/16
Goodyear Assurance ComforTred Touring*
Continental ContiProContact
Michelin Primacy MXM4
Bridgestone Turanza Serenity

* Note this is NOT the same tire as tested in the July 9 2010 test. Both are 205/55/16 but one has a load/speed rating of 89H and the other has a load/speed rating of 91T and is LRR.

Since there is no overlap in these 4 tires vs the 7 tires above them we can't combine the data.

--------------


Aug 12 2009 tirerack test 185/65/15
Michelin Energy Saver A/S* +4.74%
Bridgestone Ecopia EP100*# +4.12%
Yokohama dB Super E-Spec# +2.81%
Goodyear Assurance Fuel Max +0.37%
Goodyear Integrity ---
Michelin HydroEdge Green X -0.59%
Goodyear Assurance ComforTred## -2.64%

note the Fuel Max vs Hydrodge are only 0.96% apart but we previously say they are 1.44% apart in the other test. That difference is primarily due to the differing tire sizes. Larger tires have more rolling resistance and generally weigh more.

Again we can't combine the data.

* Michelin Energy Saver A/S vs Bridgestone Ecopia EP100 seems to favor the Ecopia on it's lower price and similar test results.

# The Ecopia and dB Super E-Spec are listed as Summer tires. Might be OK for summer tires in a Summer/Winter rotation.

## No longer available on tirerack in a 15" size appropriate for the Prius. Look at the other LRR or non LRR tires instead.

[F8L]

Thanks for your continued support with these tire comparisons.

FWIW the dB Super E-Spec works fine in wet winter conditions. I used them all last winter and we had a lot of rain that year. I wouldn't trust them in snow, however.

[wick1ert]

Also, right now finding the Michelin Energy Saver A/S is essentially impossible. I managed to get my set in April, but had to get them shipped in from Indy through TireRack (else wait a few weeks until they got them at their warehouse here). I love the tires, though. Quieter, better grip, softer ride than the Yoko Avids that came on the car. I ran 40/38 with both tires, and the only time I get slippage is in the rain and on the paint lines on the road from a dead stop.

Justin, did you ever get a chance to follow up with Michelin to see if they had any updates on availability?

[Codyroo]

The Michelin A/S tires....are these the ones with a $75 rebate and have been back ordered forever?

I don't know when I'll have to replace my tires (likely around next spring), but if I wanted to go with these tires, how soon in advance should I order them to be able to have them put on the car.

I don't think the wife will be overly supportive of me ordering them now and having them hang around the garage for 6 months.....but then again, this is $75 we are talking about.....that will buy some flowers to go with the tires.

[F8L]

Originally Posted by wick1ert

Justin, did you ever get a chance to follow up with Michelin to see if they had any updates on availability?

No, I was pretty sick yesterday. I spent the entire time in bed posting on PC but didn't want to talk to anyone. lol

Originally Posted by Codyroo

The Michelin A/S tires....are these the ones with a $75 rebate and have been back ordered forever?

I don't know when I'll have to replace my tires (likely around next spring), but if I wanted to go with these tires, how soon in advance should I order them to be able to have them put on the car.

I don't think the wife will be overly supportive of me ordering them now and having them hang around the garage for 6 months.....but then again, this is $75 we are talking about.....that will buy some flowers to go with the tires.

Yes, those are the ones. The rebate is $70 and they have been on backorder forever. I'll try to get some information today.

[F8L]

I put in a call to Michelin and they transferred my request to their main office and the gentleman stated that someone would get back to me no later than Thursday. I am hoping to receive more detailed information on rolling resistance data numbers or at least ratings for each of their tires.

The Energy Saver A/S is still a current production model but it is not being produced and there is at least a 4 week back order. It was stated that there may have been more interest in the tire than expected so demand outstripped supply and they are waiting for enough orders to produce another batch of tires. That doesn't really make sense but ahh well. If you don't need new tires right this minute then you can place and order and be put on their back order list.

I'll update this thread and my LRR tire thread once I hear back from Michelin.

[wick1ert]

Thanks for doing the leg work. I tend to not want to talk to anyone on the phone anytime I'm not at work lol. I've slowly regressed into the non-verbal communication forms.

I'm skeptical about the demand out stripping supply thing. It's not like they were selling and gone within a few weeks. I wonder if they're having production issues, because if it was such a hot selling tire they would find a way to get them to the distributors. Even more so considering the price they were selling at. I won't need tires for quite awhile, since mine are only about 6 months old. I'll probably re-evaluate based upon price next time I need tires. I got stuck between the rebate periods when I got mine, though.

[darelldd]

Originally Posted by F8L

If you don't need new tires right this minute then you can place and order and be put on their back order list.

I would LOVE to order them now and wait. But I can't figure out how. Every place locally I've talked to say that the back order is longer than they're willing to hold the order for. Costco won't do it. Les Schwabe won't do it. How do we demonstrate to Goodyear that we want the tire if we can't order it????

I don't need them this minute, but I'm getting close, and would like something new on there before the rains *really* start up again.

[darelldd]

Oops. Never mind.