Tire Review

Types of passenger tires

Part of our three-part series on tires, this report covers all-season and three-season tires for passenger cars and minivans. We also have a separate report on SUV and light-truck tires, as well as a report on snow tires, which includes winter tires for all vehicle types.

ConsumerReports.org conducts more comprehensive, rigorous tire tests than any other reviewer we found. Not content to blindly believe the treadwear ratings manufacturers list on tires' sidewalls, ConsumerReports.org performs accelerated wear tests on 88 tire models -- all-season, performance all-season and ultra-high-performance summer and all-season -- to see how fast they really wear out. Road tests determine how well the tires handle on wet and dry surfaces (and wintry roads, for all-season tires), and testers judge the tires' ride comfort and noise. ConsumerReports.org evaluates one more thing that most reviewers don't: rolling resistance. Tires with low rolling resistance get better gas mileage.

Sports car drivers might find ConsumerReports.org's approach a little too sensible, though. If you really want to know which tire won't let you down when pushed to the absolute limit, Car and Driver's most recent test judges nine max-performance summer tires on the basis of ability alone. The test is just as painstakingly designed and executed as ConsumerReports.org's tests, but the drivers are racing experts -- and they don't take points off for practicalities such as tread life and gas mileage.

A Canadian nonprofit association, the Automobile Protection Association, performs unbiased tests as well. The APA rates 39 all-season, performance and high-performance tires. We also found recent road-test comparisons at TireRack.com, a retail site, and at Which? magazine. Although Which? is a British consumer testing organization, seven of its Best Buy picks are U.S. models from Michelin, Bridgestone and other top brands.

"All-season" is often a misnomer, as tire experts and consumers find when they try to drive the tires on snow and ice. Few all-season tires really perform well in winter-driving tests. Some perform worse than most in tests on ice and snow, including the otherwise highly rated Pirelli P Zero Nero M+S (*Est. $120) and Yokohama Avid W4s (*Est. $100). In TireRack.com comparison tests on snow and ice, the Pirelli and Yokohama finish last, even though they're considered "all-season" tires.

"This tire was challenging to get -- and keep -- moving through the snow and provided limited cornering and braking traction as it made its way along the course," TireRack.com experts say of the Yokohama Avid W4s. "We were able to complete the modestly uphill course, but this tire required plenty of driver concentration to avoid getting stuck." The other tires in the test, including the top-rated Continental ExtremeContact DWS (*Est. $100), perform better in winter conditions, though none is as good as a dedicated winter tire.

We found mixed reviews for other all-season tires in winter use as well, including the Hankook Ventus V4 ES H105 (*Est. $120), Falken Sincera SN828 (*Est. $70), Firestone FR710 (*Est. $85) Toyo Proxes 4 (*Est. $130) and the otherwise highly rated Yokohama Avid H4s (*Est. $80) and V4s (*Est. $90). Several owners posting to TireRack.com's forum report they got the Bridgestone Potenza RE92 (*Est. $165) as original equipment on various Japanese import sedans (including the 2009 Subaru Outback) and were very disappointed in its performance on snow and ice. Even worse is the Firestone FR690 (*Est. $105), which users say they got as original equipment on Honda Civics a few years ago (and, more recently, the 2008 and 2009 Dodge Avenger). Some report no problems, but others use words like "dangerous" and "scary" to describe how the FR690 feels in snow -- even when it's new.

Although most cars come with all-season tires, and 83 percent of the replacement tires sold are all-seasons, they can't match winter tires' grip on snow and ice, conclude editors at ConsumerReports.org, Car and Driver and TireRack.com. The Canadian Automobile Protection Association says all-season tires are the least expensive option, and "may provide adequate performance in winter when they are new." A few all-season tires perform well in tests on ice and snow, including two of our Best Reviewed tires -- the aforementioned Continental ExtremeContact DWS and the Hankook Optimo H727 (*Est. $95) -- plus the Continental ContiExtremeContact (*Est. $100), Michelin Pilot HX MXM4 (*Est. $160) and Sumitomo HTR+ (*Est. $75), although all of these may sacrifice some performance on ordinary dry and wet roads.

Standard all-season tires strike a good balance between performance, ride quality, tread life and price. High-performance all-season tires provide better handling and grip, without giving up too much comfort and wear. Summer tires grip wet and dry roads tenaciously, but they cannot be driven in snow or ice, and they usually wear out quickly. For more help deciphering tire types and sizes, see our What to Look For section.

Price estimates throughout this report are usually based on a 215/60R16 tire size, a popular size appropriate for such mid-sized cars such as the 2008 Toyota Camry SE. For ultra-high-performance tires, we use a larger tire size of 225/55R16 (or similar) as the basis for estimates.