Tire Review

Types of car 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 tread-wear ratings manufacturers list on tires' sidewalls, ConsumerReports.org performs accelerated wear tests on 91 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 four extreme-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 group, 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 Popular Mechanics, About.com and TireRack.com, a retail site.

"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  Yokohama Avid W4s (*Est. $85). In a TireRack.com comparison test on snow and ice, the Yokohama finishes last even though it's considered an "all-season" tire. "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. $155), 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 Falken Ziex ZE912 (*Est. $115), Maxxis Victra Z4S (*Est. $75) and Hankook Ventus V4 ES H105 (*Est. $115). Several owners posting to TireRack.com's forum report they got the Bridgestone Potenza RE92 (*Est. $175) 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. $115), which users say they got as original equipment on the 2009 Dodge Avenger and Chrysler Sebring. 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 very well in tests on ice and snow, including two of our Best Reviewed tires -- the Continental ExtremeContact DWS and the Hankook Optimo H727 (*Est. $90).

Super-cheap, bargain-basement tires should be avoided

Another caution: Avoid super-cheap car tires. In comparison tests, ultra-cheap tires invariably fare the worst. For example, in Popular Mechanics' latest test, "We walked into a tire store and demanded the cheapest tire they could get in our size. In all fairness, the counterman tried to up-sell us to a Kumho tire that was only about $25 more expensive. For that hundred bucks extra, we should have listened." The tire, a Republic Enterprise (*Est. $70), manages respectable braking, skid-pad and lap-time stats on wet and dry surfaces, but it felt off, tester Mike Allen says. "The first impression I had was that the lug nuts were loose: It was nearly impossible to keep the car in the center of the lane. While quiet over small tar strips, the ride was punishingly harsh over potholes." We found other slightly more expensive -- but still budget-priced -- tires that get much better reviews, including the all-season Hankook Optimo H727 and high-performance Sumitomo HTR A/S P01 (*Est. $115).

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.

Tire sizes used for pricing estimates

Price estimates throughout this report are usually based on a 215/60R16 tire size, a popular size appropriate for midsized cars. For ultra-high-performance tires, we use a larger tire size of P235/55R17 (or similar), appropriate for cars like the Ford Mustang GT, as the basis for estimates.