Perfomance all-season tires: Performance tires, tire Ratings and reviews[SIZE=-1]Until recently, performance tires were fitted mostly on sporty or luxury vehicles. Now they come standard on many everyday sedans, such as the Toyota Camry, and on some trim lines of economy cars, such as the Kia Rio. Indeed, performance tires currently account for 21 percent of the replacement tire market and are often the best choice for more performance-oriented late-model cars. The trade-off for higher levels of handling and grip achieved by performance tires, however, has often been tread life. We reintroduced tread wear to our tire-testing program last year. This year, we made our test more demanding by extending it from 7,200 miles to 16,000 miles, including more driving on city-type roads. We found that wear varied from model to model and did not necessarily follow tread-wear warranties. This year’s tread-wear testing took place over more miles than the testing that manufacturers use to assign their tread-wear grades. As a result, we believe our Ratings show better differentiation than the tread-wear rating you?ll find on a tire?s sidewall or the manufacturers? warranties. We tested performance all-season tires, which provide balanced handling and braking in dry and wet conditions and provide nominal performance in snow and ice conditions. We also tested performance winter tires, which are good in regions where drivers must drive over snow and ice in colder months. Performance All-season Performance all-season tires have a higher speed rating than standard all-season tires (see Types). They generally provide better handling and braking, and usually have a lower profile (shorter sidewall height) and a wider footprint. Performance all-season tires, as we define them, come in two speed ratings: H-rated (130 mph). The most common performance all-season tires on the market are designed to handle and grip better on wet and dry roads than conventional tires, without giving up much in ride comfort. We found some substantial differences among the H-rated all-season tires we tested. Most were very good or excellent in our tests of braking and handling on both dry and wet pavement. And most were good to excellent at resisting the tendency to hydroplane, or lose grip, when they hit standing water. Almost half of them were competent at coping with snow and ice, comparable to good conventional all-season tires. We tested tire sets in a common 15-inch size, P195/65R15. For any given tire in our Ratings, we expect performance to be comparable in a range of sizes. V-rated (149 mph). Generally, these tires are more tuned to performance than H-rated all-season tires. Here, too, we found some significant differences between the V-rated tire models in our tests. Some V-rated tires sacrificed winter grip for superior cleared-road handling and grip. Other V-rated tires behaved more like H-rated tires, with good all-season qualities but less ultimate grip than the more performance-oriented models. The 13 V-rated tires we tested were wider and had a lower profile than the H size. We tested them in a common P205/55R16 size. This report was originally published in November 2006, the information presented here is current.[/SIZE] [SIZE=-1]Subscribe now![/SIZE]
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