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Consumer Reports Rates Truck Tires!

71K views 52 replies 29 participants last post by  Joey04TB 
#1 ·
I just received the November 2008 issue of Consumer Reports magazine. I was overjoyed to see that they rated SUV tires in this issue. I will be purchasing a set of tires before the snow flies, and have been researching and researching and reading all of the threads. I had decided on the Goodyear Fortera TripleTreds and was happy with my choice--until now.

After reading the article, I won't be buying them. I'll save myself a ton of money and buy the number one rated tire, despite it's one glaring weakness--tread life. Though it rated below average in the tread life rankings (it ranked the same as the TripleTred), it should still give me more than 40k of wear, and that willl be acceptable given their low price. They are also average in rolling resistance, so I won't be taking a fuel economy hit.

Oh, you want to know which ones topped the rankings in the all-season category? Surprise. The General Grabber HTS. It scored an 80, the second place tire scored a 73, and the TripleTreds came in 14th with only 63 points.

The Grabber HTS posted Excellents for Dry Braking, Wet Braking, and Handling, and Above Averages for Hydroplaning Resistance, Ride Comfort and Low Noise.

Cheap at $113 each at tirerack.com. Compare with $161 for the TripleTreds. I keep telling my kids that my CR subscription doesn't cost, it pays, and this is proof. As a bonus, Consumer Reports also rated auto batteries, windshield wipers and cordless drills in this issue.

Just my :m2:

Mark
 
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#3 ·
Mark, just be sure, you should check the reviews that Tire Rack does on all the tires....if both Consumer Reports and TR rate the tires about the same, then you'll have a very good idea which tire to get.
 
#5 ·
Well, I hope I'm not breaking any copyright law! Hopefully this is fair use. Please buy the issue to get the details. They recommend, and I agree, that not everybody "needs" the same tire, so looking at the ratings in 10 categories will enable you to choose a tire that is best in the categories that are most important to you. That said, here goes:

  1. General Grabber HTS
  2. Continental CrossContact LX
  3. Kumho Road Venture APT KL51
  4. Cooper Discoverer CTS
  5. Michelin LTX M/S
  6. Yokohama Geolander M/T-S G051
  7. Firestone Destination LE
  8. Bridgestone Dueler H/L Alenza
  9. Dayton Timberline HTII
  10. Pirelli Scorpion STR A
  11. Goodyear Wrangler SR-A
  12. Dunlop Radial Rover A/T
  13. Hankook DynaPro AS RH03
  14. Goodyear Fortera TripleTred
  15. Toyo Open Country H/T
  16. Nitto Dura Grappler Highway Terrain
  17. Dunlop Grandtrek AT20
  18. Uniroyal Laredo Cross Country
  19. BF Goodrich Rugged Trail T/A
  20. Falken Ziex S/TZ-04

Where do they get these names? Do they actually pay somebody to come up with them?

They also rated All-Terrain tires, and Winter Tires.

Again, there is so much information in this article that if you are in the market for tires, it will be well worth the magazine stand price.

Having read everything that Tirerack.com has on the TripleTreds and on many other tires as well, I can tell you that the CR ratings do not correlate well to the TireRack ratings. So that means you must decide who to believe. Since CR tries to be scientific in their tests, and goes to great pains to measure accurately, and since most of TireRack's info is anecdotal reports from owners, and since you can read the highest of praise and the harshest of criticism for the same brand/model tire on TireRack, I tend to believe that I'll get a more accurate evaluation from CR.

For example, they measured the difference in fuel economy between the tires with the best and worst rolling resistance by putting them on their Silverado test truck and measuring the actual economy on the highway--in the real world. The difference was an astounding 2.4 mpg, which translates into $300 per year if gas is $4.00 and you drive only 12,000 miles. Since I drive about 20,000 a year, choosing the right tire instead of the wrong tire could save me the price of the tires in one year!!! You just don't get this kind of information at TireRack.

Mark
 
#6 ·
You just don't get this kind of information at TireRack.

Mark
Personally I've read Consumer Reports for a lot of years, and it's very rare that my real life experience comes even close to their ratings for various products.

I myself would rather go by what the MAJORITY of people on someplace like TireRack would say. You are always going to have a few disgruntled people, but if you see a pattern . . .
Also I like that on Tire Rack you can search by your make/model and see what kind of experience people have had with that tire on your car
:m2:
 
#7 ·
While we are on the subject of tires and ice and snow does anybody have any input on the studless ice and snow tires? Like Bridgstone Blizzak or other brands? I always ran studded tires in Oregon and they are hard to find in the south. And yes we do get some snow and ice. :D
 
#8 ·
The Consumer Reports article also reports on and rates specialized winter tires, the Blizzak and 3 or 4 others, and also tests and reports on two studded tires.

The article is well worth reading IMHO, even if you don't entirely accept their results.

Mark
 
#9 ·
Up here in Canada, some of us use winter tires four to five months of the year. I started putting four winter tires (Michelin Alpin) on my Blazer many years ago, and the day I got my Trailblazer, I took it to my tire retailer to throw away the stock tires, install winter tires on the factory wheels and order summer tires on new wheels.

Four winter tires is hands-down the BEST upgrade I have ever made, period.

I have been driving for many many decades but I would NOT be without good modern winter tires, even on an SUV. (ESPECIALLY on an SUV, because 4-wheel drive gets you going better, but doesn't help stopping, turning or staying frame-side-down on the pavement on icy roads.)

Incidentally, I run Michelin LTX M/S on both my Trailblazer and my wife's Blazer in the summer and Michelin X-Ice Latitude in the winter. Having bought many sets of tires over four decades of driving, my basic rule of thumb from experience is that I have never owned a Goodyear I liked and I have never owned a Michelin I didn't like.

While CR may be a fine publication, THEIR priorities are not MY priorities. I highly value handling, road feel and traction and the cost to get what I want in either fuel economy or in dollars is irrelevant. (That's, by the way, why I own a Trailblazer.)

One thing though about winter tires - if you put in a lot of mileage, running winters in the winter and all-season in the summer helps extend the life of your tires, but if you don't put in a lot of miles, you don't really extend the life of your tires. Tires reach the end of their service life after a certain number of years anyway, even if the tread is not worn out. You may end up just throwing away tires with lots of tread but are still beyond their service life because the tread just gets old and starts cracking.

As you can tell, tires are REAL important to me.
 
#13 ·
While CR may be a fine publication, THEIR priorities are not MY priorities....
The CR article ranks the tested tires on ten (10) different characteristics. This makes it easy to choose a tire that ranks high in the qualities that are important to you.

Whether there is validity/legitimacy/credibility in the tests that result in those rankings, however, is apparently open for debate in the minds of some. I'm not here to argue the merits or lack of merit in the CR tests or ratings. Nor am I here to sell subscriptions to CR. I was just trying to be helpful by providing information that some might find useful.

There are many of us who believe in CR and in their test procedures, and would take a scientific approach and evaluation over an off-the-cuff opinion of an unknown person or persons who might be someone who never drives more than 55 or who never made an emergency lane change in their life. Their opinion that they would buy "their" tire again is largely worthless to me because I don't know anything about them, their driving styles, or their credibility. But that's just me, and I don't denigrate those who value such opinions.

Again, I'm not trying to start a fight or a debate. For those who think the information in CR might be useful, they can check it out. For those who don't believe in CR, there is no need to bother looking at it. De gustibus non est disputandum.

Mark
 
#10 ·
Any tire manufacturer can come up with a good tire once in a while, but in general (pun intended) I've not seen that overall with General tires. I tried running some of their tires a while back, and though they did pretty well when new, they quicky turned into bricks -- they cost me one car and I won't make that mistake again.

I've read a lot of CR over the years -- and I tend to agree that their tests are often somewhat contrived. In some cases, they are tests based on CR readers, who in turn are using what CR recommends -- sort of circular. I've found that ESPECIALLY true with vehicles.

Worth a read, but I trust real people in real world situations -- and for me, the "would you run this tire again?" question makes more of a difference than any other.
 
#12 ·
i just wanted to say that I just ordered some Hankooks RH 07-I hope all of you are right- anyway I would recommend going to discounttiredirect.com and ordering from them--they will beat anyones price shipped to your door. Just thought I would let people know. The cheapest price I found was on onlinetires.com, but discounttiredirect beat it:m2:
 
#16 ·
As far as the TripleTreds go, I just put them on my 05 TB a few weeks ago. They stick like GLUE in the rain and my mileage has slightly improved over the stock ContiTracs. To be fair, I did have an alignment done with the new tires. Zero road noise also. The snow hasn't started flying here yet. That will be the real test.
 
#21 ·
I've got the TripleTreads (car version) on my Grand Prix and I agree that they stick like glue...until ~20k miles (1/2 treadlife) They were also pretty quiet at first but have gotten progressively louder so rotate them religiously! :m2:
 
#22 ·
I got the TripleTreds on my '03 TB and have over 20,000 miles on them with no problems. I rotate them every 5,000 miles and check the air pressure monthly, and they still look like new. Tire Rack rated them very high and so far I have been very happy with them. They did cost a little more but they are definately worth the extra money.

:thumbsup:
 
#26 ·
That right there proves to me why I think CR is crap. There is no way in hell I would put a General tire on ANY vehicle, no matter how big a POS it is. They are the worst tires, noisy, wear funny, cup, etc. I can't believe any Cooper tire is anywhere near the word best. With all their shoddy manufacturing problems, they're worse than Generals. This is people just buying cheap tires and not knowing the difference, reviews are only worth anything if they're written by people who know what they're talking about.

In my opinion, the BEST tires you can buy are Michelin LTX M/S. They are super quiet, ride nice and smooth, have great traction (wet and dry), and they will last forever.
 
#28 ·
Most well-built tires seem to achieve their best handling at 80 to 90% of the pressure as specified at the maximum recommended load stamped onto the sidewall. This is why 40 psi on some tires would be just fine, but would be overinflated on others. The Goodyear TripleTreads come in a variety of sizes; some list the max. load at 35 psi and some list the max. load at 44 psi. If your tires are marked as maximum load at 44 psi, 40 psi would be a good compromise. It would ride a bit harsh, but would deliver about the best handling.

Tire pressure is no longer simply putting in 28 psi and being done with it like my father's Olds. (Actually, Buick.)

The best way to tell for certain is to draw a chalk mark straight across the tread from sidewall to sidewall. Drive forward on a smooth road about 10 to 20 feet and look at the chalk mark. If it is rubbed out mostly in the center, it is too much air. If it is rubbed out mostly toward the edges, it is too little air. Ideally, the entire line should be rubbed out evenly.

In road racing, we used to do a LOT of 'tuning' of handling with tire pressures. One could decrease understeer by inflating the fronts toward the upper end of the optimum traction zone. (80 to 90% of the max. suggested pressure.) One could decrease oversteer by doing the same to the rear. The idea is you are optimizing your traction on the end that needs it and compromising traction slightly on the end that doesn't.

On our Trailblazers, like most modern vehicles, they tend to understeer when pushed hard, so the fronts should be near optimum pressures. If the rears are a bit softer (towards the lower end of the optimum traction range,) the ride will be a bit softer on an unladen vehicle.

When carrying a heavier load, the rears should be raised to at least the front, if not more, because your priorities are no longer good handling feel but safely carrying your load. (Only an idiot cuts tight apexes at 10/10ths with a heavily loaded vehicle!)

I don't carry heavy loads very often so on my LTX M/S tires (with max. load listed at 44 psi) I run 38 to 40 psi in the fronts and 34 to 36 in the rear.

On snow or wet roads, it is even more important to raise tire pressures near the middle or upper end of the optimum traction range. It is only on sand and similar surfaces where you need a 'floatation' effect, and tires should be 'aired-down' for floatation. (Don't forget to inflate them back up when back on the road!) It is a fallacy that 'airing-down' tires give better traction in snow.

With my winter X-Ice Latitude tires, the max. load on the sidewall is 51 psi, so I run the fronts at 42 and the rears at 36. (Note that tires designed to carry heavier loads usually have a greater max. psi listed, but can often provide good traction and a good ride at much lower pressures when mounted on vehicles that do not need the max. weight carrying capacity of the tires.) In no case, should one go LESS than the recommended pressures as listed on the door sticker.

In fact, an even simpler way to look at it is to just use the door sticker pressures (as long as you have OEM or aftermarket tires that are recommended by the manufacturers for your vehicle.) You can't go wrong.

On the other hand, using door sticker pressures won't provide the optimum traction for those few enthusiast drivers who know and understand good handling. I am, of course, assuming that pretty much covers ALL of us in this forum!)
 
#29 ·
In road racing, we used to do a LOT of 'tuning' of handling with tire pressures. One could decrease understeer by inflating the fronts toward the upper end of the optimum traction zone. (80 to 90% of the max. suggested pressure.) One could decrease oversteer by doing the same to the rear. The idea is you are optimizing your traction on the end that needs it and compromising traction slightly on the end that doesn't.

On our Trailblazers, like most modern vehicles, they tend to understeer when pushed hard, so the fronts should be near optimum pressures. If the rears are a bit softer (towards the lower end of the optimum traction range,) the ride will be a bit softer on an unladen vehicle.
That seems backwards...if the vehicle is pushing, would you not add air to the rears in order to help it slide around easier?
 
#30 ·
It's not backwards. Look at the front and rear as four tire patches making contact with the pavement. One cannot give those four patches any more than the maximum amount of traction as provided by the design of the vehicle, the suspension and the tire design, but one can OPTIMIZE the traction to its maximum potential where it is needed most.

When a vehicle understeers (or 'pushes') the front tires are turning at a greater angle than needed to turn a corner. This is why most street vehicles today are set up from the factory to understeer in most circumstances. The vehicle is not turning as much as required, usually because the front traction limit has been exceeded, but the average driver panics and takes their foot off the gas. This slows the vehicle, the fronts begin to 'bite' again, and the car safely goes around the corner. It is a safe way to set up a vehicle for average drivers on the street.

Race drivers hate cars that push because they are slow.

When a vehicle oversteers (sometimes called 'loose' or 'shoves') the rear wants to start steering the front. Most drivers are familiar with power-on oversteer, where one can mat it in a turn and the rear steers more than required. If a vehicle begins oversteering around a corner, the driver must make a steering correction against the turn. Taking the foot off the gas is the WRONG thing to do. (Ask any good 911 driver!)

A better explanation that any experienced driver can understand is that oversteer is where your passenger is scared; understeer is where the driver is scared.

Now these are extreme cases. Tuning a vehicle using tire pressures can only be done in quite small increments. Remember that you want to optimize the tire contact patch on the end that needs it the most and you want to slightly compromise the tire patch at the other end.

If you drew a graph of tire pressure versus traction, it would be slightly bell-shaped, where as one added pressure, the traction increases up to a maximum point (at about 80 to 90% of the maximum pressure at max load as stamped onto the sidewall) and then as you add more pressure, the traction begins to DECREASE. You are therefore not doing any good, traction-wise, by overinflating your tires. (As someone else already said, your tires are riding on the center of the tread now and not the whole tread.) If you underinflate your tires, your are not only compromising traction but also compromising their load-carrying ability. That's why I say one can't go wrong for an average driver to use the door-sticker pressures.

But for those drivers who want to 'tune' their suspension a bit better than average - keeping in mind you can't get any better than the vehicle and tire manufacturers have given you - you find out which end loses traction first and then try to bring that end to max potential by increasing the pressure to 80 to 90% of the max. This makes the vehicle a bit more 'neutral' feeling in corners.

Increasing pressure in the rears would not help the rear 'slide' any better but instead would help the rear bite more, unless of course you increased the pressures to the far side of the traction versus pressure bell-curve, but then you are not gaining anything and risk prematurely ruining a set of tires through overinflation.

So on the tires I run, maximum traction is about 38 to 40 psi. Because the front needs all the traction it can get, that is what I inflate the fronts to. But don't forget that if I inflated all my tires that high, my ride would be a bit less comfortable, so the rears get slightly less; about 32 to 34 psi.

Every tire is different though, and these pressures are simply guidelines. Start by reading your tire sidewalls and use 80 to 90% of the max pressure listed as a starting point for the max traction pressure and see how it feels going around fairly fast corners. (Don't exceed any speed limits, of course.)

Start with slightly less pressure in the rears for a better ride for your passengers and adjust from there. If the ride is still too harsh, bring all pressures down a bit more (but never below the door sticker recommendations) and remember that the soft ride feel is more a function of rear pressures than front pressures.

Also, don't forget we are talking small increments that average drivers would not even begin to feel, let alone know how to adjust. Most drivers go through their entire lives and never know what understeer or oversteer is. Some younger drivers may have never experienced power-on oversteer or power-off oversteer, other than maybe taking mom's grocery getter to a deserted parking lot with their friends late some night and doing doughnuts.

Also, don't forget that every tire is different. Some tires are rated or known as 'maximum load' tires and are designed with thicker sidewalls than normal. (This is one of the key differences between tires designated as 'P' for passenger vehicle and those designated as 'LT' for light truck vehicles. LT tires can carry a greater load, but at the expense of a harsher ride.) Let's take a P245/65-17 tire, for example. The Michelin LTX M/S is rated for a maximum load of 2035 pounds at 44 psi. The reason we don't need to go to a heavy load or LT tire in this size is that 2035 pounds of load-carrying ability per corner is plenty to carry our Trailblazers plus fully loaded with all potential gear. Now let's say they made an LT245/65-17. (They don't, but let's pretend.) It might have a maximum load of 3000 pounds per tire at 60 psi. Those are pretty stiff sidewalls and there is no way we are going to pack our Trailblazers with 12,000 pounds of truck, passengers and gear, so the load-carrying ability is far more than we need. So are the max pressures. If you were running these tires, one could go much lower pressures for a better ride and still get good traction. Every tire is different and every bell-curve is different but I would predict our hypothetical LT tire would achieve maximum traction at 70 to 80% of the max pressure as listed on the sidewall, instead of 80 to 90% like our P tire.

Okay, I apologize for the overly-lengthy explanation. I hope it explains it better. (One of the things I do is police vehicles editor for a national law enforcement publication, and if I over-write something, I always have an editor to slim it down and 'write me pretty.')
 
#31 ·
I didn't see my new tires in that report but I was told they rate very high. I chose these winter tires, Toyo Open Country GO2 plus, 245-65-17 I bought 4 of these along with four steel black winter rims. And I thought gas was expensive. $253 each tire, $115 each rim. I won't be putting on the Envoy till snow flies. Let me know if these are in that report. Thanks.
 
#32 ·
I didn't see my new tires in that report but I was told they rate very high. Toyo Open Country GO2 plus, 245-65-17.
CR only rated 4 Winter Tires, and they rated in this order:

1. Michelin Latitude X-ice
2. Bridgestone Blizzak DM-23
3. Cooper Discoverer M&S
4. Winterforce M+5

The top two were close and ranked significantly higher than the bottom two. Interestingly, according to CR's measurements, all 4 tires were "poor" in Dry Braking and "poor" in Wet Braking, something that I would not have predicted, yet the top three were all "excellent" in Snow Traction.

The Toyo Open Country A/T ranked 5 out of 14 in the All-Terrain category. That is an entirely different tire than the one you bought.

Mark
 
#36 ·
I am getting my TripleTreds installed tomorrow, my friend works and Sams so he is going to put them on and take good care of the Voy.

I am going to Colorado next week and will give them a real test. I have already gone though two sets of CrossTerrains and wanted to try something new.

For those of you worried about treadlife, have any of you used the warranty on the tires to get some of your money back?
 
#37 ·
Has anyone tried the Firestone Destination A/T for their TB? I have read some good reviews on the tires and the price is right, ~$110 each. I live in Minnesota, so theres a lot of random weather: snow, ice, slush, dry, rain and everything in between. Any other ideas for a good quality tire without spending a fortune?
 
#39 ·
My truck had Destination AT's that I just replaced with the Goodyear Fortera TripleTreds. The Firestones only got 21K before needing to be replaced. You could have gotten another 5 - 7K out of them but not where I live, safely anyway. They actually rode nice though and were quiet.


@ $164 each the Triple Treds are actually a much better value than the cheaper Firestones. They have a 60K Limited Mileage warrenty, and most of the 70 or so reviews I read rate them highly. I think the better tire ends up being cheaper over the long haul if you plan on keeping the vehicle. If not the Firestones would be great.
 
#38 ·
Walmart?

Don't think I'm a cheap bastard but I've always had good luck with the Walmart mounting service. They warranty the tire themselves along with the tire manufacturers warranty. They will also balance and rotate the tires for free every 3,000 miles or so for the life of the tires. I give Walmart as little business as I can reasonably afford to do. I don't believe in their ethics or standards.

Doesn't Walmart match other vendors' prices also?



My2Cents,

JD:thumbsup:
 
#41 ·
Cooper Discoverer

I have Cooper Discoverer H/T's on my 2004 TB and they have been excellent. I currently have 62,000 miles on them and still have quite a bit of tread left!

This was my first set of Coopers and would highly recommend them. I live in Tennessee so I am not exposed to much snow but these tires have done very well in heavy rains.

I run 40 PSI in Front and rear and do a lot of highway driving (45K / year).

When the time comes, I am considering replacing them with the new Cooper Discoverer CTS. Has anyone had any experience with this tire yet?
 
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