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We're often asked that burning question, and thanks to our exhaustive test program, we do indeed have an answer. But before we dig into our test findings, know that the best tire is the one that suits your individual needs for what, where, and how you drive. (See our tire buying guide and Ratings.)
No one tire is perfect. But clearly some provide a better balance of grip, handling, comfort, and tread life—all common attributes considered by tire buyers.
Over the last three years alone, we've tested more than 173 tire models in nine major categories for cars, sports cars, and trucks, including all-season, winter, summer, and all-terrain tires. All tires are rated for individual performance in areas of braking, handling, resistance to hydroplaning, winter grip, ride and noise, rolling resistance, and tread life (excluding winter tires). Overall scores are based on a weighted average of these tests, placing emphasis on safety-related aspects. Price isn't factored into our overall score. While we consider our testing comprehensive, we don't judge quality or general durability. (Use our tire ratings selector.)
To rank tire brands, we counted the number of times models from each brand made it into the top-five overall scores in all tire type categories evaluated in the last three years.
Michelin has a top-five tire model in every category (all-season, performance all-season, winter, all-season truck, all-terrain truck, winter truck, ultra-high-performance all-season, ultra-high-performance summer, and performance winter). Plus, five of those models are top rated.
Brand highs: Dry and wet braking, handling, tread life, fuel efficiency based on rolling resistance, and winter grip (winter tires).
Brand lows: Premium price.
Continental places in eight categories, missing out in winter and having no available model tested in our all-terrain category—making its second place ranking even more impressive. The Continental PureContact (performance all-season V-speed rated) and Continental ExtremeWinterContact (winter truck) are top-rated tires.
Brand highs: Dry and wet braking, handling, fuel efficiency based on rolling resistance for most models, and competitively priced.
Brand lows: Tread life on ultra-high-performance models.
Goodyear has five models in the top-five brackets, tied with Pirelli. Most of Goodyear tires do fine in our tests, but some models just nail it. We particularly like the Goodyear Assurance TripleTred All-Season tire (T- and V-speed rated) and Goodyear Eagle F1 Asymmetric. We have high hopes the Goodyear Eagle F1 Asymmetric 2 currently in being tested.
Brand highs: Good balance of price, all-weather grip, and tread life for most models.
Brand lows: Product cycles seem to be out of synch with Consumer Reports test cycles resulting in limited product evaluation—our loss.
Pirelli has five models in the top-five, with the Pirelli P Zero Nero All-Season being a top-rated tire in the ultra-high-performance all-season category
Brand highs: Handling and tenacious dry and wet grip are Pirelli virtues.
Brand lows: Performance tire models are pricey and tread life falls short on a number of performance and truck tire models.
Nokian's strength is in its winter products, but the eNTYRE is a highly competitive performance all-season (V-speed rated) model. The Nokian WR G2 was a top-rated performance winter tire, coined as an all-weather tire. We look forward to completing our test on its replacement, the WR G3.
Brand highs: Strong winter grip.
Brand lows: Some models are pricey.
Yokohama Avid Ascend all-season tire was a pleasant surprise this year with its good general all-weather performance and impressive tread life. Most Yokohama models are known for their handling and three-season grip. Winter traction and tread life tend to be a lower priority.
Brand highs: Price and handling.
Brand lows: Winter traction and tread life for many models.
Cooper is tied with a number of brands in our ranking, but the company has been on a roll in the last few years with some stand-out models. Witness the top-rated Discoverer A/T3 all-terrain tire, and the tied-at-the-top Zeon RS3-A ultra-high-performance all-season tire.
Brand highs: Well-rounded performance in most tires.
Brand lows: Tread life falls short among some all-season models.
Bridgestone, Dunlop, Kumho, General, Nexen, Sumitomo, and Uniroyal have one or more models that rank high based on overall scores. Bridgestone makes some great winter tires, but its all-season offerings are unimpressive. Likewise, Dunlop performance tires generally deliver the goods, but other models are not standouts. Kumho Road Venture AT KL-78 and SAT KL-61 scored well in our all-terrain truck category and many Kumho tires offer good performance at an attractive price.
General, owned by Continental, has the attractively priced Altimax Arctic winter tire, and we liked the Grabber HTS truck all-season tire, but it slid out of the top-five in our most recent testing. Nexen, a relative newcomer to Consumer Reports, is already making ground in our ratings. The Sumitomo HTR A/S P01 ultra-high-performance tire gets a thumbs-up, while other models are worth considering if price plays a high priority. Uniroyal, somewhat of a price-leader brand owned by Michelin, still manages to offer products that can compete with the best. We like the Tiger Paw Ice & Snow II (winter), but other Uniroyal products ride mid-pack in other categories.
We're currently testing ultra-high performance tires from all these brands and others not listed here. The field seems very competitive at this point in our test program, so the results may reshuffle the brand rank order when we post our next tire Ratings.
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