The Most Satisfying Tire Brand Isn't Goodyear, According To Consumer Reports

Jalopnik's own Bradley Brownell seemed to enjoy his time riding on the Goodyear blimp, but most people's experience with the brand occurs a little closer to the ground — and they aren't quite as positive. According to a recent Consumer Reports (CR) study on tire brand satisfaction, Goodyear had low satisfaction results for its summer and winter tires along with a middle-of-the-road score for its all-season rubber. The only time Goodyear even saw above-average customer satisfaction was with its all-terrain tires. There was one tire brand with top satisfaction marks for tires in all categories, however: Michelin. (To be clear, we're talking about Michelin itself, as not every tire brand owned by that company had the same results.)

CR based its report card on customer input covering about 52,000 sets of tires that were in use over a four-year period, with a focus on four of the most common tire categories. That being said, some 85% of the customer responses were for all-season tires. And only two brands in this category — Michelin and Vredestein — clocked in with perfect scores for customer satisfaction. The data also showed that the top criteria for tire customers were good grip in wet weather, handling capabilities, and wear resistance. Consumer Reports also puts the tires through its own extensive testing regime to come up with overall tire scores.

Automakers equip most new vehicles today with all-season tires, which are designed as a one-size-fits-all solution. Specialized tires may be excellent at their specific applications, but their specialized benefit is usually set off by drawbacks in other scenarios. Winter tires, for instance, are great for the colder months, but they can wear out more quickly in warm weather. The goal of all-season tires is to provide acceptable performance in all conditions, even if they may not provide the best performance in any.

Of course, Michelin has you covered with the most satisfying tires either way. For example, the Michelin Defender2 and Primacy Tour A/S tires stand above every other general all-season tire. The Michelin CrossClimate2 also led the way for all-season SUV tires, as did the Michelin LTX A/T2s. Michelin did miss out in the all-season truck-tire category, where Vredestein's Pinza HT tires managed to beat out the other brands. In fact, for whatever reason, no Michelin tires were included in CR's all-season truck-tire category despite having plenty of options there.

As for Vredestein — which tied with Michelin in overall satisfaction, albeit with fewer category and sub-category leaders — it also had some additional all-season/all-terrain highlights. The brand's HiTrac and Quatrac Pro+ managed to come in just behind Michelin for general all-season tires and SUVs respectively. Oh, and Vredestein has the best bang-for-your-buck tires, as well.

Nothing beats simply buying winter tires when you want to stay on track in cold-weather driving. After all, the rubber in winter tires is specially formulated to maintain its flexibility in low temperatures, and the treads are cut deeper with unique patterns to get a better hold on slippery surfaces. Summer tires flip the script by being made with shallower treads engineered for optimal traction in dry or rainy conditions.

For CR's snow/winter selections, Michelin X-Ice Snow tires just barely missed the benchmark set by the Nokian Hakkapeliitta R5 tires. Rankings for performance-oriented winter tires ended up giving the win to the Michelin Pilot Alpin PA4, but once again, no Michelins were included in the specific truck sub-category. The aforementioned Nokians led for satisfaction there, too.

Michelin Pilot tires (in this case, the Sport 4s) earned the best score for customer satisfaction among ultra-high-performance summer tires, which were the only kind of dedicated warm-weather tires that CR considered. The only other tire brand with three perfect overall satisfaction scores was Vredestein, and that brand showed its stuff with a second-place finish for the summer tires and third place for performance winter/snow tires.