Great sets of tires, although with a few concerns
Written: Jan 21 '07 (Updated May 29 '08)
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Pros: Great traction on dry and damp pavement.
Cons: Hard to "feel" the road, average traction in puddles/snow, helpless on ice.
The Bottom Line: These tires perform great in summer but their traction in snow/ice is only average. I would recommend these to people who gets snow occasionally or mildly and have long summers.
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| weister42's Full Review: Goodyear Assurance TripleTred Tire |
***Recent Update on Bottom***
I've owned a set of these tires for over 9,000 miles and driven in different road conditions, now I feel qualified to write a review on these...
I paid $671.47 for four and installed.
I own a FWD 1998 Cadillac Deville Sedan with a 275HP Northstar engine and it was time for new tires. I went to a Goodyear tire store and the salesman quickly took me to their most expensive line of all-season tires, the Goodyear Assurance TripleTread tires. "You won't get better performance than these, especially on a car like yours", I remember he said.
Traction on dry and damp pavement is great. I can swing my 4,000+ pound car around corners without squealing tires. I fill my tires to 35 psi, 30 psi when cold. On concrete roads/bridges I can spin tires when the road is wet, but that happens when you have a 275HP V8. I was driving towards Chicago one day and I went right through a severe thunderstorm that produced tornadoes, the rain was POURING to the point that most people pulled over because you couldn't see more than a few car lengths, I didn't hydroplane and I was going at least 50mph for awhile before I came out of the storm like a hero. However, going high-speed over puddles will make you loose traction on rural county roads where the road is not curved so water puddle accumulates. I lost 3/10 mm of tread in the first 6,000 miles, and these tires are rated to last 80,000 miles. We'll see what happens I guess.
Now, all-season tires aren't supposed to have great winter driving ability(snow/studded tires for the win), but since that guy in the Goodyear store advertise these as "best I can get" I am a bit disappointed. Traction in snow is okay, driving around city feels comfortable as long as I go the speed limit. I never got stuck but I never went into the ditch either. Snowy highway is a bit nerve wracking because I can feel the middle band of the tire, like I feel "clicks" when I turn my steering wheel. These tires are helpless on black ice, let me tell you a little story...
I got caught in the middle of a very bad ice storm in Wisconsin that closed the entire highway system, and I passed three car accidents in which one was a fatal head-on crash on a highway overpass. My car was getting pushed around by wind and as soon as I tap the breaks my traction control kicked in. I had to slam on my brakes when a guy in front of me was about to slide sideways with oncoming traffic, and my car didn't slow down one bit...actually my car got faster when I put on the brakes. Luckily he saved himself by going down into a shallow ditch but I didn't go down with him. I live by my campus so I had to drive on black ice through my city, and surprisingly traction was okay as long as I go under 25 mph. I know my traction was better than other cars because a pre-95 Chevy 1500 truck couldn't stop and slammed into a guardrail about a car length away from behind my car. Seconds later a 2000-ish Honda CR-V flies out of downtown bars and almost T-boned me because he totally blew a stop sign, obviously due to black ice and happy hour. I saw all of his wheels locked up and I was like, "I didn't drive through two hours of black ice just to get hit a mile away from home", I swerved to avoid him and I didn't lose traction one bit, my foot was off the gas pedal and brakes. His front bumper came inches away from my rear quarter panel and I wasn't sure if the guy behind me ended up hitting him or not because my rear window was covered in ice and defrost was no match against constant ice.
I must also note that I lost the feeling of the road when I switched to these tires. I feel like I'm driving on water, high crosswind wiggles my car as if the tire walls are flexing, and just the general disconnectedness from the steering wheel to the road. Some people like it that way, but I like to "feel" the road...maybe it's just my car, but that salesman definitely didn't tell me about this.
I sort of have a love-hate relationship with these tires, I don't like it because I can't feel the road through my steering wheel, but I love it because it performed when I most needed it. So, I'm stuck with it so I might as well learn to like it.
Update:
It's been about 35,000 miles now and I'm failing the penny test on all four corners. They all have even wear with no unusual spots or rips/cracks of any kind. I did tire rotation about every 7,000 miles and I kept a good eye on tire pressure too(35psi warm, 30psi cold). These tires are rated at 80,000 miles but it lasted less than half of that on my car under normal daily use, no burnouts or any sort of tire abuse. I am going to do a warranty claim and hopefully get a new set for free then probably sell it to get different tires. As of right now I would NOT recommend these tires to large sedans.
Tire wear update:
I just went to the same exact Goodyear tire store(Schierl Tire & Service Center in Stevens Point, Wisconsin) that I originally purchased the tires from and had all four tires measured, currently all of them are at 6/32" or 4.75mm. I asked about the warranty issue and guess what? The service guy told me they'll credit the remaining miles towards a new set of tires from their store. When I first purchased these tires the salesman said they'll give me a new set of tires for free if it wears out before 80,000 miles, but the guy who originally sold me the tires no longer works at that store so I'm basically stuck with these tires that can't perform in the winter. This is a good example of sleazy sales practice, that guy probably only wanted to sell tires so he can get commission, now I think of it he never explained the tires in detail nor did he suggest any other tires besides their most expensive line. I'm left with no choice but to condemn the Schierl Tire & Service Center in Stevens Point, Wisconsin for bad sales practice, I will NEVER buy any tires from Goodyear again.
Recommended:
No
Amount Paid (US$): $671.47
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Epinions.com ID:
weister42
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Location: Wisconsin
Reviews written: 28
Trusted by: 2 members
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