Hello BHPians!
In a world where tire reviews mostly revolve around the Michelins, Pirellis and the likes, you may ask why GY and particularly Assurance tires which are incidentally also OE fitment for many cars rolling out of factories these days. What's so special about them so that they are commanding this writing and some precious real estate on our forum. Well read on to discover...
The need of rubbers arose since the ones in my Civic needed replacement as they completed 6 years. The outgoing Pirellis P4s had done about 33K kms and still had a good amount of tread left on them, probably at least for 10-12K kms more. They were a good set of tires which performed flawlessly, had decent grip levels, had low noise and were comfortable at the same time. In short, it was an all-rounder, a very good all-rounder, doing most things much better than average. If I was not pressed against my limited budget, I would have gone for them for sure again.
So, the search began to get the best in a budget. It is when I started scouting for this peculiar size, 195/65 R15, I came to know that I had a limited number of choices available. This isn't a fast moving size as it is the stock size for only a handful of cars, mostly from the D segment, so availability was an issue. Another option was to upsize but honestly I never felt that the Civic is an under-tired car, hence was keen to go with the stock size.
The options:
1. MRF ZSLK ~Rs. 4500 per tire.
2. Michelin ~ Rs. 6500 per tire.
3. Bridgestone B250 ~ Rs. 5800 per tire.
4. Yokohama EARTH-1 ~Rs. 5700 per tire.
5. Goodyear Assurance~ Rs. 4500 per tire.
6. Goodyear Assurance Triplemax : My tire@ Rs. 4650/-
7. Apollo Accelere: not available.
* All prices from Ranchi local market.
The variant
ZSLK From MRF were average set of rubbers, good enough for a layman. The tread pattern was nothing special to write about. Just another tire on road. Pricing reaffirms the thought. Pricing and availability (factory fresh tires were available) was good but it was not for me. They were out from my consideration list.
MRF ZSLK Michelins were not considered, not because of their pricing but due to my horrible experience with them. Read here:
http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/techni...e-failure.html Yokohama, well, if I had not got the current set, My car would have been driving on Yokos for sure. Earth-1 tires were good on most fronts as per the reviews. The tread pattern was lovely and anyone would like to have them on their ride. Priced reasonably for a premium tire (well almost), I liked them.
Yoko Earth-1 Bridgestone: I have a B250 as the spare tire in my Civic, hence knew what to expect; except for the price. I was quoted Rs. 5800 per tire and I felt it was too much money for what B250s actually are. Don't get me wrong, they are decent tires but just not at this price point.
Bridgestone B250 Apollo Accelere: I noticed these tires on some cars as OE fitment and they looked very promising. The tread pattern and the build quality were right up there with the premium ones. Much better than what OE tires should be. Honestly I was impressed but didn't know about the durability aspect. I later came to know that these tires have been replaced by Alnac and they weren't available in the size I was interested in. Else, they would have made for a strong contender.
Apollo Alnac
Goodyear: GY offered 4 tires in this size- Assurance, Assurance Triple Max, Eagle NCT5 and Eagle F1. The Assurance Triple Max had a 2 year unconditional replacement warranty which was great 'assurance - pun intended! I did not like the strange tread pattern on F1 and NCT looked like a very basic tire, hence these 2 were not considered.
By now, I had my priorities set. My first priority was grip level- both wet and dry, then road noise and comfort. As per the fact sheet provided by GY, I narrowed down my choice to Assurance Triple Max based on my priorities. These tires were supposed to have excellent grip levels. But scouting for an unusual size and asking for factory fresh tires is probably a bit too much. The tires I wanted were lying at dealers stockyard for over an year now. Surely I wasn't shelling anything for them. The dealer offered a good discount on them and of course the unconditional warranty too but that didn't cut the ice for me. BHPian and good friend Shashi came to the rescue. He had good contacts with the dealer and an order was placed to GY to get as fresh tires as possible without a single penny as advance
The tires arrived after more than a month & were less than 3-4 months old. Paid Rs. 4650 per tire for them. Replaced all valves for Rs. 100/- each, hence the total bill for 4 tires & 4 valves added to Rs. 19K.
GoodYear Assurance Triple Max Coming to Performance of these tires on various grounds: Dry Grip: Outstanding. It just grips, grips and grips. Spot braking at moderate speed did not let the ABS kick in. The car holds the line perfectly and stops without any drama. Fully satisfied with the grip levels. On another note, the tires in this particular size have a 'V' speed rating which do say a thing or two about its ability.
Dry grip rating = 5/5. Wet grip: Still to test it but the tread pattern looks good for it too with longitudinal ribs running through the center along the entire circumference. It is sold with a USP of excellent wet grip. I have reasons to believe it but I will reserve my final comments after I'm done with my practicals.
Comfort: if you are looking for a comfortable tire which can give you a feel of gliding over potholes then please don't bother reading further. These are not for you. Whenever these tires fall for ruts and potholes, they will make sure that you know it. 6 year old Pirellis were still better on this front. These set of rubbers are just average in this department.
My rating for Comfort = 3/5 Road noise: Initially I was a little disappointed with this one. But probably as the top wax layer went off, the faint noise subsided. Especially when the tire warms up after a few kms, road noise is not an issue. They are satisfactorily silent, esp at higher speeds. As stated, I was initially little disappointed, but after a few hundred kms, I can say that road noise is definitely well controlled and is not worth bothering at all. I would give it a 4.
Road Noise= 4/5. Other factors: Looks: They look a notch below premium tires for sure. But the tread pattern is good to look at. Build quality seems very good for the price. I cannot complain.
Fuel efficiency: GY claims lower rolling resistance and an improved FE with these tires. I am sure that I will never notice it. Any gains in FE, if at all, will be marginal which according to me can only be verified in lab test conditions and not in real world. And even if it could be, surely I'm not the right person to check and even comment on it. All I can say, if at all, it's good to have.
One of the biggest 'Assurance': The 2 year unconditional warranty by Goodyear.: This was a reinforcing factor for this purchase. Actually I would go on to say that this is the only warranty which you can expect the manufacturer to honour. There are more than a dozen million ways to escape honoring the regular warranty of 3-5 years that most tire manufacturers provide by blaming the driver, the car, the roads in your locality, the direction of blowing wind, etc. In short other 'external factors' beyond control of even the almighty.
This unconditional warranty comes as quite a relief. Though you pay for actual tread wear but still keeps you worry free largely.
So, my hunt for good tires in a budget ended with getting the Goodyear Assurance Triple Max tires and I can surely say that I am happy with them. I hope this review will help people who are looking for value for money tires. I do believe that these tires are a good buy at the given price and do offer decent performance on most grounds. They are certainly not 'god' of all tires out there but they are certainly all rounders.
Thanks for reading guys! Drive safe!!
Disclaimer: I am in no way connected to Goodyear.