Which tire brand is best

In , Firestone was sold to Japan-based Bridgestone, and it continues to be a major brand in the original-equipment and replacement-tire markets. Goodyear claims to be the best-selling tire maker in North America, and it is one of the leading tire manufacturers in the world.

Based in Akron, Ohio, Goodyear is a major supplier of original and replacement tires and sells tires for most applications. Founded in , Goodyear owns the Dunlop and Kelly brands of tires sold in the U. And it is expected to add Cooper to its portfolio in As a global tire maker, it offers tires for almost all applications. Founded in , Michelin first introduced the radial tire, and the company continues to be a pioneer in tire technologies. Michelin tires generally perform impressively in our all-weather tests, and many models offer low rolling resistance and long tread life.

Founded in , Nitto shares facilities and some technology with Toyo. The brand caters to car and truck enthusiasts. Tire lines focus on ultra-high-performance tires, and tires for pickups and SUVs. ChemChina has a controlling interest in famed Italian brand Pirelli. The company currently has a U. Pirelli caters to the high-end market, with its tires commonly found on luxury and sports cars. It has a stronger presence in Europe than in the U. It is an original-equipment supplier to the domestic car manufacturers on selected car models.

Started in Japan, Toyo has had a formal presence in the U. The company offers a full line of tires to fit family cars, sports cars, luxury cars, and light-duty pickups and SUVs.

Yokohama is a Japanese company with a global presence. Its North American headquarters are in Southern California. Targeting performance enthusiasts, Yokohama tires place emphasis on handling and dry and wet grip.

Its tires reflect this focus in our testing. When you shop through retailer links on our site, we may earn affiliate commissions. Learn more. Sharing is Nice Yes, send me a copy of this email. Send We respect your privacy. Oops, we messed up. Try again later. More From Consumer Reports. Show comments commenting powered by Facebook. Additionally, you want to be sure to look into customer reviews for your particular tire to get a better idea of how it matches up to your goals.

Goodyear, one of the most trusted American tire companies, is a staple in the industry and is currently ranked as the largest tire manufacturer in the world. This concept has led Goodyear products to being one of the best tire brands for professional racers and everyday commuters alike. That reason is durability. Racing vehicles typically travel at speeds upwards of mph and need the best car tires available.

Additionally, Goodyear has earned its reputation as one of the best tire brands for tenacious grip and outstandingly responsive handling. Goodyear can from humble beginnings as a bicycle tire manufacturer. Nowadays, the brand has options for all sorts of categories and applications including:.

The highly optimized tread pattern is made with a special compound to reduce rolling resistance and boost efficiency. The construction of this tire is engineered to reduce noise, vibration, and harshness on all sorts of roads, including gravel and light snow. The design is intended to provide rugged off-road traction, as well as comfort and mileage for highway driving.

The TredLock Technology adds strong, biting edges for unbeatable traction on both wet and dry roads — making it one of the best car tires in the run flat category. The rugged mug terrain tread pattern provides strong traction in deep mud while the staggered shoulder blocks add grip on treacherous roads. The design is made with two-dimensional blades in the center for extra starting and stopping power.

Additionally, the construction is meant to result in even wear, low noise, and exceptional stability. In addition to longevity, the Marathon is built with a durable sidewall to withstand tough jobs at a great value. The construction of this tire creates low ground bearing pressure to make any job incredibly easy and smooth. One of the newer Goodyear models, this tire is built to handle the toughest agricultural jobs you can imagine. Before making any decisions on tire manufacturers, be sure you are looking at the Goodyear tire reviews and ratings.

Continental is one of the best tire brands on the market with roots in Germany dating back to Over the course of a century and a half, Continental has become a trusted tire manufacturer for just about every type of passenger vehicle out there — ranging from high-end sports cars to motorcycles.

Continental is well-known for providing some of the best car tires and specialized options for luxury vehicle brands like BMW and Mercedes. For more information, check out Continental on YouTube! Continental tires are famous for providing a healthy mix of handling and comfort. Additionally, the stopping distance on both wet and dry roads has earned acclaim across the board. The pricing of these products is typically a bit lower than some of the top tire brands, which is often an attraction based on the quality they provide.

The TrueContact is one of the most well-known all-season tires on the market. The EcoPlus technology works to provide unbeatable tread wear and fuel efficiency on wet, dry, and wintery roads.

This tire is clear proof that Continental is one of the top tire brands on the market. The asymmetrical tread pattern is specially designed for heavy acceleration and quick braking capabilities. Built for excellent all-season grip and responsive handling, this model offers trucks and SUVs with an exceptional driving experience on wet and dry roads alike.

Additionally, this model is built with advanced polymers within the tread rubber to provide exceptionally confident handling on all sorts of roads.

The ContiProContact offers outstanding all-season capability, low rolling resistance, and fuel economy — making it an ideal choice for drivers who want to play it safe, yet not compromise on value! The PolarPlus is a rubber compound built with high silica content mixing natural and synthetic rubber. In addition to this winter technology, the WinterContact SI has variable depth sipes on both shoulders to help the driver identify irregular wear and other mechanical problems.

The unique construction of this tire works to provide a smooth and quiet ride in a multitude of conditions with improved resistance to hydroplaning. Lastly, as what is essential for long road trips, the sidewall design is specially made to increase comfort on the road!

BF Goodrich is another one of the top tire brands originating in America. With a rich history that goes back more than years, BF Goodrich is a brand known for creating the best car tires to enhance the driving experience. The engineers working behind the scenes are known to spend their weekends off-roading, racing, and getting into all kinds of motorsports. This is to help bridge the gap between passion and work to provide customers with tires that make driving fun!

The brand has earned a name for itself as one of the top tire companies for off-roading. That open-spaced, deep-lug tread design will slough off mud as soon as you hit the throttle, pulling you right through the slop.

And on rocks and loose dirt, those big tread blocks grip the trail where a milder tire would just slip and spin, perhaps leaving you stuck. Are there drawbacks? Yes indeed. First, off-road tires are noisy. So there could be less grip available. And those thick sidewalls? They can contribute to a firmer ride. The good news is, more and more tire manufacturers are building mild adventure-type all-terrain tires for crossovers and SUVS. These are a great compromise, in many cases providing just enough off-road capability without many of the drawbacks thanks to the less aggressive tread pattern and more street-friendly sidewall construction.

We hit up Woody Rogers, VP of marketing and former director of tire information at Tire Rack, for some specific recommendations across a few popular classes of tire. Tire Rack conducts its own in-house comprehensive testing and compiles thousands of real-word consumer reviews , so Rogers knows of what speaks. And these are several top choices. The Michelin Pilot Sport 4S has been on our list as the top summer tire since it launched nearly three years ago.

The Aria is an all-season tire that really does perform well in all weather. It also comes in plenty of sizes so the chances are there is a set to fit your car. The Nexen Winguard Sport 2 is regarded as one of the best winter tires on the market, and great value to boot. Excelling in ice braking, noise and resistance to hydroplaning, it sets the benchmark for the other tires in the Winguard range, as well as for budget winter tires.

That's not all, one in every three new cars is fitted with Continental tires. As the world's oldest tire manufacturer it's no surprise that Continental ranks highly in both consumer surveys and expert reviews, in most cases coming just behind Michelin and the more high-performance Pirelli. The General Altimax RT43 is one of the best all-season tires you can buy right now. They rate highly in both consumer surveys, user reviews and expert reviews and beat even the Michelin Defender when you factor in price, and you should as the price is low and tread-life massive.

The ExtremeContact Sport summer tire is a great option for performance cars. The only downside is that rolling resistance and ride comfort could be better. Pirelli designs high-performance tires for high-performance cars and SUVs. If you're looking for a set of tires for your run-around then look elsewhere, but if you've got a powerful sports car or powerful SUV then Pirelli could be the best tire brand for you. It ranks highly in both customer and expert reviews, but has slipped a little in recent years and been pipped to the post by Michelin even in the performance categories.

Nevertheless, Pirelli remains one of the best tire brands out there. The latter is surprisingly competitive in pricing, for a Pirelli. It's quiet, resistant to hydroplaning and performs well in almost all conditions. The only downside is the average ice-braking.

Still this is a top SUV tire. The price is a nice surprise for Pirelli, which is not known for bargain tires. It runs great in the snow, is quiet, runs flat and has impressively low rolling resistance, saving you extra money on your gas costs. Goodyear is a good tire company with a rich history in the US.

The Goodyear blimp is almost as famous as the Michelin Man, but there's a lot more to Goodyear than hot air. Goodyear ranks in the top three of almost every tire category and while it doesn't top any, almost all its tires are well-worth considering.

This reliable level of quality, coupled with its racing pedigree, means Goodyear is a tire brand many people have a special place in their hearts for. There are three particular brands of Goodyear tires we recommend: the Assurance CS Fuel Max for fuel efficiency, the Eagle Exhilarate for high-performance cars and the Wrangler for all-terrain driving.

It works well in all conditions, even snow, but not ice. The premium tires handle brilliantly in the wet and dry and even brake well on ice. There are 12 varieties of the all-terrain Wrangler. All are good, but the Wrangler Fortitude is the best of the lot and is available for trucks and SUVs. It also has surprisingly low rolling resistance. There are plenty of tire brands out there, many of which actually belong to a bigger manufacturer.

There are also some big tire brands that we've reviewed that didn't quite make the cut for this guide. That doesn't mean they're bad, in fact, they may have specific models that perform very well. Bridgestone is the obvious big one missing from this list. In fact, it's the biggest tire manufacturer around. There's nothing wrong with Bridgestone Tires , it just doesn't make this list yet as it doesn't excel in any one area and, for us, that means it isn't one of the best tire brands.

Yokohama Tires also produces some decent rubber for the road, but again fails to excel and doesn't quite hit the right spot in terms of cost. If you are particularly environmentally conscious though they are a good bet as it uses low-environmental impact materials and manufacturing processes.

Cooper Tires also makes solid off-road rubber, but doesn't quite hit the value mark in our comparisons.

And if you want high tread-mile warranties then Hankook Tires is a safe bet, although once again it's not the most affordable. Just because you're buying from the best tire brands, this doesn't mean you have to pay more. Tire prices vary according to size and performance ratings. The problem with these is they're unlikely to last very long and may have poor rolling resistance, meaning you spend more in the long run.

However, many online retailers provide free shipping. If you're not getting free shipping to a local service station, then you shouldn't buy tires from that retailer unless you've done the calculations and it's still cheaper than the competition.

Save money on tire costs for older vehicles with our guide to the best extended car warranties. Simply get a penny and slide it into one of the numerous grooves on your tire. If the rubber ridges cover the top of his head, you're most likely fine to wait a while longer.

For best results, repeat the penny test on several spots along the tire because they can wear unevenly. If you have excessive wear in the center of your tire but not along the edge, this means you've been driving on overinflated tires. Conversely, if your tires are worn thin around the edges but not in the center, you've been driving on underinflated tires. If your tire isn't wearing on one side more than the other and instead develops a scalloped pattern of wear, you could need more than just new tires.

Talk to your mechanic about the possibility of bent or broken suspension parts. If there's something wrong with your suspension or shocks, your tires move more than necessary, causing the scalloped pattern of wear.

Consumers who live in hot, dry climates need different tires than those who live in cold, wintry climates. The type of driving you do should also factor in your decision. If you do mostly city driving, you may want different tires to someone who spends many hours a week on the interstate. A tire is a rubber container filled with compressed air, but there's more than that going on beneath the surface.