Premium Touring Tires: Elevating the Journey – 2024 Test 8
Brent, we have the trusty Camry behind us, and you know, that can only mean one thing: It's our second passenger car Touring tire test of the year. And based on some comments from our last Touring tire test, this test has a lot of products people are going to be really excited about. Our last test, “2024 Test 4” had ten kind of mid-tier touring products. This test has 11 premium touring tires in it. Yeah, and of those 11 products, nine of them are Grand Touring.
Six of those are all-weather. That includes the brand new Goodyear Assurance WeatherReady2 and the brand new Vredestein Quatrac Pro+. The other two tires are Standard Touring, and there's another new product there. That's the Continental TrueContact Tour 54. And of course, we threw in the consumer favorite, the Michelin Defender2.
Yeah, those Standard Touring products focus on delivering the maximum amount of mileage, but they still have to do the other touring tire things well, which is wet traction, light snow traction, and of course on-road ride and noise comfort. And that's where our testing begins. We're here on the road ride on the Bridgestone Turanza QuietTrack. It is one of two Bridgestone tires in this test.
This one is the non three peak mountain snowflake branded version. So it's All-Season as opposed to all-weather as the three peak mount snowflake branded touring tires are commonly known. Ride: It's cushioned over big bumps, or relatively well cushioned over big bumps. It doesn't control body movements quite as well as some of the other touring tires in the test.
Yeah, there is a little bit of secondary motion, you know, after you hit the bump, it kind of hangs on for longer than it should. Just a little bit. Just a hair. Yeah. Noise comfort is pretty similar in that regard. There are some tones.
There's kind of distinct noise, especially over any kind of course surface. It picks up the coarser, you know, the textured asphalt, the crosscut concrete a little more than some of the tires in the test. One place that it does, you know, stand out or stand amongst the best in the test is steering.
The responsiveness compared to, really a lot of the tires in this test, it responds very quickly to inputs. There's no really, like, dead spot. And it feels pretty natural and almost kind of sporty. Almost. Almost kind of. Yeah. Bridgestone WeatherPeak.
It is three peak mountain snowflake branded. So that's commonly known as all-weather in the industry. The WeatherPeak is compliant over the big bumps, but it lacks a little more motion control than even its All-Season counterpart. Just smaller, especially repetitive bumps, they kind of, it strings them together and just feels feels just kind of loose everywhere. What do you think about noise? Slightly more elevated, perhaps in some of the more premium, real high-end, you know, Grand Touring tires out there today that we've tested. I'm behind the wheel, so I'll talk about steering.
Feels like a little bit more of an effort or more input before it starts responding. It doesn't respond quite as sharply as a lot of the other products here. Unfortunately you're right. This is the Continental TrueContact Tour 54.
This is the first of the two Standard Touring All-Season tires that we have in this test. They tend to focus more on longevity, on delivering the maximum tread life. It just did what it's supposed to do and kind of didn't differentiate itself in any way. It's a Standard Touring tire ppunching it out with Grand Touring tires. That's commendable. That is absolutely.
Because if you're going to get, you know, 80,000 miles or whatever the case may be out of a tire, you don't want it to be an unpleasant 80,000 miles. So yeah, noise from the Continental is kind of similar to the QuietTrack in the sense, that it did create a little bit of kind of a resonance, kind of picks up on the coarser surfaces. Particularly on this surface right here. Yeah, on this cross-cut concrete on the highway at 65. I tell you what, one place that it stands out here does kind of differentiate itself is steering. Yes.
The third criteria. It just points, it's in lockstep with what my hands are doing. It feels good. Like here on this off ramp. It's just doing... putting the car exactly where I want it to,
No muss, no fuss. It’s Good. Goodyear Assurance WeatherReady2. And this is another all-weather tire. So it's three peak mountain snowflake branded. Tell me about the ride quality, Brent. Big bumps are cushioned.
It's comfortable. And we both like “Oooh!” Unexpected, and a pleasant surprise, you know? Noise, a couple of missteps, you know? Nothing major, nothing really significant. But, you know, there's a little bit of, like a growly undertone. I think we were both very enamored with the steering on this tire. It is almost performance tire kind of urgent and sporty.
It is natural feeling. It builds, you know, responds with more effort and a, sort of a progressive way. It just it feels really nice.
Michelin Defender2. This is the second Standard Touring All-Season tire in our test. This is one of three Michelin products. This is supposed to be the longest lasting tire in this test.
It's a little firm. Yeah. It's not bad by any means. The thing that stood out the most to me, always has when we've driven this tire, is there's a little bit of choppiness, especially over repetitive impacts. Right.
This is the exact spot that it stands out the most. If you have repetitive bumps, you may notice that. Noise comfort.
It won't compete with any of the real high end Grand Touring All-Season tires in this teste, or anywhere, frankly. But yeah. No, it's it's it's good.
It's fun, especially on smooth pavement. You know, it's doing well enough. On-ramp on to the highway. What do you think? Yeah, a little bit of a dead spot, kind of right on center.
Which is something we've found before. Not bad. Probably absolutely fine for Standard Touring All-Season, but it's certainly not sporty.
Right. It's one of those things that if you weren't testing a bunch of tires, maybe you wouldn't notice. Oh, this is the Michelin CrossClimate2. Is it? We have... Yeah, it really is. So it's three peak mountain snowflake branded. The ride is great.
It's it's firm but well controlled. What about noise? I'm happy with the noise on this tire. They model every tire, every size, to get rid of any kind of weird harmonics and to blend everything together. And it really does a good job on this tire. The steering is what we've found in past experiences as well. It is pretty quick to respond.
It doesn't require a whole lot of input or a whole lot of effort to elicit response from it. We've always wanted a little bit more, dare I say it, on a car with electric power steering, a little bit more weight or resistance to inputs. The Michelin Primacy Tour A/S. The third of three Michelin Touring tires in this test. So what space is that fit in? We are assuming it's supposed to be the most comfortable, the most comfort focused tire in the test.
And it's good. It's good right? It’s comfortable. It's kind of taut. You kind of feel more of the undulations, more of the smaller cracks. You know, it's a firm, based touring tire. Noise, I'm going to take noise because I love talking about the good stuff. Let's start with the best characteristic: On any kind of smooth pavement, it's nearly silent. It is so good.
Nothing that the tire is doing is louder than the engine noise, the wind noise, or the conversation from your co-driver. This is a smooth surface, so Brent just wanted to not hear the tire. What do you think about steering? Oh, I sound like a broken record.
It's similar to the Defender2. Feels like it's from the same family. I know. It's a little dull right on center. And then, you know, you kind of give it more input and it ramps things up. On the highway, it felt like it was moving just a little bit.
Just a little bit. Yeah. Yeah. It doesn't have much self aligning torque when you know, passing through corners. It wasn't obvious. It was just like hey I feel like I'm having to do just a little bit more. Pirelli Cinturato WeatherActive.
This is the all-weather component. The all-weather half of the Pirelli pair that we have in here. Ride quality is not too pointy.
Very well composed. Soaks up the real small stuff like this. Yeah, small stuff, rounds over the big stuff. Noise comfort is in a similar boat.
They... Pirelli really worked their magic with this one. It's solid here on the road. I'm impressed. Yeah. The steering is really good, too. It is responsive, not like performance tire urgent.
It doesn't feel like it's trying to be sporty, but it just gives you what you want in a natural and expected and intuitive way. I wanted to say that word. It feels natural. Extremely natural. Yeah. Yeah, right. It's just right.
Just right for a touring tire. This is the Pirelli P7 AS Plus 3. And this is the second of two Pirelli products.
Yeah. Both Grand Touring All-Season tires. Both Grand Touring All-Season, right. WeatherActive though is just all-weather. Correct. Ride quality from the P7 AS Plus 3, very good.
I'll be little conspiracy theorist here. Oh, I love it. It feels awfully similar to kind of how the WeatherActive felt. You know? I thought the same thing. They're definitely in the same family, in the same brand, which shouldn't come as a surprise, but...
This one's also very good in noise. After hearing it on the very smooth new asphalt, I expect it to be a little bit quieter on kind of like the, you know, the mild, just like normal asphalt we have around here. Right. But it wasn't. It was a little higher than I would have expected. Maybe? Steering, you're driving, what do you think about the steering? Again, kind of similar to the WeatherActive, which is good.
It's a little fast on center. But it still tracks straight ahead. It feels good. It is a responsive touring tire.
I thought so too. The other Pirelli tire, the Cinturato WeatherActive it doesn't respond quite as quickly to the inputs, but it feels a little bit more natural. Whereas this one, it's less of a steering input to elicit more of a response.
This is the Toyo Celsius Sport. It feels like the firmest tire that we've tested. Might even be the firmest tire in this test. Big hits hit a little bit harder than others. You feel them. Small bumps: You feel each one. It's still a good ride for a touring tire.
It's not objectionable in any way. It's just interesting that we have all of these products and a lot of them are a bit more round and this one is a bit more pointy. You just you feel stuff. In terms of noise, on coarse surfaces, there are a couple tones that you hear.
They do blend together, but it doesn't fade to the background as readily as some of the other tires. There's some interaction with the coarser surfaces. Absolutely. Yeah. But it's pretty good on smooth stuff. It does a good job mixing those things together at a decently low volume. And what do you think about steering as well? Steering feels sporty for the category in general.
Responsive, feels like it has a little bit of weight to it. I think it's important to know, neither of us scored it higher than the other, like best in the test steering type tires. It just feels different. It feels like it has a different focus.
It's a little bit more, like you said, sporty or even performance tire focused and the steering feel. Vredestein Quatrac Pro+. And this is another all-weather tire. So it's three peak mountain snowflake branded. And first off, the ride I think is very good. You know it's about as firm as you know most of the good tires on the big bumps.
Small things, it actually does a very nice job of eliminating. I will see things in the road and expect to feel them. And they generally are less of an ordeal or less of an event than I had anticipated in my mind. Noise as well.
It did a good job kind of blending the cut harmonics You know, where we get some of that resonance. It did a good job limiting that and kind of blending that into just more of like a hushed growl. What do you think about the steering on the Vredestein Quatrac Pro+? Well, it's not bad. It's not bad. No, it's not bad. It's good. Yeah. It does respond once you kind of get it off center a little bit, you know, give it some steering input and it does it does ramp up response which is appreciated. Right. It tracks nice straight ahead.
And I like the way that it kind of built response with more steering input. Okay, so ride quality, noise comfort, steering and on-road handling: They're very important characteristics that drivers will have to deal with every day, every time they drive. Right. But we also want to find out which tires excel when conditions are less than perfect. Yeah.
So to test them in the wet we run each tire through 60 to 0 braking tests, Then we put them around the skidpad in both damp conditions and in standing water to test their lateral traction. Then we put it all together around the track to see how each tire handles those dynamic emergency maneuvers. In our 60 tp 0 braking test, the Michelin Primacy Tour A/S delivered a strong performance, standing out from the competition by stopping, on average, seven feet shorter than the next in test, Pirelli Cinturato WeatherActive.
Which managed to get the job done in 147ft. After those two front runners, the grouping tightened up around 153ft, with the Standard Touring TrueContact Tour 54 among them. Its other Standard Touring counterpart, the Defender2, was a few feet further and led the bottom half of competitors, which was rounded out by significantly longer stopping distances by the all-weather Bridgestone WeatherPeak.
Around the skidpad, Vredestein’s Quatrac Pro+ pulled the highest lateral traction at three quarters of a G and only four hundredths less in the standard water lateral traction test. A rather large group followed two hundredths of a G back, with the Goodyear Assurance WeatherReady2 also delivering very good deeper water lateral grip. Once again impressing the team was the Standard Touring TrueContact Tour 54, which managed lateral traction figures close to the group of top Grand Touring products, albeit with some falloff around the flooded surface. The Cinturato WeatherActive and CrossClimate2 both delivered a capable performance, especially considering their all-weather design, but the Pirelli unfortunately missed our testing in the deeper water.
With what felt like limited wet grip once again, the WeatherPeak was a couple hundredths behind the Michelin, but maintained competitive grip in the deeper water. Finally, the Defender2 and P7 AS Plus 3 rounded out the group in wet lateral traction figures for both tests. Testing on the wet track represents how well each tire uses its objective traction and dynamic capability in combined maneuvers that simulate real world emergency avoidance. The Celsius Sport, Quatrac Pro+ and Assurance WeatherReady2 were at the top of the charts with sub 34 second laps, a feat that's even more impressive when considering they’re all-weather tires.
The next group was an appreciable step back, with less than two tenths of a second separating the Primacy Tour A/S, TrueContact Tour 54, and Cinturato WeatherActive. The CrossClimate2 required an additional two tenths beyond the Pirelli, and the Turanza QuietTrack was on the borderline of what we would consider a good performance. The WeatherPeak, Defender2, and P7 AS Plus 3 three all required more than 35 seconds to complete our lap.
While we still consider that to be acceptable, they definitely left us wanting more. Like our previous touring tire test, in the dry, we're also performing the emergency lane change maneuver alongside the usual lateral traction testing around the Skidpad and 60 to 0 mile an hour braking distances. We can get a good idea of a tire’s capabilities with just lateral traction and braking, but the ELC helps give us an idea of how a tire puts everything together through aggressive transitions with lots of dynamic force. It's a real life test for a real world situation. Alright, Bridgestone Turanza QuietTrack for the emergency lane change. Ready steady go! Whoa, whoa oh. You know it.
It pushes a little bit. But then it recovers and it snaps a little bit. That's the thing, it understeers and then it quickly oversteers. So it's like if you get it right you'll make it about half the time. Bridgestone WeatherPeak. Turn and understeer and understeer and oversteer.
Oh wow. So we've we've passed the emergency lane change zero times. Yeah. Do you think I miscounted that? No. Do you want to tally it up again?
Zero. Zero. Continental TrueContact Tour 54. And back... Easy peasy. That wasn't bad at all. It didn't make it easily, but it made it every time.
Oh yeah, I know, it was every time. Yeah. Communicates well with you. It’s stable, feels urgent, but not like overly urgent. Nicely gets the job done. Okay, Goodyear Assurance WeatherReady2. In... and back
Huh. It’s just so easy. No drama, no excitement for the camera. It was definitely the driver. It made it every time without issue. Yep. Literally every time.
We did not fail on this tire. Michelin Defender2. Oh I'm nervous. Oh I'm nervous. Eh... Okay, I will say I didn't make it through every time. I didn’t either.
I'd say most of the time, but it has that ramp up in steering response. So it's like a little response and then all of a sudden there's too much, and then you're coming back the other way and it really wants to step the tail out. And it's again it... It can be a handful. Especially from the rear end.
Michelin CrossClimate2. Yeah. Alright. A little more tail happy Yeah a little tail out action there. I will say that the front end pushed a little bit both at that initial input and then when you're coming back the other direction... It’s a touring tire. Right. It's a touring tire. It's not a performance tire.
And then like you said, the tail kind of stepped out of touch. But really wasn't bad. Alright, Michelin Primacy Tour A/S. Nice steering response. And we made it.
I would say this has the sportiest steering response of any tire we've tested so far. Yeah. The rear axle wants to engage. Yeah. If you stick with it, it's okay. If you would get nervous and give it some kind of, you know, incorrect input, it could be a bit of a handful though.
Pirelli Conturato WeatherActive. It pushed. It was a little pushy and a little smeary. And until it slows down enough that the front end grips and then the rear wants to step out. It's a classic move.
All of a sudden you're sideways and you’re not quite sure where you're going to go. That's a little vague. Not super responsive on the front end. Pirelli P7 AS Plus 3. Hey! Okay. Yeah. Okay.
I mean, steering... I know you liked this one more than I did. Yeah I do like this one more than you do. It was good for a Grand Touring All-Season tire.
Front end is a little bit sharper than its all-weather Yeah that's the truth. Yeah. It doesn't step out not as sharp as some in the test. Certainly not.
This is the Toyo Celsius Sport. Okay, okay! Alright. That was easy. Would ELC again. That was... Yeah ten out of ten. It felt good on the front end, the steering felt nice, I mean I could do that one handed. I'm gonna do it one handed.
I don't think you should. Vredestein Quatrac Pro+. Okay, yeah, it’s...
Yeah. Yeah. You made it that time. Some of the times that I was doing it, I didn't make it. It was kind of really, like, speed sensitive. If I was just a little bit too fast, it wasn't going to make it.
If by steering, if it was a little off, it wasn't going to make it. So it's like, 45 is right at the limit for what this tire can do. Designed to test panic braking in the dry, our 60 to 0 braking results were once again led by the Primacy Tour A/S which brought the test vehicle to a halt in 123ft.
Four feet further was its all-weather brand counterpart, the CrossClimate2 and its Standard Touring counterpart, Defender2, was just two more beyond that. The Continental matched the Defender2 getting in just under the 130ft mark. The Assurance WeatherReady2 led a group that all stopped between130 on 140ft, And finally the WeatherPeak seemed to struggle with longitudinal grip, finally getting the car stopped and 146ft. Around the skidpad the competition was extremely close on the front wheel drive Camry, with most of the group separated by two hundredths of a G, there wasn't a big variance in objective grip.
We did find the WeatherPeak once again struggling for grip at the limit relative to the group and the CrossClimate2 delivering predictable feel at the limit but trailing the others. That was a great test with a lot of genuinely impressive tires. And we had a lot of really cool comparisons too. We had Standard Touring versus Grand Touring.
We had All-Season and All-Weather. We even got to look at some tires from the same manufacturers that occupy pretty similar places in the market. Yeah, but those aren't the only comparisons we're going to make out here today. Like you mentioned, this is our second touring test of the year, but with our new testing protocol, we actually run a common control tire throughout each segment. So this allows us to kind of compare tests, which is something we've never been able to do before. Right.
So when we look at the results from this test, we're going to start with the 11 tires that we tested here. But then we're going to add in the tires from 2024 Test 4 which was our first touring tire test of the year. That's going to allow you to compare the biggest names in the category head to head.
Testing this group on the road effectively reminded us that if you value luxurious refinement, it's hard to go wrong with a premium touring tire. Most of them are just so good at blending the smooth and quiet driving experience with satisfying, sometimes even sporty steering characteristics. Looking at the on-road scores for these tires compared to our last touring tire test, we can see that the top eight tires in this group scored higher than the number three tire from the last test. And that's not to say that the last bunch of competitors were deficient. It just highlights how good this group truly is.
Many of the tires in this test delivered strong results in the wet, with the Celsius Sport, Assurance WeatherReady2, Quatrac Pro+, and Primacy Tour A/S at the top of the charts. The Cinturato WeatherActive, CrossClimate2, TrueContact Tour 54, and Turanza QuietTrack formed a group of satisfying, if not standout performers. While the P7 AS Plus 3, Defender2, and WeatherPeak fell to the bottom of the ratings. In the wet, there was less separation between the groups from our two touring tests. When looking at this metric, they're essentially evenly mixed. When looking at the overall ratings, it was a close race.
The top five tires were tightly grouped, but the Goodyear Assurance WeatherReady2 earned the highest combined score. The Toyo Celsius Sport, Vredestein Quatrac Pro+, Michelin Primacy Tour A/S, and Pirelli Cinturato WeatherActive were all less than a quarter of a point separated from the top spot. A tiny step back and still within a third of a point of the leader were the Pirelli P7 AS Plus 3, Continental TrueContact Tour 54, and Michelin CrossClimate2.
The Bridgestone Turanza QuietTrack was where we just began to see some appreciable separation, and the Michelin Defender2 and Bridgestone WeatherPeak round out the group. When we consider the full picture of warm weather performance between our two touring tire test groups, we see the top three from our previous test fit in nicely with the options here. From there, the results are a little lower in the overall hierarchy, but still satisfying and acceptable for the category. It's really awesome to see all these touring tires compared head to head. Tires in this test all were really good on the road and frankly, all were pretty darn good in the wet too.
Yeah. And that's extra impressive when you consider that six of them are all-weather tires. Generally on-road refinement and wet traction are direct trade offs for that enhanced light snow traction, so we're excited to see how things shake out in our winter testing in early 2025. Yeah, we're going to do the same thing we did with our winter results as we did out here today.
So we're going to compare the tires from this test head to head. But then we're going to add in the tires from the previous touring tire test to really again see how they all stack up. Yeah, it's going to be really cool to see.
We're excited about it. We hope you're excited about it. But until then, as always, thanks for watching.
2024-12-04 16:27
