Goodyear Assurance Fuel Max

[strongt]

Originally Posted By: crinkles
does low rolling resistance equal less grip?

I'd rather have grip and lose a few MPGs than save fuel and dance the dance...


Yep! In all of the reviews that I've read about low resistance tires is they are bad in wet brakeing and grip. I'll take a good all weather tire anyday over "maybe" 1 or 2 gain in MPG's. Everyone that gets low rolling resistance tires, good luck in the winter months!

 

[Hokiefyd]

Everything I've read about the Goodyear Assurance FuelMax indicates that its handling is a bit soft, but it otherwise appears to be a good tire. I've been gunshy re: Goodyear for a while also, because I've never really met a Goodyear tire I really liked. Maybe these will be different.

Not sure if I have (or anyone else has) mentioned it yet, but there's a "sister" tire to the Assurance Fuel Max available at Walmart, called the Viva Authority Fuel Max. It's even got the "Fuel Max" oval logo on the sidewall. It's not on Walmart's website yet (last I looked), but it's on the shelves. Unfortunately, they don't appear to make the 195/65R15 size, among the most ubiquitous of "small car" sizes in the world. Maybe that will change soon.

Sam's Club also has an Assurance tire, called the Assurance Touring. This looks to NOT be a Fuel Max variant; it does not have the Fuel Max oval logo, and is not marketed by Sam's as a fuel economy tire.

 

[Hokiefyd]

We'll see how the latest of low rolling resistance tires fares against "conventionals" when Consumer Reports releases their latest test results in November 2009.

But I think it's a wee bit of a generalization that "all" low rolling resistance tires are "bad in wet brakeing and grip". Michelin's HydroEdge and Energy line of tires have what most consider to be an excellent compromise of performance and energy conservation.

In fact, if you think that all reviews demonstrate such a weakness, I would encourage you to view Tire Rack's test of the Michelin HydroEdge:

http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tests/chartDisplay.jsp?ttid=74

This tire has been marketed by Michelin since its inception as a tire that reduces fuel consumption. This feature is also indicated by the prominent use of the "Radial XSE" technology on the sidewall, a hallmark of Michelin's low rolling resistance tires. Compared against its closest "conventional" competitor at the time (the Goodyear Assurance TripleTred, an H-rated tire even!), the Michelin had the best wet braking number (though only slightly). The Goodyear posted a better wet grip number (though only slightly). Overall, the performance of those two tires is very comparable.

(And in fact, on dry pavement, the HydroEdge cleaned up in performance numbers.)

 

[rszappa1]

Stick with Michelin...

 

[Hokiefyd]

Originally Posted By: rszappa1
Stick with Michelin...


I usually do. And now, we apparently have a fuel efficient tire choice from Michelin (above and beyond the new HydroEdge Green X), the Energy Saver A/S:

http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tires.jsp?tireMake=Michelin&tireModel=Energy+Saver+A/S

I look forward for a review of the three mainstream "green" tires now (Bridgestone's Ecopia, Goodyear's Fuel Max, and new Michelin's Energy Saver A/S). Also throw in a top-rated "conventional" tire (such as the Goodyear TripleTred for example) as a baseline.