July 13, 2018
Drivers typically have a long list of expectations for their tires, and they may not know it, but a lot of those expectations conflict with one another from a tire engineering standpoint. Often, a change made to improve one aspect of performance will have an adverse effect on another, and treadwear is no exception. Want long tread life? No problem, but you’re going to give up something else, often wet or winter traction. This isn’t much of an issue with Ultra High Performance or Grand Touring tires, because consumers expect reasonable mileage balanced with other attributes, but what about tires where long life is one of, if not the primary attribute? It’s a delicate balance, and one that requires engineering experience, manufacturing know-how, and maybe even a little magic to master.
To determine how three top-tier manufacturers manage the balance of long tread life with conflicting performance expectations, we decided to compare the Continental TrueContact Tour, Goodyear Assurance MaxLife and Michelin Defender T+H. Our evaluation used 2017 BMW F36 430i Gran Coupes fitted with new, full tread depth 225/50R17 tires mounted on 17x7.5 wheels.
Our 6.0-mile loop of expressway, state highway and county roads provides a great variety of road conditions that include city and highway speeds, smooth and coarse concrete, as well as new and patched asphalt. This route allows our team to experience noise comfort, ride quality and everyday handling, just as you would during your drive to school or work.
Premium touring tires typically excel in the on-road portion of our testing, so we were curious to see if the heavy emphasis on longevity would have a negative effect on the road manners of our test group.
On the road, the TrueContact Tour has a very relaxed and laid-back nature that would make it easy to rack up thousands of miles. The steering is light and direct and reasonably responsive for a touring tire, but not so eager that it requires constant small corrections. The soft ride soaks up minor imperfections, and big bumps are nicely isolated, with a touch of residual motion after the initial impact. Minimal tread noise can be heard in the cabin when driving over smooth surfaces, with some minor audible tones on coarse concrete. The Defender T+H has an engaging personality, with characteristics that feel a bit more performance-oriented. The eager steering is responsive immediately off-center, and effort builds nicely as input increases. Ride quality is firm and controlled, and noise is limited to a light growl on smooth pavement and a faint drone over the coarse parts of our route. Steering and light handling is the source of some criticism from our team where the Assurance MaxLife is concerned, due to a vague and disconnected feeling on-center and somewhat lax response to inputs. The ride is as firm as the Michelin’s, but not quite as well controlled, making the MaxLife feel the least composed in this group. Noise quality is likely to be acceptable for nearly any driver, with just a little pattern noise and tread slap detectable in the vehicle.
Our 1/3-mile per lap test track course includes 90-degree street corners, a five-cone slalom and simulated expressway ramps. Run in both dry and wet conditions, the test track allows our team to experience the traction, responsiveness, handling and drivability normally only encountered during abrupt emergency avoidance maneuvers or competition events.
Even though track use likely wasn’t one of the performance targets when the TrueContact Tour was being developed, the tire really comes into its own when pushed to the limit. With nice balance front to rear and stable traction, our drivers were able to immediately sync up with the Continental, earning the top subjective score. The Defender T+H features strong front-end authority and quick reflexes that help set the fastest average laps, but the responsive front-end can overpower the rear with big inputs. The Assurance MaxLife doesn’t feel quite as adept around the track as the other two tires in the test due to slower responses to inputs, less precise handling and more roll through turns, but its objective figures are a virtual tie with the Continental, so it is certainly capable.
The TrueContact Tour proves that tire manufacturers don’t necessarily have to give up wet traction in the quest for extended tread life, and it is a noticeable step ahead of the competition. The top objective performance figures and stable at-the-limit behavior makes it our testers’ favorite in this group. In the braking and skidpad portions of our test, the Assurance MaxLife and Defender T+H are in a dead heat, but around the track, the Assurance MaxLife is docile and friendly, with gentle breakaway and clear communication of the limits. The Defender T+H requires more concentration and is a bit harder to handle due to its peaky, somewhat unbalanced performance and sharp breakaway.
Winter weather is often unpredictable, and snow-covered roads change with every passing vehicle as they churn snow into slush or pack it down to polished ice. For accurate results we use a dedicated winter testing facility in Northern Sweden with acres of groomed snow that provides the consistency needed for reliable acceleration and braking comparisons. A groomed handling course allows us to evaluate stability and control during abrupt maneuvers. To simulate the icy conditions found at intersections or the black ice experienced out on the highway, we use ice at a local hockey rink and measure acceleration and braking traction.
In the snow, the TrueContact Tour delivered a solid performance for an all-season tire, with traction to start and stop our test car as well as handling precision and control that were clearly superior to the other two tires in this test. The Defender T+H and Assurance MaxLife were a noticeable step behind, with the Defender T+H showing a small objective advantage in measured tests, but a small deficit to the Assurance MaxLife in subjective scores.
Ice traction levels were modest and very similar for all three tires, with just a few feet and fraction of a second separating the braking distances and acceleration times, with none anywhere close to the traction provided by a dedicated winter tire.
Our Real World Road Ride features a relatively flat 6.0-mile loop of 65 mph expressway, 55 mph state highway and 40 mph county roads along with three stop signs every lap. Our team drove each tire approximately 500 miles over the course of several days. Since we wanted to compare fuel consumption results that typical drivers would experience, our drivers were instructed to maintain the flow of traffic by running at the posted speed limits and sustain the vehicle’s speed using cruise control whenever possible. They did not use hypermiling techniques to influence vehicle fuel economy.
The tires in our test exhibited a nominal difference in fuel economy of .4 miles per gallon. This difference would result in an additional 6.7 gallons of gasoline used per year for drivers driving 15,000 miles annually.
| Tire | Test MPG* | Gallons/Year @ 15,000 Miles |
% vs. Most Efficient |
|---|---|---|---|
| Continental TrueContact Tour | 29.9 | 501.7 | -1.3% |
| Goodyear Assurance MaxLife | 30.3 | 495.0 | -- |
| Michelin Defender T+H | 29.9 | 501.7 | -1.3% |
| *Our evaluation used Race Technology DL1 data loggers to record true distance travelled. | |||
It’s important to note our test’s fuel consumption measurements follow consistent procedures designed to minimize variables that could influence the results; however, they do not represent an exhaustive long-range fuel consumption study. While our procedures require the test vehicles in each convoy to run under the same prevailing conditions, the week-to-week differences in ambient temperatures, barometric pressures and wind speeds that we experience over a season of testing can influence vehicle fuel consumption and prevent the absolute mpg values of this test from being compared directly against those of others.
Larger differences in consumption between tires may indicate a difference that might be experienced on the road, while smaller differences should be considered equivalent. As they say, your mileage may vary.
When tires are designed with an emphasis on very long tread life, there are unavoidable tradeoffs in other aspects of performance. The three tires in this test demonstrate that through careful engineering and adept manufacturing, you can still have satisfying wet and dry traction and on-road manners in addition to long tread life.
The Continental TrueContact Tour is pleasant on the road thanks to its comfortable ride and relaxed steering feel, and its surprising poise on the dry track is matched by test-leading capability in the wet, along with very good winter traction. The Michelin Defender T+H delivers athletic handling and a taut ride on the road, along with edgy wet performance that would benefit from some additional traction. Goodyear’s Assurance MaxLife generates some moderate but acceptable road noise and has a noticeable lack of steering feel. Wet grip is adequate, and when combined with its easy-to-drive nature, the overall wet performance is satisfactory.
Continental TrueContact Tour (Standard Touring All-Season): The TrueContact Tour is Continental’s Standard Touring All-Season tire developed for drivers of family sedans, coupes, minivans and small crossovers looking for sure-footed traction, a smooth, quiet ride and long tread life. TrueContact Tour tires are designed to combine premium levels of ride and noise quality with responsive handling and confident grip in dry, wet and wintry conditions, including light snow. Read more.
Goodyear Assurance MaxLife (Standard Touring All-Season): The Assurance MaxLife is Goodyear’s Standard Touring All-Season tire developed for the drivers of sedans, minivans, crossovers, and coupes looking for a tire to help conserve fuel, prolong tread life and provide all-season traction in dry, wet and wintry conditions, even light snow. Read more.
Michelin Defender T+H (Standard Touring All-Season): The Defender T+H tire is Michelin’s Standard Touring All-Season tire developed for the drivers of coupes, family sedans, minivans and small crossover vehicles looking for a long-lasting, comfortable tire that delivers all-season traction in the dry, wet and light snow. Read more.
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