April 27, 2021
Standard Touring All-Season tires tend to be the go-to choice for drivers that want a dependable, long lasting touring tire. While good tread life has always been a staple for the category, lately manufacturers have made significant improvements to other performance attributes that have made the category even more appealing to discerning consumers. Gone are the days of accepting intrusive tread noise and questionable wet performance for long lasting tread life. Top performing Standard Touring All-Season tires are now offering their hallmark steadfast mileage with road manners and traction levels in wet and winter weather that can sometimes rival traditionally more luxury-oriented categories.
We wanted to see how the latest selection of consumer-proven favorites stack up against one another, along with a newer addition to the category that has resonated well with drivers. The initially familiar lineup consisted of Continental’s TrueContact Tour, Goodyear’s Assurance MaxLife, Michelin’s Defender T+H with the latest addition being Yokohama’s AVID Ascend LX which hopes to find the harmonious balance of comfort, traction and tread life consumers are looking for. Our evaluation used 2020 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.
Each tire in this test group exhibited similarly good road manners and a general level of refinement that characterizes the continued advances and diminished tradeoffs modern tire design and engineering have to offer. The Continental TrueContact Tour managed to bring a sporty yet well-refined feel to the road portion of the test. While it may have presented more impacts to the driver than other tires in the test, the impacts were concise and well damped, creating more of a notification rather than a disturbance. Steering was light but controlled, which reinforced the tire’s aptitude for soaking up the miles. The TrueContact Tour also achieved the quietest ride over most surfaces but really impressed our team over smooth pavement where wind noise quickly became the primary offender. The Michelin Defender T+H followed right on the heels of the Continental thanks to its precise steering feel. Our drivers lauded its smoothly accurate and weighty feel which transmitted a sense of control sometimes lost by other touring tires. The Defender T+H’s ride was a little taut over undulations, which could lead to a jounced ride on broken concrete, but the tire mitigated impacts well overall. The AVID Ascend LX received top marks for its comfortable ride that went unmatched by the other tires in the test. The well-damped Yokohama absorbed the rough portions of our road ride route with ease, making it stand out as a luxurious option from the group. While the tire’s compliant nature took center stage, steering could feel slightly lethargic at times with quicker inputs. A higher-pitched, although consistent-toned white noise accompanied the Yokohama over most surfaces, which could stand out at times depending on other sources. The Assurance MaxLife seemed to position itself as the firmer, energetic participant in the road portion of our test. While not out of place, bumps were noticeably more firm than other tires in the test. Particularly rough sections of pavement were never punishing or uncomfortable, just significantly more apparent than the rest. The Goodyear created what was arguably the loudest white noise of the group, although in this group of quiet performers it was still good overall. Steering from the Assurance MaxLife was somewhat of a moving target for our team. At lower speeds it felt loose and vague with little feedback. However, at higher speeds the Assurance MaxLife seemed to come into its own with a firmed-up, responsive nature on par with the best in the group.
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.
While far from the primary duty of Standard Touring All-Season tires, higher speed lapping gave our testers the chance to gauge the overall balance of each tire when asked to perform. After a very competitive dry objective and lapping test the Assurance MaxLife tied for first in lateral traction and achieved the fastest lap by a slim margin, with our drivers praising its balanced and responsive feel around the handling course. The Defender T+H managed to bring the car to a stop in the shortest distance from 50 mph with the competition right on its heels. The Michelin’s impressive objective grip and quick initial steering response translated to decently quick laps, but its lack of transition control under big inputs ended up holding it back around the track. The TrueContact Tour’s laps were just off the pace of the leader thanks to its competitive objective grip levels. The Continental had the tendency to encourage aggressive maneuvers that, while performed inside the tire’s threshold of grip were satisfying, but certainly have the possibility of pushing past into big slides if not caught in time. The AVID Ascend LX tied for third in lateral traction but took the longest to bring the test vehicle to a halt from 50mph. The Yokohama felt slightly reluctant on the tight turns of our handling course, but with smooth inputs, managed to turn laps just behind its closest competitor.
Confident wet performance has become a staple of top-level standard touring tires. Finding the delicate balance between tread wear and wet traction can be a painstaking game of give and take, and for good reason. Traditionally our testers look to wet track results as one of the first tie breakers after what sometimes can be tight competition during the on-road evaluation. The TrueContact Tour solidified its edge over the competition with impressive wet objective figures that saw it almost four hundredths of a g above its closest competition on the skidpad and a commanding eighteen feet shorter wet stopping distance. This grip advantage paid dividends on the handling course and, combined with the tire’s balanced characteristics, yielded wet lap times that clearly distinguished itself from the rest of the group. After solid second place skidpad results and what was essentially a tie for second in braking performance, the Goodyear also had a strong showing. While the Assurance MaxLife couldn’t quite match the Continental’s outright grip, it too exhibited satisfying and balanced handling traits, allowing our test drivers to maximize what traction was available. The Michelin Defender T+H was another step behind the first two, with good wet braking distances, although its lower lateral wet grip seemed disproportionate to the stronger longitudinal traction abilities. Our drivers found the Defender T+H to be a willing partner around the track when driven well inside its limits, but near the threshold of grip the tire had the tendency to step out abruptly under throttle. The Yokohama AVID Ascend LX rounded out the group with objective braking and lateral traction results that were a noticeable step behind the competition. While the Yokohama settled in behind the group in the wet, it never overpromised its abilities, which resulted in drama free laps, which arguably is a positive trait for a Standard Touring All-Season tire.
Previous winter testing has revealed the Continental TrueContact Tour is a strong performer in snowy conditions, and it still stood out, even in the face of newer competition. It swept every objective test and earned the highest score from our test drivers. They liked the combination of responsive steering and front end traction that could fully utilize what it had to offer. Cornering speeds were the highest in the test, and it allowed the most throttle at corner exit, though still within reason. The AVID Ascend LX did a nice job keeping the Continental in its sights and was a good performer in its own right. Our drivers noted the transition to understeer was a little abrupt, and they wished the front end traction was a little stronger to allow rotation at the rear, but it still earned high marks across the board. Its close second place performance in all our objective tests was a strong showing, as well. The Defender T+H was relatively close to the Yokohama, but it was a significant step back from the test-leading Continental. Its objective figures were acceptable and likely strong enough to satisfy most drivers, but they didn’t stand out in our test. Our drivers liked the initial turn-in, but noted the front end traction couldn’t quite live up to the promise made, resulting in resolute understeer. Ultimately it was competent, though lap times that were over five seconds slower than the best in the test indicated it wasn’t adept at being pushed. The Assurance MaxLife was outmatched by its competition in our light snow testing. It required an additional 10 feet to accelerate to 12 mph and over 14 feet longer to come to a stop from 25 mph compared to the best in the test. Subjectively, the steering was pretty good, but inputs had to be delicate to avoid overwhelming the available traction. If the driver kept the understeer under control when entering a turn, it would rotate very willingly mid-corner and at corner exit. On the track, it was a useful characteristic to help compensate for the understeer, but it wouldn’t be a desirable trait in real-world driving.
On the ice, the Michelin Defender T+H narrowly edged out the TrueContact Tour for the top objective results, accelerating 60’ .03 second faster and requiring .8 feet less to stop from 12 mph. The Assurance MaxLife was .36 second off the Michelin’s 60’ acceleration time at 5.60 seconds, and its 55.9-foot braking distance from 12 mph was 4.4 feet longer than the test leader. The AVID Ascend LX was a small step back from the Goodyear, requiring 5.67 seconds to accelerate 60’ and 62.6 feet to bring the vehicle to a stop from 12 mph.
With the increased mileage capabilities of Standard Touring All-Season tires there will be unavoidable tradeoffs in other metrics. We’ve found this group of successful products have managed to combine elevated road manners with good traction and appropriate handling characteristics with presumably excellent tread life, creating balanced, everyday driving packages. The Continental True Contact Tour embodies the delicate harmony of on road comfort, handling, and traction, producing a well-rounded product that is hard to argue with. The Michelin Defender T+H, while never outperforming every product in a single test, harmonizes steadfast performance that continues to satisfy drivers. The Goodyear Assurance MaxLife brings a sporty feel to what, at times, can feel like a utilitarian segment of the market. It pleases when pushed within reason, but the tradeoff is a noticeable increase in road noise and decrease in relative comfort, still within reason. It does seem to give up a lot in light snow traction compared to the rest of the group, though. The Yokohama AVID Ascend LX was the fourth addition to our familiar test trio, and seemed to take a luxurious approach after tabulating what ended up as very close subjective and objective results. The Yokohama’s unmatched comfort on the road will likely seem like a welcome tradeoff for a slight drop in outright grip and handling.
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