Standard touring all-season tires are the go-to for most drivers, offering a balance of dry traction, longevity, and fuel efficiency at a reasonable price. These tires excel in tread life, often coming with warranties over 70k miles and are built lighter with mostly symmetrical tread patterns.
They’re designed for year-round use, indicated by the M+S symbol, and blend the look of performance tires with the comfort of passenger ones.
But with so many choices, how do you pick the right one? No worries, I’ve got you covered.
I’ve put together this list with the best of the best, each tire shining in at least one key performance area, ensuring you find the best match for your driving needs.
Let’s dive in!
Table of Contents
Continental TrueContact Tour
Leading tire overall, and the best for winter performance.
In my assessment, although this tire distinguishes itself as an exceptional performer in all categories, but where it truly shines is its winter performance.
During comparative testing, it consistently outperforms others in key winter metrics. This is largely due to its innovative design, which facilitates superior snow-to-snow contact, a crucial feature since snow adheres more effectively to itself than to rubber.
How does it achieve this? Well, the tire features a very well engineered curved X-shaped grooves, which significantly improve traction on snow-covered roads.
Furthermore, the tire offers a relatively more flexible rubber composition, enriched with +Silane additives which play a key role in preventing its rubber from becoming overly rigid in freezing temperatures.
Though, it’s important to note that, as a standard touring all-season tire, it lacks the 3-Peak Mountain Snowflake (3PMSF) rating, a benchmark not met by any tire in its category, actually.
So for those prioritizing winter performance, I’d recommend exploring top-tier grand touring tires instead. But yes in the category of standard touring, it doesn’t get any better than TrueContact Tour, that’s for sure.
Review this tire in greater detail: https://tiredriver.com/continental-truecontact-tour-review/
A side note: Before diving in further, I think its best you check this video out. I am working with these guys.
Michelin Defender 2
Offer best tread longevity.
Michelin Defender 2 notably outperforms its predecessor, the Defender T+H, by lasting nearly 24,000 additional miles, despite sharing a similar Uniform Tire Quality Grading (UTQG) of 840.
So, what accounts for this improvement? The answer lies in three key areas:
- Tread Depth.
- Compound Composition.
- Overall Construction Weight.
The Defender 2 utilizes a harder compound, making it more resistant to rapid wear and tear. And with a slightly deeper tread, its longevity gets further increased, as it takes longer to reach down to the 2/32″ legal wear limit (in USA), giving it an advantage in lifespan compared to other tires in its category.
Furthermore, its construction includes a very light frame. And when combined with MaxTouch Construction technology, it ensures the forces from acceleration, braking, and cornering are evenly distributed across the tire.
This uniform force distribution not only improves tire life, but also keeps the wear even, avoiding various unwanted wear patterns.
Moreover, the tire also features an advanced EverTread compound, formulated with specialized polymers that are more resistant to heat (particularly).
And since heat is a major factor in tread life reduction, this resistance significantly enhances the tire’s overall longevity, making it a leader in this performance category.
Review this tire in greater detail: https://tiredriver.com/michelin-defender-2-review/
Hankook Kinergy PT
Leads in terms of overall wet performance.
Wet traction is very critical in tire performance, as it involves efficiently removing water from underneath the tread.
And its tricky, because water can not be compressed. Meaning it has to go out in time, otherwise it would stay and come underneath the lugs causing slippage or in worst scenarios hydroplaning, which is basically the floating of the tire. And when it happens, its needless to say, the tire loses all its traction.
Now to avoid this, tire need effective grooves and sipes.
Grooves being main voids on the tread channel most of the water away. However, some water often remains beneath the lugs, and this is where sipes (small slits on the tread) become crucial. And they work by sucking up the remaing moisture left out by grooves.
This brings us to why the Hankook Kinergy PT stands out in this aspect, outperforming all other standard touring tires. This is because it offers both better quantity and quality of its sipes.
I mean this tire offers a relatively greater number of sipes, enhancing water clearance. Additionally, its sipes feature a design that changes angle (from rib to rib). And this prevents them from stiffening up, particularly with extreme maneuvers.
Plus the tire also features a asymmetric tread pattern too. Its an odd design element for a standard touring tire but it provides the tire with relatively more biting edges, providing superb traction in not just wet conditions but also dry.
And that reminds me, the tire really provides superb steering response in both environments too thanks to its really light weight design. It’s actually one of lightest standard touring tire. And yes that also increases tread life and fuel economy.
On the negative side though, the Kinergy PT could use some help in terms of overall comfort and noise reduction. And that brings me to the most comfortable tire in the group (see the next tire in the list).
Goodyear Assurance ComforTred
Is the quietest and provides best impact comfort performance.
Impact comfort refers to a tire’s ability to effectively absorb road shocks, a domain where the Assurance ComforTred is a leader among standard touring tires. Which I guess is not really a surprise, given its name.
So what makes this tire the best here? Well a couple of reasons.
Firstly, the tire incorporates Goodyear’s ComfortFlex technology.
This technology involves a specialized layer beneath the rubber in its internal structure, designed to neutralize road shocks and vibrations, thereby ensuring a smoother driving experience.
Plus ComforTred is designed with a softer tread with relatively greater tread depth (considering all sizes). And yes it also comes with a two-ply casing and nylon cap plies, in contrast to the single-ply construction typical in other standard touring tires.
All these design elements basically create additional space for dampening bumps before they reach the vehicle’s cabin.
Moreover, the tire also excels in road noise reduction, making it one of the quietest tires in its category (according to my comparative tests, where the tire show up with lowest decibel reading on average).
This superior performance is primarily due to its sophisticated tread design, which employs variable pitch patterns.
These patterns transform noise into a range of tones and frequencies that effectively cancel each other out, further quietening the overall ride.
Michelin Energy Saver
Provides best fuel economy
The Michelin Energy Saver is the most fuel-efficient passenger tire showcasing the best mpg readings on my comparative tests, on average, outperforming all others in its category.
This high level of fuel efficiency is achieved through Michelin’s Energy Saver Construction Technology which not only minimizes carbon dioxide emissions but also keeps rolling resistance exceptionally low (without compromising too much on the grip).
One of the key factors contributing to its efficiency is the tire’s lightweight design, where in some sizes, it’s actually the lightest available.
This reduced weight naturally decreases rolling friction, meaning less energy is lost as heat when the tire presses down on the road.
Additionally, the Energy Saver benefits from Michelin’s MaxTouch construction. This design feature ensures that the contact patch of the tire distributes the vehicle’s weight more evenly.
As a result, each lug on the tire experiences less force as it rubs against the road, reducing wear and enhancing fuel economy.
Furthermore, the tire’s rubber composition and a shallower tread depth of just 8.5/32″ also play a very important role here.
This design prevents excessive bending and flexing of the lugs. This is significant because when the tire turns and the lugs compress against the road, they don’t waste energy reforming the tread. Instead, energy is conserved for the actual rolling of the tire, thereby enhancing fuel economy.
And yes, the tire’s lighter weight is also helping this part too of course.
Review this tire in greater detail: https://tiredriver.com/michelin-energy-saver-as-review/
Goodyear Assurance Maxlife
A solid overall pick.
The Goodyear Assurance Maxlife might not top the charts in every performance category, but it’s a solid choice overall, especially when you’re looking at comfort, dry handling, and, as the name suggests, impressive tread life.
The tire really stands out in the standard touring all-season category for its durability. This is because it’s crafted with a unique rubber blend that holds up really well against wear, especially in hotter conditions. Meaning, its rubber mix is really great at kicking out heat efficiently.
Moreover, the Goodyear also features the largest tread depth (at least among all the standard touring tires I’ve reviewed so far, and I think I covered them all).
And this helps the tire, as it then takes longer to wear down to the 2/32″ replacement mark.
And sure with greater tread depth most of the tires out there generate more heat, its not an issue with this tire (with its heat expelling properties, as already mentioned).
Plus with more rubber between the road and the bumps, the tire also provides pretty decent performance in terms of ride comfort too, despite having a firmer rubber. And speaking of comfort, its also very quiet too. In fact its neck n neck to the Assurance ComforTred tire here.
This is because of its compact shoulder blocks. If you want to learn more on how shoulders help, you may want to check out – https://tiredriver.com/are-all-season-tires-comfortable-and-quiet-enough/
Other than this, the Maxlife tire offers a firmer rubber composition with reinforced foundational supports underneath all its tread blocks, which is a combo which provides this tire with superb steering responsiveness and a great on-center feel.
So you see the tire excels in a lot of key areas, even though its not the absolute best in any specific performance metric.
Review this tire in greater detail: https://tiredriver.com/goodyear-assurance-maxlife-review/
Yokohama AVID Ascend LX
Offers decent dry and snow grip, particularly.
The Yokohama AVID Ascend LX is definitely a tire worth talking about. It might not be a superstar in performance categories, but it has some notable features, especially when it comes to handling light snow.
What sets this tire apart is its impressive tread depth, which reaches up to 11/32″, along with in-groove notches. These two elements work together brilliantly to scoop snow and propel the vehicle forward.
So it’s got a bit of an edge there.
Another thing in its favor is its weight which is a bit on the heavier side. And that although causes some issues in terms of steering responsiveness, it’s actually a good thing for snow performance.
This is because the extra weight puts more pressure on the snow, giving the tire better snow-to-snow contact.
This is a feature where it somewhat resembles the Continental TrueContact I mentioned at the start.
And besides its superior snow performance, the Avid Ascend LX also offers a solid combination of dry and wet traction, that’s why it also gives out speed ratings going up to V, which is a bit of a standout feature.
Why? Well because most standard touring tires usually max out at an H rating. So, it’s got a little something extra in terms of speed capability. And that also explains its superb traction.
Wrapping Up
So overall standard touring category provides a lot of good all-season tire options, offering a great balance between dry traction, longevity, and fuel efficiency, all at a reasonable price.
These tires are characterized by their impressive tread life, often exceeding 70k miles, and are designed with mostly symmetrical tread patterns for year-round use (though some like Kinergy PT also offer asymmetrical design.
So, whether you prioritize winter performance, tread longevity, wet traction, comfort, or fuel efficiency, this comprehensive guide has highlighted the best options in each category.
From the winter-ready Continental TrueContact Tour to the fuel-efficient Michelin Energy Saver to an all rounder Goodyear Maxlife, each tire excels in specific performance areas, ensuring you find the perfect fit for your driving needs.
I will keep on updating this list as I test these tires further or find some better ones to replace them. Do let me know if you have any questions in the comment section below.
