Bridgestone Turanza All Season 6 vs Goodyear Vector 4Seasons Gen 3

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The Bridgestone Turanza All Season 6 and the Goodyear Vector 4Seasons are top choices in the world of grand touring all-weather tires, offering a great mix of comfort, long-lasting wear, and solid performance in multiple environments.

Ford EcoSport
4Seasons Gen 3 is a little louder in comparison (tires placed on Ford EcoSport here).

Overall Assessment

As a specialist in tire engineering, my tests show that the Bridgestone Turanza All Season 6 excels in:

  • Superior dry braking and directional grip.
  • Exceptional performance in winter handling, leveraging its snow-oriented rubber composition.
  • Best-in-category wet braking, outperforming all its grand touring competitors.
  • Slightly quieter, with less noise discomfort compared to its rival.
  • Superior fuel economy, despite being heavier.

On the other hand, the Goodyear Vector 4Seasons is taking the lead in terms of:

  • Enhanced overall handling, aided by its lighter weight and firmer rubber compound.
  • Better wet handling and hydroplaning resistance, thanks to its efficient sipe design and interconnected groove structure.
  • Superior snow braking and acceleration, attributed to in-block notches (for the most part).
  • Longer tread life, thanks to its lighter structure.

Sizes Specs

SpecsTuranza All Season 6Vector 4Seasons Gen 3
Total Sizes8575
Size Range16 to 21 inches14 to 20 inches
Speed RatingsH, V, W, YH, V, W, Y
Load RatingsSL, XLSL, XL
Tread Depth11.5/32″10/32″
Weight Range25 to 36 lbs16 to 26 lbs
WarrantyNoneNone
Winter Ratings3PMSF and M+S3PMSF and M+S
UTQG600 A A500 A A

Pro tip: Before finalizing your selection, ensure you visit my essential guide at the main A-S page.

Dry Performance

Two principal components determine the overall dry performance of tires: their handling and directional grip. Let me start with later.

Directional Grip

When evaluating this straight-line grip, it’s important to consider a range of key factors. These include the composition of the tread, the size of the tire’s contact patch with the road, its weight, and its rolling resistance.

In this context, the Turanza All Season 6 takes the upper hand, offering outstanding performance due to its superior rubber-to-road contact.

Turanza All Season 6
Testing contact patch on Turanza All Season 6.

This is particularly due to its middle tread area providing a better footprint, (which plays an important role, while the tire brakes or accelerates, both of which measure directional grip).

The Bridgestone tire is designed with a cleverly engineered contact patch, enhanced by interlocking central lugs. Both of these design dimensions work together, noticeably shortening braking distances (it comes out more than a feet short on average, in my multiple 60 to 0 mph tests).

On the flip side, the Goodyear 4Seasons lacks behind mainly because its lugs are more voided up and don’t have that minimalist design the Turanza brings, affecting its grip. Though things quickly change in terms of handling.

Overall Handling

When it comes to tire handling, we’re looking at a mix of things, encompassing the tire’s overall traction, which spans its grip in both straight-line and lateral (sideways) movements, as well as its responsiveness to steering inputs.

So yes, braking is part of the story too. Why? Well this is because tires with lower braking grip take longer to decelerate, consequently impacting the overall lap times (on handling tests).

Now, the Turanza is a bit of a mixed bag. It’s got better braking, sure, but does that translate to top-notch overall performance? Not exactly.

I mean despite its superb braking, the tire doesn’t quite impress in the lateral traction department and feels a tad sluggish when responding to steering (where its susceptible to understeering, for the most part).

The result? It’s still trailing, taking about a second longer on average to finish laps compared to the Goodyear tire.

But let’s put things into perspective, the Bridgestone tire is squaring off against what’s pretty much the champ of dry handling in its category, which is a tough act to follow.

I mean it’s the main reason why Vector 4Seasons made it to my list of top grand touring tires in the first place. See for yourself: https://tiredriver.com/best-grand-touring-all-season-tires/

Vector 4Seasons
Vector 4Seasons

Now, what sets the Goodyear apart is its combination of a lightweight build and firm rubber composition. This design prevents excessive bending of the lugs and allows them to rebound quickly to their original shape.

And this swift recovery minimizes the delay between steering input and the vehicle’s response. So you get a more precise and responsive handling in comparison here.

Tread Longevity

The lifespan of a tire’s tread is determined by several key elements: rolling resistance, tire composition, and tread depth.

And considering all these aspects, it makes sense why the Vector 4Seasons Gen 3 is relatively better here, notably providing more miles throughout its tread life.

This is mainly because of two main reasons.

  • First, its lighter weight reduces stress on the tire lugs, which is beneficial.
  • Secondly, the use of a harder rubber compound means less likelihood of the lugs deforming.

So these aspects not only improve Goodyear’s steering responsiveness but also reduce heat generation, leading to a more durable and lasting tire, compared to Turanza All Season 6.

Wet Performance

My assessment of the overall wet performance included specific tests on each tire’s wet grip, handling, and hydroplaning resistance. Let’s analyze these aspects in detail.

Wet Traction

Wet traction is all about how well your tire can get rid of water under its tread (as it rolls).

Since water can’t be squished/compressed, if it’s not effectively removed, it would end up with the tire’s floating (or hydroplaning) or slipping (at bare minimum).

So how tires handle that? Well they do it with the help of grooves for the most part, which take away majority of water out of the tire’s way. But there’s always some left behind too, and that’s where sipes come in.

Think of these sipes as mini vacuum cleaners. These small cuts in the tread help to mop up (or suck up) any water left behind by the grooves, maintaining that crucial contact with the road.

Having said that, it makes sense why the Goodyear Vector 4Seasons is taking the lead here. Simply put the tire provides better quantity and quality of sipes.

Now quantity is self-explanatory, the more the better (for wet traction). And by quality I mean that its sipes have interlocking structures which basically grab on to the wet roads form all angles.

On the flip side, Bridgestone Turanza AS6 lacks with its minimalist design. Plus its heavier weight also affects its steering response in a similar way as it does in dry conditions.

Though interestingly it does offer superb wet braking (which is actually the best in its category).

Aquaplaning Resistance

As already mentioned above, hydroplaning is another name for floating of a tire and depends on how well grooves on the tread work (take out water in time).

In this regard, both tires here perform admirably, especially when compared to typical symmetrical tires in their grand touring category.

Though diving deeper, the Goodyear Vector still takes the lead, particularly in its resistance to curved aquaplaning, which basically means it takes out water better when the tire is cornering.

This superior performance of the tire is attributed to its more voided up structure with interconnected arrow-shaped grooves.

And with them taking more water out, there’s a reduced burden on sipes. Meaning this not only provides better hydroplaning resistance but also improves overall wet traction.

Fuel Efficiency

Fuel economy is the area, where Turanza AS6 excels. I mean its one of the most fuel-efficient tires in its category.

But why is that? I mean it’s heavier compared to many of its competitors, including the Goodyear Vector here. Well, this boils down to two primary factors.

First, the tire’s material composition is engineered to minimize energy loss through heat and friction as the it rolls. This means that even if the tire is heavier and has more tread depth, its compound still conserves more energy.

Second, the Bridgestone tire offers an optimally designed contact patch. This refers to the part of the tire that touches the road.

Its actually designed for a more even distribution of weight pressure across the tread. Meaning each of its lugs press against the road with relatively smaller force, lowering rolling resistance and with it, fuel consumption.

Noise Comfort

Regarding noise, it’s an area where both tires don’t really impress, though the Turanza still does have a slight edge and is relatively quieter.

To understand why, let’s dive into the basics of tire noise. Essentially, the level of noise a tire produces is directly linked to its void-to-rubber ratio. Put simply, the more voids (or gaps) in the tire, the noisier it’s likely to be.

This happens because a lot of the “tread noise” comes from air particles that swoosh through the shoulder voids and then bounce around against the tread walls.

And so it makes sense why the Goodyear Vector with such voided up tread pattern gets to be the louder one here, registering a reading that’s 1 decibel greater than the Bridgestone tire (on most compared sizes).

Winter Performance

In the world of winter performance, both tires here bring their own strengths to the table (when they are assessed in term of handling, acceleration, and braking on icy and snowy surfaces).

Both offer winter-tire like directional patterns and an all-weather compound with 3-peak mountain snowflake badges.

Digging into the details, though, the Turanza All Season 6 typically takes the lead in most winter conditions, except in two key areas: snow braking and acceleration, (where the Goodyear Vector 4Seasons has a slight upper hand).

The Bridgestone AS6 basically provides superior overall handling performance. This is mainly because the tire offers a more snow-oriented rubber with a composition that is more finely tuned for thermal adaptation, giving it a significant advantage in colder temperatures.

On the other side, the Vector 4Seasons provides superior traction with its slanted longitudinal voids, which act like in-groove notches, which are particularly adept at grabbing and holding onto snow particles.

Why snow holding is important? Well this ability enhances the tire’s directional grip, as snow tends to stick better to itself than rubber, (improving braking and acceleration as a result).

So What’s the Verdict?

Well overall, the choice between these two tires comes down to your personal preference, as both have their unique selling points.

The Turanza outperforms in dry braking and directional grip, while the Vector 4Seasons leads in handling, wet traction, and hydroplaning resistance, due to its superior sipe design and groove structure.

Though the opposite happens in winter conditions, where while the Goodyear tire leads in terms of traction and braking, the AS6 provides superior overall handling.

Other than this the Bridgestone tire takes the lead in terms of fuel economy, while Vector 4Seasons provides greater tread longevity.

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