Goodyear Assurance MaxLife is a tire that aims to save your money in the long run. It lasts longer, ensuring a reliable performance throughout all seasons and offers pretty decent fuel economy. But what more does this tire offer? Well let’s find out!
Table of Contents
Tire Sizes
The Goodyear Assurance MaxLife comes in 15 to 20 inches wheels, and all of those sizes have following specs.
- Speed ratings: H and V.
- Load ratings: SL and XL.
- Tread depth range: 11 to 12/32″.
- Weight range: 20 to 36 lbs.
- Treadwear warranty: 85k miles.
- UTQG rating: 820 A B.
In Case You Missed: Before making any decisions, ensure you’ve seen the all-season tire breakdown I’ve crafted for you here.
Tread Design
The Assurance MaxLife offers a pretty straight forward symmetric tread structure, with a 5 rib design.
Starting from its shoulders, the lugs are placed on a (longitudinal) secondary rubber layer which provide all lugs with reinforced foundational supports.
So the lateral grooves these lugs have in between act as in-groove notches.
These notches are joined up by siping slits, and there are additional notches too, (these are facing the middle).
In the central area, there are 3 main ribs forming 4 circumferential channels.
All of these ribs are continuous running, so maximum rubber to road contact is achieved (which translates in to grip).
While the wide array of siping and notches offer wet and snow traction.
Find all the tires compared with Goodyear Assurance MaxLife.
Treadwear Performance
Let me start off by the tire’s tread life, since its the most pronounced and focused feature here.
Now the Goodyear Assurance MaxLife impresses in this area.
Thanks to the tire’s relatively lighter weight, the lugs undergo less pressure upon contact with the road, which in turn minimizes overall wear and tear.
Moreover, since all its lugs/ribs are continuous running and have secondary rubber layers underneath (which act as reinforced foundational supports), less heat gets generated (as lugs don’t get to flex a lot).
And since heat acts as a catalyst in the tread wearing/burning, it also helps this tire here.
Additionally, its harder rubber compound further enhances its durability. This reduces the susceptibility to quick wear, allowing the tire to confidently give out massive 85k miles warranty.
Dry Performance
When assessing the performance of a tire on dry roads, two primary elements come into focus: grip and handling.
Grip, often termed as directional grip tells about how a tire brakes and accelerates. Meanwhile, handling focuses on the tire’s capability to corner effectively and provide reliable steering feedback.
Let’s analyze them all.
Directional Grip
Directional grip is largely determined by the efficiency of rubber-to-road contact, particularly from the central region of the tire.
But why the center?
Well, this area bears the most weight pressure as the tire rolls in a straight line. And the Goodyear Assurance MaxLife excels remarkably in this regard.
The tire is equipped with streamlined, longitudinally-arranged ribs that enhance rubber-to-road contact and, consequently, friction.
If you consider its tread pattern again, you’d see how its central most rib is continuous running (so maximum rubber contact is made).
Moreover on top of that, all of these middle ribs are also equipped with lateral in-groove notches and a combination of linear siping (running in multiple directions).
Both of these offer this tire with pretty impressive braking abilities.
Dry Handling and Steering
Now before diving here, let me explain that the act of cornering in a vehicle can be roughly divided into three phases:
- Entry, which is the initial phase when the vehicle starts to turn into the corner (where you apply brakes, and probably shift down).
- Mid corner, where the car is right in the middle of the turn. And where steering feedback is really crucial.
- Exit, where the car starts to straighten out, and you apply throttle again.
Now the Goodyear Assurance gives out superior steering precision and effortless handling, where its heavier feel on steering allows you to have exact info about the tire’s mid-corner feedback. So the tire isn’t susceptible to either over or under-steering.
I mean don’t get me wrong there’s limited lateral traction there, but the tire tells you exactly how much of it is available.
This enhanced performance can be attributed to its robust shoulder lugs, peppered with numerous biters, and its reinforced sidewalls.
You see, when the tire corners, the weight on it shifts towards shoulders. In other words, shoulders/sidewalls get to connect more with the road as the tire turns.
Now the Assurance MaxLife’s prominent in-groove lateral notches, paired with deep longitudinal slits, deliver the needed traction here.
While the rigidity of its tread design limits lug flexing, ensuring a harmonious balance between understeer and oversteer, (so you get a very communicative handling feedback).
For Your Info: The Michelin Defender 2 (a direct competitor here), excels in dry traction overall, in comparison. Though its wet traction is lacking to Assurance.
Wet Grip And Handling
In wet conditions, the design of the tire’s siping and the makeup of the tread are paramount, as both of these offer clearing of water from underneath the tread.
Here, grooves do most of the “clearing”, sending water out in bulk through massive channels, while sipes come in to action for the rest of water particles.
These sipes basically throw air out of their slits (as the tire contact the ground and is met with pressure), creative suction, soaking up water particles (allowing rubber to grip).
Now the Goodyear Assurance MaxLife employ pretty great siping and groove designs, throwing water out with ease.
It’s shoulder lugs are equipped with both lateral and longitudinal siping slits, clearing water off in all directions.
Though its wet braking can still be improved, and it makes sense since its middle-most rib has the minimum amount of siping (where interlocking pattern is also missing).
Hydroplaning Resistance
Resistance to hydroplaning, also known as aquaplaning, measures a tire’s capability to expel water from its tread voids. This feature is critical for wet traction, as the more efficiently a tire can evacuate water, the less water will be left for the sipes to manage.
In the case of the Goodyear Assurance MaxLife, ridges located between the shoulder blocks restrict the effective lateral flow of water out of the tire.
And of course, the continuous running central 3 ribs don’t help that either.
So it makes sense why the tire only gets to offer great results but only when it comes to straight aqua testing, and not the curved.
Winter Traction
When gauging a tire’s efficacy in winter conditions, various important factors come into play, including grip, handling, and adaptability to different snowy surfaces.
And here a reliable tire should perform well across a broad spectrum of winter conditions.
Now here the Goodyear Assurance MaxLife offers a mixed bag of results, where it’s really lacking with the required lateral traction and steering feedback, but offers above average braking and acceleration.
(That’s why overall handling lap times aren’t coming at last either, compared others in the tire category, as its adequate braking capability fortunately permitted effective deceleration when approaching corners).
But still its overall steering feel is a bit exaggerated, where you end up with the under-steer. But hey, understeer is always better than over.
Ride Quality
The overall ride quality is 2 parts, noise generation, and bumps absorption. Let’s start with noise.
Noise
Now, noise is determined by a combination of factors including rolling resistance, groove resonance, and overall geometry (of the tread).
And here the Goodyear Assurance MaxLife does pretty well, thanks to its closed-up shoulder design, and new gen tread compound.
The tire’s closed-up lugs on the sides serve as a barrier to acoustic sound, effectively minimizing rolling noise. This is because as the tire rolls most of the air enters through here, and then hit the tread walls creating “tread noise”.
Moreover, the tire also offers a new gen tread compound which is pretty soaking of the overall unwanted sound waves, so minimal in-groove resonance is created.
In other words, less noise bounce off from the walls, and don’t get to amplify.
Vibrations Comfort
The comfort level offered by a tire is largely determined by its ability to absorb and negate road irregularities. This quality is influenced by factors such as the rubber composition and tread pattern of the tire.
The Goodyear Assurance MaxLife falls somewhat short in the comfort department, mainly because of its stiffer rubber composition.
Although it features a next-generation tread compound, its harder rubber is less effective at mitigating road vibrations and bumps.
Fuel Efficiency
The Goodyear Assurance MaxLife, as its name suggests, is primarily engineered for longevity. This is achieved through careful design innovations aimed at reducing rolling resistance, a crucial factor in tire lifespan.
But since fuel is also dependent on this friction, the tire also ends up giving above average miles per gallons.
Although its weight is comparable to other tires in its category, the utilization of stiffer rubber and reinforced foundations significantly reduces lug bending, further enhancing its efficiency.
Typically, bent lugs demand energy to regain their shape, and that energy is of coursed sourced from fuel.
Now the Assurance conserves this energy, and utilizes it in to the rolling of the tire instead, enhancing tire’s overall fuel economy.
Take Home Points
In essence, the Goodyear Assurance MaxLife is a balanced tire with distinguished longevity, substantial directional grip, and commendable fuel efficiency.
It offers superior steering precision and dry handling, crediting its robust shoulder lugs, though it exhibits a need for improvement in wet braking and has restrictions in the effective lateral flow of water, impacting hydroplaning resistance.
And although its winter performance is also pretty great, its lateral traction there could use a bump up.
Though the tire makes up for it in terms of tread life and fuel economy (where you get whopping 85k miles warranty, and above average MPGs).
