Nexen N5000 Platinum vs Goodyear Assurance MaxLife

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Both the Nexen N5000 Platinum and the Goodyear Assurance MaxLife are standard touring all-season tires, each offering unique advantages in dry and wet conditions, promising a blend of performance, comfort, and durability for everyday driving.

Maxlife on Sorento
Testing XL sizes of both tires on Kia Sorrento.

Bottom Line

So overall, the Nexen N5000 Platinum excels in:

  • Dry braking: Superior grip for shorter stopping distances.
  • Handling: Enhanced grip and faster lap times.
  • Noise comfort: Quieter ride at various speeds.
  • Winter traction: Respectable performance in snow.

On the other hand, the Goodyear Assurance MaxLife takes the lead in:

  • Wet performance: Superior traction and hydroplaning resistance.
  • Aquaplaning resistance: Effective water dispersion.
  • Ride comfort: Smoother over road inconsistencies.
  • Tread longevity: Extended life and better fuel economy.

Tread Design

The N5000 offers an asymmetric tread pattern, characterized by a common five-rib structure.

Nexen N5000 Platinum
Nexen N5000 Platinum could use some improvement in terms of its siping design.

Centrally, it showcases three linear columns that create four circumferential grooves, augmented by lateral siping and in-groove notches.

Although these elements are standard across the ribs, their varied angles and orientations enhance the tire’s grip.

Approaching the shoulders, there’s a noticeable asymmetry.

On one side (see tread image), it incorporates in-groove notches with offsets and lateral siping.

Conversely, the opposite shoulder (rib) exhibits longitudinal slits alongside similar lateral sipes, but lacks the offset in the lateral grooves.

Review this tire in greater details: https://tiredriver.com/nexen-n5000-platinum-review/

In comparison, the Assurance MaxLife features a symmetric tread with a somewhat more assertive design.

Goodyear Assurance MaxLife
Goodyear Assurance MaxLife offers a more biting tread.

This model also adopts the five-rib pattern.

The outermost shoulder ribs are distinguished by F-shaped siping and notches directed centrally, equipped with robust lateral grooves for enhanced grip during dynamic maneuvers on dry roads.

Centrally, the primary rib is designed with fewer biting edges but includes notches extending in both lateral directions.

Though they not as pronounced as those on the adjacent ribs, which also possess thicker siping.

Internally, although the tire has the same structure as of Nexen, it still weighs a little more.

Both tires have a single-ply polyester casing and a single-ply nylon cap, reinforced by two steel belts nestled between them for increased durability.

Review this tire in greater details: https://tiredriver.com/goodyear-assurance-maxlife-review/

Specs of Sizes

SpecificationGoodyear MaxLifeNexen N5000
Wheel Size15 to 20″16 to 20″
Speed RatingsH and VH, V, and W
Load RatingsSL and XLSL and XL
Tread Depth Range11 to 12/32″9.5 to 10/32″
Weight Range20 to 36 lbs18 to 32 lbs
Treadwear Warranty85k miles70k miles for H and V
55k for W
UTQG Rating820 A B700 AA

Wet Performance

When we talk about wet performance, it’s all about how well a tire can move water out of its way. And the better it does, the better is the overall traction and resistance to hydroplaning, the two main factors here.

Let’s take a look at them both.

Wet Traction

When it comes to wet conditions, the Nexen 5000 encounters some difficulties, even though it does pretty great on dry roads.

Its tendency to slip, particularly during control recovery, stems mainly from its relatively rigid rubber composition.

This stiffness impedes the flexibility of the sipes, which are essential for creating suction with water particles.

Without adequate flexibility, the tire’s wet traction is compromised.

Consequently, the Nexen Platinum falls short of its competitor, lagging by 1.4 seconds in wet handling lap times and by over 8 feet in wet braking tests on average.

In contrast, the Maxlife stands out due to its superior performance, attributed to its full-depth, multi-directional sipes and a more pliable tread composition. This blend not only improves traction but also offers enhanced resistance to hydroplaning, setting a new standard in wet condition performance.

Aquaplaning Resistance

Hydroplaning occurs when a tire can’t displace water quickly enough, causing it to lose contact with the road and effectively “float” on the water’s surface. To counteract this, tires are designed with wide grooves that help channel water away efficiently.

This explains the superior performance of the Goodyear tire, where its design includes a more open structure with laterally connected circumferential grooves that are inherently wider, enhancing its ability to disperse water more quickly.

And with this effective water displacement, the Assurance Maxlife not only offers better aquaplaning performance, but also improves its overall wet traction, reducing the (water) burden on sipes, (as more of it goes out through grooves in the first place).

Conversely, the Nexen N5000 Platinum, with its continuous running ribs and densely packed shoulders, struggles to match the float speeds of its counterpart. It’s design basically limits the lateral flow of water. And yes, its relatively shallower tread depth isn’t helping it either.

Ride Comfort

Driving comfort really comes down to two things: noise reduction, and impact comfort performance. Let’s take a look at both separately.

Noise Comfort

Now, the Nexen N5000 Platinum is notably quieter compared to its counterparts.

During my evaluation, I noticed that at lower speeds, there’s only a faint white noise that transitions into a more general hum as you reach highway speeds, merging seamlessly with the surrounding environmental sounds.

Whereas, the Goodyear MaxLife tire tends to be louder, emitting a distinct two-tone noise primarily due to its tread design.

Its more open tread allows for increased air circulation, which, when it interacts with the tread blocks, generates more noise.

But why more voided up tires get to be louder? Well this is because air movement is one of the primary contributors to tire noise, often entering through the tire’s shoulders.

And with more open shoulders, the Assurance tire isn’t able to provide as quieter of a ride, showcasing 1 dB greater reading on scale on average.

Plus, the tire isn’t able to offer good enough pitch sequencing in comparison too. I talked about it more detail here.

Impact Comfort

Ride comfort is largely influenced by a tire’s ability to absorb road irregularities. And here, the quality of a tire’s materials, composition, and construction plays a crucial role in this aspect.

Now, according to my subjective tests with these boys here, the Goodyear Assurance MaxLife achieves higher overall comfort ratings.

This is because it aligns with many luxury-oriented all-season tires and particularly excels in smoothing out minor road inconsistencies. Though this goes for other tires in its standard touring category. See all types of all-season categories here.

I mean comparing to grand touring tires, although it may not be as adaptable to larger bumps as some might prefer, it still outperforms the Nexen N5000 Platinum overall.

The primary drawback of the Nexen’s tire is its stiffer rubber and nylon cap ply, coupled with a lesser tread depth. This results in a reduced cushion between the vehicle and road bumps, impacting the overall ride comfort.

Dry Performance

For dry performance, you’ve got three big players: dry grip, handling, and steering response. Let’s break it down and tackle each one separately.

Directional Grip

Overall, the Nexen N5000 Platinum excels in dry braking due to its superior directional grip, achieving stopping distances that was 1 foot shorter on average (on my conducted tests).

This performance basically stems from its five “less-broken up” ribs, comprising two shoulder columns and three central ones, ensuring a more consistent rubber-to-road contact, comparatively.

In contrast, while the Assurance MaxLife benefits from numerous biting edges aiding in traction, this design also reduces the amount of rubber available for road contact.

And this coupled with the Goodyear’s heavier build, the tire generating greater inertia takes longer to stop, compromising its longitudinal traction.

Lateral Grip and Handling

A tire’s cornering grip is largely influenced by its shoulders (tread edges). This is because as a tire turns, the weight it carries shifts towards there, increasing ground contact at these points and thereby improving lateral grip and steering responsiveness.

Now, although both boys here demonstrate competent cornering abilities, the overall performance is still slightly better on Nexen tire (as seen by its relatively faster handling lap times on tests).

While both tires feature continuous-running shoulder ribs, those on the N5000 Platinum display a more minimalistic design, resulting in fewer tread features and consequently more direct shoulder-to-road contact, enhancing grip.

Though the major reason why Assurance MaxLife lacks here is due to its slower steering response.

This is because of the tire’s heavier construction and increased inertia, which leads to greater bending of the lugs.

This deformity of the lugs, take time to return to their original shapes, and that “time” is actually the delay you get between steering inputs and outputs.

Don’t miss out: For top-notch all-season tire advice, your first stop should be my main page. Check it out before making your decision: https://tiredriver.com/all-season-tires/

Winter Traction

Both tires offer respectable winter traction, yet neither has secured the 3-Peak Mountain Snowflake (3PMSF) certification, which signifies a tire’s capability for severe snow service.

Though its a common thing when it comes to standard touring tires like these over here.

This 3PMSF certification typically indicates that a tire can deliver approximately 10% better acceleration over standard all-season tires lacking this designation.

So sure, although these tires aren’t going to give you a all-weather tire like performance, at least the Goodyear Assurance MaxLife comparatively provides better traction here.

This is attributed to its more diverse and effective array of biting edges, including in-groove notches and substantial siping slits, with the shoulder sipes adopting an “F” shape.

These features enhance snow-to-snow contact, which is inherently more effective due to snow’s ability to bond better with itself than with rubber.

As a result, the Goodyear tire offers improved handling, braking, and acceleration in snowy environments.

Tread Longevity

In terms of tread life, the Goodyear “MaxLife” is a better pick here, which you may have already guessed from its name.

This is primarily attributed to three factors: tread depth, compound composition, and overall construction weight.

How these aspects matter?

Well, consider this. The Goodyear’s relatively greater tread depth takes longer to reach the wear threshold, providing a more extended lifespan.

And even though the Maxlife’s construction is relatively heavier, its rubber is less stickier. So although the tire doesn’t offer as much grip (lacking in overall dry performance), this is where it pays off. Meaning, with lower rolling friction, it not only offers greater tread longevity, but also fuel economy.

Leave With This

Overall, while both tires have their merits, Maxlife does leads in majority of performance areas.

The tire offers better wet traction, and resistance to hydroplaning. Moreover, although being a standard touring, it isn’t super great on ice and snowy terrains, it still offers slightly better results in comparison to Nexen.

But yes, it lacks in terms of dry performance, where the Nexen N5000 Platinum excels, particularly in dry braking with superior directional grip and consistent rubber-to-road contact.

Moreover, it also provides better noise comfort, and just as great of a fuel economy.

Though in terms of tread longevity, the Assurance has the upper hand.

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