Out of both tires here, the Yokohama Geolandar CV G058 stands out as a robust SUV/CUV touring option, offering enhanced traction and durability for larger vehicles. Whereas, the Goodyear Assurance MaxLife, being a standard touring tire, prioritizes longevity and efficiency.
Table of Contents
Key Points
So overall, it all comes down to this. The Goodyear Assurance MaxLife excels in:
- Superior linear grip and shorter braking distances in dry conditions.
- Enhanced overall handling, attributed to expertly engineered shoulders.
- Quieter ride with reduced road noise, thanks to densely packed tread design.
- Extended tread longevity and improved fuel efficiency.
Review MaxLife in greater details: https://tiredriver.com/goodyear-assurance-maxlife-review/
Whereas the Yokohama Geolandar CV G058 takes the upper hand, in terms of:
- Better aquaplaning resistance and wet traction.
- Superior performance in light snowy conditions.
- Enhanced road smoothness, owing to its softer rubber compound and deeper tread depth.
Review CV G058 in greater details: https://tiredriver.com/yokohama-geolander-cv-g058-review/
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.
For Your Info: Maxlife is rated as a great all rounder pick in my list of top standard touring all-season tires.
The Yokohama Geolandar CV G058 comes in 16 to 20 inches rims. They all have the following specs.
- Speed ratings: H and V.
- Load ratings: SL and XL.
- Tread depth: 11/32″ on all.
- Weight range: 22 to 35 lbs.
- Treadwear warranty: 65k miles.
- UTQG rating: 740 A A.
Tread Longevity
When assessing the longevity of a tire, three critical factors come into play:
- Tread Depth: How deep is the tire tread?
- Compound Composition: What is the makeup of the tire’s rubber?
- Overall Construction Weight: How does the weight impact the tire’s performance?
Now considering all of these aspects, it makes sense why the Goodyear Assurance MaxLife takes the lead here, which is not a surprise, given its name, and 85k miles treadwear warranty.
Being a standard touring all-season tire, the Maxlife offers a stiffer rubber formula, which provides decent wear resistance, particularly at high temperatures.
Additionally, the tire also features a more solid foundational supports underneath all its lugs. (All tread blocks basically sit on a relatively stiffer, secondary rubber layer).
And yes, it also benefits from a greater “average” tread depth, prolonging the time it takes to wear down to the 2/32″ replacement threshold (the legal minimum tread depth in the U.S.).
Interesting Read: How To Improve Tread Life?
Winter Performance
When assessing the winter performance of all-season tires, three key criteria are considered:
- Tire acceleration.
- Handling, with a focus on steering responsiveness.
- Adaptability across soft snow and icy conditions.
Now both tires here don’t come with 3-peak mountain snowflake ratings, so you can’t expect them to perform super great like all-weather tires. Though out of them, the Geolandar CV G058 has the lead, especially when it comes to light snowy terrains.
The Yokohama’s slanted voids between the lugs efficiently eject snow backwards, pulling it forward, enhancing acceleration.
Additionally, its design helps retain snow particles, promoting snow-on-snow traction, which is crucial on softer snowy surfaces since snow adheres better to itself than to rubber.
And yes one more thing. The tire maintains flexibility in colder temperatures better, where its softer rubber keep its biters from freezing up too quickly, allowing for a decent performance on a little bit of ice as well.
I talked about it more here: https://tiredriver.com/improve-snow-performance-from-all-season-tires/
Dry Performance
So, we’re looking at dry performance, right? It really comes down to three key areas: the grip you get on dry roads, how the car handles, and the steering response. Let’s dive into each one, separately.
Directional Grip
The term “linear grip”, simply put, refers to a tire’s traction on the road while traveling in a straight line, a common scenario, seen on highways.
Now, since this grip primarily gauges the tire’s braking capability, my tests tell me that the Goodyear Assurance MaxLife takes the lead here (on almost all compared sizes).
On average it takes 5 feet shorter to stop, when both tires are braked from 60 mph.
This superior performance stems from several factors:
- Its minimal tread design enhances the rubber’s contact with the road, providing a larger contact area and, consequently, increased grip.
- The tire features robust foundational support under all its ribs, enhancing its stability and on-center feel.
- Its lighter construction reduces momentum (inertia), making it easier to halt.
These elements collectively contribute to the MaxLife’s exceptional braking and overall performance.
Overall Handling
Handling is a critical aspect of a tire’s performance, encompassing lateral grip and steering response.
And here, the Goodyear Maxlife outshines its competitor, with superior handling, largely attributed to its expertly engineered shoulders.
These shoulders, as primary points of contact with the road, facilitate an exceptional rubber-to-road interaction. Their streamlined tread design enhances lateral traction, contributing to the tire’s agile handling.
Conversely, the Yokohama Geolandar CV G058 takes the back seat here. Although the tire offers pretty much similar lateral grip (as seen by g forces test), it still lags behind by almost a whole second, behind Maxlife, in average lap handling times during tests.
This discrepancy is primarily due to the tire’s heavier build and softer rubber composition.
While these characteristics might favor performance in snowy conditions, they cause the tire’s lugs to flex, adversely affecting “dry” handling.
This flexion basically delays the lugs’ return to their original shape, incrementally adding to the “time” it takes for wheels to respond, once given with steering input, (affecting overall handling times).
Overall Ride Comfort
When you’re talking about a smooth ride, it’s all about the noise from the tread and the tire’s ability to smooth out those rough spots on the road. Let’s start with noise.
Noise Comfort
Noise comfort highly depends on the tread design of the tire. This is because as the tire rolls, it pumps air in and out of the tire. Meaning, if the tire is balder/more voided up, it would be louder.
Among the two, the Goodyear Maxlife stands out as the quieter option, adeptly managing road noise.
Its design features densely packed, nearly continuous shoulder ribs, inherently reducing noise generation.
Additionally, it employs a refined blend of rubber compounds and leverages advanced variable pitch technology.
The rubber composition basically dampens echo, minimizing in-groove resonance, while the variable pitch design disrupts airflow contact points. This results in a spectrum of sound frequencies that are less likely to harmonize, further reducing perceived noise.
On the flip side, the Yokohama Geolandar CV G058, with its more open design, permits greater air circulation, inadvertently increasing noise levels.
Road Smoothness
The ability to dampen road vibrations hinges on a tire’s capacity to function as a secondary suspension system and provide a consistent, stable ride. And its dependent on the tire’s overall (inner and outer) construction.
Now here, the Yokohama Geolandar CV G058 offers better results.
This is because the tire is characterized by a relatively softer rubber compound and a deeper tread depth. Both of these aspects enables it to more effectively absorb and dissipate vibrations before they permeate the vehicle’s cabin.
Though if you’re looking for stability, the Goodyear Maxlife is your guy here.
Sure the tire reaches out its flexibility limit sooner, in comparison here, but it just feels more connected with the road, allowing for appreciable road smoothness as well.
Wet Performance
So, wet performance is basically how good the tire is at getting rid of water under it, which really matters for staying grippy and avoiding hydroplaning. Let’s see how each of these guys did in both these departments.
Aquaplaning Resistance
The capacity to resist hydro or aquaplaning is the tire’s most crucial role in ensuring sustained wet performance.
This characteristic refers to the tire’s proficiency in expelling water through its primary grooves, and is quantified by “float speeds”.
How do I measure it: Well, I basically see how fast a tire rolls over a few mm deep water covered surface, where I use sensors which tell me the exact time (in speed), the tire loses contact with the ground, indicating “maximum” float speed.
Now, in this comparison, both tires perform admirably, indicated by their respectable aquaplaning speeds in both curved and straight paths. Yet, overall, the Yokohama still takes the lead by a notable margin.
This superiority stems from its interconnected circumferential grooves, coupled with a deeper tread depth, enabling it to displace water more efficiently.
Wet Traction
Now wet traction is primarily dependent on sipes (especially in case of all-season tires). Let me explain.
Now, sure, grooves expel “most of the water”, but they still miss out some, and that’s where sipes come in.
These siping slits basically soak up the residual moisture, flexing to create a vacuum that draws in water molecules, so rubber could meet with the (relatively dried up) roads properly.
Now, here the Goodyear Assurance MaxLife can’t keep up with the Yokohama. And its not a surprise, since its a standard touring all-season tire. (See all types of all-season tires here).
The SUV touring Geolandar CV G058, basically offers a more sophisticated full-depth siping and a softer tread compound, ensuring a better and consistent performance.
Whereas the Goodyear tire exhibits noticeable slippage, primarily due to “less effective” siping. I mean sure it’s got plenty of slits, but they tend to stiffen up, particularly on sharp corners, reducing adherence with the road.
Additionally, the tire’s unbroken central rib (for the most part) disrupts the interconnection of circumferential grooves, hindering water expulsion in the first place, so there’s more water burden on sipes to begin with.
Fuel Efficiency
Fuel efficiency is significantly influenced by rolling resistance. And here the Goodyear Assurance MaxLife has the upper hand.
This is because the tire comes with a relatively lighter construction, robust rubber compounds, and reinforced structure. This design not only enhances durability but also improves fuel efficiency by reducing rolling resistance.
Basically lighter weight puts less stress on the lugs, keeping lugs from bending too much as the tire maneuvers. And with lugs not deforming too much, they don’t waste energy in the form of heat and reshaping tread.
On the other hand, the Geolandar G058 with its softer rubber does the opposite, not able to conserve as much energy in comparison.
Summing It Up
In conclusion, both tires have their good and bad.
The MaxLife excels in dry conditions, showcasing superior linear grip and handling due to its minimal tread design, robust support, and lighter construction, leading to exceptional braking and overall dry performance.
Whereas in wet conditions, the Geolandar CV G058 edges out with better aquaplaning resistance and wet traction, thanks to its interconnected grooves and full-depth siping, which also allows it to excel on snowy terrains too.
For ride comfort, the MaxLife is quieter and provides a stable feel, while the Geolandar offers better road smoothness due to its softer composition.
And in terms of tread longevity and fuel efficiency, the MaxLife’s design contributes to its extended lifespan and reduced rolling resistance.
