Updated Sep. 17, 2024
What's in a name? If it's embossed on the sidewall of a tire, a lot. The best tire brands work hard to preserve their decades-long reputations.
Our editors and experts handpick every product we feature. We may earn a commission from your purchases.Learn more.
The ride, handling and safety of your vehicle depend greatly upon the tires it rides on. Poor-quality tires may prevent you from maneuvering your vehicle out of trouble or braking in time to avoid an accident, and a tire failure at the wrong moment can cause an accident on its own. This is why it’s important to properly inflate, maintain and rotate the tires you have.
But how can you be sure you’re riding on the best tires to begin with? According to retired Bridgestone engineer Mike Filipek, the best tire brands have two things in common.
Currently, 15 big-name brands of tires sell in the United States. You’d probably recognize these names from the tires that came with your car when you bought it, or from racing or advertising. According to Filipek, tires from any of those brands are likely to be as well-made as the others. Which of those are the best tire brands? We identified five pioneers in the industry that, coincidentally, came from five different countries.
Pros:
Cons:
Arguably the world’s most experienced tiremaker, Michelin began in 1889 when two brothers in France created the world’s first removable pneumatic tire—one that did not have to be glued to a wheel rim. The company has prioritized invention and innovation ever since, with the first run-flat tire produced in 1934 and the first steel-belted radial tire in 1946.
In the 1960s, Michelin began offering industry-beating treadwear warranties, and in the 1990s, pioneered low-rolling-resistance tires designed to reduce fuel consumption and lower tailpipe emissions. These advances helped establish Michelin as one of the world’s best tire brands.
Today, Michelin makes tires for passenger cars, trucks and SUVs, motorcycles and bicycles, trucks and trailers, mining, construction and farming equipment, mass transit and airplanes.
Michelin is the first tire company to earn more than 100 J.D. Power Customer Satisfaction Awards. One of its most popular passenger car tires is the Michelin Primacy MXV4 all-season radial. Designed for luxury performance touring cars, the Primacy MXV4 offers low noise levels, high traction, and a 55,000-mile treadwear warranty in addition to a six-year standard limited warranty.
And, yes, in case you were wondering: Michelin is the same company behind the coveted Michelin-star rating system for restaurants. Michelin created the system in the 1920s to tell drivers whether a restaurant was worth driving to (thereby putting wear on their tires) or not. The system has evolved over time, but one star means “worth a stop,” two stars means “worth a detour,” and three stars means “worth a special trip.”
Pros:
Cons:
Goodyear has nearly as long a history as Michelin. In 1898, the Goodyear Tire and Rubber Company was founded in the United States and named in honor of Charles Goodyear, who invented the process known as vulcanization. This process strengthened the rubber used for tires.
Goodyear invented the first tubeless automobile tire in 1903, as well as the first pneumatic airplane tire in 1909. The company also introduced the first synthetic rubber tire in 1937. For more than 25 years, Goodyear has been the only brand of tire used in NASCAR racing and is the most successful tire brand in Formula One racing history.
Goodyear is the top-selling tire brand in the United States according to 2023 data. One of its most popular passenger car tires is the Goodyear Eagle Touring Radial. An all-season performance tire, the Eagle Touring has a tread pattern that ejects water from its contact patch, improving wet traction and handling. It comes with a 50,000-mile treadwear warranty and a six-year standard limited warranty.
Pros:
Cons:
Founded in Germany, Continental started making rubber in 1871 but didn’t begin making its own tires until 1898. As with Michelin and Goodyear, innovation was a big part of its early history. Continental was the first brand to produce a specific winter tire in 1934, as well as the first winter tire with spikes in the early 1950s.
Today, Continental makes tires for cars, trucks, heavy equipment, motorcycles and bicycles. It is the exclusive provider of tires for bicycles and support vehicles in the Tour de France.
One of its most popular passenger vehicle tires is the ProContact TX All-Season radial. It features ContiSeal, a proprietary self-sealing compound on the inner lining of the tread area. Though it’s not a dedicated snow tire, the ProContact TX offers excellent traction in light snow, plus enhanced braking and handling on wet pavement. It features a 65,000-mile treadwear warranty.
Pros:
Cons:
Another pioneer of the tire industry, Pirelli was founded in Italy in 1872 and made rubber components for undersea telegraph cables. In 1901, the company began making tires and opened additional manufacturing plants in Spain, England and Argentina. Pirelli embraced motorsport early on. The winner of the first Grand Prix of the Automobile Club of France in 1907 rode on Pirelli tires. In the 1980s, Pirelli claims it invented and introduced the first radial tire for motorcycles.
While today Pirelli makes tires for all types of cars, SUVs and trucks, its sporting heritage is still strongly associated with the brand. One of its most popular tires is the P Zero All Season Performance Tire. With a speed rating of V (up to 149 miles per hour), the P Zero All Season Performance has unique siping (cuts across the surface) to maximize control and cornering in the wet. This reduces the risk of hydroplaning. The tread elements are designed to have a specific frequency that reduces tire noise inside the vehicle. It features a 50,000-mile treadwear warranty.
Pros:
Cons:
Bridgestone made its first tire in 1930 in Japan and chose to remain independent (its competitor Yokohama began as a partnership with the American B.F. Goodrich Tire Company).
Its progress was interrupted when its Tokyo headquarters were destroyed in a bombing raid in World War II. Rebuilding the company included a new focus on research and development. Innovations included Japan’s first rayon cord tires (1951) and nylon cord tires (1959). It established its own advanced tech center in the early 1960s and has since invested heavily in advanced production and testing techniques.
It is now one of the largest manufacturer of tires in the world, making tires in 24 countries at more than 180 factories.
Bridgestone makes tires for all types of cars, SUVs and trucks, but its Desert Dueler line is very popular among SUV owners and off-road enthusiasts. The Bridgestone Dueler Alenza Highway Terrain is aimed at SUVs, crossovers and minivans. It offers low noise, a smooth ride and improved traction in wet weather. It features a 65,000-mile treadwear warranty.
Tire buyers have a lot of choices, with dozens of brands competing for business. Selecting the best tire brands and weeding out the rest is the first step.
The good news is that there are a lot of choices among the best tire brands.
Mike Filipek was a field engineer for Bridgestone for 11 years of his 42-year career with the company. He retired in 2020 and says that the best tire brands are also big-name tire brands, and all have similar design goals and standards. Mike says that comes from “knowing they won’t survive” if they cut corners. “Customers will reject bad tires. Retailers recognize quality and don’t need the headaches associated with bad [or] perceived bad tires.
Filipek says if the name is one you immediately recognize, you’re on the right track. If you have to ask “who?” that’s a potential red flag.
Sticking with one of the well-known name-brand tire manufacturers also brings their decades of experience and expertise (in some cases, more than a century), as well as guidance from the manufacturer as to which of their tires are designed for specific applications. Filipek says: “Off-brands don’t always understand the applications and possible extremes of those applications. Just because it “fits” does not mean it’s the right tire for the intended usage.”
What type of driving you do is perhaps the most important thing to keep in mind when tire shopping. There are tires best for normal daily street use, speed-rated tires for performance vehicles, winter tires for driving in snow and dedicated off-road tires for various types of terrain. How well a tire will work for you begins with choosing the correct one for your vehicle and how you use it.
As an automotive journalist since 1997, I’ve driven roughly 100 cars a year, every year. That’s 2,700 cars, each with its own ride and handling characteristics, much of which comes down to which tire the manufacturer chose to equip its vehicles with. None of those manufacturers go with off-brand tires you’ve never heard of, and for a good reason. The right tire is a big factor in owner satisfaction.
Beyond that, I’ve been a driver and car owner since 1972—eight vehicles over 52 years, and each of them needed replacement tires, which gave me a chance to experiment and learn. I may have been the only person to put a set of Pirelli sport tires on a 1978 Toyota Corolla SR5 Liftback when the original tires needed replacing. Hey, it did improve the handling…a lot. But those clearly weren’t the correct choice for what, essentially, was an economy car.
On the recommendation of a friend in the automotive industry with an engineering background, I reached out to retired tire engineer Mike Filipek for the insights you find in this piece. Tires were Mike’s work and passion from the late 1970s until 2020. His advice—choose a well-known name brand and pick the right tire for the type of vehicle you own and driving you do. This is both simple and essential.
Armed with the expert advice that the 15 major tire brands all have essentially the same standards of quality, we looked for another way to differentiate and settled on experience (how long the brand has been making tires) and innovation (tire brands that substantially changed the way tires were made or pioneered new segments of automotive tires).
That focus is in no way meant to suggest that the other ten major brands* aren’t good, worthwhile choices, but the achievements and advancements made by Michelin, Goodyear, Continental, Pirelli and Bridgestone deserve recognition. The individual tires spotlighted within each brand were chosen for their sales volume and customer ratings.
(* BF Goodrich, Cooper, Dunlop, Falken, Firestone, General, Hankook, Kumho, Uniroyal and Yokohama)
Tier 1 tire brands could just as easily be called “Big 3” tire brands. They are Michelin, Goodyear and Bridgestone. That assessment is based mostly on the popularity and sales success of the brand, as well as its longevity and reputation. It’s not an assessment of quality as compared to Tier 2 brands, which are the other well-known brands. There is a drop in quality when you get to Tier 3 tires, which come from lesser-known names aimed at buyers who are more concerned with price than other factors.
Y-rated tires have been tested at speeds exceeding 186 miles per hour. Two other very high-speed ratings are W (168 mph) and Z (in excess of 149 mph). The remaining ten ratings cover a range from 75 mph to 149 mph, with the typical family sedan, SUV, or minivan tires usually rated S (112 mph) or T (118 mph). Each tire’s rating is shown on its sidewall.
Sources
Originally Published: September 16, 2024
