Consumer Reports Tire ratings comments
 

I have 245/40ZR18s Toyo Proxes 4 on my 04 TL.

I just saw the Nov 07 consumer reports.

It says the Proxes 4 were rated at 57 points and had Poor ratings on Noise and Snow traction.

It says the Falken Ziex ZE-912 and Nitto Neo Gen ZR were the best with 85 points.


Do my Proxes 4 really suck that bad?

Continental ContiExtremeContact did pretty good too.

What gives?


The testing was done with 225/40ZR18s

CR rated the Falken Ziex 512 as the best when they came out a few years back and all I can say as they were about the worst tires I ever put on any of my cars.

I would not put to much stock in CR's tests. You are better off listening to the folks at Tire Rack and the reviews Road and Track publishes.

Check these surveys on tirerack out:

one

two

The 512's were up there a few years ago, but we all know things change with new models coming out all the time. In the most recent CR tire reviews, the 512's have a black circle for tread life which I can attest to having never gotten more than about 25,000 miles out of them. As they do those ratings only once every year or 2, there's plenty of tires that don't get tested by them. I'd go with tirerack's reviews including those posted by tire owners.

Here's The Consumer Reports Ratings
 

The 512's were up there a few years ago, but we all know things change with new models coming out all the time. In the most recent CR tire reviews, the 512's have a black circle for tread life which I can attest to having never gotten more than about 25,000 miles out of them. As you can see, same now goes for the 912's as well. As they do those ratings only once every year or 2, there's plenty of tires that don't get tested by them. I'd go with tirerack's reviews including those posted by tire owners.


http://mysite.verizon.net/dmz/sitebu...atings1107.jpg

hmm...oddly enough, i didnt see BF Goodrich G-Force Sports on the list at all, according to Tirerack.com, they have great ratings, these just may be my next, 'pair of shoes.' great info, Thanks!

This car is the toughest to buy cars for of all the cars I've owned. There is no consensus, just contradictions. Every time I think I've got the right info, another seemingly credible source contradicts it. I've heard the sumitomos are great but bad on snow and ice, yet CR rates them good. I heard the Proxes were better but now CR contradicts this. Conti Extemes seem darn good for traction and tread life accrding to CR ratings. Yet no dealer has recomended them. Does anyone know a credible reason they wouldn't be good pick for the TL?

The list is for all season high performance which BF Goodrich G-Force Sports are not. They're for use in non-winter conditions only.

To hell with that watered down CR...TireRack is the shit baby! :thumbsup:

CR is BS...read some of the articles by Michael Karesh of TrueDelta.

What is true delta? What is the problem with CR? I am sure you did not complain over its stellar reviews of the TL. I bet their research over the listed tires is far more comprehensive and objective than tire rack reviews.

http://www.truedelta.com/

Personally, I didn't look at CR when I bought the TL...the older I got the less I thought they provided enough information on cars. As for the tire tests, I would rather listen to hundreds/thousands of actual users who are more likely to use them in a manner similar to me than a group that does a handful of tests and attempts to make an absolute determination based on them. If anything, people should use CR in addition to reviews from places like Tire Rack, 1010Tires, etc., as well as write ups from magazines/websites. Even if I was buying a washer and dryer, I wouldn't consider CR the end-all-be-all on the subject...just another source of information, no better than any other.

good point--look at all available resources. But you have to admit that the top tire ratings for the TL according to the Tire rack is similiar to CR's ratings--Generals, Conti and Avon.

As for true delta, I used to read the guys reviews on epinion. While they do contain some good nuggets I never really considered it substantive--more like so guy and sometimes his father who would go out and test drive a car for 30 minutes. By the way the guy also reviews cameras and other electronic goods.

CR has their own track; they buy the cars and drive them for 6-12 months; their reviews are short but are accurate.

nothing on BFGOODRICH tires