Posted by Jonathan E. Schneeweis on July 21, 1998 at 13:40:45:
I don't want to start a flame war, but it seems to me that for all of us who are interested in the finer details of "everyday, sub $100/each tires" we should get together and put some pressure on the Tire Rack and Consumer Reports to actually test some REAL tires. I mean come on, I'm tired of sorting through 80 million posts and reading test reviews of products like Pirelli's P-Zero Asymetrico and the Michelin Super-Whatever Pilot series. These tires won't even fit on any of my cars and frequently cost over $150 each. I for one, really like the TireRack as a vendor, but their testing and that of Consumer Reports are supposed to provide a service as many segments of their customer market as is financially and logistically possible. I am not anti-highperformance tires, but I would like to see some objective tire testing results for the common man. Can you imagine it? What would happen if these "highly skilled, experienced" evaluators actually reviewed many of the tires in the "middle-class" price market? We would finally have some data to back up our anecdotal reviews and opinions. Perhaps this is what tire manufacturers are afraid of? I am not talking about reviewing the 4 tires for $100 from Pep-Boys, but products like the Michelin Rainforce MX4, the Bridgestone RE series, the Goodyear Aquatread II, etc. There over fifteen brands and hundreds of models in the $40-100/tire range, obviously a large segment of the market, and know way to know if one is really any better than another. Shall we continue to guess by Brand Name, and the "coolness" of the tread pattern?
Sincerely,
Jonathan E. Schneeweis