Aftermarket Tires

Bridgestone Americas has introduced the new Alenza Prestige tire, designed for CUVs, SUVs, and trucks. The tire features an updated tread pattern and Bridgestone’s ENLITEN Technology, and it comes with a limited mileage warranty of up to 70,000 miles.

For two years, I’ve had Firestone Firehawk Indy 500 summer tires installed on my own personal vehicle. The value-per-dollar proposition these tires offered intrigued me, as I am squarely in their demographic as an owner of an affordable sporty coupe.

TPMS is an essential safety feature in modern vehicles. Its purpose is to alert drivers when the air pressure in one (or more) of their tires drops significantly below the recommended level. Proper tire pressure is vital for vehicle safety, fuel efficiency, and tire longevity. When your TPMS light comes on, it's the car and the system’s way of telling you that something is amiss with your tires, or possibly the system itself.

Prompted by a call for ever-improving fuel efficiency, today’s tires are made to be more fuel efficient than ever — and many major tire manufacturers are evolving their product lines to include special fuel-saving, eco-friendly tire options that are designed to last longer and perform better while saving fuel and reducing emissions in the process.

You might want to drive all year long on winter tires to save money, time, or both, but you shouldn’t do it—here's why.

Maybe you got a flat tire that one time, or maybe you wondered if winter tires are really necessary (they are, depending on where you live). Often, though, with the exception of situations like these, many drivers forget about their tires until there’s an obvious issue.

Maybe you’ve been in this situation: stuck on the side of a road, a punctured tire needing to be changed out for the spare one in the trunk. You have a pair of options, do you choose to change the tire yourself, or do you call for roadside assistance. Both options can take a while to get you back on the road, especially if you’ve never changed a tire yourself before. And even if you have, sometimes it can take some serious elbow grease.

Being a car enthusiast on a budget can be tough. I know as I’ve firmly been a member of the limited funds for automotive fun camp since I got my license. But not having endless cash to throw at a weekend toy doesn’t mean it’s impossible to have fun.

Few tires, if any, are as iconic and instantly recognizable as the BFGoodrich All-Terrain line. The original T/A KO helped bring off-road capable tires to the mainstream, and the KO2 has not only carried the torch but furthered the popularity and mission of its predecessor. A new BFGoodrich All-Terrain offering is a big moment in the tire world, and the company has just announced the launch of its All-Terrain T/A KO3, which builds on the legendary toughness and updates the tire for the modern era of off-road and street use.

BFGoodrich’s All-Terrain T/A KO2 has been a dominant force in the all-terrain tire game since its launch. It carries the torch once lit by the original BFG A/T which helped develop the category and made its mark by becoming one of the most popular and easily recognizable choices in the off-road, truck, and SUV tire world. To see if the KO2 is worth the hype, BFG sent us a set to test on our ongoing Lexus GX460 daily-driver-meets-off-roader build.

The biggest difference between Michelin's most sustainable tire yet and its more conventional rubber is that there's no difference. That's the lesson I'm learning while braking hard into the notorious turn 11 at Sonoma Raceway in Northern California in the fastest track machine ever made: A rental Ford Explorer.

The BFGoodrich HD-Terrain T/A KT tire is designed to be a durable tire for towing/hauling not just on the road but in off-road conditions as well. Dual purpose commercial type tires like these have been around for years from various companies, Toyo, Firestone and Bridgestone to name a few. To see how the BFGoodrich HD-Terrain T/A KT tires stack up, I was sent a set for a full, extensive evaluation.

When it was time to replace the budget off-brand all-terrain tires on my 2008 Ford F-150, I decided to go with a set of BFGoodrich T/A KO2s. It’s a decision I should have made years ago, but I found a deal on a set of budget tires and regretted it as soon as I pulled out of the shop. They were squishy, loud and the shop had challenges balancing them.

The nature of owning and/or operating a vehicle comes with the inherent likelihood that at some point the amount of air in one’s tires will need to be adjusted. This can be up or down; certain weather and climates or circumstances may dictate the need to remove or add air. Luckily, this is a relatively easy process done with simple, inexpensive tools.

Not all tire tests are equal.

It's 10 pm instead of 10 am thanks to flight delays, I'm headed two hours out and seven thousand feet up into the San Bernadino Mountains, and the temperature display on the dashboard of this Ford Bronco Raptor is quickly dropping toward the low 30s. My tires are a set of big and chunky Xtreme All-terrains from a brand I've never heard of. Hit it? Or is this going to be a very hairy drive?

As the garage door rises from the floor revealing just how much snow has fallen overnight my first thought is how bad my back is going to feel after I finish shoveling. My second thought is if I’m about to regret my all-weather tires.

If you're planning on heading off-road, then it's time to upgrade the tires on your SUV or pickup.

The Importance of Reliable Rubber, From Race to Road

The Pirelli P Zero All Season Plus 3 UHP is the Italian tire company’s latest entrant in the Ultra High Performance all-season tire category.

The latest entry in Pirelli’s Scorpion line of crossover and SUV tires is the Pirelli Scorpion All Season Plus 3.

A Value Tire for the Budget Enthusiast

It’s that tine of year again, time for the Yokohama Tire spring seasonal annual rebate promotion. Staring on April 1 through April 30, consumers looking for a new set of tires can get up to $125 back from a Yokohama prepaid Mastercard when buying four or five select Yokohama tires.

The Toyo Celsius II all-season tire will supersede the Celsius and Celsius CUV tires. As you’d expect, the new tire is designed to provide good year-round service. It departs from the norm with a Three-Peak Mountain Snowflake (3PMSF) designation, which means it’s qualified for severe snow conditions. 

With the introduction of affordable mass-market models like the Ford Mustang Mach-E, the Chevrolet Bolt EUV, and the Hyundai Ioniq EV, electric vehicles have officially broken into the mainstream.

Over the past few years, our northern editors have tested tires from all the major brands, but it’s been quite a while since we ran a set of Michelin X-Ice snow tires (“X-Ice Snow” is the tire name). Industry-wide shortages meant Michelin wasn’t able to get them into our hands until mid-November, which is later than we like to put them on; but because of  a very mild fall in the East we didn’t have any early winter weather to contend with.

Earlier this year Sailun launched the latest evolution of the brand’s Ice Blazer line of tires. As it’s the first new winter tire from the manufacturer in quite some time, the new Sailun Ice Blazer WSTX is a big deal. It’s also the perfect opportunity for us at AutoGuide to perform another in-depth, winter-long tire test.

If you’re one of the lucky few who haven’t had a flat tire yet, you may not think you need one of the best tire repair kits. But it can happen at any time, whether you’re going to the mall or travelling across the country: You drive over a nail or screw that has fallen into the road, and it becomes embedded in your vehicle’s tire and causes it to go flat. Obviously, that is the kind of scenario for which your vehicle was probably equipped with a spare tire. However, most modern vehicles come with compact donut spare tires that can only be driven for a short distance, and to a maximum speed of 50 MPH.

It has been awhile since Sailun last introduced an all-new winter tire.

There’s no denying how important a good set of tires are for your vehicle. 

There are two things you should never cheap out on: mattresses, and tires. Or that’s how the conventional wisdom goes, anyway. The idea persists that if you’re not dropping money on tires from one of the big-name brands – Michelin, Pirelli, BFGoodrich, Continental, Goodyear, and the like – that you’ll pay a price in the form of subpar performance and compromised durability.

Crafting a good ultra-high performance tire is as much art as it is science. A manufacturer needs to ensure that the tire meets the typical customer’s minimum requirements with regard to wet and cold-weather handling, while hitting it with every trick in the book to guarantee awesome cornering grip, braking, and straight-line acceleration. To top it all off, they have to look around at what other manufacturers are offering and try to edge out the competition with better performance or value – preferably both.

There’s no shortage of great, high-performing all-terrain tires on the market today. Just about every major tire manufacturer offers at least one all-terrain tire model, and over the past few years, as American vehicle manufacturers have looked at the performance off-road vehicle segment with growing interest, the competition has grown more stiff than ever before.

The proliferation of hybrid and electric vehicles has made energy-efficient tires an increasingly important market segment, and tire giant Pirelli has followed that trend with their Elect designation for EV tires. Vehicle manufacturers’ approvals of the line doubled last year; Pirelli says they’ve racked up more than 250 homologations since the Elect designation debuted in 2019. The tire is now available for many aftermarket applications.

As ubiquitous as they are, it can be hard to find a truly good all-season tire. They are, by definition, a compromise, sacrificing some amount of fair-weather performance in exchange for usability in cold, slushy winter conditions. Here’s the thing: few manufacturers manage to get the balance quite right, leaving you with a tire that performs rather poorly no matter what the season.

If you own a high-performance car or are performing upgrades to your vehicle, you may want to look at getting some ultra high performance tires.

Yokohama Tires has updated its performance-oriented ADVAN line. The new ADVAN Neova AD09 will supplant the Neova AD08 and, according to the manufacturer, offers superior track and street performance. Buyers will have up to 51 sizes to choose from.

Akron, Ohio, is in a very real way the home of tire manufacturing in North America, going back to B. F. Goodrich in 1870. Make that the former home, as by the 21st Century, a city that had once been defined by rubber manufacturing was now more famous for abandoned factories and crumbling infrastructure. 

Bridgestone announced their new WeatherPeak touring tire on Jun 14, 2022. This tire is the first all-season tire in the company’s history to earn Three-Peak Mountain Snowflake certification (3PMSF). Tires that carry the 3PMSF designation offer better traction in snow than traditional all-season tires.

Tires are the most important part of any vehicle. They are the only surface that makes contact with the road. 

Editor’s Note: Sailun arranged for Mike Schlee to test out the Sailun TerraMax HLT tire by flying him to Homestead Miami Speedway. Mike was not directly compensated for his review.

Editor’s Note: Sailun arranged for Mike Schlee to test out the Sailun Inspire All-Season tire by flying him to Homestead Miami Speedway. Mike was not directly compensated for his review.

Flat tires and blowouts are almost inevitable; a situation that could prove disastrous— 612 people were killed in tire-related accidents in 2019 alone. What’s more, a survey indicates that up to 60% of motorists would have difficulty changing a tire, making that eventuality all the more onerous.

*Final Update Posted May 4th, 2022*

All new vehicles come equipped with pressure monitoring systems (TPMS), and many have run-flat tires, so you might not think having one of the best portable tire inflators is a necessity. But that’s not the case, because all tires lose air over time, even if you don’t have a puncture. And knowing a tire is low doesn’t mean you can ignore it. Owning your own tire inflator means you can conveniently and routinely check your tire pressure, making sure they’re in an optimal range, and easily refill them when the light gives you a warning. Underinflated or overinflated tires have many adverse effects on your driving experience, hurting your fuel economy, tire wear, and even safety. Purchasing a tire inflator is a small investment in helping make sure your tires last as long as possible, saving you money in the long run.

Editor’s Note: AutoGuide arranged for Colum Wood to test out the Hankook Kinergy 4S2 four season tire over several months. Colum was not directly compensated for his review.

The tire industry is historically incredibly dirty. From the damage that natural rubber plantations have caused, to the toxic toxic emissions from factories, to the incalculable quantity of microplastics and other pollutants that end up in watersources, to the intractable problem of recycling and disposing of used tires, the tire industry has enormous incentive—and pressure—to modernize, decarbonize, and reduce their overall environmental footprint voluntarily, while they still can. 

Toyo Tires are arguably some of the the best tires on the market. For those who are passionate about the great outdoors and venturing off the beaten path, these tires will get you there and back, regardless of terrain and weather.

With sizes ranging from a mild 32” LT Metric to a wild 37” tall Flotation for wheels ranging from 16” – 22”, the Atturo Trail Blade M/T is a performance tire for your truck, Jeep, or SUV that’s built for off-road duty. Proven through Atturo’s motorsports efforts, the Trail Blade M/T is an affordable replacement tire, delivering superior performance, be it for daily driving or fun in the mud.

Good Tires are One of the Most Important Parts of Your Car

Sailun’s Terramax A/T has always been a shockingly good performer from a relatively unknown brand. Now, there’s a new winter-rated version of the Terramax A/T that’s putting the whole industry on notice.

A good set of winter tires engineered to provide dependable, solid performance no matter the conditions is hard to come by – unless you’re willing to spend an arm and a leg. But with the Blackhawk Iceprey HW06, developed specifically for SUVs and light trucks, you don’t have to.

Sailun’s Iceblazer has always been a shockingly good performer from a relatively unknown brand. The  WST2 is putting the whole industry on notice.

Living in Vermont, I’ve gone through snow tires like some people eat mints. Even a decade ago, there were only a few snow tires that I’d have been willing to call “serious” winter tires—Bridgestone Blizzaks, Nokian Hakkapeliittas, Michelin X-Ice, a few others. And I stuck with them, buying them (usually Blizzak tires) generation after generation, and for every car.

See if all-season tires or winter tires are right for you.

Tire manufacturers have done an amazing job at using modern rubber compounds and computer tread designs that give studless winter tires more grip than the studded tires from just 30 years ago. While that’s made studded tires less popular than they were in the past, they haven’t gone away. Why? Because some parts of the country still see winters where the snow is measured in feet, not inches. Where there is more ice on the road than there is sun in the sky for half of the year.

You can still get the most out of your performance car during the winter with the proper tires.

We take a closer look at winter tires and how they can help you drive safer

Every generation of Honda’s Accord family car has big shoes to fill, thanks to this car’s reputation as one of the auto industry’s most reliable vehicles. The eighth-generation Accord was introduced with the 2008 model year and ran through model year 2012. The Japanese automaker offered the eighth-gen Accord as a four-door sedan—the largest ever, with as much interior space as some full-size cars—and a two-door coupe.

When winter comes to an end, it’s time to remove all that specialty rubber and put on some warm-weather appropriate tires.