Goodyear Assurance WeatherReady vs Firestone WeatherGrip: All season tires have always been the go to tires for the American market and this segment has been well established across the years. There are 2 types of all season tires, one with 3 peak mountain & one with only M+S. We have covered these 2 types of tire head to head with Michelin’s Defender T+H (M+S) vs Cross Climate 2 (3 peak mountain) and the M+S all season tires are worst in winter performances but excel much better in mileage.
This time around we picked up 2 all season challengers in the form of Firestone’s WeatherGrip and Goodyear’s Assurance WeatherReady. Assurance WeatherReady was launched in 2017 and covers a large range of passenger cars and crossovers. WeatherGrip on the other hand was launched in 2019 and covers mostly passenger cars, minivans, SUVs and crossovers sizes from 15″-19″. Let’s put these 2 tires head to head and see who comes out on top !
Table of Contents
Results
Results below were taken from the Tire Rack’s “Grand Touring All-Season” test. A total of 4 tires were tested this time around in Tire Rack’s own proving ground. The graph below shows the comparison between Goodyear Assurance WeatherReady vs Firestone WeatherGrip based on the relevant performance category. The Assurance WeatherReady was set as a reference hence at the 100% mark. Note that for subjective evaluation, we equate 1 point as 5%. Hence for example if tire A is graded 7 while tire B is graded 6, A is better than B by 5%.
As both tires are categorized as all season tires, Tire Rack has included snow & ice in its testing portfolio. A detailed testing on snow including acceleration, braking & handling were evaluated. The tire size of interest is a 225/50 R17 which is a common tire size for Audi A4 & Honda Accord. You can check out our latest tire size table for more information. The testing vehicle is a rear wheel drive 2017 BMW F36 430i Gran Coupe with a 17×7.5 rim.
Wet
The friction of coefficient of the tire/road dramatically decreases in wet roads compared to dry roads. Hence it is more likely to get into a road accident during wet conditions rather than on a sunny day. It was so important that the EU label has wet braking as one of its three criteria. WeatherGrip had a slight edge in wet braking as it stopped 2.2 feet (0.67m) earlier than Assurance WeatherReady.
When it comes to wet handling, things were really close as WeatherGrip had a 0.75 second advantage in lap time against Assurance WeatherReady. In wet handling WeatherGrip fared slightly better with a subjective score of 6.1/10 compared to 5.92/10 of Assurance WeatherReady. Overall, WeatherGrip has a tiny edge in wet.
WeatherGrip:
- +1.8% in wet braking
- +0.9% in wet handling (subj)
- +2.1% in wet handling (lap time)
Dry
As for dry, safety is usually not an issue as the braking distance is much longer than wet. However this is the default daily usage and the tires have to perform at a very consistent level. Similar to the wet results, WeatherGrip was ahead of Assurance WeatherReady in dry braking as well. It managed to brake 1.8 feet (0.55m) earlier compared to Assurance WeatherReady from a speed of 50mph (80km/h) down to 0.
In dry handling, things were totally swapped around as Assurance WeatherReady suddenly became dominant with a subjective rating of 6.57/10 over WeatherGrip 6.26/10. In regards to the lap times, Assurance WeatherReady was 0.38 seconds faster per lap relative to WeatherGrip. Overall, WeatherGrip showed strengths in dry braking while Assurance WeatherReady dominated in dry handling.
WeatherGrip:
- +1.9% in dry braking
- -1.6% in dry handling (subj)
- -1.2% in dry handling (lap time)
Noise/Comfort/Ride Quality
Ride comfort, noise & comfort was tested and it was clear that Assurance WeatherReady was better with a 7.36/10 rating compared to the 6.98/10 rating of WeatherGrip with noise being the main differences.
WeatherGrip:
- -1.9% in average of Noise, Comfort & Ride Quality.
Snow
As both tires have been rated as an all season tire, we were thrilled when Tire Rack included snow on its testing list. Upon initial checks, both tires have the elusive 3 peak mountain logo. Hence WeatherGrip & Assurance WeatherReady has to pass a certain threshold of snow traction level as determined by the legislation. From an overall expectation point of view, both tires should be fairly competitive in winter performances.
As expected both tires performed fairly close to one another in snow. WeatherGrip stopped 1.5 feet (0.46m) earlier than Assurance WeatherReady from a speed of 25 mph (40 km/h) to 0. It was also slightly better when it came to snow acceleration as it took 0.5 feet (0.15m) less distance to accelerate from 0 to 12 mph (20 km/h). Both tires were neck to neck in snow handling as Assurance WeatherReady was 0.66 seconds quicker in lap time but subjectively worse in snow handling (-0.16 points). Overall, WeatherGrip had a tiny edge over Assurance WeatherReady in snow performances.
WeatherGrip:
- +2.8% in snow braking
- +1.7% in snow acceleration
- +0.8% in snow handling (subj)
- -0.7% in snow handling (lap time)
Ice
With snow being really close, ice was anything but as WeatherGrip took control by dominating on the ice surface. WeatherGrip out-brake Assurance WeatherReady by 4.3 feet (1.3m) from a braking speed of 12 mph (20 km/h) to 0. In ice traction, WeatherGrip was in the lead by taking 0.16 seconds less to travel 60 feet in comparison against Assurance WeatherReady. Overall, WeatherGrip is the dominant tire in ice.
WeatherGrip:
- +10.1 in ice braking
- +3.3% in ice acceleration
UTQG rating
We have previously shown that UTQG tread wear rating can be a good indication of your expected mileage. Below are the UTQG values of both of the tirelines.
| Brand | Tireline | Size | Tread Wear | Traction | Temperature |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Goodyear | Assurance WeatherReady | All | 700 | A | A |
| Firestone | WeatherGrip | All | 640 | A | A |
The mileage warranty for WeatherGrip is at 65,000 miles while Assurance WeatherReady mileage warranty is at 60,000 miles. This is however not in line with WeatherGrip’s lower UTQG tread wear rating values of 640 compared to Assurance WeatherReady’s 700 rating. Taking into account the conflicting UTQG tread wear ratings and mileage warranty, both tires should have the same expected mileage.
For more in depth information about UTQG, please check out this article here. We even have a free download on the latest UTQG values from the leading tire manufacturers.
Price
Goodyear being the more premium brand with the 3 peak mountain rating commanded a higher price costing 29 dollars more than WeatherGrip.
Tire size: 225/50R17
Assurance WeatherReady: $202
WeatherGrip: $175
Difference: -15% more cheaper for WeatherGrip.
Summary
Overall, both tires excel on different performance criteria. Assurance WeatherReady was strong in dry handling & noise while WeatherGrip was good in wet, ice & snow. Taking into consideration the typical importance of an all season tire, the winner of this duel is WeatherGrip with its excellent all round performances !