Originally Posted By: Jason Adcock
These tires rated below middling in CR's latest T-rated tire tests (14th out of 23 tires). They rated only "Good" in dry braking, handling, hydroplaning, and most everything else (or worse). The only metrics in which they scored above "Good" was snow traction and wet braking.
There appear to be better choices out there, based on their testing. Unfortunately, that's the only objective testing I've seen on this recently popular tire. It's always good to have at least two or more data points. But, for what it's worth, those are the results they got.
The CS4 Touring has a below average rolling resistance, meaning he might be rather disappointed to see a non-trivial MPG penalty. It'd be okay if the tire were remarkable in other areas, but at least compared to its contemporary rivals, it doesn't appear to be.
What are your friends' priorities in new tires? Handling? Winter traction? Ride? Fuel economy? You often cannot get all of these attributes, but based on what his preferences are, he can get much closer in some tires than in others.
I don't think he cares too much, aside from having something that will fit his budget, be safe on the road and isn't ridiculously noisy. I don't think rolling resistance is going to be an issue since we're talking about 5% at most here.
Looking at CR's test results, it appears that our favorite Avid TRZ is now ranked below the CS4 Touring. However, the Avid TRZ does have very good ratings for dry/wet traction, which is far more important to me than snow/ice.
Either way, I don't think there are any tires on the market that are truly unsafe. But likewise, I am not sure who to trust when it comes to tire testing. TireRack, which is supposedly the trusted source for tire testing, comes back with very different results than CR.