Initial Review: Goodyear Assurance Fuel Max

[Hokiefyd]

There are definitely OEM tires that still come with less than an A for traction. The OEM Bridgestones on our minivan were 360-B-B. Woah!

With S-rated tires, I'd put money on a speed limiter in the neighborhood of 110-115mph.

 

[sciphi]

Jumping gee whillikers, those are some junk OEM tires! 560BB, that's a piece of rock shaped like a tire. Nick, I bet you notice a nice difference when you finally get rid of those.

The Cruze Ecos can get up past 115 with not much effort. There's a picture of somebody's DIC in an Eco reading 120 floating around. I've tested the speedometer with my GPS over a range of speeds, and it's dead-on, even at higher speeds. I'd bet the Eco tops out around 130, and I'm not about to test it.

 

[CapriRacer]

Originally Posted By: leeharvey418
Are you thinking that maybe Goodyear gave them a better price on the V-rated tires since that means they wouldn't have to make a separate service description in the same size any more?


Quite possible. GM is really at at these negotitaions and the price they pay is only barely connected to the prices you see at the retail level. - AND - I can see GM taking the opportunity to squeeze a little more out of Goodyear.

More likely, Goodyear

 

[CapriRacer]

Originally Posted By: sciphi
Jumping gee whillikers, those are some junk OEM tires! 560BB, that's a piece of rock shaped like a tire. Nick, I bet you notice a nice difference when you finally get rid of those.

The Cruze Ecos can get up past 115 with not much effort. There's a picture of somebody's DIC in an Eco reading 120 floating around. I've tested the speedometer with my GPS over a range of speeds, and it's dead-on, even at higher speeds. I'd bet the Eco tops out around 130, and I'm not about to test it.


And that may be the real reason they changed to a V speed rating

 

[leeharvey418]

Originally Posted By: CapriRacer
I can see GM taking the opportunity to squeeze a little more out of Goodyear.

More likely, Goodyear


Yeah, I figured it would have been Goodyear who would have been driving this - the fewer variants they have to make of anything, the cheaper they can make the sizes or service descriptions that move the most. Plus, I've personally encountered situations where the Logistics group at a GM assembly plant will be the determining factor that makes a more-expensive incoming component the lower-cost option - the cost of material handling and inventory control is more than the higher piece cost that they incur.

 

[sciphi]

Originally Posted By: CapriRacer
Originally Posted By: sciphi
Jumping gee whillikers, those are some junk OEM tires! 560BB, that's a piece of rock shaped like a tire. Nick, I bet you notice a nice difference when you finally get rid of those.

The Cruze Ecos can get up past 115 with not much effort. There's a picture of somebody's DIC in an Eco reading 120 floating around. I've tested the speedometer with my GPS over a range of speeds, and it's dead-on, even at higher speeds. I'd bet the Eco tops out around 130, and I'm not about to test it.


And that may be the real reason they changed to a V speed rating


You're likely right. The car could come close to the H speed rating, so they put V rated tires on there for liability reasons.