Are TireRack Survey Results Legit?

[sicko]

So I've been looking at TireRack.com to figure out what new tires I want to get. Then today I load the TireRack survey results page and I see that one of the tires I'm looking at (Michelin Premier A/S) just had a big jump in it's scores, raising it up to #1 in it's category.

Now I understand because it's such a new tire with fewer reviews, that it's results will fluctuate more than an established tire with a very large number of surveys already submitted for it. But what got me thinking is that the largest increase in scores were for the Winter/Snow section. There isn't much snow in North America right now for people to be basing snow/ice reviews on, and I question if tire manufacturers put out the same tires (with the same name) in North America that they put out in other parts of the world where there would be snow right now. Is something fishy going on here with the survey results?

The tire that I'm looking at had 24k miles worth of surveys applied to it recently, taking it from 126,007 total miles reported to 150,007 miles, and those new surveys made the following Winter/Snow changes:

Light Snow Traction was: 8.9 and is now 9.1
Deep Snow Traction was: 8.5 and is now 9.3
and Ice Traction was: 7.5 and is now 8.3

Those seem like some big jumps in Winter/Snow scores considering how much snow is in N. America right now.

Is this legit, or is something questionable going on here?

 

[Quattro Pete]

Sounds odd, indeed. Maybe ask TR for an explanation.

It may just be that the people that recently submitted their scores only vaguely remember their tires' winter capabilities and are being overly gracious with their scores. Then you'll have other people who only bought their tires this year, and haven't even had a chance to drive them on snow yet, so they're probably just guessing.

 

[Hollow]

Short answer is no, they are not legit as they are based on subjective feedback from random people with random vehicles in random conditions and circumstances. You'll see "All 10 best tire ever lasted 90K miles amazing!!!" right beside "Terrible hydroplaning junk that wore out in 7K miles!"

Who is right? Why are they or are they not?

Tire Rack tests, CR tests, and the like are more accurate in the sense of they are comparing the same tire on the same vehicle in the same conditions. As anything YMMV based on what you expect and experience.

 

[geeman789]

Something smells funny...!?

Big, big improvement in winter #'s, ahead of, ummmm, WINTER...!

9.3 in deep snow, for an all season... yeah right. Notice NONE of the other tires are in the 9's, couple 8's, but most are in the 6's or worse...

Seems too "convenient" that Michelin is now rated #1 , with their brand new all season model, with BRILLIANT winter ratings, just ahead of winter buying season... based on so few miles.

 

[PandaBear]

Comparing among the same tire group on the same kind of cars, probably.

Comparing high performance summer tire on a sport car vs grand touring all season on an appliance? No.

I also see a lot of people accidentally put the miles of their cars instead of miles on their tires. You have to screen those out carefully.

 

[PandaBear]

Originally Posted By: Hollow
Short answer is no, they are not legit as they are based on subjective feedback from random people with random vehicles in random conditions and circumstances. You'll see "All 10 best tire ever lasted 90K miles amazing!!!" right beside "Terrible hydroplaning junk that wore out in 7K miles!"


This also could be using different compound for different size or suspension design on different cars / trucks / vans.

Quote:

Tire Rack tests, CR tests, and the like are more accurate in the sense of they are comparing the same tire on the same vehicle in the same conditions. As anything YMMV based on what you expect and experience.


But they can't really tell you how a tire perform as they age, and a manufacture that cheat with fast or bad wearing tire will not be caught this way.

I personally look at surveys 2 ways:

1) start from the worst and see what to expect.

2) look at my car and see how people like that tire on my car.

 

[CharBaby]

Originally Posted By: PandaBear
Originally Posted By: Hollow
Short answer is no, they are not legit as they are based on subjective feedback from random people with random vehicles in random conditions and circumstances. You'll see "All 10 best tire ever lasted 90K miles amazing!!!" right beside "Terrible hydroplaning junk that wore out in 7K miles!"


This also could be using different compound for different size or suspension design on different cars / trucks / vans.

Quote:

Tire Rack tests, CR tests, and the like are more accurate in the sense of they are comparing the same tire on the same vehicle in the same conditions. As anything YMMV based on what you expect and experience.


But they can't really tell you how a tire perform as they age, and a manufacture that cheat with fast or bad wearing tire will not be caught this way.

I personally look at surveys 2 ways:

1) start from the worst and see what to expect.

2) look at my car and see how people like that tire on my car.


Exactly, I do the same thing!
Worst to Best and My vehicles or like vehicles & climate situations.