I was contacted by Continental Tire awhile back.
At first email glance, I was all, “Tires? I like SHOES!”
But on second thought… I probably spend as much time in a car that wears tires as I do wearing shoes. And what’s more, we have had a bad string of luck with tires and I thought, “I think I want to hear what they have to say… or as I came to discover… experience what they have to prove.
So I hopped on a plane to San Antonio and got my tire testing on.
And then I got me helmet and of course a selfie…
The tire Continental brought us out to test was the TrueContact with Eco Technology… a family tire, if you will. The TrueContact is a tire that most of us parents might put on our family vehicles.
I was able to test the TrueContact next to 3 other brands and collect data as I got to literally take the wheel and feel the difference.
Drive attendees got to try the TrueContact tires and 3 competitors. Here are my results… (SD = stopping distance & ST = stopping time):
- TrueContact: SD – 126.2 ft // ST – 3.5 seconds
- Bridgestone: SD 155.6 ft // ST 3.9 seconds
- Goodyear: SD 131.6 ft // ST 3.6 seconds
- Michelin: Did not get the numbers written, but recall longer distance.
Much of my partnerwing was with Morgan of The 818, and her number for Goodyear was SD – 214 and ST 4.6 seconds.
Across the board, our TrueContact numbers were better than the competitors.
Friends… I do lots of driving ::lament, lament lament::
Much of that time in the car is with my most precious cargo. And after this experience, it occurred to me – I should really be giving more thought to what tires we put on our car.
The closest competitor’s stop time was 6 seconds more that the TrueContact tires. If I was having to panic stop to not hit a human (or another car, for that matter)… a mere 6 seconds could very reasonably be the distance between life and death. The competitor that performed the poorest took 77 MORE FEET to stop.
Whoa. SEVENTY-SEVEN FEET.
Only months ago I didn’t want to be bothered with talk of what kind of tires we needed to buy to replace the crappy ones we bought before (NOTE: DON’T BUY CHEAP TIRES). After this experience I have a renewed sense of interest in… say it with me… TIRES.
You GUYS! Good tires are so important. Good tires can make all the difference when it comes to keeping our precious cargo safe.
Continental has not paid me to share this (they did, however, cover my travel costs). They have not required me to share this. But after my experience I feel it’s so important to share what I learned.
Good tires matter. I got to try some tires and based on my experienece Contintental’s TrueContact with Eco Technology tires are good tires.
I also learned that we really should be replacing all 4 tires, not just replacing two and putting the old ones on the back.
It’s about controlling the vehicle in less-than-ideal driving conditions. It’s about safety. It’s about the children.
Any buffer that we can help create between us and a potential accident… is the difference between not having an accident and HAVING AN ACCIDENT.
Right?
Have you given much thought to tires? If so, what do you look for when buying new tires? What features matter to you?
