Michelin and Pirelli snagged the top spots in AutoPacific’s 2017 Replacement Tire Owner Satisfaction Awards.
The two tire manufacturers replaced Goodyear and Bridgestone for this year’s spots. Uniroyal and Yokohama Tire Corp., who climbed in the ranking by eight spots, had the biggest improvement in rankings followed by Nitto, who climbed up five spots and had the biggest improvement in rankings compared to 2016. GT Radial, Nexen and Continental all dropped six spots, the rankings show.
In its seventh year, AutoPacific’s rankings measure how satisfied owners are with certain tire attributes from performance and traction to fuel efficiency and price. The satisfaction scores are weighted by the importance rating for each attribute and are meant to show how well each tire brand performs to the needs and expectations of their owners.
“Most consumers place high importance on safety, durability/reliability and performance, which means it’s essential that tire manufacturers receive high satisfaction scores in these areas to have a chance at a top spot,” explained George Peterson, president of AutoPacific. “Satisfaction scores begin to fluctuate more between brands for traction and warranty attributes, widening the gap between top and bottom performers.”
Other attributes of high importance that affected rankings included wet and dry traction and warranty.
Below are the top 10 tiremakers, according to AutoPacific’s 2017 Replacement Tire Owner Satisfaction Awards.
- Michelin
- Pirelli
- Bridgestone
- Goodyear
- BFGoodrich
- Nitto
- Firestone
- Uniroyal
- Yokohama
- Cooper
The study also identified attributes such as sporty image, maintenance-free and good cornering as those that have increased in importance in the past three years.
In individual categories, German auto parts and tiremaker Continental Ag was voted the best replacement tire for luxury cars while BFGoodrich was named the best replacement tire in terms of owner satisfaction for compact/mid-size SUVs, large/luxury SUVs and for full-size pickups.
“It’s important that tire manufacturers are aware of what their customers are looking for when they shop for replacement tires,” Peterson said in a press release. “Demands and expectations can change over time. Increases in importance can be detrimental to a brand if they are not addressing it in their design and production strategy.”
