I think the best tires made, at least in the pre-radial era, were General Dual 90’s. They were quiet, smooth riding, had goid traction and good tread life, and contained sealing compoud that sealed most tread punctures.
the tire I liked for steep mountain driving Colorado was called “Tiger Paw”, something like that. Good compromise between traction, ride, life, & mpg. Don’t know if it is still made or not. It did have one annoying trait, over time developed wear patterns in the tread that would cause truck to not track quite right. Didn’t notice this problem when used on my sedans though.
For Calif driving the Michelin XA’s & Defenders seem to work pretty good. Neither is available for 13 inch wheels any more though.
The best all-around tire I’ve used for every day driving is the Michelin Pilot Sport A/S 3+ , very good grip, decent ride quality, good longevity (ages gracefully), and doesn’t turn into a brick in cold temperatures. I went through 2 sets on my current Mustang, and got mom a set for her Benz. Currently I have the Pilot Sport A/S 4 on my Mustang and they seem just as good as the older version, but somewhat quieter. I’ve also had good luck with the BFG G-Force Comp A/S, not as good as the Michelins, but it’s a good value for money IMHO.
For trucks/SUV’s the Bridgestone Dueler A/T Revo impressed me, but my go-to is the venerable BFG A/T KO/KO2. I had a set on my old 1997 F-150, I had a set on my 2014 F-150, and I’ll probably have a set on my 2019 F-150 once the OEM tires need replacement.
They were ok for me, lost a little mpg, but biggest complaint every whatever you call the cracks with tar made a thump.
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Sort of like drum brakes.
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I had a set of Michelins on one of my SAABs and hated them with a purple passion. Noisy and rough riding to coin a phrase. The Bridgestones that replaced them were light years better in all areas and Bridgestones on my Subaru also were great.
The worst tires I’ve ever owned was a set of Kellys which would be right at home on a clown car.
Traction even on a damp road was as close to zero as it gets and 55 MPH on a damp highway (damp only, no water pooling) was a white knuckle ride. Doing 45-50 on the turnpike to keep from getting killed is kind of embarassing…
From a dead stop on a damp road just removing the foot from the brake pedal would spin the rear tires and cause the car to fishtail.
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Back in the 70s a family friend had a tire shop so he would sell sieberling blems at a pretty good price. When he left town I would buy target bf goodrich because they were open at night. Even bought Firestone and sears. Then I just settled on Goodyear. I think it is like soap or toothpaste, you just develop brand loyalty.
I will say though that I needed tires for my riviera to just last a year or so but I wanted whitewalls which by then were hard to come buy. The tire shop sold me some no name tires for about $100. Never could figure out who made them or China or not, but they were some of the best tires I ever had. Good traction, quiet, handled well, etc.
The difference in steering effort between a bias ply and radial tires can be dramatic on a heavily loaded tractor trailer. We had some 1972 Kenworth cabover tractors in our fleet with rear suspensions made for heavy duty off road dump trucks. There were 20 leaves in each rear spring of the tractor. They rode hard and steered hard. They had a roomy daycab body with a lot of room and I had to partially stand up to get enough grip to turn the wheel more than 1/4 turn. In the winter up north we used to bounce them off the snowbanks to get them to turn, it was easier.
I got some very bad Goodyear tires at Walmart. They were Viva IIs and even though they had a 50000 mile warranty they wore out in 28000 miles. Turns out they were made in China and sold only by Walmart.
My daughter bought a set of those Vivas from Wal Mart and figured Goodyear so they must be decent. Nope; worn out in 25+ miles.
I bought a cheap set of tires for my truck off of Amazon some years ago. I had never heard of them and figured what the heck. They are called Westlake and so far have been some of the best tires I’ve owned.
Installed them in 2017, have around 50+ miles on them, no dry rot from the brutal sun, tread still great, stay in balance, ride quiet, and expect them to go another few years.
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Same on our 9-5… that car did NOT like the Michelins. At least the summers. The Mich Alpines were wonderful.
I think that brand was “Uniroyal”. I don’t think that brand is around anymore??
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Uniroyal is the economy brand made by Michelin, and I believer the Tiger Paw is still available.
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The original Tiger Paw that @George_San_Jose1 mentioned was made prior to 1990 when they were an independent company. Michelin bought them in 1990.
I just have to ask…
How many times did you patch sidewall punctures on those tires?
Back when I had a 1999 Monte Carlo I bought a set of Goodyear Aquatreads. I liked them enough I bought the same next time. I think I got 50 or 60,000 miles on a set. The tread pattern was designed for quiet road travel, good for driving in rain too.
The Standard Reference Test Tire is a Uniroyal.
Still made, to compare to all other tires in US tire tests.
I have never patched a puncture on sidewall. I have patched two tires with pinholes and it worked fabulously.