I’ve been researching tires for a while for my Jeep Compass, and have narrowed down the choices to the Michelin Defender or Goodyear Assurance Triple Tred All Season. Wet weather traction is of primary concern (the Compass is pretty light weight at the front, the car is typically Chrysler over-torquey off the line, and it’s too easy to spin the wheels. After talking to lots of tire shops and reading everything there is to read on TireRack, I’m asking here for preferences. The Triple Tred is the absolute best for 3-season traction, but I’m a bit concerned about road noise. Opinions everyone?
@macfisto I happen to have TripleTreds on my Camry. Road noise is not an issue. Assuming your Compass has the same amount of noise dampening as my car, you should be happy.
I don’t like one-way tires!!
Go with the defender.
I like one-way tires.
Go with the triple-tread.
Seriously, get the one that looks best to you. They’re both good tires.
Directional tires can still be rotated, as long as front and rear are same size
Rotations are are obviously front to back
No modified x pattern
Are they actually directional? I’m finding that a lot of tires that look like they should be directional aren’t necessarily directional, according to the tire dealers. All of those sipes and sideways grooves work either way, they say.
But yeah, I like the look of the Goodyears better, directional or not.
You say you like the looks of a particular tire? They are all round and black. What am I missing?
Steve: The Michelin has very conventional looking circumferential grooves and tread blocks. The Goodyear looks a bit funkier.
We got defenders. Yes, they are round, black, roll ok. Same feel as our Firestone tires before. FS were low-avg rated. So, after spending $750 I guess the jury is still out
Fair enough. I think I still like them best.
Before I bought this Jeep, I had no idea that a car could be so bad in the rain. My old Buick was a tank in comparison.
Some suggestions:
- We are very happy with the Triple-Treads on our Escape, including in wet weather and including the noise factor.
- Take the ratings on Tire Rack or CR with a grain of salt, because a tire that works great on one vehicle may not work as well on yours (voice of bitter experience).
- Instead, consider going with someone who has experience with your specific car. That may be hard to find (suggestions include a tire shop or dealer service rep you trust, or one that a friend trusts). It won’t be perfect advice, but may be better than going with generic ratings like you will find on many websites, and it’s something to factor in.
Jeep is horrible? Did u buy it new? How many miles? If you say tires are awful and have driven it for 48k miles I would say you are stubborn to the point of being cheap vs safe?
You assume quite a bit Cavell. The car stops and steers just fine. It was bought used. I’ve already gone through one pair of tires, now it’s time to change all four. The car suffers from a lightweight front end and a relatively short wheelbase. In the rain, it’s way too easy to spin up the front tires when accelerating from a stop. The existing tires are decent, but I’m looking for better to mitigate this problem. To state that I’m being cheap to the point of impacting the safety of myself, my wife, and my four year old son is at best bizarre or worse, downright insulting.
Tripletreads +1. I’m a big fan - they work great, at at least at the shops I’ve been to lately they say they only rotate front to back anyway because no one has a full size spare to rotate in anymore (FWIW in Upstate NY).