Yokohama or Goodyear Tires: Which Do We Prefer?
Are you in the market for a new set of tires? Goodyear and Yokohama are two tire brands you may have heard of. Both these brands have a reputation for producing high-quality tires. Their products perform excellently in all road conditions and are designed to last.
This should not come as a surprise. Both these manufacturers have long been established names in the global automotive tire industry. For instance, Yokohama has been in the tire-making business since 1917, whereas Goodyear has been producing tires since 1898.
Their respective market caps show how big both these brands are. At the time of writing, Yokohama Rubber Company Limited is valued just short of $2.6 billion. Goodyear Tire and Rubber Company, on the other hand, has a market capitalization of $3.14 billion.
But such numbers matter little to drivers who have to choose between Yokohama and Goodyear tires. Other factors play a far more critical role in convincing you to favor one of these brands’ products over the other. Which is why we’ve come up with this guide.
Yokohama Tires History
Yokohama Rubber Company Limited was founded on 13 October 1917 in Japan. It was a joint venture between BFGoodrich and Yokohama Cable Manufacturing. Its US connection (BFG is an American tire brand) greatly helped Yokohama in its nascent years.
Yokohama’s first tire production facility, the Hiranuma Plant, was built with the help of belts, tires, and other equipment imported from the US. While that plant was destroyed in an earthquake only three years after it was built, Yokohama continued chugging along.
Two decades after it opened its eyes, Yokohama exported the first batch of its tires overseas, including the United States. In the 1950s, it strengthened its US roots by establishing a manufacturing plant in the country, becoming the first Japanese company to do so.
The 1970s and 80s saw Yokohama introducing radial tires and its first-ever high-performance tires. In the 1990s, the company introduced run-flat tires. Today, Yokohama tires are used in over 150 countries, with manufacturing plants and offices on three continents.
Yokohama Tire Families
Six families complete Yokohama’s tire lineup. These include ADVAN, Avid, Geolandar, Ice Guard, PARADA, and BluEarth. However, much of the fame (and money) is diverted to Yokohama’s coffers by the uber-popular ADVAN lineup.
ADVAN
Four types of tires can be found in Yokohama’s ADVAN tire family, including:
- All-Season: The ADVAN Sport A/S is the face of this family, thanks to its superior dry and wet handling, excellent high-speed stability, and superb road manners. However, this tire’s average warranty holds it back.
- Summer: Three qualities can be found in almost every member of this family of summer touring tires. These include low road noise, the ability to absorb road vibrations, and excellent fuel economy.
- Winter: Represented by the likes of ADVAN Winter on the global tire scene, this family is inhabited by touring winter and high-performance winter tires. Check out these models if you want excellent snow performance on a budget.
AVID
Touring and grand-touring tires complete this tire lineup. These models offer excellent high-speed handling and superior steering responsiveness in dry and wet conditions. You may also appreciate the fact that none of the AVID tires growls at high speed.
Need proof? The AVID Ascent GT offers plenty of them. Here is a grand touring tire that combines high levels of grip in dry and wet conditions with low noise levels at speed. Despite being a very responsive tire, the Ascent GT would keep things comfortable in the cabin.
Geolandar
Many drivers hold the view that Yokohama’s Geolandar tires are all about off-road use. That is simply not true, as evidenced by the Geolandar CV G058. Here is an all-season touring tire that is designed to allow SUVs, minivans, and crossovers a comfortable driving experience.
However, if you want to discuss this family’s brightest child, look no further than the Geolandar X AT. Carrying the Three Peak Mountain Snowflake (3PMSF) emblem, this model can hold its own on mud, gravel, slush, snow, and even rocks. What more can you ask for!
Ice Guard
Yokohama’s Ice Guard lineup comprises dedicated winter tires. Think of super-flexible tread compounds, innumerable biting edges (sipes) and a fully functioning water evacuation system. These features define pretty much every tire of the Ice Guard series.
The Ice Guard tires also have a multi-edge design to rid their surface of snow and slush, helping them provide enhanced traction in harsh weather conditions. These models are suitable for fitment on cars, SUVs, crossovers, minivans, and light trucks.
PARADA
Yokohama’s Parada family is all about performance. For many years after it was first unveiled, this lineup only contained one model, the uber-popular Parada Spec-X. However, in the past few years, this family has expanded with the addition of Parada Spec 2.
Yet the Spec X remains our favorite, not only because this model offers high performance on a budget. Its superb cornering performance, steering feedback, and high-speed stability are other reasons why we have recommended this model so many times.
BluEarth
Yokohama’s BluEarth tires are more popular in Asia and other warm regions. Unlike most summer touring tires that require you to choose between rolling resistance and fuel economy, the BluEarth models claim to offer both, at least in the summer.
Low carbon emissions are another thing that defines BluEarth tires. By reducing rolling resistance, these models manage to send less particulate matter into the atmosphere than many of their counterparts, helping lower your carbon footprint.
Goodyear Tires History
Goodyear Tire and Rubber Company were founded in 1898 in Akron, Ohio, aka the ‘Rubber Capital of the World’. The city got this name because various other tire brands also have their roots in the area, such as Cooper Tire and Rubber Company and BFGoodrich Tires.
As you may already know, Goodyear got its name from the inventor of vulcanized rubber, a special kind of rubber that’s treated with chemicals and heat to make it more durable. For the first few years of its existence, Goodyear’s role focus was manufacturing bicycle tires.
That only changed when the company attracted the attention of Henry Ford. Back then, Mr Ford was looking for a company that could manufacture tires for Ford vehicles. In Goodyear, he found a manufacturer willing and, more importantly, able to do just that.
This gave birth to a partnership that saw Ford dominate the US roads. For its part, Goodyear got global fame, especially after it became Ford’s first vendor of racing tires. Today, Goodyear tires can be found on the roads, streets, and racing tracks of more than 180 countries.
Goodyear Tires Families
Ten families complete Goodyear’s tire lineup.
Goodyear Assurance
Populated by the likes of Assurance Outlast, Assurance Fuel Max, and Assurance WeatherReady, this family harbors premium all-season touring tires.
Whether you’re looking for a reliable set of tires for everyday commute or your job involves long highway trips every so often, this lineup has what it takes to meet your requirements. Bear in mind, though, that the Assurance tires do not come cheap.
Goodyear Eagle
Goodyear’s Eagle tires should be the first choice of driving enthusiasts and sports car drivers. These models deliver outstanding high-speed performance. Their cornering grip, high-speed stability, and braking distances aren’t too bad, either.
Almost every model in this lineup offers the above qualities, but some of them are invariably more popular than others. These include the Eagle F1 Asymmetric 6 (ultra-high-performance), Eagle F1 Super Car 3 (another UHP tire) and Eagle Exhilarate (max performance).
Goodyear Ultra Grip
Goodyear’s Ultra Grip lineup contains winter tires that can keep you safe in harsh weather conditions. These models offer short braking distances on snow with minimal risk of slippage. You can therefore count on them to hold up in the most demanding weather.
Two types of winter tires can be found in this series: studdable and studless. The former let you insert metal studs in their tread area for enhanced traction on snowy and icy roads. However, for most people, studless tires will do just fine.
Goodyear Winter Command
The Goodyear Winter Command tire lineup is also about winter tires.
Furthermore, like the Ultra Grip family, these tires are studdable. This is a major boon if you regularly drive on roads that receive more than their fair share of snow. However, it also means that you might have to get a permit to use these tires on public roads.
Goodyear Wrangler
Populated by all-terrain, mud-terrain, and rugged terrain tires, the Wrangler series is exceedingly popular among off-road enthusiasts. Two of the most famous tires in this series are the Wrangler Trail Runner AT and Wrangler All-Terrain Adventure.
Both these tires have a deep tread pattern to provide excellent traction on gravel, mud, and snow. They also feature reinforced sidewalls that can keep punctures and other types of damage at bay. Bear in mind, though, that neither is known for being quiet.
Goodyear Efficient Grip and Excellence
Many things are common between both these lineups’ tires.
The most important of which is their aim to balance road comfort and performance. As such, whether you end up buying an all-season Efficient Grip tire or a high-performance Excellence model, no compromises between refinement and performance would need to be made.
Goodyear Fierce
Given its popularity, many think the Wrangler is Goodyear’s only all-terrain tire lineup.
However, as a mere glance at the Fierce family’s catalogue shows, Goodyear offers plenty more to off-road enthusiasts. Still, there is one key difference between the A/T tires with the Wrangler name and those with Fierce etched on their tread area.
The Wrangler tires have what it takes to hold their own in extreme off-roading scenarios. In contrast, Fierce models are only suitable for light off-roading. This is why these tires are much quieter on the highway than most of their counterparts from the other family.
Goodyear Fortera
Goodyear’s Fortera lineup comprises all-season touring tires.
Two types of models can be found in this family. The first is the SL models, which combine excellent road manners with sporty performance. However, the HL models may provide better value for your money if you want excellent ride comfort.
Goodyear Integrity
Goodyear’s Integrity family is populated by pocket-friendly all-season tires.
Despite coming at a relatively affordable price (especially compared to this brand’s other A/S offerings), these models offer assured performance on the highway. Yet, we won’t recommend counting on these models to last as long as their pricier cousins.
Yokohama Vs Goodyear Tires: Differences
Here are the major differences between Yokohama and Goodyear tires:
Performance
As explained above, Goodyear and Yokohama offer a range of performance tires for different vehicles.
Yokohama tires should feature higher on your wish list if you want exceptional handling and cornering capabilities. The same could be said if you want better high-speed grip in wet conditions, with Yokohama tires boosting excellent wet traction.
Availability of Options
At the time of writing, Goodyear has ten tire families to Yokohama’s six.
However, that doesn’t mean that Yokohama tires cannot cater to the demands of every kind of driver. In fact, if you compare the models of each tire family, it will become clear that both Goodyear and Yokohama offer tires in almost every category. So, there isn’t much to distinguish between the two brands here.
Price & Warranty
While it’s true that Goodyear tires cost more upfront than their counterparts from Yokohama. It’s also true that they justify their high initial asking prices with longer treadwear warranties.
For instance, Goodyear’s flagship touring tires come with 80,000-mile treadwear warranties. In contrast, it’s rare to see any Yokohama tire with a 65,000-mile+ warranty. So, if you can afford to pay more upfront for a longer life down the road (pun intended), opt for Goodyear tires.
Advantages of Goodyear Tires
- Extensive tire lineup
- Reliable off-road tires
- Long treadwear warranties
Advantages of Yokohama
- Offers better performance tires
- Provides a wide range of models
- Superb refinement and comfort levels
Yokohama Vs Goodyear Tires: Which One to Choose?
Ultimately, the choice between Goodyear and Yokohama tires comes on personal preference. If you drive a sports car and want a set of tires that can help maximize its performance, Yokohama tires may prove to be a better bet. For every other vehicle and driving condition, Goodyear tires are a no-brainer.