Comparison Test

Drive like a Motor Trend road test editor, and your car will need new tires almost as frequently as oil changes. Drive like we do when a photographer's aiming a camera at us, and it'll need new rubber before it needs gas. Even if you don't drive like we do, you'll sooner or later need to buy tires. But replacing your car's original-equipment skins can be a pricey proposition, which prompts the question: Just how good are lower-cost "private-label" tires? For this test, we decided on a back-to-back comparison 245/45ZR17 Goodyear Eagle ZRs with like-sized Pep Boys Futura Ultra Z radials.

Our friends at Ford loaned us a Mustang GT, which came with original-equipment Goodyear Eagle ZRs. (With friends like us, Ford needs to buy stock in a tire company, or better yet, buy the whole company.) Exact replacement ZRs cost about $190 each, including shipping, when purchased from a discount mail order house. On the other hand, Futura Ultra Z tires sized to fit the Mustang GT go for $130 each, including mounting, at any of Pep Boys' 648 stores nationwide. The Ultra Z, produced for Pep Boys by Cooper Tire, is available in 10 sizes, from 205/55ZR15 to 275/40ZR17, with prices starting at $75.

The Eagle ZR is an excellent tire with lots of grip, great responsiveness and feel, and very good (at least for a high-performance tire) ride comfort. It's our experience that the ZRs aren't as forgiving of over-the-limit driving transgressions as is the company's Eagle F1 ultra-performance tire, but they were notably more lenient than the Futura.

Our subjective impression was that the Ultra Zs had less grip and were harder to balance on the edge, causing the Mustang to transition abruptly from understeer to oversteer and back during extreme driving. The test numbers confirmed it. The Goodyears recorded a notable 0.04g advantage in steady-state maximum cornering power on the skidpad, with the Ultra Zs truly exhibiting more understeer. The Goodyears held a significant 0.2-second edge in our straight-line acceleration testing. Though it was a lot more work for the driver, the Ultra Zs virtually matched the Eagles in the slalom, coming in a scant 0.2 mph slower. Our 60-0-mph stopping distance test was another near dead heat, the Futuras taking this category by 1 foot. In sub-limit maneuvers, the Ultra Zs exhibited more steering lag and overshoot than the Goodyears. Since this was a "Performance Trends" test, we spent far less time evaluating ride comfort than we did doing tread-shredding power oversteer slides, but the Ultra Zs seemed at least competitive with the Goodyears from a comfort standpoint. Also, we weren't able to evaluate the tires in wet-road testing, so for now, you're on your own when it rains.

Our conclusion: Although the Futura Ultra Zs trail behind the Goodyears in extreme driving, they hold a palpable edge for the times you're not at wide-open throttle. Like when you're paying the Visa bill. For a savings approaching $300 for the set installed, that just may be an appealing tradeoff for some drivers.

SourcePep Boys215/229-9000www.pepboys.com