Midway last year, Goodyear Philippines hooked us up with a brand-new set of its Assurance Maxguard tires. I had it fitted into my 2011 Ford Fiesta, and I’ve been using it for more than half a year already as of this writing.
Over the months that I’ve been driving my car with these Goodyear tires, I’ve noticed quite a lot of improvements. But before we get into it, here’s a little background on the Fiesta: Prior to changing tires, I had cheaper, seven-year-old rubber on it. And no, I won’t even bother mentioning the brand. I live in Laguna and only use it in the area for the most part, and I barely drove it to Metro Manila especially since the pandemic, so the last three or four years of the Fiesta’s tires’ lifespan were spent mostly doing short-distance driving. There were still occasional Laguna-Manila trips here and there, but not as often as before the pandemic.
Before I had my tires replaced, it had been more than a year since I had them rotated (sorry). And even so, I never really knew the real state of the tires. The treads weren’t worn out, so I thought they were just fine. Boy, was I wrong.
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I had the tires replaced at the Goodyear Autocare facility here in Santa Rosa near where I live. Everything was well taken care of—fitting, balancing, and alignment were all done there and it was pretty straightforward. What shocked me was when the old tires were taken out, it had several cracks and visible signs of wear. But what was even more shocking was when I finally took it out with brand-new Assurance Maxguard tires—I immediately felt the changes in overall performance.
As I said, it’s been a while since then, and I’ve clocked in a few good thousand kilometers with these tires. I’ll share here some of the most important improvements I’ve noticed with my car after switching to Goodyear Assurance Maxguard tires.
1) It rides better. By a mile.
I hadn’t ever tried changing bad, worn-out tires in a car before into brand-spanking-new ones, and I had no idea that it could improve the ride by so much. Since I’ve switched to my new Goodyears, my Fiesta has ridden a lot quieter. It absorbs bumps much better now, too. I also know this too well because my shocks need replacing, and the slightest changes (especially the good kind) are easily noticeable.
2) The braking system still feels like it got an upgrade.
My car’s brakes are still in good condition and have remained so over the years, but since I got the new tires on the Fiesta, braking has also improved. I noticed this immediately after I changed the rubber and took the hatchback out for a test drive.
Now, what’s even more impressive is the wet braking performance. See, that’s where Goodyear’s Assurance Maxguard tires take pride in, and it’s something I’ve tried out for myself multiple times. Since there’s much better grip now even on wet roads, the brake feel has improved. While I didn’t exactly measure actual braking distance, I could feel it in day-to-day driving how the tires have affected the braking system, and thus, made my Fiesta a much safer car.
3) Handling feels more precise.
I don’t take my car out to the track, but I’m blessed with a lot of nice roads where I’m from. Every once in a while, I take my car to wring it out a bit, and the new Goodyears have made it an even more fun hatch to drive around.
But it’s not even through the twisties—it’s just the regular expressway drives where I’ve felt the improvements. Just changing from one lane to another feels easier, and there’s a lot more grip when cornering through an interchange.
4) Fuel consumption has since improved drastically.
Out of all the positive changes I’ve gotten with my car, the improved fuel efficiency has got to be the best and most noticeable one. Back then I consistently got 12-13km/L on the highway, which I thought was okay for the Fiesta’s 1.5-liter four-cylinder gasoline engine. But since I’ve switched to Goodyear Assurance Maxguards, I’ve easily gotten at least 15km/L with the same driving style and behavior on the expressway.
Frankly, this wasn’t even something I realized until after the first month or so, after I’ve refueled the car a few times and made my computations for actual consumption.
Verdict: Goodyear Maxguard Assurance tires
Suffice to say, I’m extremely happy with these tires. It was the right call to switch to these tires, and if you drive a car similar to what I daily, these Assurance Maxguards are something I can recommend.
How these Goodyears will hold up in the long run, of course, remains to be seen. But seeing how these Assurance Maxguards have performed so far, I feel confident that I’ll eventually get my money’s worth.
