Consumer Reports Says This Is The Feature Buyers Care About Most When Getting New Tires

Buying new tires is an inevitable part of owning a vehicle. It's an expensive part, too, and changing tires means spending quite a bit of money that will hopefully get you tires that will last for years to come. Good tires are an investment, and when you're spending anywhere from $80 to $250 per tire, owners want to make sure that all their most important concerns are met. But what exactly is it that customers are most looking for in a new set before buying? The answer is a little surprising, at least according to Consumer Reports.

In a survey of more than 24,000 drivers who purchased new tires between fall 2023 and fall 2024, the most cited reason for why they purchased the particular set of tires they did was their wet-weather grip. CR conducted its survey by giving drivers a list of features and asking them to grade each one on a scale of importance. 74% of those surveyed said that wet grip was "very important," pushing it to the top of the list. Now, that does not necessarily equate to 74% of drivers naming it their top priority. Still, that is a large consensus of people deeming wet grip to be the priority. While wet-weather performance topped the list, CR's respondents also named several other features that they considered to be crucial for tires.

Three other new tire features received "very important" ratings from over 50% of the drivers surveyed by Consumer Reports. Handling was the second most-valued, with 73% of drivers prioritizing it. This is the feature that people would probably assume tops the list, as tires that have poor handling make for a terrible driving experience day in and day out. However, considering that wet roads automatically make for a more difficult driving experience, it makes sense that wet grip would top the charts.

Treadwear ratings earned the next most votes with 66% of the drivers surveyed labeling it "very important." For those unaware, a treadwear rating is a number assigned to a particular tire to indicate its durability. The higher the number is, the more durable the tire is likely to be. It's worth wondering whether more drivers would have considered it a priority if CR had labeled it as "durability" rather than "treadwear." Regardless, having two-thirds of respondents consider it an important feature is still a healthy majority. The final feature that most considered crucial was ride comfort. 57% of drivers labeled this feature "very important."  Whichever of these four features you deem most vital, though, there's no doubt that all four are major factors when deciding on new tires.