JD Power's Top-Rated Passenger Tire Brand Is No Longer Goodyear

Back in 2025, Goodyear enjoyed the satisfaction of being ranked number one for passenger cars in J.D. Power's annual study of tire owner satisfaction. Based on a 1,000-point scale, Goodyear earned a score of 815, nudging out second-place finisher Yokohama by just eight points. That score also placed it 24 points above the overall average for passenger car tire satisfaction. Goodyear also finished first among tires for luxury vehicles, and 2025 proved to be an overall excellent year for the company. That's changed in 2026, though, and J.D. Power's 2026 U.S. Original Equipment Tire Customer Satisfaction Study has seen Michelin reclaim the throne.

Michelin finished first in 2024, and this isn't a terribly surprising outcome considering Michelin's reputation as the best tire brand on the market. After a brief stumble to third place in 2025, Michelin scored 816 points for passenger car tire satisfaction in J.D. Power's 2026 survey. This makes it the only brand to earn a score above 800, clearing the industry average by 32 points.

Goodyear has nothing to worry about, though. It still finished in joint-second place with Toyo, both earning 798 points. Toyo wasn't among the passenger car tires rated in 2025, but this shows remarkable improvement after it finished in last place in 2024. That year, Goodyear was still in second place. These numbers clearly indicate that Michelin and Goodyear are owners' favorites year after year.

Michelin didn't just top J.D. Power's owner satisfaction chart for passenger tires; it also placed first in two of the other three categories in J.D. Power's survey. Michelin scored 833 points from owners for luxury tires, the highest satisfaction score in the survey across all categories. This beat out second-place finisher Goodyear, which scored 829. These were the only two tire brands to have a score above the overall average for this category, which was 806 — showing just how much both brands boosted that number.

The other category where Michelin finished on top was performance car tires, where it earned a satisfaction score of 818. Goodyear — as you would probably expect by now — came in second with 805, meaning Michelin enjoyed a fairly sizable win in this category.

Unfortunately, Michelin couldn't complete the clean sweep in 2026, as J.D. Power's respondents were most satisfied with Pirelli tires for trucks and utility vehicles. Its score of 801 was 13 points higher than Michelin's, which still finished in a respectable third place. Considering a tire like the Pirelli Scorpion Verde All Season Plus 3 tires are some of the best tires out there for SUVs, it's not terribly surprising to see Pirelli rate so highly in this category. Can Michelin go four-for-four in 2027? Only time will tell.