Gary@Tirerack.com

Text from our test :

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An Ultra High Performance Tire
Worth Shouting About From General Tire

While many American driving enthusiasts have previously thought of General Tire primarily as an Original Equipment tire supplier to domestic vehicle manufacturers, General Tire has given them an attractively priced Ultra High Performance aftermarket tire that they will be happy to shout about. General Tire's Exclaim UHP tires were developed for sports cars, coupes and sedans, and are designed to provide predictable handling, terrific traction and exceptional hydroplaning resistance on water drenched roads.

To find out how well General Tire's Exclaim UHP stacks up against its competition, we compared its road manners and handling performance with the Ultra High Performance Summer KUMHO ECSTA SPT and Yokohama AVS ES100.

Read the complete text and test results here :<ul><li><a href="http://www.tirerack.com/a.jsp?a=AR8&amp;url=/tires/tests/ge_exclaim_uhp.jsp">General UHP test</a></li></ul>

Cameron

Why, since the UHP is an ultra-high-performance M+S tire, wasn't it tested against another high-performance M+S tire? For example, the PZero Nero M+S is mysteriously absent from the test, though significantly more expensive. It might have been worth noting in the text that other M+S rated tires in this performance class exist, but most are more expensive (and hence left out of this test).

Guessing you chose the ECSTA SPT and Yok AVS ES100 since they're priced somewhat similarly and not all that aggressive...

The one aspect of the UHP product that your review doesn't cover is the competitive pricing in 19" sizes. As more people run 19" and 20" wheels, this is increasingly important -- and offering 35-series tires in almost every size from 215 to 275 in 19" is a good idea. Having just shopped for 19" wheels, I know how limited the choices are in many of these sizes. As an example, 225/35R19 and 235/35R19 (quite possibly the most popular 19" sizes, correct me if I'm wrong) are $119 and $135 respectively in the UHP. Meanwhile, they're over $200 in Continental and Dunlop (the ContiSportContact2 and Sport Maxx) and around $250 in Pirelli and Michelin. Granted, some of these tires (particularly the Pilot Sport PS2 and the Dunlops) are higher performance and lack the M+S rating, but the price comparison is still valid, I think -- there are not many tires available in these sizes at these prices.

Gary@Tirerack.com

Thanks for your input.

Even though this tire meets the minumum requirements for M+S branding, it was not intended to be used in snow. If you get caught in some light snow, they would not be quite as dangerous as something like a PS2, but nonetheless General has made clear that snow traction was not a significant design consideration with this tire. It has traction levels much more comparable to entry level summer tires. General does not want to recommend this tire to people to use in winter simply because it meets the absolute minimum requirements for the M+S branding.

Hope this clears things up a bit.