You can't get them in retail for now as it has not been officially launched for the Malaysian market, though they can be seen on the road as OE tires for the new Honda Accord.
Goodyear Excellence
The Goodyear Excellence; an assymetric radial similar in design to the Eagle ResponsEdge in the USA, the new 3-zone tire which is touted as being optimised for security (wet grip), handling (cornering) and comfort. Let's see...
Before this, a short take on the Camry OE tires to understand my basis for comparison. They are H-rated Michelin Vivacys made in Thailand and supplied as OE to the CBU Camrys we have on the Malaysian market. I have heard of the Vivacys, but that was like a long long time ago. A check on the net confirmed that the Vivacy is a very old design (produced since 1999) and no longer sold on retail since many moons ago, being superceded by the MXV8.
Based on what I can find on the net, they are quite grippy (being OE on the previous generation Aussie Camry Sportivos) yet comfort biased tires. I find them to be very good comfort wise (the soft compound and sidewalls help here) and okay noise wise, though to be honest I can't really say on the grip. I've done some hard corners on these but to be honest in a large cushy car like the Camry the body roll makes you back off way before the tires' limits are reached. Still, I have experienced no squealing or chirping throughout, which is good. They are quite squirmy though, and I occasionally think I feel the sidewalls flexing on hard corners. So there we have it: non-directional symmetical comfort biased touring tires.
The size used is 215/60/R16 with a rating of 95H. How well does it live up to its Security, Handling and Comfort claims? My immediate impression driving out from the tire shop was that it felt noticeably stiffer than my old Michelin Vivacys. Makes the whole car very German-like in its firmer feel.
Security; can't say for now as most new tires handle rain fairly well. True, there were some awful donuts in past cars which have given me hair-raising moments, but since I don't drive fast in the rain (which no one should anyway...) I've had little to complain with regards to water dispersion. Last night when I was heading back home was the first I've driven with the Goodyears in the rain, and there was nothing extraordinary to report, which is good.
Handling; it feels more confident due to the stiffer sides, and I'm delighted with it, as I always found the Michelins (and indeed the Camry) to be rather squishy. These Goodyears firmed things up a notch, though by no means making it uncomfortable. They sort of make the whole car's handling a bit tauter, which to me is all good.
As for Comfort; it's quieter too, but the true test will be after 10k kms. Significantly, the rough sections of the Federal Highway sounded noticeably more muted. A stop at the nearby petrol station to check the air pressure helped the ride somewhat, but there is no disguising that this is a more performance oriented tire than the Michelins.
I've seen some rather negative reviews on the noise levels of this tire on the Honda Accord. While I am inclined to say that these are certainly not the quietest tires around, they are significantly better than average in terms of noise, and the trade-off in handling more makes up for it.
Having test-driven an Accord with these fitted it does seem noticeably noisier and harsher, which can only be put down to the lousy insulation on the Accord. Before I get flamed by the Honda fanboys, let me just clarify by saying that Honda does a lot of things well, but noise and comfort are not on the list of do-wells.
I will post more updates as it wears on. I'm very impressed so far, and if the low noise levels hold out, I'd give this a hearty thumbs-up!
Update 1: It's now been about 500kms since I put these donuts on, and by now they would have been scrubbed in properly. My opinion on the noise levels still stands; it's a surprisingly quiet tyre. Grip is decent enough, though again I have had no occasion to do any potentially tyre-squealing maneuvers...
Update: After the first outstation trip with these tyres, and with close to 3k kms on it, they remain quiet and comfy. Also got to really test out its rain capabilities, as it rained almost all the way back, being really heavy at certain stretches, but they proved able to resist aquaplaning quite well even at speeds of 100km/h, and traversed the stretches of standing water without the steering wheel going limp in your hand (sure sign of aquaplaning).
Update: It's not 10k kms since I had these fitted, and still pretty good with all the parameters ie noise, comfort, handling, close to when new.
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