Latest / In Wheel Time Podcast / Choosing the Best Tires: Consumer Reports Expert Tips and Top Picks for Performance and Safety

Transcript

Choosing the Best Tires: Consumer Reports Expert Tips and Top Picks for Performance and Safety · In Wheel Time Podcast

• 0:17
  Speaker 1: Welcome to another In Wheel Time podcast that ryan tell you uh-huh and we'll tell you how well.
• 0:23
  Speaker 1: He'll tell you how he spells it.
• 0:24
  Speaker 1: You'll find out.
• 0:25
  Speaker 1: It's part of the confusion.
• 0:26
  Speaker 1: Most of the confusion is from me, he's from consumer reports and we're going to talk about best tires for your ride.
• 0:33
  Speaker 1: Also, I'll give you my thoughts on driving the 2025 mazda cx90 and jeffrey has the motor minute.
• 0:40
  Speaker 1: That and more in this segment of the in-wheel time car talk show.
• 0:43
  Speaker 1: Howdy, along with mike, out of this world, mars.
• 0:45
  Speaker 1: We always need more.
• 0:47
  Speaker 1: Jeff Zekin, I'm Don Armstrong.
• 0:49
  Speaker 1: Glad you could join us on this Saturday for our live show.
• 0:52
  Speaker 1: Our live segment always runs on Saturday mornings between 10 and noon Central Time.
• 0:59
  Speaker 1: Of course, on the East Coast it is right up to lunchtime.
• 1:03
  Speaker 1: Now it's 11 o'clock over there.
• 1:05
  Speaker 1: So let's get the weather report first, because we heard that the weather is kind of yucky out there.
• 1:10
  Speaker 1: Ryan, good morning, good morning.
• 1:12
  Speaker 1: How are you?
• 1:13
  Speaker 1: I am well.
• 1:14
  Speaker 1: How are you?
• 1:14
  Speaker 1: Are you south of the weather?
• 1:17
  Speaker 3: Nope, I'm right in the middle of it right now.
• 1:18
  Speaker 1: Are you?
• 1:18
  Speaker 1: Is it snowing up there?
• 1:20
  Speaker 3: It's not snowing, but it's about 45 degrees and rainy.
• 1:23
  Speaker 3: But it's welcome because we've had a drought for the past two months.
• 1:25
  Speaker 1: Yeah, I know, and all those fires and everything else going on up there.
• 1:28
  Speaker 1: It's really been bad.
• 1:30
  Speaker 1: How are things at Consumer Reports these days?
• 1:32
  Speaker 3: Things are well, we're staying busy.
• 1:46
  Speaker 1: There's always something new out there to test, so we're keeping everybody up to date.
• 1:48
  Speaker 1: So Ryan and I were chatting before we went on the air and come to find out that ryan grew up about five minutes from where he is right now and he's what'd you call it?
• 1:52
  Speaker 1: Area 51 for cars?
• 1:52
  Speaker 1: Yeah, it was a mysterious place, yeah, yeah.
• 1:54
  Speaker 1: So right right there by their test track that consumer has, consumer reports has, and, um, I found it interesting that you wound up working a really cool job at Consumer Reports and you started off what changing tires or something.
• 2:08
  Speaker 3: Yeah, I was changing tires and then in the summer, when things slowed down, I would cut the grass Cut the grass at Consumer Reports.
• 2:14
  Speaker 3: Yeah, it's been a long time.
• 2:18
  Speaker 1: Lawnmower testing.
• 2:19
  Speaker 1: Did you test lawnmowers?
• 2:22
  Speaker 3: Of all the grass up here, they actually go down to Florida and test it in the middle of the winter, I think.
• 2:25
  Speaker 3: Oh no.
• 2:27
  Speaker 2: Well, yeah, go where it's warm.
• 2:29
  Speaker 2: Sure, absolutely.
• 2:31
  Speaker 1: Well, that's not why we called.
• 2:33
  Speaker 1: That's not why we're talking to you today.
• 2:35
  Speaker 1: We're talking to you about tires Top pick tires for cars, trucks and SUVs.
• 2:43
  Speaker 1: Where do you want to start?
• 2:45
  Speaker 3: Well, we can start with cars.
• 2:47
  Speaker 3: This past year we just finished testing passenger all-season tires.
• 2:51
  Speaker 3: These are tires that will fit on a Toyota Camry, chevy, malibu that type of a car we use a Toyota Camry to test.
• 2:59
  Speaker 3: So on top, a familiar offender Michelin Defender II.
• 3:05
  Speaker 3: It's a great tire.
• 3:07
  Speaker 3: It wears well.
• 3:08
  Speaker 3: In our test.
• 3:10
  Speaker 3: To do well, you have to balance all-season grip.
• 3:14
  Speaker 3: We weight the safety-related aspects higher.
• 3:19
  Speaker 3: So we're drying, wet braking, handling, hydroplaning resistance.
• 3:23
  Speaker 3: Behind that comes your snow traction.
• 3:25
  Speaker 3: Um, and then all the what we call value features, such as a rolling resistance, which is the fuel efficiency of the tire.
• 3:30
  Speaker 3: Uh, ride and noise, those, those are things that don't affect your safety as much.
• 3:34
  Speaker 3: Um, so those things, you know, you have to balance that just right and I I couldn't give you the exact weightings of how we come to that conclusion.
• 3:41
  Speaker 4: Ryan, that Defender.
• 3:42
  Speaker 4: That's a high mileage tire for Michelin, isn't it?
• 3:44
  Speaker 4: It's always been a high mileage tire.
• 3:45
  Speaker 4: It's like one of their premier mileage go-tos.
• 3:52
  Speaker 3: It's oftentimes.
• 3:52
  Speaker 3: Michelin makes a long wearing tire.
• 3:54
  Speaker 3: The Defender 2 is the longest wearing tire we've tested in a long time, so you know that is weighed into the score.
• 4:01
  Speaker 3: Treadwear isn't the highest weighted thing but obviously it helps it, um, you know, and with the rest of its performance.
• 4:06
  Speaker 1: So and let me ask you this and how does that, how does that compare to other tires in its zone, if you will uh, they're you know like.
• 4:16
  Speaker 1: Likewise, how does it compare as far as price is concerned, because, you know, these days people will kind of give up the long mileage tires because of the price, exactly.
• 4:29
  Speaker 3: Right, that's a great question.
• 4:31
  Speaker 3: I'm glad you asked that.
• 4:31
  Speaker 3: So what we find with tires that wear that long and they perform as well as the Defender 2 does?
• 4:37
  Speaker 3: There's a value aspect there.
• 4:39
  Speaker 3: You might pay extra but it lasts almost twice as long as a tire that might cost less.
• 4:44
  Speaker 3: There's value there, right, and while you have that tire it has that better performance than maybe some of the tires further down.
• 4:51
  Speaker 3: But yeah, I understand.
• 4:53
  Speaker 3: I mean, people don't enjoy buying tires for the most part, unless you're an enthusiast.
• 4:57
  Speaker 3: Tires are black and round and you have to buy them and they're not a fun purchase, right?
• 5:02
  Speaker 3: You know I advise people to do their research.
• 5:05
  Speaker 3: Take a look at our ratings, um, you know you can really dive into the actual individual ratings and see what um aspects you might be looking for.
• 5:12
  Speaker 3: You know, if you live down south, you're not worried about snow traction, um, so there might be a tire somewhere on that list that works for you.
• 5:16
  Speaker 3: Or if you're really worried about tread wear, um, then you know you can look at our mileages and see which ones last longer and, and you know, if you're driving a Camry, chances are that you're looking for long-lasting everything.
• 5:28
  Speaker 1: And now the Camry only comes as a hybrid model.
• 5:31
  Speaker 1: So you're already getting pretty good gas mileage, and if you can add to it, along with not having to buy tires every 35,000 miles, you know you scored a hit there.
• 5:42
  Speaker 4: Well, when it comes to I'm sorry, jeff, I was going to say with a high-mileage tire and you save the longevity and you got the value you pay up front for the tire and then you got the long distance of the travel, the use of the tire.
• 5:53
  Speaker 4: But there's a drawback on that because the tire is made different to last that long.
• 5:57
  Speaker 4: There's different components and different sidewall components and things like that.
• 6:01
  Speaker 4: You talked about the tread and the tread blocks, components and things like that.
• 6:05
  Speaker 4: You talked about the tread and the tread blocks.
• 6:09
  Speaker 3: That all does take into play with that long mileage tire, but you lose some of the ride and comfort, don't you?
• 6:14
  Speaker 3: You know, sometimes we found, with the Michelin, the Defender 2, it just strikes a good balance of all those things.
• 6:19
  Speaker 3: Again, it's the tread.
• 6:20
  Speaker 3: Wear is not what putting at the top of the list.
• 6:22
  Speaker 3: I mean it has great dry and wet braking and handling and hydroplaning resistance, stuff like that.
• 6:27
  Speaker 3: So you know, in the past, yeah, we have seen tires that you know they sacrifice one thing for another.
• 6:34
  Speaker 3: Tires are our compromise right.
• 6:35
  Speaker 3: But the Defender 2 does a great job of balancing all that stuff and that's why it earned its way to the top of our list.
• 6:42
  Speaker 1: How about the SUVs I mean everybody stuff and that's why it earned its way to the top of our list.
• 6:51
  Speaker 1: How about the suvs?
• 6:51
  Speaker 1: I mean, everybody's buying suvs these days, and that is a completely different vehicle than a car, and the fact that most of them sit up higher off the ground.
• 6:54
  Speaker 1: The handling certainly isn't as good as a car.
• 6:55
  Speaker 1: Generally speaking and, um, you know there are different aspects do you actually take your suv off road that's one aspect of it or do you just drive it on the highway all the time?
• 7:05
  Speaker 1: So I think all of those things kind of play into your choice of what you're going to buy for your SUV.
• 7:11
  Speaker 1: What's the number one thing that you guys came up with?
• 7:14
  Speaker 3: So for the SUV segment, we came up with another Michelin product, the Cross Climate.
• 7:18
  Speaker 3: This is a tire that you can put on a car as well.
• 7:22
  Speaker 3: They chose, and we chose, to test it on the SUV segment and it's just a tremendous tire.
• 7:30
  Speaker 3: It's actually what we call an all-weather tire, which means it has a mountain snowflake symbol on the sidewall, much like a dedicated winter tire, which means it passes an actual industry standard test that gives it that snowflake symbol on the sidewall.
• 7:43
  Speaker 3: So all winter tires dedicated winter tires have this symbol, but the dedicated winter tires don't have.
• 7:48
  Speaker 3: They need to be taken off in the spring.
• 7:50
  Speaker 3: They're not meant to be run year round.
• 7:52
  Speaker 3: They don't have UTQG ratings.
• 7:55
  Speaker 3: An all weather tire allows you to use it year round, but it has enhanced snow traction.
• 7:59
  Speaker 3: So think of it as a tire between an all season product and a winter tire.
• 8:03
  Speaker 3: It's not a dedicated winter tire.
• 8:05
  Speaker 3: It is not as good as a dedicated winter tire in snow.
• 8:07
  Speaker 3: However, it's better than an all-season tire and you can use it year-round.
• 8:10
  Speaker 3: So a lot of people find it to be a great value to have, because you don't have to do the winter changeover If you live in an area where it snows, but not too much, not too crazy.
• 8:18
  Speaker 3: You can buy with it year-round.
• 8:21
  Speaker 3: You don't have this extra set of wheels and tires sitting in your garage.
• 8:26
  Speaker 3: The Cross Climate 2 is just a tremendous tire.
• 8:29
  Speaker 3: It wears well, it's excellent in the snow and its drive-by handling and braking grip is phenomenal.
• 8:35
  Speaker 4: Well see, that was the fun of winter, because I used to have another set of rims and tires in the basement for the summer and you'd change them out in the winter.
• 8:41
  Speaker 4: And that was always fun.
• 8:42
  Speaker 4: And then you got your dedicated snow tires for the winter and you wore those out in the season and then next year you repeat the process.
• 8:52
  Speaker 4: So you know, come april, march, april, you take them out of the storage and you polish them up and you throw them on your hot rod.
• 8:57
  Speaker 4: You're good to go.
• 8:58
  Speaker 4: That's what we used to do so how about the s?
• 9:01
  Speaker 1: uh, you said the suvs.
• 9:02
  Speaker 1: Let's talk about trucks here for a minute, and the trucks definitely are a different dynamic, because usually we're talking about load capacity.
• 9:12
  Speaker 1: When it comes to a truck, whether it's a half-ton pickup truck or something like a three-quarter ton, you're usually rated for such, as you know, something that can tow and haul, and I guess that you guys tested all of that.
• 9:26
  Speaker 3: Sure.
• 9:27
  Speaker 3: So the tires we test are for the truck segment.
• 9:31
  Speaker 3: When we do our truck segment, it's what we call body-on-frame trucks.
• 9:34
  Speaker 3: So your Silverado 1500 or a Tahoe, something like that, we don't test 2,500 or three-quarter tons LT metric tires.
• 9:41
  Speaker 3: Yes, they're either derating Right.
• 9:43
  Speaker 3: Those tires are technically different.
• 9:45
  Speaker 3: Even if it looks like the same tire that we have on our list, that we tested in an LT, it's technically a different tire, built the way it's built.
• 9:54
  Speaker 1: So we don't test those.
• 9:54
  Speaker 1: Do they usually give those tires a different name so you wouldn't have say, for instance, a Michelin Defender on the half ton and another Michelin Defender on the three-quarter ton?
• 10:03
  Speaker 1: Do they give them different names?
• 10:05
  Speaker 3: It depends on the company.
• 10:06
  Speaker 3: Some companies will.
• 10:06
  Speaker 3: It will be the same name, it's just an LT size.
• 10:09
  Speaker 3: Other companies will market it as a whole, other LT meaning light truck.
• 10:13
  Speaker 1: correct, correct, yeah, okay.
• 10:16
  Speaker 3: Yeah, but then you A 1500-series truck.
• 10:18
  Speaker 3: You would have what we call a passenger or a hard metric tire.
• 10:21
  Speaker 3: So it's actually a car tire, but it's large and it's built for a truck.
• 10:25
  Speaker 4: Right commercial.
• 10:26
  Speaker 4: It's a commercial sidewall.
• 10:27
  Speaker 3: Exactly, it's not extra thick sidewalls and all that stuff.
• 10:29
  Speaker 3: So Continental does well in this area for truck all season.
• 10:34
  Speaker 3: The Conti Terrain Contact HT is a phenomenal tire.
• 10:39
  Speaker 3: With the rest of the tires I've mentioned already they strike a great balance across the board Good tread wear In the all-terrain category.
• 10:47
  Speaker 3: The Conti Terrain Contact AT has been a longstanding first-place tire there.
• 10:54
  Speaker 3: We've tested that a few times and it's always found its way to the top.
• 10:57
  Speaker 3: It just strikes another great balance of snow traction and dry and wet grip.
• 11:01
  Speaker 3: It's quiet.
• 11:02
  Speaker 3: Some all-terrain tires are not that quiet because of a luggy tread.
• 11:05
  Speaker 4: They'll nickel yeah, um, and they wear well yeah well, in case you haven't heard, I've always bought a new buick recently and, uh, on the envision, I've got the continent continental contis on that road tire on that.
• 11:16
  Speaker 4: So and I like the tire, it's a good, quiet tire yeah, they're great.
• 11:20
  Speaker 3: Continental's done well, a great job over the years.
• 11:22
  Speaker 3: They're always in close competition with Michelin.
• 11:25
  Speaker 4: Right, have you ever been to Uvalde where their test track is?
• 11:27
  Speaker 4: I have a few times.
• 11:29
  Speaker 4: Yeah, impressive place.
• 11:31
  Speaker 2: Yeah, very cool In the middle of nowhere, but that's the only reason they can have it, though, yeah, so back to the truck tires, because I happen to know of a truck that's going to need some tires in the next few months.
• 11:43
  Speaker 2: When you're talking like the tires you were talking about, you're talking like a passenger car type tread I'm trying to think of how to put this Like the tread that we have now on the truck.
• 12:02
  Speaker 2: It's not an off-road tire.
• 12:03
  Speaker 4: It's an aggressive tire.
• 12:05
  Speaker 2: Pretty aggressive.
• 12:06
  Speaker 2: Yeah why?
• 12:07
  Speaker 2: Because that's what it looks good on it's a 20-inch rim.
• 12:13
  Speaker 1: Who makes that decision?
• 12:14
  Speaker 1: Me?
• 12:14
  Speaker 1: I was going to say I write the check.
• 12:16
  Speaker 1: Yeah Well, you know your thing because it looks good on it.
• 12:22
  Speaker 2: It might not look good to me.
• 12:23
  Speaker 2: I understand.
• 12:24
  Speaker 2: That's the reason I'm asking the expert here, I see Okay.
• 12:26
  Speaker 2: Because we're going to have to do something here pretty soon.
• 12:30
  Speaker 3: That's become popular to put aggressive-looking tires.
• 12:34
  Speaker 3: They're not necessarily the tread, isn't exactly a hardcore all-terrain tire, but they're giving the sidewall some chunky lugs on it.
• 12:42
  Speaker 3: Yeah, because a real all-terrain tire doesn't do that well on road and in an on-road grip and stuff, because it's built to go off-road as well.
• 12:50
  Speaker 3: So now another compromise Right, but they tone the tread back a little bit and then they make the sidewalls look a little chunkier and give it that look.
• 12:56
  Speaker 3: You know, the Jeep enthusiasts a lot of those people because a lot of those Jeeps don't even go off-road.
• 13:01
  Speaker 3: So it's….
• 13:02
  Speaker 2: Well, our truck doesn't either.
• 13:03
  Speaker 2: I mean, it's purely for looks, to give it a little bit of a lift, look and all yeah yeah yeah yeah, oh yeah, you talked about the side tread blocks.
• 13:14
  Speaker 4: Uh, harmonics, you know, the noise actually comes from that as well.
• 13:18
  Speaker 4: So the less you have of that, the quieter the tire is right or the bigger the amp you buy for your stereo.
• 13:23
  Speaker 4: You can hear it before you see it let's talk about now.
• 13:26
  Speaker 1: You know we're at that time of the year where I guess snow tires are a thing, especially up where you are here.
• 13:36
  Speaker 1: We might get a light snowfall once every five or seven years, something like that.
• 13:42
  Speaker 1: So it's really to me not a player here.
• 13:45
  Speaker 1: We have people that live here, that travel and are going to be traveling this weekend to see Aunt Mary up in Wisconsin and there could be a issue there.
• 13:56
  Speaker 1: So it would be okay to run a snow tire in dry houston, texas kind of weather, because you're only just driving it up to where the snow is and you're only going to be there for a couple of days or so.
• 14:10
  Speaker 1: How do you, how do you justify a snow tire or a second set of tires, if you will, for a trip like that?
• 14:18
  Speaker 1: Or do you just get to go with, go with the all season and be done with?
• 14:22
  Speaker 3: it in an area like that, I would say you would go with the all season or even an all weather tire if you will.
• 14:26
  Speaker 3: Um, winter, winter tires nowadays, I mean if you know you're gonna be in the snow belt, uh, up here and um, you know, I have some, some friends that are first responders or doctors or nurses, or even on the news, and they have to be at work at four in the morning and no matter what the conditions are, sometimes it's worth it to have a set of dedicated winter tires for that.
• 14:47
  Speaker 3: Or if you're an enthusiast, you're going skiing, you're going way up north or you live way up and you're constantly driving on snow, winter tires are best.
• 14:56
  Speaker 3: When you're driving on snow Clear roads.
• 14:58
  Speaker 3: Winter tires are actually a bit of a hindrance, believe it or not, which is why these all-weather tires make a ton of sense, because nowadays the roads in most areas are cleared off pretty quickly.
• 15:07
  Speaker 3: They're wet or you can wait.
• 15:08
  Speaker 3: People are working from home.
• 15:09
  Speaker 3: It's not like the old days where you had to go out, you didn't have any, um, you know, means of doing work from home or anything like that.
• 15:15
  Speaker 3: So I mean I winter tires I see dwindling a little bit, um, I mean, of course, in the extreme northern areas, canada there's, they're mandated in some places, right?
• 15:22
  Speaker 4: mountain area.
• 15:23
  Speaker 4: Yeah now, well, to that point the the best uh way a tire, a snow tire or a winter tire works, is to have those tread blocks packed with snow, because that's your traction point.
• 15:34
  Speaker 4: The snow on snow is traction, rubber on snow is not traction, so you got to pack those treads fully in order to get good traction in the snow so.
• 15:42
  Speaker 2: So let me ask you this right quick before we run out of time.
• 15:43
  Speaker 2: Like don said, we don't get much snow down here, but we do get a lot of ice.
• 15:47
  Speaker 2: Is there some consideration as far as tires go in regard to ice?
• 15:52
  Speaker 3: that we should.
• 15:53
  Speaker 3: A dedicated winter tire is going to be better on ice as well, there's no doubt about that.
• 15:56
  Speaker 3: The soft tread, the siping, the compound.
• 15:59
  Speaker 3: However, you've got to weigh it out how often you really run into it, if you can wait for it to clear off because it's an added expense, it's an added place to store things.
• 16:10
  Speaker 3: It's just one of those things.
• 16:12
  Speaker 1: All right, so we're going to end this by saying sports cars, I happen to have a C5 Corvette and they've got a set of Michelins on there that I bought a couple of years ago, isn't it right?
• 16:24
  Speaker 1: Yeah, and very happy with the tire and the price of the tire.
• 16:28
  Speaker 1: And what do you recommend?
• 16:32
  Speaker 3: So for what we call ultra-high performance, these are ZR-rated Y and W sports performance tires.
• 16:39
  Speaker 3: Yes, the Pilot Sport All Season 4 is a tremendous tire.
• 16:43
  Speaker 3: And for summer products, the Pilot 4S.
• 16:48
  Speaker 3: Michelin Pilot 4S as you can see, michelin does well with us, but these are both tires that are just phenomenal.
• 16:56
  Speaker 3: Dry, wet grip, um, michelin pilot for us.
• 16:57
  Speaker 3: Um, as you can see, michelin does well with us, but, um, these are both tires that are just phenomenal, um, dry, wet grip.
• 16:59
  Speaker 3: Uhp tires or sports car tires, they, they, you know their, their.
• 17:01
  Speaker 3: Their main strength is dry and wet grip and handling, right.
• 17:03
  Speaker 3: Um, they don't wear what they don't wear long, be a little bit stiff riding, but that's the sacrifice you make in a sports car, right?
• 17:12
  Speaker 3: Those are the picks we have for those vehicles.
• 17:15
  Speaker 1: Where can our viewers and listeners get this information?
• 17:19
  Speaker 3: ConsumerReportsorg and I actually have a little promotion for in-wheel time listeners.
• 17:25
  Speaker 3: If you visit crorg forward slash, in-wheel time forward slash, you can get $10 off a year subscription from Consumer Reports.
• 17:37
  Speaker 4: Oh man, that's cool.
• 17:39
  Speaker 1: Very nice, that's awesome, yeah, so we'll promote that before the end of the show again, just in case those people move along.
• 17:45
  Speaker 2: We should do that.
• 17:46
  Speaker 1: No, yeah, we shall.
• 17:47
  Speaker 1: Matter of fact, I printed that out here, so I just wanted to make sure that.
• 17:51
  Speaker 2: I get that in there and a nice way to segue to get him to say it Exactly.
• 17:54
  Speaker 1: Ryan, it's great to talk to you.
• 17:55
  Speaker 1: Thank you so much for devoting part of your Saturday for us.
• 17:58
  Speaker 1: I know you've got lots to do and we thank you very much.
• 18:01
  Speaker 4: Appreciate it Ryan.
• 18:03
  Speaker 1: Okay, consumer Reports.
• 18:03
  Speaker 1: There you go.
• 18:04
  Speaker 1: $10 off $10.
• 18:07
  Speaker 1: I'm telling you Alright.
• 18:09
  Speaker 1: Hey, you can catch the In Real Time Car Talk Show 24-7 on the Odyssey radio app and the In Real Time app.
• 18:17
  Speaker 1: We also video stream our weekly show on Facebook, youtube and InRealTimecom and podcasts are available from your favorite podcast provider.
• 18:23
  Speaker 1: The In Real Time Car Talk Show continues right after this quick pit stop, so stay with us.
• 18:30
  Speaker 1: The Tex-Mex dining experience is defined by Loopy Tortilla, your destination for Texas' best beef fajitas and frozen margaritas.
• 18:39
  Speaker 1: Since 1983, loopy Tortilla has served authentic and time-tested recipes made with the freshest ingredients.
• 18:46
  Speaker 1: Atmosphere is part of the award-winning experience at Loopy Tortilla, all developed in a little house near Highway 6 and I-10 in West Houston.
• 18:53
  Speaker 1: Visit any of the Loopy Tortilla, all developed in a little house near Highway 6 and I-10 in West Houston.
• 18:56
  Speaker 1: Visit any of the Loopy Tortillas and you'll see the same attention to detail in each and every location.
• 18:59
  Speaker 1: Start your Loopy experience with queso flammeado and guacamole, along with a classic frozen margarita.
• 19:05
  Speaker 1: Dine on famous Loopy beef and chicken fajitas, or pepper shrimp brochette, or a fish or vegetarian entree, and finish with a scrumptious flan for dessert.
• 19:14
  Speaker 1: Find Loopy Tortilla in Houston College Station, beaumont, austin, san Antonio and Dallas-Fort Worth.
• 19:19
  Speaker 1: There's a Texas location near you.
• 19:21
  Speaker 1: The recipes are authentic and time-tested, the ingredients always fresh.
• 19:26
  Speaker 1: Loopy Tortilla it's pretty good.
• 19:30
  Speaker 1: Is your car ready for that all-important holiday road trip?
• 19:33
  Speaker 1: Gulf Coast Auto Shield is having another Car Social Saturday, december 7th, and you're invited.
• 19:38
  Speaker 1: Bring your car, truck or SUV and find out what it'll take to get that thing looking new again.
• 19:43
  Speaker 1: Gulf Coast Auto Shield is your one-stop shop for paint detailing, coatings, window tint, clear bras, camera installs and wheel repair stalls and wheel repair.
• 19:54
  Speaker 1: The Car Social is your opportunity to get a tour of this state-of-the-art facility located at 11275 South Sam Houston Parkway, just south of the Southwest Freeway.
• 19:59
  Speaker 1: Join the Car Social Saturday, december 7th, 9 to noon.
• 20:02
  Speaker 1: Talk to other owners and see how good your car can look on the road trip.
• 20:06
  Speaker 1: To Aunt Mary's She'll want that good-looking ride in her driveway.
• 20:09
  Speaker 1: I promise Put it on your calendar the Gulf Coast Auto Shield Holiday Car Social and Road Trip.
• 20:14
  Speaker 1: Get ready.
• 20:14
  Speaker 1: Saturday, december 7th, 9 to noon at 11275 South Sam Houston Parkway, just south of the Southwest Freeway.
• 20:21
  Speaker 1: The In Real Time Car Talk Show will be there too.
• 20:23
  Speaker 1: We'll see you then.
• 20:24
  Speaker 1: Hey, welcome back to the In Real Time Car Talk Show on this Saturday.
• 20:28
  Speaker 1: We appreciate you joining us today from the In Real Time Sugar Shack Studios.
• 20:33
  Speaker 1: Glad you could join us.
• 20:34
  Speaker 1: Time now for Jeff's Motor Minute.
• 20:35
  Speaker 4: Well, the Motor Minute.
• 20:36
  Speaker 4: I want to talk about a new birth in the family of racing Tony Stewart and Leah Pruitt.
• 20:42
  Speaker 4: Welcome son Dominic James Stewart.
• 20:44
  Speaker 4: Tony Stewart has carried a lot of names over the years.
• 20:47
  Speaker 4: He's been affectionately known as Smoke Champ and for many years, or for many times over the years, he's been known as Boss oak champ and for many years, or for many times over the years, been known as boss.
• 20:56
  Speaker 4: So this past weekend, uh they tony was at the race and he had a call from from leah that she was in labor.
• 21:03
  Speaker 4: I don't know why I was on there.
• 21:05
  Speaker 4: I don't know either I just, we just like you so 53 year old tony was competing full-time in the nhra top fuel dragster ranks, received a call from Leah and she was going into labor.
• 21:15
  Speaker 4: So Tony, who qualified, flew from Pomona, rushed over to Phoenix, where he was able to make it in time for the delivery of his son, dominic.
• 21:22
  Speaker 4: Now Leah and Baby are doing great.
• 21:24
  Speaker 4: Only Tony could have pulled off qualifying rushing to Phoenix and then make it in time for the delivery, going back to the drag strip, where he actually didn't go to the final.
• 21:33
  Speaker 4: He lost out.
• 21:34
  Speaker 4: But Pruitt, 36, stepped away from the NHRA competition this season to focus on building a family with Stewart.
• 21:40
  Speaker 4: While Pruitt was out of the NHRA top field dragster, tony stepped in to fill her position.
• 21:47
  Speaker 4: So this all happened back in March of 2021.
• 21:51
  Speaker 4: When they got married In 2022, she dropped out of the racing circuit to start a family.
• 21:57
  Speaker 4: And here you go.
• 21:58
  Speaker 4: So you got uh, dominic, son dominic, james stewart in hra james stewart as in jimmy stewart.
• 22:05
  Speaker 4: Well, it could be jimmy stewart, but congratulations to the stewart family.
• 22:08
  Speaker 4: Um good for them, yeah good.
• 22:11
  Speaker 1: All right Time now for this hour's car review 2025 Mazda CX90.
• 22:17
  Speaker 1: Oh boy, I had the 3.3 Turbo S Premium Plus.
• 22:24
  Speaker 1: This is a standard SUV seating for six in three rows, all new for 2024.
• 22:32
  Speaker 1: One of the better looking SUVs on the market, I say.
• 22:36
  Speaker 1: Well balanced overall, attractive, conservative front grill.
• 22:40
  Speaker 1: What is he doing down there?
• 22:43
  Speaker 1: He's fiddling with his headset.
• 22:45
  Speaker 1: That's okay.
• 22:47
  Speaker 1: You done fiddling, okay, thank you.
• 22:49
  Speaker 1: Chrome accents give an overall high priced appearance.
• 22:53
  Speaker 1: Rear hatch and booty carries the balanced look also with uh lighting, uh beneath the glass.
• 23:01
  Speaker 1: But I liked about it.
• 23:02
  Speaker 1: Overall look gets an a in my book.
• 23:05
  Speaker 1: What could use improvement?
• 23:06
  Speaker 1: Nothing like the painted wheel, well, opening moldings on it.
• 23:11
  Speaker 1: That was different because usually the manufacturers these days don't paint them.
• 23:16
  Speaker 1: The, the, the black plastic, and it's hey.
• 23:20
  Speaker 4: Hey, hey, could you?
• 23:20
  Speaker 1: not, is yours that way.
• 23:22
  Speaker 4: Yeah, you got black plastic, I'll get gray Mine's.
• 23:24
  Speaker 4: Mine's an accent of the gray, so yours are painted.
• 23:27
  Speaker 4: Yeah, painted gray or molded gray, okay, whatever.
• 23:32
  Speaker 1: Interior highlights Standalone center screen with instrument cluster underneath the sunshade there for the driver.
• 23:39
  Speaker 1: Alcantara dash accent is attractive but it sure seems to me that could be a dirty point later on in the car's life.
• 23:48
  Speaker 1: Comfortable seating for six.
• 23:49
  Speaker 1: Overall design is attractive on the interior, cargo kind of on the small side, with the third row up, which is pretty typical for three rows of seating.
• 23:58
  Speaker 1: That back seat kids only.
• 24:00
  Speaker 1: What I liked.
• 24:01
  Speaker 1: Attention to the detail is noteworthy.
• 24:02
  Speaker 1: What could use improvement?
• 24:04
  Speaker 1: Infotainment is one of the worst in the business and I have not liked it from the beginning.
• 24:10
  Speaker 1: I shared that sentiment with our dear friend out on the West Coast, jack Nerad, and he agreed with me.
• 24:16
  Speaker 1: He said you know they need to do some work in that area.
• 24:19
  Speaker 1: 3.3 liter turbocharged engine, 340 horsepower, 369 pound feet of torque, so it doesn't lack in the power.
• 24:27
  Speaker 1: Eight speed automatic transmission towing 5,000 pounds.
• 24:29
  Speaker 1: In the power, 8-speed automatic transmission towing 5,000 pounds gets 23 in the city, 28 on the highway for a combined of 25.
• 24:34
  Speaker 1: I got 26.7 miles per gallon over 497.8 miles.
• 24:39
  Speaker 1: Are you going to say something?
• 24:40
  Speaker 1: I'll wait till you're done.
• 24:42
  Speaker 1: What I liked about it?
• 24:44
  Speaker 1: The power.
• 24:44
  Speaker 1: What could use improvement?
• 24:45
  Speaker 1: The start-stop feature kills the engine at any speed when the accelerator is not pressed and it's disturbing.
• 24:51
  Speaker 1: So you're doing 70 miles an hour and you let off the accelerator, the engine quits.
• 24:56
  Speaker 1: Okay, I'm not sure about that.
• 24:59
  Speaker 1: Transmission shift from first to second is bothersome as well.
• 25:02
  Speaker 1: What I liked about it?
• 25:04
  Speaker 1: Uh, the overall feel of the car is responsive and quick, sports car like actually, and they've done quite well in the sports car department with the Mazda Miata MX-5.
• 25:14
  Speaker 1: What could use improvement there?
• 25:15
  Speaker 1: Nothing.
• 25:16
  Speaker 1: Now, base trim price on this is $56,450.
• 25:19
  Speaker 1: It's not cheap.
• 25:20
  Speaker 1: Price is tested $57,905.
• 25:23
  Speaker 1: Base model price is $37,845.
• 25:27
  Speaker 1: Competitors to this vehicle in base and size Kia Telluride starts $36,190.
• 25:35
  Speaker 1: Hyundai Palisade $36,800.
• 25:37
  Speaker 1: And the Toyota Grand Highlander, which is a new model for them, $42,310.
• 25:42
  Speaker 1: So what were you going to say?
• 25:44
  Speaker 4: Well, I was driving in the city this week in my new Buick, by the way, and I was getting 31.2 on a 1.2 liter turbo, normally aspirated fuel injected.
• 25:56
  Speaker 4: Obviously, is it the three banger?
• 25:58
  Speaker 4: No, it's a four cylinder.
• 25:59
  Speaker 4: Four cylinder, so I was getting 31.2 miles in the city.
• 26:02
  Speaker 4: Yeah, that's good.
• 26:03
  Speaker 4: Yeah, it's very good.
• 26:04
  Speaker 4: It's not a hybrid.
• 26:06
  Speaker 1: No, it's not a hybrid.
• 26:07
  Speaker 1: No, yeah, no.
• 26:08
  Speaker 1: No, it's not a hybrid.
• 26:09
  Speaker 1: No, mine wasn't.
• 26:09
  Speaker 1: It's interesting that these new cars, especially the new ones with the much smaller engines and they're boosting them mostly turbocharging.
• 26:17
  Speaker 1: Some have a supercharger, but not that often.
• 26:20
  Speaker 1: But you've got to wonder sometimes about the longevity of it.
• 26:25
  Speaker 1: How long is that turbo going to last, and what does it take to change out the turbo should it bite the big one?
• 26:33
  Speaker 4: Well, hopefully, if it goes out, it'll go out under warranty.
• 26:36
  Speaker 4: Yeah, you know you've got three or 36 as a standard.
• 26:39
  Speaker 1: I can't imagine that they would put a turbocharger on a car these days from the factory that ain't going to last at least 50,000 miles.
• 26:46
  Speaker 1: So roll the dice, I guess, and I don't know what it would cost to change out a turbocharger.
• 27:00
  Speaker 1: I know that on a chevy truck and I think most of them, the turbocharger on the diesels.
• 27:03
  Speaker 1: They're in the center of the rear of the engine and you have to lift the cab off of the chassis to change it what you walk into a, a Ford dealership, in the service department and you see two or three of the cabs lifted up.
• 27:14
  Speaker 2: Yeah, it's just easier to get to it, and they just don't fight it, they just take it off and get to it.
• 27:19
  Speaker 4: It's like six or eight bolts.
• 27:20
  Speaker 4: You take the rack, lift it up, yeah, but you've got to unplug everything.
• 27:23
  Speaker 2: Yeah, well, like us.
• 27:25
  Speaker 4: Young guys.
• 27:26
  Speaker 2: They remember where stuff goes.
• 27:28
  Speaker 2: It's color-coded and the plugs are made so that you can't.
• 27:31
  Speaker 2: They'll only plug in one way.
• 27:33
  Speaker 1: Interchange them, okay, well, anyway, I enjoyed the Mazda.
• 27:39
  Speaker 1: I have my issue with the infotainment system?
• 27:42
  Speaker 4: Yeah, you always have, and you're right.
• 27:44
  Speaker 1: Jack confirmed that.
• 27:45
  Speaker 1: Yeah, and that's just me.
• 27:47
  Speaker 1: You might not have a problem with it.
• 27:49
  Speaker 1: All right, let us take a break, shall we?
• 27:52
  Speaker 1: If you'd like to get in touch with us, shoot us an email.
• 27:54
  Speaker 1: The address here is info at inwheeltimecom.
• 27:57
  Speaker 1: We are back after this quick break.
• 27:59
  Speaker 1: The holidays are upon us and Pro-Am Auto Accessories is your local one-stop for the auto enthusiast on your gift list.
• 28:10
  Speaker 1: Pro-am Auto has been serving Houston since 1984, providing world-class products for sports cars, european sedans and American muscle.
• 28:15
  Speaker 1: Pro-am was one of the very first distributors in the US for brands such as Recaro, redline, momo Corbo and Simpson.
• 28:22
  Speaker 1: Located in the heart of Houston's premier shopping corridor, the Galleria area, pro-am's walk-in storefront includes an 8,000-square-foot warehouse and showroom with installation and service bays.
• 28:34
  Speaker 1: Pro-am reaches a worldwide audience through ProAmAutocom, taking its local reputation to the rest of the world.
• 28:42
  Speaker 1: Holiday gift-giving is alive and well at Pro-Am Auto.
• 28:46
  Speaker 1: If you don't see what you're looking for on the website, call and Pro-Am will lend you a hand.
• 28:51
  Speaker 1: Pro-am Auto 6125 Richmond at Greenridge in Houston's Galleria area.
• 28:56
  Speaker 1: Call them at 713-781-7755.
• 29:02
  Speaker 5: Hey, houston, it's back.
• 29:03
  Speaker 5: America's greatest hot rod tradition is Thanksgiving weekend the O'Reilly Auto.
• 29:06
  Speaker 3: Parts Autorama at the George R Brown Convention Center.
• 29:32
  Speaker 1: Four days of hot rods, customs trucks and muscle cars.
• 29:33
  Speaker 1: Don't miss the Evel K.
• 29:33
  Speaker 1: That's it for this podcast episode of the In Wheel Time Car Show.
• 29:35
  Speaker 1: I'm Don Armstrong inviting you to join us for our live show every Saturday morning on Facebook, youtube, twitch and our InWheelTimecom website.
• 29:45
  Speaker 1: Podcasts are available on Apple Podcasts, spotify, stitcher, iheart Podcast, podcast Addict TuneIn, pandora and Amazon Music.
• 29:54
  Speaker 1: Keep listening and we'll see you soon.