For most drivers of sedans, coupes, minivans, and crossovers, all-season tires present the best solution for day-to-day driving. Some of the characteristics of these tires include great wear properties with generous limited manufacturer’s tread life coverage, solid road manners, all-season traction, capable and consistent handling, and a ride that’s quiet, controlled, and accommodating. All-season tires are a great do-all alternative for all those reasons, so it shouldn’t come as a surprise that they’re the most popular category of tires year in and year out. It also stands to reason that they’re available at every point on the price spectrum, from expensive premium brands to lesser priced brands and sub-brands that are lesser known.

We will look at the Atlander X-Sport 86, an all-season tire that’s budget-priced but can punch far above its weight class for its price point. Let’s go in and take a closer look at the Atlander X-Sport 86 review:

Features and Benefits

Here are some of the innovations and design features that make the Atlander XSport-86 a superb value and solid performer in a budget-priced all-season tire:

• Four wide grooves and open shoulders with network of circumferential and angled grooves that are designed to channel water away from the tire’s contact patch for enhanced resistance to hydroplaning
• Tread pitch designed with angled tread blocks and a randomized pattern that cancels out certain frequencies and resonances to help keep road noise low
• Performance-based all-season tire with a speed rating of V
• Advanced tread formulation is optimized for great wear properties and reduced rolling resistance, helping to reduce fuel consumption
• Steel belted radial prevents irregular wear
• Solid center rib designed for solid straight-line tracking, road manners, and agile steering response
• A dense pattern of sipes multiplies the tread’s surface area and traction with hundreds of hair-thin slits that slice and dig in through slush, snow, and standing water
• Reinforced shoulder adds rigidity to the tread for improved cornering

Pros and Cons

PROS:

• Handling and cornering are predictable and accurate
• Good traction and control on wet or dry pavement
• Good road manners
• Ride quality is quiet and comfortable
• Low fuel consumption

CONS:

• Not good in heavier snow
• It can be noisy on some pavement surfaces
• No limited manufacturer tread life warranty

SimpleTire’s view on Atlander XSport-86 Tires

Are you familiar with SimpleScore? SimpleScore is the system that the SimpleTire team developed to give you a quick at-a-glance overview of a tire’s strengths and weaknesses. We look at the tire’s spec sheet, manufacturer information, customer reviews and other data points, then process that information into a 1-10 numerical score for the categories of traction, handling, and longevity, as well as an overall average SimpleScore. For the Atlander XSport-86, the SimpleScore numbers look like this:

Atlander XSport-86

Traction: 7.4 Handling: 8.4 Longevity: 7.2 Overall average SimpleScore: 7.6

In today’s tire market, there are so many all-season tires to choose from, at every price point you can think of. When it comes to budget-priced all-season tires, it’s often a caveat emptor, “you get what you pay for” equation, but the Atlander XSport-86 is a tire that shoots high and hits the target.

On long interstate drives, the Atlander XSport-86 shows dead-on straight-line tracking and road manners, with good driver feedback. Noise levels are pretty low on most pavement surfaces, and the Kpatos’ ride quality is comfortable and refined, if a little firm. Overall, the Atlander stays composed and doesn’t get squirrely on irregular or broken pavement surfaces. Steering response is light and quick thanks to its solid center rib and cornering and handling are accurate and predictable. Remember that this is a performance-based if maybe not quite up to what you’d expect from a performance tire.

On wet pavement, the Atlander is confident and does a fine job of mitigating any tendency toward hydroplaning. We’ll admit that the Atlander has a hard time getting the job done in heavier winter weather. Still, winter traction isn't the strong suit for most all-season tires unless they are M+S rated for mud/snow or 3 Peak Mountain Snowflake certified for severe winter service.

The Atlander XSport-86 starts at a very reasonable price, making it a great tire option if you’ve got an older vehicle and don’t want to spend a ton of money on a set of tires.

Vehicles the Atlander XSport-86 is a good replacement tire for

While the Atlander XSport-86 isn’t featured as OEM on any vehicles, it would be a great replacement tire for sedans, coupes, minivans, and crossovers such as:

• Audi A4 Quattro
• Subaru Forester
• Kia Sportage
• [Chrysler Pacifica]
• Toyota Corolla
• Honda Odyssey
• GMC Terrain
• Kia Rio
• Chevrolet Trailblazer
• GMC Acadian
• Buick Encore
• Ford Escape
• Dodge Nitro
• Jeep Wagoneer
• Volvo S60
• Volkswagen Passat
• Mitsubishi Eclipse