Goodyear Kelly Edge AS Review: It is an all-season tire that performs well on both dry and wet tracks and also provides you with a reliable driving experience in mild winter conditions. With its bulky tread, you can travel confidently on the dry roads.
Plus, it specifies an optimized grooves design and siping pattern.
Examine the treads on these tires closely. They hold the key to knowing which to choose. In fact if you visit my "tread design" page, picking the right tire would never bother you.
As a result, if you are driving on a wet pathway, it will efficiently prevent aquaplaning.
Besides that, it provides a comfortable ride for many years owing to its strengthened tread rubber.
FYI: Did you know that the AT version of Kelly Edge and the Goodyear TrailRunner AT is identical?
| Available tire sizes | R14, R15, R16, R17, R18, R19, R20 |
| Price | Ranges from $83 to $200 |
| Tested size | 225/55 R17 |
| Warranty | 55,000 miles |
| Pros | Presents good on-road traction during dry as well as rainy conditions, making every day traveling comfortable and quiet. |
| Cons | Snow traction is suitable only for mild weather. Plus, it is not very fuel efficient. |
| Bottom Line | Kelly Edge AS is a budget-friendly, non-directional tire best suited for passenger vehicles as it provides optimized grip and handling on both dry and wet paths, offering enhanced driving comfort and good durability. However, its snow performance is not very profound and rolling resistance is high. |
Table of Contents
Taking about its Design:
Coming from the subsidiary company (Kelly tire) of Goodyear, this all season tire specifies a non-directional tread pattern.
Its central portion is formed by three ribs consecutively arranged among four uninterrupted, stream-lined, circumferential grooves.
Blocks of these ribs are small and independent but the lateral grooves differ in size and shape.
The middle rib has slanted horizontal voids whose broadness varies on both edges while both side ribs have curved grooves.
Interestingly, the sipes on these ribs are also curved but the orientation of these sipes and voids is opposite to each other. Not only this tire has a high contact patch but its shoulders are also bulky.
Wide shoulder blocks have compact lateral spacing between them and are also marked with slanted sipes.
Shoulder grooves are interconnected with longitudinal channels for efficient water evacuation.
Tire Features:
- Edge AS provides enhanced grip and steering proficiency on a dry road due to its bulky tread pattern.
- Offers stable traction on wet paths owing high efficiency of curved grooves against aquaplaning.
- Its non-directional orientation leads to better wear uniformity, noise cancellation and ride stability. Hence, you get comfortable rides over a long duration.
Traction: On-Road:
When traveling on a dry road, Kelly AS provides a strong on-road grip owing to the large contact patch of its tread.
Multi-facet central ribs result in consistent rubber-to-road contact and upgraded biting ability on paved tracks. As a result, this tire shows high stability and responsiveness while rolling on the dry pavement.
If you are driving on a wet road, this tire would provide you with an optimized experience because its channels have the capacity to flow out a good volume of the standing water.
The curved profile of its lateral grooves makes water removal also easier and more efficient.
As a result, when the surface is cleared from the slip-causing water film, the tread offers a firm wet grip.
During the winter season, its grip on ice is as efficient as its wet grip.
However, it offers only a limited snow grip because its tread depth is menial for biting on a bulk of snow.
It works well on light snow due to the good channeling ability of its curved grooves but on deep snow, its grooves offer less vacuum than needed for proper snow evacuation. Thus, its snow grip is not very high.
On-Road handling:
On a dry paved road, Kelly Edge has an edge of its bulky shoulders, offering a controlled steering response.
When you turn your vehicle around a corner, more load comes on the tire’s shoulder blocks.
As a result, the handling efficiency is dependent upon the contact of shoulder blocks with the paved surface and as this tire has large shoulder blocks, it offers consistent connection and efficient dry handling.
On a wet or icy road, its large sized shoulder blocks are aided by lateral grooves and multiple slanted sipes.
As a result, the risk of skidding while taking turns is minimized and steering precision is enhanced.
However, compactly placed shoulder blocks present less biting ability on snowy tracks, and snow evacuation is also slower and less efficient through its narrow shoulder channels.
Consequently, snow handling is ranked moderately efficient.
Hydroplaning resistance of these tires:
The Kelly Edge AS has a good ability to prevent slipping off on a wet track because its tread channels and siping pattern are optimized for swiping water away from the tread.
With a void depth of 9/32″ it can hold a good amount of water which is then smoothly channeled out passing through its curved grooves into interconnected longitudinal voids and shoulder grooves.
Multi-directional, slanted, and curved sipes create a wiping effect, pushing water into hollow channels and away from the tread.
Are they fuel efficient?
Though increased contact patch comes with the benefit of improved road traction but it also gives rise to more rolling friction.
The same is the case with Kelly Edge when a broad surface area of its tread comes in direct contact with the road, it consumes more energy to roll forward and the fuel average is increased.
Moreover, the chances of frictional wear are increased as well.
What type of driving comfort do they bring?
Driving with Kelly Edge tires on your vehicle is a comfortable experience as it provides good on-road traction and makes less tire noise.
Good traction is credited to its broad contact patch while low noise production is attributed to its low void ratio.
Its compact voids offer lesser space for sound resonation.
Plus, sound waves are also damped down in the curved channels, resulting in low tire noise.
Life of tire’s tread wear:
Goodyear has used a robust polyester compound to mold Edge AS tires, hence, these tires offer optimized performance year after year.
As its tread rubber is resistive to wear and tear, it is consumed slowly and evenly despite facing a high rolling resistance.
That is why this tire ranks high on the UTQG treadwear scale and comes with a long mileage warranty from the manufacturer.
It is backed by a limited replacement warranty against treadwear for mileage up to 55,000 miles.
If your tires wear down more than 2/32-inch before completing the specified distance, you can get a replacement from Goodyear tires.
Kelly Edge AS Pros:
- Its bulky tread leads to enhanced grip on paved surfaces.
- Multi-oriented sipes and voids offer safety from hydroplaning.
- Non-directional design adds the benefits of stability and uniform wear.
Cons of this tire:
- Its fuel efficiency won’t be very impressive as high rolling friction is produced when its bulky tread rolls ahead.
- Snow traction is menial as shallow tread has reduced the biting ability of the tread. Plus, evacuation capacity is minimized due to its narrow grooves.
So, should you buy these tires?
