There’s a good reason why the number of light trucks, SUVs, and crossovers on the roads is growing and continues to grow. Trucks and SUVs are practical, comfortable and surprisingly refined (compared to their predecessors), and they need tires that are designed around their weight, power, center of gravity, and braking and handling properties. Like with automotive tires for sedans and minivans, all-season tires are the best solutions for most SUV drivers thanks to their year-round versatility and all-season grip, compliant and comfortable ride quality, low noise, long wear, and capable handling, and that brings us to the Radar Rivera GT10.

The Rivera GT10 is an affordable all-season tire that’s engineered for SUVs and crossovers, and a tire you can depend on to check all the boxes mentioned above. But don’t just take our word for it – we’re going to have a closer look at it through this Radar Rivera GT10 review:

Features and Benefits

Here are some of the great innovations and features that make the Radar Rivera GT10 offer buyers great value and performance:

• Contact patch is redesigned to put more rubber in contact with the road for enhanced braking, handling, traction and wear properties
• Advanced tread compound is engineered for long wear and excellent traction on wet or dry pavement
• 40,000 mile manufacturer’s treadwear warranty
• Symmetric all-season tread for good handling
• It features a system of circumferential and angled grooves to resist hydroplaning by quickly evacuating water from the tire’s contact patch
• Network of interlocking sipes multiplies the tire’s surface area and traction with hundreds of extra biting edges that handily cut through snow, slush, and standing water
• Tread pitch randomized and computer tuned, negating frequencies and resonances to keep road noise low
• Rubber cushion layer in the tire’s internal construction helps isolate vibrations and roughness for a refined ride
• Solid, reinforced shoulder blocks help boost cornering ability by resisting inertia and momentum of hard maneuvers
• Wide range of sizes for various fitments
• Internal construction includes polyester casing with twin steel belt package and nylon reinforcement layer for durability, stability at highway speed
• Solid center rib with angled grooves for excellent straight-line stability, road manners, and steering response
• Great-looking checkerboard detail on sidewall

Pros and Cons

PROS:

• Very affordable price
• Ride quality is quiet and comfortable
• Responsive handling
• Generous treadwear coverage

CONS:

• Not good offroad
• Not Three Peak Mountain Snowflake certified for severe winter use

SimpleTire’s view on Radar Rivera GT10 tires

Are you familiar with SimpleTire’s SimpleScore system? It’s the ratings system that the SimpleTire team devised to assign a numerical score for the categories of traction, handling and longevity for any given tire, as well as an overall average SimpleScore. We look at specs, reviews and other data points, sort through that information and then arrive at a rating between 1 and 10. For the Radar Rivera GT10, the SimpleScores are:

Traction: 7.5 Handling: 8.1 Longevity: 7.2 Overall average SimpleScore: 7.6

For a tire with such an affordable starting price, those are obviously some pretty good scores. The Radar Rivera GT10 delivers features and performance that you’d expect from a premium brand tire that costs far more, starting out with its 45,000 mile manufacturer’s treadwear warranty.

We’re impressed with the ride quality of the Radar Rivera GT10 – it’s supple and composed even on rough and uneven pavement, with little in the way of vibration and roughness being transmitted to the passengers. Road noise is muted, although the Radar Rivera GT10 can be a little louder on certain pavement surfaces. Straight-line road manners are stable and sedate with steering response that’s quick and precise, thanks to that solid center rib. Cornering is neutral and accurate right up to the limits of your vehicle’s handling, with little tendency toward oversteer or understeer.

Traction on wet roads is confident and reliable, with short braking distances and little evidence of hydroplaning even at higher speeds. It’s true, this is a tire that doesn’t really perform well in heavier snow, but to be honest, that’s not the strong point of most all-season tires without M+S or 3PMSF ratings. With 49 sizes ranging from 16” to 21” rims, the Radar Rivera GT10 is a great candidate for a wide range of fitments. Our overall take is that the Radar Rivera GT10 is a tire that punches far above its weight class and compares well to far more expensive premium-brand tires when it comes to value and performance. This is a great tire that would be especially appealing if you’re driving an older vehicle and don’t want to empty out a bank account when it’s time to replace your tires.

Vehicles the Radar Rivera GT10 is a good replacement tire for

While the Radar Rivera GT10 isn’t featured as the OEM tire on any vehicles, it would make a great replacement tire for makes and models like these:

• Chevrolet Silverado 2500
• Dodge Durango
• Ford Excursion
• GMC Sierra
• Honda Ridgeline
• Jeep Gladiator
• Nissan Titan
• RAM 2500
• Toyota RAV4
• Kia Sportage
• Mitsubishi Montero
• Hyundai Palisade