I absolutely love my 2009 Hyundai Elantra Touring (with 17" inch wheels), and have put about 44,000 miles on it, which means it’s time (or well past) to replace the originals I still have on it. That being said, I have no idea what type of tires I should replace them with given the range of speed ratings, price, and the fact that I live in Arizona, where road surface and heat naturally factor into my decision. If I don’t want to spend $600 for new tires, what’s the best brand and type of tire I should buy for ride comfort, durability, and price efficiency? Any advice is greatly appreciated.
You should go with whatever speed rating you have on now, or better. Check Tirerack.com for reviews. Get price quotes from sears/costco/big o/pepboys and local shops and see what you get.
Tires and brakes are not stuff I usually skimp on, and I am pretty cheap otherwise.
Go to tirerack.com and see what they sell for your car in your price range. For those, look at the test results and reviews and see which meet your needs. Do you have a Discount Tire shop in your area? How about Costco or Sams Club?
I could sort of understand cheaping out on tires for a $1500 POS
But a 4 year old car deserves high quality tires.
Costco usually has Michelins for a decent price.
Your OE tires were either Hankook Optimo H426 or Kumho Solus KH16. Both have a V speed rating. If you have the Hankooks, Tire Rack rates the Kumho tires higher. You might try the Kumhos. They have similar wear ratings (380 or 400, respectively). Michelin Primacy MXM4 tires also have the V speed rating and a wear rating of 500; they’ll last 25% longer on average. The price is about $169 each vs. about $115 each for the Kumho or Hankook tires. From a price standpoint, the Asian tires are a better bargain even though you have to replace them more often. If you don’t mind dropping one speed rating, the Continental ContiProContact tires are H-rated, have a 500 wear rating, and are only $129. That’s a bargain.
Try to keep to exactly the same size tires as the original if possible. Otherwise you may experience alignment problems. Consumers Reports usually rates one or two of the Michelin tires top or near the top for roll resistance, stopping distance, and mileage. Maybe visit your local library, look thru back issues and see what CR has to say. I’ve always purchased the standard Michelin tire Costco offers for my Corolla, and been perfectly satisfied with the results.
Friend got some continental dws tires. Loves them. I see sears is selling them now. On sale too.
IMHO, asking strangers (with unknown agendas) to select appropriate tires for you is similar to asking other people to select what you will eat for dinner.
In other words, those strangers don’t really know about your food-related likes & dislikes, your possible food allergies, and possible health issues. Similarly, strangers don’t know your driving style (conservative or spirited), whether you prize tread durability over road-grip (or vice-versa), whether you are trying to optimize fuel economy, etc.
Additionally, no matter how helpful others may try to be with their suggestions, it is inevitable that those suggestions will cover only a small percentage of the tires that will fit your car. Taking one of these random suggestions may likely cause you to overlook other tires that are equally good at a lower price, or to overlook tires that are superior for your particular needs.
So, rather than asking random strangers for their recommendations, the OP needs to use objective information, and this can be found on the Tire Rack website, and in the recent tire test results from Consumer Reports magazine.
buy local. go to the nearest tire store. ask them what they recommend and what do they have in your stock tire size and rating on door sticker. you live in mild, dry, arizona. i am sure shop will have 54 selections in your size that will work fine
“i am sure shop will have 54 selections in your size that will work fine”
The tire shops in Arizona must be much larger than the ones in my neck of the woods.
In view of the proliferation of “odd” tire sizes and specs, I think it is more likely that a local tire store would have 5–or perhaps 6–selections in the size that the OP needs.
Actually, the rim size is unusual. There aren’t many tires in this size. Check it out at Tire Rack. They have a wide selection, and they don’t have many. There only 4 all season grand touring tires in the correct size with the same speed rating.