New summer tires for HOnda Pilot

Maintenance/Repairs
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1

I am looking at installing 18 inch wheels on my Honda Pilot. Can you recommend a good set of tires for this baby that would make it corner better without giving a harsh ride.



Thanks

2

make it corner better without giving a harsh ride.

I am not sure you are going to be able to get one without the other.

I guess my first question is: What exactly do you mean “corner better” What is wrong with what it is doing now?

I don’t know where you live, but if you have any kind of potholes around there, you may want to rethink those 18" wheels.

3

The harsh ride is going to come from the lower profile tires that are required. Why not just look for high performance truck tires in your stock size.

4

As someone else has already pointed out, large diameter wheels with extremely low profile tires are guaranteed to give a harsh ride.

By “corner better”, I assume you mean pull higher lateral Gs as you go around corners faster. As I remember, Pilots don’t have the lowest center of gravity in the world, nothing like a Porsche 911 or Mazda Miata. If you do install high performance summer tires and push their performance envelope, your Pilot is likely to fall over.

I suggest you search TireRack’s web site for suitable tire and wheel combinations for your Pilot. If you really want to pull high Gs, trade the Pilot in on a sports sedan or roadster that is engineered with this in mind.

5

Thanks for your reply. Here is a long post. Please forgive.
Actually, the ride is obviously quite comfortable as it is, meaning with the original tire size (16"). The steering response, or as others have pointed out, the lateral G force is rather loose, even for a large SUV. So my goal was to improve handling and maybe styling without sacrificing too much comfort. I realize ride comfort suffers with lower profile tires. But since the Honda Pilot is one of the few still on 16 inch tires. Most others are on 17 on 18, I figured I would upgrade to 18, improve handling and the look. Thinking 18 inches might be a good size , and staying away from the 20 and 22 inches popular sizes these days.
Hence my initial question asking if people had any good tires to recommend since ride quality will vary quite a bit from different brands.