Recommendations for a good, all-season, standard touring tire for a 99 Camry, reasonably priced. I’ve seen recommendations for the Kumho and Yokohama, and looking for feedback or suggestions.
The toughest and most cost-effective long mileage tire is the Michelin X. This is a standard all-season tire.
What the industry calls a “touring tire” is one with better grip, softer rubber and a very short life, like 30,000 miles. The Michelin X, on the other hand, is good for about 80,000+ miles. It is slightly more expensive that the cheaper brands, but has a very long life ,so the cost per miles is very low. My last 3 cars have had these tires and they wear better than the original ones that came with the car.
Kumho tires are best known for their excellent winter and rally tires. My son has these on his Mazda in the winter and their traction is awsome. But I would not buy a summer tire from them.
Don’t buy a tire with “touring” on the sidewall because it will be a short lived sporty tire, and may have a harder ride as well.
Take a look at Toyo “Pracsis” (know the spelling is off, but close enough), had a set and very satisfied. Also price Michelin’s, they are expensive but most of the ‘non-sporting’ tires get great gas mileage, last a long time, ride quiet, smooth, and rarely fail prematurely (belt separations etc.). If you can afford them Michelin is hard to beat. Toyo is close with better pricing.
I’ve had bad experiences with Continental, good prices but poor results for me.
Have Kumho’s on a 2000 Camry now, seem to be good, too early to call on how they hold up over miles and time.
ALL tires are made by 10 or 15 major manufactures. They maintain hundreds of brand names in an attempt to control “shelf-space” in a very competitive market. A tire with a recognized brand name can cost twice as much as an identical tire made by the same manufacturer under a private label name. Google “private label tires” to see who makes what.
Look for a “All Season” tire with a tread wear rating near or over 500. If you live where there is little snow, a “touring” tire might handle a little crisper and last longer. Touring tires can have excellent tread wear.
Tire stores make their many by pushing “extras” that can add $20 or more to the price of each tire. Mounted, balanced, new valve stems, taxes, out the door. How Much?? That’s the figure that counts…
Agreed with Caddyman about the tire makers. I’ve purchased quite a few sets of so-called offbrand tires that far outperformed the name brand ones. I currently have several cars around my house with those offbrand tires, which are made by Dayton or Cooper; forget which. After multiple sets over the years, I can say they’ve all be outstanding tires.
My Lincoln and one of my son’s cars both have Sumitomos and they’ve been great too.
The only tire that I would not recommend would be a General. I’ve owned several sets of them, know others who have also, and none of them held up.
Remember when tire mounting, balancing, and new stems were all thrown in when the tire was purchased? Here in OK they tack on a state mandated tire disposal fee (2 bucks) to every new tire sold or changed up to a 17.5 inch rim size. Over that the fee goes up even more.
For some odd reason motorcycle tires get hit harder on this fee than car tires.
Here in OK the state even tacks on a tire disposal fee to the title registration fees when someone moves here, even though tires are not even part of the equation.
Not necessarily, many “touring” tires are rated for 50k or more. Dunlop, Michelin, Goodyear,BFG, and many others having “touring” tires rated for 60k
Wal-Mart is notrious for this. Goodyear sells cheap tire to Wal-Mart/Sams Club that they don’t sell in their own stores. To me that is a red flag that screams “tires built to a cost”. I would be very wary of such tires. BF Goodrich does the same thing.
I’ve been very happy with my Hankooks. They’re quiet, track great, have good all season traction, are giving me good wear, and are affordable.
I’ve been using Cooper for my truck tires for years…GREAT tires. When my wife needed new tires on her Lexus we went with Coopers. Only has about 10k miles on them…but so far we’re very impressed with the tires.
I have been using Sigma’s Shadow tires on my truck with no problems. They are about $40 each out the door.
Check out tirerack.com, you can check reviews, rating and specs. Whether or not you buy from there, you get an idea of relative cost between tire models and the specs of each.