New Tires

[Little Red]

Coming to the end of life for my stock tires and just wondering if anyone had any good suggestions on what to replace them with? I currently have the stock Hankook 205/50R17 but I would like to switch to something different. I am leaning toward the General AltiMAX RT43. Any thoughts?

 

[SuperSonic15]

Kelly Edge A/S Performance tires...made by Goodyear...$365 out the door.
My goal was to find a set of inexpensive quality brand tires. I don't drive far for work.

Just had these installed over the weekend. Good reviews at a good price. Not bad looking, as well. Much meatier tread than the stock. opcorn:

 

[Stew]

I've got about 25k miles on my 225/45-17 BFG G-Force Sport Comp-2 tires and I really like them, would recommend for sure. They weren't too expensive, about $120 a tire.

 

[RMinNJ]

Stay away from the Hankook ventus pros. ..I put those on my used wheels I brought because they were cheap..kicking my self now as I can feel the backend swing out if the road is a little wet..I will never buy Hankook tires ever again in my lifetime.

If I had to do it again I'd get the generals or spring for the goodyears or better..

 

[5.0]

I'm extremely happy with my Continental ExtremeContact DWS06.

 

[MaD]

I love my DWS' s... 225/40/18 due to all the driving I do...

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[navyjag10]

Hankook

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[JesusTheAgnostic]

I think my car had those Kelly edge tires when I bought it. I wouldn't recommend them if you like handling and performance. The Sumitomo HTR ZIII handle great, have a ton of grip and cause your MPG to drop by around 7-10 MPG. So I wouldn't recommend those either if you like good MPG. I don't know what I'm gonna try next...

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[SuperSonic15]

The Kelly Edge a/s tire spec weight is only 17.98

With my lightweight sonic, the tires seem to handle nicely.
Of course, they are new comparatively. Tread warranty is 55k. That will be another story. However, not expensive at all for a Goodyear brand.

 

[Little Red]

Has anyone tried the General AltiMAX RT43?

 

[UltimaSanctus]

I agree with stew. The BFG comp 2s are a great tire and an amazing improvement over the stock hankooks

 

[Z71]

Before you continue bashing the OEM tires on this car, consider this: I have 72k miles on my original tires and there is still thread left! The tires were never rebalanced from new because they never developed any vibration issue. The tires wear absolutely evenly, no feathering on edges, or any other uneven wear. I have never owned a more trouble free set of tires that would not require attention such as periodic rebalancing. And not a hint of vibration at any speed even now! I rotated mine from front to back about every 10k miles. The car never needed any alignment either.

Keep in mind that the OEM Hankooks are model 428, which is more expensive that some entry level Hankooks which may not be nearly as good. I cannot comment on snow traction of these tires because I live in Florida, but they seem to have decent traction in wet conditions.

 

[SouthFLSonic]

Before you continue bashing the OEM tires on this car, consider this: I have 72k miles on my original tires and there is still thread left! The tires were never rebalanced from new because they never developed any vibration issue. The tires wear absolutely evenly, no feathering on edges, or any other uneven wear. I have never owned a more trouble free set of tires that would not require attention such as periodic rebalancing. And not a hint of vibration at any speed even now! I rotated mine from front to back about every 10k miles. The car never needed any alignment either.



Keep in mind that the OEM Hankooks are model 428, which is more expensive that some entry level Hankooks which may not be nearly as good. I cannot comment on snow traction of these tires because I live in Florida, but they seem to have decent traction in wet conditions.

I didn't change my stock hankooks till just under a 100k miles and still had good life left. I only got new tires because I wanted wider. I live in FL also so I'm sure that may have something to do with it.


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[gnonne]

Hankooks?

Read the reviews on your stock tires at tirerack.com ... I think they get 3 or 4 out of 10 for the average review.

They are completely useless in snow and even switching back and forth between the stock tires and snows in winter, all four were worn below the wear bars at 60k on my wife's Sonic, and she drives very conservatively.

Right now I have the Pirelli P4 Plus tires that Sam's sells on two of my three Sonics. Depending on size and speed rating, they are warranted for 70k or 90k. HUGE improvement over stock, but certainly a "soft" non-performance tire. MPG dropped slightly 0.5-1.0 mpg since these are not LRR tires.

 

[Stew]

Before you continue bashing the OEM tires on this car, consider this: I have 72k miles on my original tires and there is still thread left! The tires were never rebalanced from new because they never developed any vibration issue. The tires wear absolutely evenly, no feathering on edges, or any other uneven wear. I have never owned a more trouble free set of tires that would not require attention such as periodic rebalancing. And not a hint of vibration at any speed even now! I rotated mine from front to back about every 10k miles. The car never needed any alignment either.

Keep in mind that the OEM Hankooks are model 428, which is more expensive that some entry level Hankooks which may not be nearly as good. I cannot comment on snow traction of these tires because I live in Florida, but they seem to have decent traction in wet conditions.

I don't really push my tires and tbh I wasn't unhappy with the original tires either. I ended up replacing mine around 70k because one of them developed a separated belt, they still had maybe another 10k miles worth of tread though.

 

[The Champ]

Before you continue bashing the OEM tires on this car, consider this: I have 72k miles on my original tires and there is still thread left! The tires were never rebalanced from new because they never developed any vibration issue. The tires wear absolutely evenly, no feathering on edges, or any other uneven wear. I have never owned a more trouble free set of tires that would not require attention such as periodic rebalancing. And not a hint of vibration at any speed even now! I rotated mine from front to back about every 10k miles. The car never needed any alignment either.

Keep in mind that the OEM Hankooks are model 428, which is more expensive that some entry level Hankooks which may not be nearly as good. I cannot comment on snow traction of these tires because I live in Florida, but they seem to have decent traction in wet conditions.

I have no problem bashing the OEM tires.

Why?

Because my primary judging criteria is not simply the number of miles they may or may not deliver.

I took my OEM tires off at 2000 miles and replaced them with a set of Goodyear Eagle Sport all season tires. The difference in handling was amazing - and they also work great in the snow and rain.

This is what the owners of Hankook 428's have to say about these tires:
(based on a scale of 1 - 10)

Would You Recommend? 1.8 - Unacceptable
+Wet Performance4 .5 - Poor
+Dry Performance 5.9 - Fair
+Winter/Snow Performance 1.5 - Unacceptable
+Comfort Performance 5.8 - Fair
Treadwear Performance 5.8 - Fair

 

[Groove]

I've always ran a summer set Continental extreme contact DW which is now extreme contact sport and for the winter Michelin X-ice and I love that combination. Honestly can't beat the traction but it does require two sets of wheels. I do a lot of driving and to me the extra traction is well worth it. Just my $0.02. If you want all season i have heard good things from the continental DSW or Goodyear assurance triple tread


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[Papasonic]

I also have no real complaints with the OEM Hankook tires except that they are definitely not acceptable for driving in snow. My Sonic's have the 17" option tires, and handling, braking, and wet performance are acceptable for my usage. I do realize that there are superior tires available, but for a stock OEM tire, there could have been a lot worse choices made.
I currently have Firestone Firehawk Indy 500 - 235/45/17 installed on Enkei 17/7.5 wheels. These are summer only tires, and not suitable for snow or cold weather usage. I like them OK; purchased them from a former forum member who sold his Sonic last year.

 

[shorebreeze]

I have no problem bashing the OEM tires.

Why?

Because my primary judging criteria is not simply the number of miles they may or may not deliver.

I took my OEM tires off at 2000 miles and replaced them with a set of Goodyear Eagle Sport all season tires. The difference in handling was amazing - and they also work great in the snow and rain.

This is what the owners of Hankook 428's have to say about these tires:
(based on a scale of 1 - 10)

Would You Recommend? 1.8 - Unacceptable
+Wet Performance4 .5 - Poor
+Dry Performance 5.9 - Fair
+Winter/Snow Performance 1.5 - Unacceptable
+Comfort Performance 5.8 - Fair
Treadwear Performance 5.8 - Fair

I firmly endorse this, except to add that the wet performance of the stock tires in my view was not merely "poor" but "unacceptable", and I did not want to wait until winter to find out whether or not the winter/snow performance was "beyond horrifying."

I went for Nokian WRG3 all-weather tires. For the Great Lakes portion of the Upper Midwest, including all the snow belt areas, the Chicago metro and most of the entire states of Minnesota, Wisconsin and Michigan, these would be my choice far beyond any others. You might also look at Toyo Celsius which have similar winter and summer performance to the Nokian, a slightly longer tread warranty but not quite as good performance in the rain as the Nokian. For places with hotter peak summer temperatures and/or less snowy or icy weather, the equation changes a fair bit. Those with more persistent and deeper snow cover in the winter may find even the all-weather tires insufficient and you'll want separate sets for winter and summer, though the Nokians, unlike regular all-seasons, meet local and Canadian province requirements for winter-rated tires.

Those who encounter snow should check out Marathon Automotive in Traverse City, Michigan, which has a very useful set of tire reviews on its web site--all-season, all-weather, winter and performance tires--for snow and ice performance.

 

[shorebreeze]

Before you continue bashing the OEM tires on this car, consider this: I have 72k miles on my original tires and there is still thread left! The tires were never rebalanced from new because they never developed any vibration issue. The tires wear absolutely evenly, no feathering on edges, or any other uneven wear. I have never owned a more trouble free set of tires that would not require attention such as periodic rebalancing. And not a hint of vibration at any speed even now! I rotated mine from front to back about every 10k miles. The car never needed any alignment either.

Keep in mind that the OEM Hankooks are model 428, which is more expensive that some entry level Hankooks which may not be nearly as good. I cannot comment on snow traction of these tires because I live in Florida, but they seem to have decent traction in wet conditions.

If I lived at, say, a lower elevation in Arizona or southern California, I'd consider keeping the stocks. They look very hard wearing, they rode smoothly for the 2,000 miles I had them, and they're good in dry conditions. But I was bordering on hydroplaning on them in steady Midwestern rain and that was enough for me.