If you put your vehicle through the paces year-round, you need tires that are suitable for a wide range of road conditions. Each of my top picks will provide a smooth ride in every season.
FYI, prices and ratings are accurate as of time of writing.
Before we begin, here's a tip. When you buy tires from Amazon, you can have them shipped to your home, work, or a selected service center. Here are my top tire picks with hands-on reviews.
1. Fullway - High Performance Radial Tires
Highlight: Buy four tires for the price of two.
Helpful review: These tires were delivered to my front door quickly. I have an old car, or old by today's standards, that needed a set of new shoes, so I decided to give Amazon a try and see what they had available. What I found was a great way to get good stuff at an even better price.
I keep an older car handy to take around town and have it handy in case the newer cars go to the shop. The funny thing is, I have the older car, which is never in the shop, so it is available when the overpriced cars need more attention. I will not name any names, but it rhymes with Lincoln, and it takes half a day for their shop to change oil. I have the older car to get stuff done while it sits at the dealership.
I ordered the Fullway set when it needed new tires, which arrived in three days. I got them mounted at the local tire shop, and I will tell you this: Tire shops do not like putting on tires that are not bought from them. If I could find an independent store to mount them, they would get the business next time.
The tires ride very smooth and soft. If I didn't know better, I would say I bought the expensive set from the big box tire store and not a great deal from Amazon. The side walls are twice as thick as the tires, similar to those from the store, and I can tell the difference when cornering and riding on rough side roads around here.
Thicker side walls and a smoother ride result from better pavement control. The softer ride with thicker side walls tells me the way these tires are made is superior to other higher-priced tires I have bought. This set of tires grips the road impressively, and engaging that hard and being quiet is even more impressive. — Ronald L. Marshall
Get it from Amazon now: $299.99 & FREE Returns
2. CROSSMAX - SUV Radial Tire
Highlight: The tread design keeps the entire terrain quiet.
Helpful review: The old SUV needed some tires, and with the good luck I have had with Amazon tires, I went that route again with the Crossmax. The tread is aggressive for all-season or all-terrain use. These will not be mud-killing tires, nor do they claim to be, but they kick the hell out of dirt roads that can get nasty when it rains.
My only regret with this tire find is that they don't make them small enough for me to put some on my RZR rims and use them for the ATV trails. The tires roll down the road like they cost three times as much, and they keep the noise down to a minimum.
The tires perform flawlessly when moving the weight of this SUV around town and down the back roads. They handle the rough terrain and the washout roads that happen after the winter snow melts and runs down the dirt roads. What happens is the dirt that once covered the rocks in the roadway, and the only thing the tires contact is the rocky and rough surface. Luckily these sections are short-lived, or I would not take the SUV down that area; I am not sure it would all be screwed together by the time I go to the fishing spot.
The highway performance is as good as the dirt road performance. The tires handle wet roads like a champ, and I am excited to see how they perform when it snows around here. Our canyon is sometimes closed to snow-rated tires or chains, which will not make the snow-rating. Still, I am confident they will handle wearing chains if I go crazy and need to drive up a canyon that is obviously telling me to go home where the good bourbon lives. — Rob T. Owens
Get it from Amazon now: $81.99 & FREE Returns
3. Summit - Ultramax A/S Tire
Highlight: 50,000-mile guarantee for very affordable tires.
Helpful review: It's time to put some tires on my mother's minivan. This car is honestly only driven to the church on Sunday and to work the volunteer shift at the hospital once a week.
I went to Amazon to find a fit and fix to save money and rest easy by getting new tires for her van. I found these and discovered that Amazon is a great place to look for tires. When shopping for tires, I could not find a bad review for these tires, so I went ahead and placed my order. In under a week or so, four tires were delivered to my driveway, and I made an appointment to put them on her car.
This set of tires is quiet for bombing around town. If this car drives a long commute daily, it may get a rating of OK and unsuitable for noise levels. The grip they have on the blacktop is good; not too sure if I can give an excellent grip performance as they are on my mother's minivan; how would I get that report from her, and how can I get away with driving that car like that with her in it. So, I will have to rate them as reasonable. They perform great in the rain (and on wet roads), they never lose traction or slip, and… they even perform better than the ads claim.
I am optimistic the snow rating will just be OK, but we did not put them on her car to drive on the freeway or main street in the snow. She can stay home and not be bothered by that type of driving. When we take her car and go up the canyon for a ride to see the deer and get out of the house, if the dirt side roads get a little crabby, the tires perform just fine and never give me cause to worry. — Lee C. Woods
Get it from Amazon now: $91.99 & FREE Returns
4. Milestar - Sport Performance Radial Tire
Highlight: Outlasted the more expensive tires that came from the factory.
Helpful review: My niece bought a new car with expensive and flashy-name tires, and they died from wearing them at just over 20,000 miles. I got with her and showed her the tires available on Amazon, and she went with this set. So far, they still look new at the same mileage the original tires died at.
These tires are on her commuter car, which she drives about 120 miles daily. The places out here in Utah are a ways apart. They never lose traction unless she stops on the gas at the light and in the rain. I have known of only one set of tires that will hold traction when driving, as we all did in high school, and now and then revert to it out of a need in the DNA.
These tires are not rated as snow tires, and she plans on taking the Jeep on snow days or days that look like they may snow. From what we gather, if we lived in areas with massive rain and lots of standing water on the highway, these tires may not be magic. But for cheap tires that are dependable and affordable for commuter cars, these tires are the answer.
The tires are as quiet as the stock tires, making long commutes easy and comfortable. When she gets into traffic and does a lot of stop-and-go stuff, the tires grip the road and perform well in urban traffic, or as we call it around here, city driving. Now, if I can teach her to drive with one foot only, the brake pads will last as long as the tires. — Jerome Henderson
Get it from Amazon now: $154.95 & FREE Returns
5. Hankook - Kinergy Radial Tire
Highlight: Long tread wear life.
Helpful review: Once upon a time, I bought a used S10 Blazer. It needed tires, so we went and had the Hankook brand put on it. From that experience, I fell in love with the Hankook brand. When I needed tires on the car I bought to replace the Blazer, no one had them in stock anymore. That lack of Hankook availability made me sad and depressed. I got over it by paying more money for other items. I was just a little pissed off. Later in the timeline, I found Hankook available on Amazon, and the world made sense again, and things were good once more.
I put this tire on my Genesis sedan and loved how they performed. With the SUV tires I had on my little Blazer, and how they performed on my performance sedan, I have not found a tire maker I am more interested in than Hankook. The one thing that stands out the most about this tire on my car is the sound. I have to take that back; there is no sound to rate; honestly, the sound of the air rushing over the windows as I blasted down the freeway way faster than the tires made. I think this tire model should be called the Hush Maximum.
Their rubber compound is very sticky, and the tires grip like the car is wearing cleats on a football field. I don't know what they do in their compound, but for tires this sticky - they last forever. Unless the car alignment is off or the tires are not rotated as they should be, they wear perfectly. Currently, my Navigator, a big heavy truck, wears Hankook tires, and they wear perfectly.
If a tire is rated for something, the Hankook tire will perform at that job and exceed anyone's expectations. I am so happy to find that Amazon is carrying these. I plan to start replacing tires on all the cars in my world and then get more to put in the garage rafters to have on hand when the first set finally wears out. — Gregory J. Meyer
Get it from Amazon now: $150.99 & FREE Returns
6. Vercelli - Strada Radial Tires
Highlight: Two for the price of One.
Helpful review: I can't say for sure, but I think these tires may last forever. If they don't, they may be in good shape when the car finally dies and will probably be sold as used tires for the yard. These tires are on a 4-door sedan, and the car is heavy. The long and wide heavy vehicle has a great smooth ride. The ride is so soft that folks susceptible to car sickness will suffer greatly going anywhere. This car is notorious for eating tires, and this set has not shown a sign of wear.
This car is used mainly for long road trips and vacations. When it went to Las Vegas last, the tires made zero noise for the aggressive-looking tread. The car looks very stylish wearing these tires and performs even better. When the road gets wet, the vehicle performs the same as it drives down dry pavement. I have only heard anything from these tires when they drive in the rain, from the water flung into the fender wells.
These tires would also look great on a hot rod; the tread design will make the car look even better. The road trip to Vegas is long and tedious, as anyone who has made that drive from anywhere will attest. During that drive, now that it is in the past, we hit 120 mph at times and more than once. Regardless of the speed, the tires rolled the same during the drive. After pulling over to get some gas and get out to move around a bit, the tires looked perfect. When we got home and took another look at the tires, remember this car eats rubber like it is starving, and the tires still looked new but just a bit dusty. — Abe Schmidt
Get it from Amazon now: $78.15 & FREE Returns
7. Lexani - Performance Radial Tire
Highlight: The tread design is perfect for channeling water from the tread.
Helpful review: I ordered this set of tires for my daughter's car because she needs to fight the torrential rain storms that happen in her part of the world. They arrived exactly when the lead time countdown said they would, and my impatience did not make them come any faster. They looked great when they arrived, and I was excited to get them in the car.
When they arrived, I put them in the back of my Navigator and had her follow me to the shop to get them mounted and balanced. After we got them mounted, which took about 20 minutes, and one frustrated seven-year-old boy who did not want to hang out in a tire shop lobby for some reason, we took her car for a drive up the canyon near my house. The tires rode smoothly and were very quiet for the aggressive-looking tread.
After my daughter and grandkids returned home, right on cue, the rain came about 20 miles away from their house. From what we learned, the car did not lose traction, and the tires repelled water like ducks' backs. My son-in-law was driving, and my daughter attempted to get a video of how the water blasted out of the wheel wells from the tire tread pattern. But, taking a video out of the window, driving 50 miles per hour in the rain just does not work, so I will take her word for it.
When the kids got to the off-ramp, they slowed down for the turn. The speed around the clover leaf exit was about 45 miles per hour. The tires held so well in the rain that they did not feel the need to slow to a crawl. According to them, the car felt sticky to the road and did not lose traction or get wiggly in the slightest.
The tires rode smoothly and quietly for the ride home until the rain hit. The ride is also soft, and it felt like the suspension had been improved more than the new tires. I am glad I spent the time researching and shopping for this style of tire. The area they live in gets snow now and then, but for the most part, the snow melts almost instantly but leaves standing water all over the place. The tires also performed great when stopping on the wet roads and standing water in the intersections when the light turned red. I recommend these tires as I trust them to keep my kids and grandkids safe. — Berry L. Stewart
Get it from Amazon now: $123.58 & FREE Returns
8. Hankook - Ventus V2 Concept 2 Radial Tires
Highlight: I got high-powered tires at a two-for-one price.
Helpful review: Another great deal and tire from Hankook. These are riding under a Cadillac SUV and doing a great job getting the car everywhere the driver points it. These tires are indeed Cadillac-worthy and will only impress anyone who puts them on the vehicle and saves the money for gas to go and drive them to great places.
When the original tires were replaced, the driver was unsure about the ride on these tires. They felt weak compared to the original tires. The side walls are not as thick on the Hankook tires, so maybe these were a mistake. We found that the tire shop inflated them like a passenger car tire, not a light truck-style tire, so all we had to do was increase the air pressure, and the ride quality returned.
That said, if these tires were on a Bronco or Blazer or something like that, the side walls would not be thick enough to survive harsh dirt road environments. This car is a Cadillac and does not see much gravel flying around because the driver is not crazy and has to pay for damage repair themselves.
The tread pattern works well in snow and wet conditions, and the ride quality and noise levels inside the car are low to none. I followed behind this car in the rain and could see the dramatic way this tire tread design threw water out of the tread. I had to back off a few more feet so my wipers could keep pace and keep the windshield clean.
These tires will not work on a full-size SUV like my Navigator; that car needs heavier sidewalls and a load rating. A small SUV or minivan will work just fine and may benefit the MPG by moving the lighter-weight tires. Hankook makes heavier tires, as I have them on my Navigator; this specific tire is not the answer. — Rick Thomas
Get it from Amazon now: $107.99 & FREE Returns
9. TBB - High Performance Radial Tire
Highlight: Snow traction for a passenger car at its best.
Helpful review: I have an old hot rod that I love, and it feels pretty cool when I drive it around. My high school kid keeps coming out of me when I get behind the wheel of it and fire up the engine and lack of mufflers. The one thing I could never do before was drive it in the winter. Hot rod tires and snow do not mix.
I got a set of these to put on the car so I can drive it around in the winter, keeping all the seals lubed up and the battery charged, etc. I read about the ability to fight snow for this TBB set of tires, so I went to some and mounted them on some old steel wheels. I did not want to mount my snow tires or tires I would use in the snow on the mag wells. On top of not wanting to take the mag wheel in the snow, they are very wide, and this set of tires may not fit.
I don't street race this car because it is frowned upon around here, and I don't want to break the law. But if I were to race this car, these tires stick like glue on the road. I know guys that drive the street tuner cars, and they think these tires are too soft, but they do all the drifting and other things young folks do. I like to drive a loud car with the stereo up too loud and feel the wind on my head because no hair is there anymore.
My buddy drives a Porche and drove his Pirelli to the Nubs in just one summer. He did not do anything crazy and was very unhappy. After seeing how these worked on my hot rod, he also put a set on his car. He tells me that the overpriced tires will not return to the Porsche.
I can't give feedback on the sound from the tread because I can't hear much over the straight pipes. My buddy tells me his Porsche runs quietly and sticks well with these tires. What I like the most about these on my hot rod is how the tread makes it look. The more aggressive tread makes the car look even more formidable. The tires I usually run during the summer look like a lace doily or the edge of a fancy cookie. Those wide, no-traction tires put more rubber on the road if I am forced to use the gas pedal a bit too much. — Troy Larson
Get it from Amazon now: $79.99 & FREE Returns