What are the Best 16" Tires?
 

So I made a related post about 16" wheels and it looks like the added benefits of lightness, comfort, and nimbleness outweigh any reductions in grip, especially if you can get a good pair of tires on 16" rims.

So what's the best option for 16" tires? I'm looking for great performance and not too much body roll; however, excessive road noise is beyond obnoxious on the standard tires so I'd like to keep it as quiet as possible.

Currently Tire Rack only has Direzzas and Kumho Ectsas, both of which don't seem like the best options. Are these the only tire choices for a 16" rim?

Thanks!

Well I would start with round ones. They seem to ride better then square tires

There should be plenty of options in the 225/50R16.
I will be running Rays CE28N 16x8 with Bridgestone RE71R in that size.
Hankook RS3s are also a great tyre and wear well for what they are.


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I'm planning on getting OZ Ultraleggera wheels and Tire Rack says the only options are the Dunlops and the Kumhos.

Are you willing to go with a smaller diameter tire? 205/50-16 would be a nice size for 16x7 wheels, diameter is 24.1" compared to 24.7" stock. What that would give you is a .3" drop in CG though...will feel more planted and quicker to respond. Stock tires are pretty quiet...any higher performance tire is going to be louder. It's not the tires - it's the lack of sound deadening in the car.

205/55-16 would give you a HUGE choice of performance tires but with a slightly taller diameter of 24.9" and will be a couple lbs heavier than the 205/50-16 size. The Continental ExtremeContact DW comes in at 19lbs for the 205/55-16 though - that's very light for this size tire.

What are you searching for on their site?? I just did a quick search for 225/50-16, and came up with 7 different options in the Extreme Performance category alone...

By "best" tire what do you mean? For comfort and daily driving? Or full blown track/autox race competition?

Also as much as I like Tire Rack, they don't carry all the brands available. My local tire shop can get more brands at same or lower prices. Hell, Tire Rack is not the only web site that sells tires.

I did a wheels and tires package. I'm looking at 16" OZ Ultraleggera wheels and those were the only two options that came up. Am I doing something stupid? haha

I'm not looking for full blown autox or anything like that. I guess I'd say I'm looking for the ideal balance between a DD and a canyon carver. I living on the east coast so curvy roads are pretty common and I do a lot of driving just for fun. At the same time, I drive a lot of highway miles going to and from work so I'd like some added comfort, reduced road noise, etc. As lame as that sounds, having a comfortable, relatively quiet car is important to me haha.

For the 16x7 size O.Z. Ultraleggera, I'd go with a tire in size 205/55/16. Since you want comfort, I'd avoid an Extreme Performance Summer tire and go with one of the Max Performance or Ultra-High Performance selections, which have plenty of grip for street carving. Some examples in that size that were rated high in comfort (and light in weight) are the Continental ExtremeContact DW, Dunlop Direzza DZ102, and Firehawk Wide Oval Indy 500.

I think Tire Rack site is trying to insist on 215 tires, but there are very very few 215/50-16 or 215/55-16 tires to choose from.
You will want to go with either 205/55-16 or 225/50-16. Plenty of great tires available in those sizes. How wide are your wheels? 16x7 you could go either way, 205/55 or 225/45, but ideally 7.5" would be a better wheel width for 225/50.

Best tire depends on a lot of factors. Will you drive on them in colder months? Any chance of driving them on snow/ice (including possibility of trips)?

Also, don't be fooled by tire names like "Direzza" and "Ecsta". These mean next to nothing. There are many different tires in totally different performance categories that carry the same name. You have to go with the full designation, i.e. Dunlop Direzza DZ102 and Kumho Ecsta ASX (which are in two different categories, btw).

Lots of reviews and test info available on Tire Rack site to inform your decision.

I can highly recommend the ExtremeContact DW. It's just about the lightest tire in it's class, it sticks very well in the dry (well enough for an occasional autocross and not embarrass yourself), it's absolutely fantastic in the wet, and it's reasonably priced. It IS sensitive to alignment in terms of wear, so make sure you get a good one done when you do all this.

Oh - and it's also just about the worst tire I've ever used in snow, but that's no fault of the tire. If you get snow (or even just cold winters), you should be using snow tires - period.

Wow that sounds great. How is the road noise?

I don't recall them being noisy, and they were certainly quieter than the Sumitomo HTR-Z3's they replaced. Rode better, too.