Best Tires for the Toyota Corolla

1.Michelin Energy Saver A/S

Ride Quality: 8 Noise Comfort: 8 Handling: 8 Traction: 8

Michelin is one of the top tire manufacturers of tires in the world and their latest product, The Energy Saver A/S brings their superior tire technologies to the mainstream cars specially developed for compact sedans such as the Toyota Corolla.

It is one of the most fuel-efficient tires developed for drivers of fuel-efficient and hybrid passengers cars for people who want to exploit maximum fuel saving without compromising on performance comfort or grip. Low rolling resistance means that the car uses less fuel and as a result, emits fewer emissions thus saving the environment. It is especially suited to the Corolla Hybrid models.

The Energy Saver A/S benefits from Michelin's EnergySaver construction combined with a unique silica-based tread rubber that keeps the tire cooler and lowers rolling resistance, thus increasing fuel efficiency. This compound is moulded into a symmetric design that contains siped, independent tread blocks giving safe, predictable handling for when you need to quickly manoeuvre or stop your car. Circumferential and lateral grooves direct water through the tread design to help resist hydroplaning and enhance wet traction.  Not forgetting comfort, Michelin Comfort Control Technology uses computer-optimized design and precision manufacturing to reduce vibrations and road noise to keep the vehicle quiet.

 However, they are very expensive tires and while good at everything they aren’t class leading in any category.

2.Goodyear Assurance All-Season

Ride Quality: 7 Noise Comfort: 6 Handling: 8 Traction: 8

Goodyear is a well renowned and established brand. Their entry-level offering, Goodyear Assurance All-Season Tires are specially designed for compact cars. The tire is an all-rounder and reasonably priced making it an ideal choice for the family man or young student who needs an economical tire that does not sacrifice safety or performance.

Assurance All-Season tires feature an all-season compound moulded into asymmetric tread design featuring stable independent shoulder blocks that promote confident dry and wet road handling. The tire has four wide grooves to enable rapid evacuation of water and slush to enhance traction and safety in challenging conditions allowing you to corner safer, brake quicker and get up challenging hills or low traction situations easier.

The tire also has sipes on the edges allowing it to bite into light snow while the tire's internal structure includes a polyester cord body and twin steel belts to combine resistance to punctures or damage enhancing durability.

3.Nexen Class Premier CP671

Ride Quality: 7 Noise Comfort: 7 Handling: 8 Traction: 8

A surprise entry, Nexen may not be as well known a brand in the tire world but their Class Premier CP671 tire is a hidden gem. Combining a quiet and comfortable ride but without sacrificing handling nor traction in the wet or dry.

This tire is praised for its superior road grip and feedback and can make the driving experience of your Toyota Corolla pleasurable and comfortable. It achieves this through symmetric block design with broad shoulder blocks and a continuous centre rib to promote cornering and directional stability.

The structure of the tire is also solid with twin steel belts reinforced by spirally wrapped nylon on top of a polyester casing enabling great lateral strength and resistance from bending while cornering. This allows for great handling and reduces unsafe understeer on an FWD car such as the Toyota Corolla. It is reasonably priced too hence we wonder why pay more for a premium brand if the Premier Class CP671 can satisfy most people without breaking the wallet.

1.Michelin Crossclimate2

Ride Quality: 10 Noise Comfort: 10 Handling: 10 Traction: 10

The Crossclimate2 by Michelin is a gem of a tire. It combines best in class handling, noise comfort, ride quality as well as all year round performance leaving nothing to be desired. This tire does the impossible, gives snow traction in the winter yet performs excellently in summer, resisting shredding at higher temperatures or losing grip.

This is all down to the 3rd Generation technologies Michelin has pioneered into the tire such as  Michelin's Thermal Adaptive all-season tread compound in the shape of a V-Formation directional tread design. Michelin also utilized their PIANO Noise Reduction which uses augmented tread geometry to reduce noise. Spirited drivers will appreciate the exceptional levels of longitudinal dry grip, which is promoted by the centre portion of the tread, with blocks that align with fore and aft forces.

Choose this tire if you want to improve the driving experience of your Toyota Corolla to make it even better than what it felt with factory OE tires. This tire is not cheap, but for all the right reasons, well worth its premium for the consumer who wants the best for their vehicle in all conditions.

2.Vresdestein Hitrac All Season

Ride Quality: 10 Noise Comfort: 10 Handling: 10 Traction: 10

Another outstanding tire and available in a multitude of sizes and speed ratings, The Vresdestein Hitrac All-Season is an excellent grand touring tire for the Toyota Corolla built to deliver a pleasant and reassuring drive at a reasonable price while providing outstanding longevity. It is ideally suited for those who wish to get the maximum amount of miles from their tires while maintaining a smooth ride thanks to an optimized tread block contour and pitch sequence that enhances noise comfort.

This does not mean that dry performance is compromised. It’s wide tread pattern enables quick change of direction allowing you to make emergency manoeuvres with ease without losing control. Wet performance is also superior as it contains similar 3D Sipe technology on the tread edges such as the more premium brands, enabling for quick evacuation of water, providing strong resistance to aqua planning.  The tread blocks at the edges also aid winter performance and the tires perform adequately for the winder given it is a Grand Touring tire.

While the tire may not be well known or have spent enough time in the market to have made a name for itself like the more premium brands, it is definitely a tire that you should consider even if it is not a tire you may go immediately to buy without trying out the competition.

1.Goodyear Assurance WeatherReady

Ride Quality: 9 Noise Comfort: 9 Handling: 9 Traction: 10

The Assurance WeatherReady is a winter tire version of their renowned Assurance line but the WeatherReady has a severe snow service rating, making it ideal for winter months where there is snow and ice.

Goodyear engineers spent a great amount of time developing and testing this tire in cold climates and employed the use of a soy-based rubber tread compound so that the tire maintains grip even when the temperature gets below freezing. 3D Treadlock Technology Blades help present in the centre and outer ribs provide excellent cornering stability while having an effective evacuation of water and slush.

The Engineers left no stone unturned by incorporating Evolving Traction Grooves which enable the tire to have a consistent level of performance even as the tread wears. Thus, no longer does the driveability of the tire diminish as it wears down but these tires shall last a long time without trailing off in grip. The WeatherReady zigzag edges bite into the snow to provide superior traction but these also serve as their biggest downfall as they create excessive noise on dry pavement. Moreover, the Assurance WeatherReady also wear out quickly if driven aggressively.

2.Bridgestone Blizzak WS 90

Ride Quality: 9 Noise: 8 Comfort: 9 Handling: 9 Traction: 9

Bridgestone is one of the oldest tire manufacturers founded in 1931 in Japan. A pioneer of the segment of winter tires Bridgestone has been making class-leading winter tires with their Blizzak series and the WS90 is their latest offering for compact sedans and crossovers. These tires offer dependable go-anywhere grip capability that makes an FWD car such as Corolla nearly as capable as an AWD car on regular tires. Bridgestone has always made a commitment to use the latest technologies in their tires for the benefit of their customer and it shows.

Bridgestone's EdgePerformance Technology built into the tire features interlocking sipes instead of simple 3D ones, allowing for strong grip and elongated service life. These tires also employ silica enhancements in the rubber to resist susceptibility to large changes in temperature preserving tire life.

Thus not only do these tires meet the industry’s severe snow service requirements but also are stamped the three-peak mountain snowflake (3PMSF) symbol. This does mean that these tires are not particularly efficient with sub-par rolling resistance nor are they especially cheap. However, you are paying not only for the tire but the research and development behind it that Bridgestone brings to the package.

1.Continental ExtremeContact Sport

Ride Quality: 8 Noise Comfort: 8 Handling: 10 Traction: 10

Continental is a premium tire manufacturer whose tires are often OE equipment for the highest performance cars such as Mercedes. The ExtremeContact Sport range from Continental is a dark horse in the fact that most people associate Continentals with comfort but this series show that a high-performance tire does not have to sacrifice comfort or road noise in order to deliver exceptional levels of performance.

It features a 5 rib asymmetric design with a specially designed outside shoulder designed to provide quick steering response and lateral stability. Continental's patented +Silane tread compound technology continues to grip the pavement even harder as the torsional loads and temperature of the tire rises. Thus if you want to go canyon carving or want to enjoy a nice mountain road without sacrificing comfort these are the tires for you.

Not all is perfect, these tires are exceptionally soft and can get easily damaged or punctured. They are also unforgiving if run for an excessive amount of time at low pressures as they develop issues with the sidewall of the tire and thus have a short life. Wet weather performance is not the best in class either.

2.Hankook Ventus V12 Evo 2

Ride Quality: 8 Noise Comfort: 7 Handling: 9 Traction: 10

Hankook Tires are OE tires for many Toyota vehicles and are a trusted manufacturer. Therefore, the Ventus V12 Evo 2 series is highly suited for those looking to upgrade from their OE tires for something having higher grip, better braking characteristics and great feedback for enthusiastic driving.

The tread is a relatively old school design as it is directional instead of asymmetric with intermediate ribs flanking a centre continuous rib. What this means is that there is more contact patch with the road providing greater grip but these tires perform poorly in the wet and are exceptionally noisy. One cannot complain too much, however, as they are super inexpensive compared to any class of tire you can buy so if it is all out performance you are after and you want an inexpensive tire that you can drive to the fullest even if it wears quickly and these are the ideal candidate.