Searching for the best tires for Chevrolet Suburban? Three factors deserve your attention as you go about shopping for them. These include the Chevy Suburban trim you’re driving, the road and weather conditions you mostly drive in, and your driving style.
Start with the trim you’re driving. Chevy Suburban comes in multiple trims, including the base (LS and LT), mid-range (RST and Z71), sporty (Premier), and off-roader (High Country). All these trims have a specific character that only the right set of tires can enhance.
For instance, the RST and Z71 trims are a perfect match for touring and/or highway tires. That isn’t the case with the Suburban Premier, which performs at its best with the help of street/sport tires. The High Country trim, meanwhile, can do with all-terrain models.
Next comes your driving style and conditions. Any set of tires you pick must complement the way you drive (conservatively, moderately, aggressively). Plus, it should be made for the weather and the road conditions in which you do most of your daily driving.
In this article, we’ve rated and reviewed the ten best Chevy Suburban tires. All the models you see below can fit the previous generation of this SUV as well as the latest generation. As a result, regardless of which year Suburban you’re driving, these tires will fit the bill.
#1. Bridgestone Dueler H/L Alenza Plus – Best Overall
The Bridgestone Dueler H/L Alenza Plus is our top tire pick for Chevy Suburban. This all-season touring offers excellent road manners, has a long treadlife, and is backed with an extended warranty. Yet it’s available at a price that won’t drain your pockets.
A symmetric tread pattern is the main reason this tire offers a plush driving experience. The tread pattern’s design enables it to soak up road vibrations and deflect road noise. At the same time, it ensures an even road contact for even tread wear and a long treadlife.
This tire’s continuous center frame will help it fully exploit your Suburban’s muscular engine. The frame has the ruggedness needed to ensure high-speed stability. As a result, you won’t have to deal with any second thoughts when accelerating this gigantic SUV.
Wet traction is another area where this tire shines. Which is surprising given that it doesn’t come with circumferential grooves, the water-evacuating channels you see on most tires. But as it turns out, parallel grooves could also make eliminating water look effortless
Throw its class-leading 80,000-mile warranty into the mix, and you’d believe there is nothing wrong with this tire. Unfortunately, that isn’t true, as suggested by this tire’s poor performance on snow. So, it’s recommended to replace it during the winter season.
Pros
- 80,000-mile treadwear warranty
- Offers reliable year-round traction
- Quiet and comfortable ride
Cons
- Not designed for snow driving
#2. General Grabber HTS 60 – Best All-Season
Affordable asking price? Check. Extended treadlife warranty? Present. Superb grip and traction in dry and wet conditions? Yup. Given its ability to tick all these boxes, it shouldn’t surprise anyone that the Grabber HTS 60 gets our nod for Chevy Suburban.
Unlike both our top two picks, whose performance nosedives the moment you drive them off the highway, the HTS 60’s cut- and chip-resistant tread compound makes it a reliable performer on rugged terrains. Which is why it’s one of the best tires for gravel roads.
Despite being geared towards the off-roads, this tire hasn’t forgotten its on-road manners. A vehicle-tuned tread pattern does a fine job of keeping road noise low and vibrations away on the highway. Plus, a strong center rib provides it with superb high-speed stability.
General offers this tire in two versions to cast the net wider. The lighter version will work better with the base models of the Chevy Suburban, given its propensity for all things on the road. The heavier version, meanwhile, can tow and haul the heavy stuff.
Its 65,000-mile warranty might not look good compared to our top pick. But it’s excellent for an all-season highway tire that can come in handy on off-roads.
Pros
- Competitively priced
- Remains useful on gravel roads
- Provides excellent high-speed stability
Cons
- Isn’t a reliable performer on snow
#3. Michelin Defender LTX M/S – Best Highway Tire
The Defender LTX M/S demonstrates why Michelin has been the world’s leading tire manufacturer for well over a century. This model has all the attributes that you can expect from a premium tire. All you need to do to enjoy its features is pay its eye-watering asking price.
Michelin has molded this tire’s tread compound into a symmetric tread design to enhance its traction in dry and wet conditions. The tread pattern’s design has also done wonders for this model’s road manners, making it one of the quietest highway tires on the market.
Assuming that you’re already aware of the Suburban’s thirst for fuel, it might be welcome news for you that the LTX M/S isn’t a fuel guzzler. This model fully exploits its MaxTouch Construction to keep its rolling resistance low. It can thus enhance any vehicle’s fuel mileage.
In contrast to our top two picks, the LTX M/S can come in handy in light snow. Variable 3D sipes help it plow through harsh wintry conditions, with multiple circumferential grooves ensuring timely water evacuation for a reduced risk of hydroplaning and skidding.
Despite all these qualities, this model’s asking price might prove to be a deal-breaker. The Defender LTX M/S follows the lead of other Michelin tires in that it is prohibitively expensive.
Pros
- Backed with an excellent 70,000-mile warranty
- Offers superb hydroplaning resistance
- Comes in a large number of sizes
Cons
- Doesn’t come cheap
#4. Yokohama YK-HTX – Best Budget All-Season
The Yokohama YK-HTX is more than adequate for a highway or city-dwelling SUV. At the same time, this model has a rugged construction to withstand mild off-roading. Both these qualities make it an ideal option for most Chevy Suburban owners.
In case you’re wondering, it’s the combination of silica and Orange oil in the tread compound that provides this tire with cross-terrain utility. Silica works with its optimized tread patch to help the YK-HTX roll smoothly on the highway with maximum road grip.
Orange oil, meanwhile, gives it the flexibility needed to stay useful on wet and loose surfaces. Yokohama has also reinforced this model’s sidewalls to guard against punctures on rough terrains. The sidewall’s stiffness also translates into an enhanced steering response.
Yet, while its ride can feel a bit firm at times, you won’t have any complaints regarding road noise. Adaptive shoulder blocks and an extra layer of rubber inside the tread area ensure that most of the noise this tire encounters on the tarmac dies before reaching the cabin.
Yokohama claims that the YK-HTX has a 20 percent reduced braking distance compared to its predecessors. Which seems believable given that it comes with triple 3-D sipes (biting edges), which must also have a beneficial effect on the tire’s winter performance.
Pros
- Performs reliably in wet and wintry conditions
- Offers improved steering response and handling
- Gives a quiet and comfortable riding experience
Cons
- Might feel a bit firm at times
#5. Michelin CrossClimate SUV – Best All-Weather
The Michelin CrossClimate series is populated by four tires. These are the CrossClimate, CrossClimate+, CrossClimate 2 and CrossClimate SUV. All four are outstanding at their jobs. Yet it’s the CrossClimate SUV that deserves to be on your Chevy Suburban’s wheels.
A unique tread compound helps this tire offer the best of both worlds. It does that by helping it grip the road reliably in scorching summer conditions while also making sure that the rubber has the flexibility needed to stay useful in mild-to-moderate winter.
The same could be said about this tire’s water evacuation system. A combination of circumferential and lateral grooves doesn’t only reduce the risk of aquaplane. The manner in which it keeps the contact patch dry ends up positively affecting this tire’s wet traction.
Michelin has also provided this tire with two design elements that its predecessor lacked. Unlike the CrossClimate SUV, this model comes with self-locking grooves and perfectly floating tracks. The duo helps increase this tire’s grip on ice- and snow-laden roads.
All of this is not to say that this model is faultless. In fact, one can find plenty of things to complain about in its 50,000-mile treadwear warranty. Which seems more lackluster than it already is when you compare it with this tire’s exorbitant asking price.
Pros
- Sure-footed performance in winter
- Outstanding braking distances on light snow
- Superb dry and wet handling
Cons
- Small treadwear warranty (50,000 miles)
#6. Continental CrossContact LX20 – Best Touring All-Season
The Continental CrossContact LX20 is one of those tires whose fame isn’t affected no matter how many ‘replacement’ tires hit the market after them. This tire was released years before its successor, LX25, hit the market. Yet here it’s demanding a place on your Suburban.
There are plenty of reasons why you give this tire its wish. Its eco-friendly tread compound keeps emissions and fuel consumption low while taking its dry/wet performance through the roof. The result is a tire that costs less in the short as well as the long run.
A continuous center rib and independent tread blocks work in tandem to increase this model’s high-speed stability. The center rib also transfers most of the feedback this tire receives on the road to the wheel, thereby all but guaranteeing an enhanced steering response.
Just like the CrossClimate SUV, the LX20 also features circumferential and lateral grooves for water evacuation. However, unlike the Michelin tire, this model is backed with an excellent treadwear warranty of 70,000 miles. You can thus count on it to last 5, 6 years.
That said, there are one or two areas on which the LX20 disappoints. The enhanced steering response that its independent tread blocks provide makes this tire susceptible to vibrations at high speeds. You’d thus do well not to expect it to be as comfortable as our top picks.
Pros
- 70,000-mile treadwear warranty
- Enhanced steering response and high-speed stability
- Low emissions and fuel consumption
Cons
- Susceptible to vibrations at higher speeds
#7. Pirelli Scorpion Verde All-Season Plus – Best Fuel-Efficient
The Chevy Suburban is most efficient when you pair it with the available diesel engine, with EPA ratings of 21 miles per gallon (mpg) city and 27 mpg highway. Yet, compare these numbers with those of this SUV’s rivals, and you’d realize that they are nothing to write home about.
The good news is that the Pirelli Scorpion Verde can help you improve these numbers. A computer-optimized tread pattern, by increasing this tire’s road contact, takes aim at its rolling resistance. The result is better fuel mileage and less costly punishments at the pump.
Pirelli has seen to it that every Scorpion Verde that ever hits the market has a sound-absorbing device placed inside its tread area. This is done to help this model absorb road noise before they could reach your Suburban’s cabin and floor the driving experience.
A 65,000-mile warranty is one level below what we consider excellent. Yet this model’s relatively affordable asking price and decent road manners mean you can’t complain.
One thing you can complain about this tire is its wet performance. Its wet traction could safely carry you from point A to point B on waterlogged roads. But we still caution against trusting this tire with high-speed driving on wet and/or wintry conditions.
Pros
- Excellent fuel economy
- Decent treadwear warranty
- Refined highway manners
Cons
- Wet traction could have been better
#8. BFGoodrich Mud Terrain T/A KM3 – Best Mud-Terrain Tire
The BFGoodrich T/A KM3 is one of the best mud-terrain tires for the off-road focused Suburban’s Z71 trim. The Mud-Terrain T/A KM3 is the company’s flagship high-performance off-road model for jeeps, SUVs, crossovers, trucks, and other 4x4s on the market.
This tire features various improvements over its predecessor. A wider footprint translates into better traction on loose and slippery surfaces. An improved tread compound helps it roll more quietly than its earlier counterpart, and large voids are better at self-cleaning.
Four design elements – off-road tread compound, Krawler T/A KX inspired tread, linear flex zones, independent tread blocks – help it conquer the most challenging of terrains. The linear flex zones even give it the ability to go rock crawling when aired down.
Speaking of rock crawling, the tire’s sidewall lugs will give it all the traction it needs for the same, with its bruise-resistant compound minimizing the danger of sidewall bruising. BFG has also built sidewall cords into the tread area to provide added strength than the KM2.
Despite all these design elements, the T/A KM3 isn’t a reliable performer on snowy and icy roads. You’re thus advised to replace it as soon as winter comes knocking around.
Pros
- Extremely quiet for a mud-terrain tire
- Outstanding off-road performance in most terrains
- Boasts an exceptional treadlife
Cons
- Not the best on icy or wet road surfaces
#9. Goodyear Wrangler All-Terrain Adventure – Best All-Terrain
The Goodyear Wrangler All-Terrain Adventure is one of the few A/T tires that are as reliable for off-roading as they are on icy and wet roads. Sure, this model isn’t as good at rock crawling as the BGF T/A KM3. But on every other count, it performs better.
A soft tread compound featuring innumerable biting edges is the perfect combination any tire could ask for to plow through snow and ice. In addition to these design elements, this tire’s traction ridges further give it the power to dig into snow and find solid footing underneath.
Goodyear has equipped the tread compound with a layer of DuPont Kevlar to increase its resistance to cuts, chips, punctures, and tears. Kevlar also gives this tire the added strength it would need when driving on gravel roads or similarly challenging terrains.
Durawall Technology further raises this model’s guard against cuts, chunking, or punctures. An aggressive tread pattern featuring open shoulder blocks offers decent grip on wet roads. It also enhances the tire’s traction on mud, dirt, and even rocks.
Goodyear stands behind this tire with a generous 60,000-mile warranty. What it doesn’t vouch for is this model’s mud performance, which is nowhere near as good as that of the BGF T/A KM3.
Pros
- Backed with a generous 60,000-mile treadwear warranty
- Excellent dry and wet on-road traction
- Rides comfortably for an all-terrain tire
Cons
Mud performance could have been better
#10. Nokian Hakkapeliitta R3 SUV – Best Winter Tire
The Nokian Hakkapeliitta R3 SUV is one of the best winter tires or SUVs on the market. This model has all the features – super-flexible tread compound, winter-specific design elements, self-cleaning shape – that you can expect from a premium winter tire.
Start with the flexible tread compound. Just like other dedicated winter tires, the R3 SUV also features a compound that doesn’t get rigid near sub-zero temperatures. As a result, regardless of how much snow or ice there is on the road, this tire keeps rolling forward.
Next comes the winter-specific design elements. The most important of which is this model’s V-shaped grooves that help it offer a better grip on snow and ice. Then comes the Snow claws, which are all but biting edges in name and help shorten the tire’s braking distances.
Then there is the self-cleaning shape. Nokian has designed this model’s treads to displace water and snow from beneath the tread area before either can accumulate and hurt this model’s performance. As a result, the risk of hydroplaning is greatly reduced.
Unfortunately, there are a few counts on which the R3 could use a bit of improving. Its dry performance is nowhere near good enough as that of models mentioned above, which is unsurprising given that none of the tires reviewed above have a super-flexible tread compound.
Pros
- Excellent snow and ice performance
- Available in a wide range of sizes
- Comfortable and quiet
- Comfortable and quiet
Cons
- Dry performance could use a bit of improving
Best Tires for Chevrolet Suburban
Touring Tires – Best for Average Suburban Driver
Touring tires are the best option for the base Chevy Suburban models, such as the LS and LT trims. Touring tires strike an optimal balance between road manners, treadlife, and cost. They are also highly durable and premium touring tires come with generous treadwear warranties.
Highway Tires – Best for Towing and Hauling
Highway tires deserve your attention if you intend to use the Chevy Suburban’s base trims for towing and hauling heavy stuff. These tires have higher load ratings and stiff internal casings that enable them to do the heavy lifting with little risk of damage.
All-Terrain Tires – Best for Suburban Z71
All-terrain tires are ideal for the Chevy Suburban Z71, which rolls off the factory floor with them. These tires might not be as long-lasting as their touring or highway counterparts. But they offer everything to help you make the most of the off-road-loving Z71.
Mud-Terrain Tires – Best for Serious Off-Roading
Mud-terrain tires deserve your attention if you are into some serious off-roading. These models come with all the bells and whistles you’d ever need to traverse the slippery stuff. However, in contrast to their A/T counterparts, the M/T tires are extremely loud on the highway.
Frequently Asked Questions
What tires come standard on Chevrolet Suburban?
The Chevy Suburban comes in the following tire sizes:
- 245/75R16
- 265/70R16
- 265/70R17
- 265/65R18
- 275/55R20
- 285/45R22
How long should tires last on a Suburban?
Most Chevy Suburban tires last on average 65,000 miles to 70,000 miles. This translates to 4, 5 years of road life if your annual mileage rarely exceeds 15,000 miles. If you want to make your tires last longer, keep them properly inflated and rotate them on a regular basis.
Conclusion
Chevrolet Suburban offers everything you may ask from a full-size family SUV. All it needs from you is to install a set of tires than can enhance its qualities.
That is why we have come up with this article. All the models you see above will make you fall in love with this already likable giant.
