The 8 Best Tires for the Kia EV6
The Kia EV6 is one of the best luxury electric SUVs for families, thanks to its plush ride, extended range, and super-fast charging. However, the tires that come with it don’t do justice to its qualities, so you’ll need new ones as soon as your pocket allows.
Go for the Bridgestone WeatherPeak if your area receives lots of rain. On wet roads, these tires outperform the stock tires of your EV6 on almost every count. You can also use them in wintry conditions, and they come with a long treadwear warranty.
Not willing to make that tradeoff? Bridgestone’s Ecopia EP422s might be more amenable to you. Besides hitting the sweet spot between performance and range, they also boost an extended tread life. However, they may not be best for snow driving.
Speaking of snow, the Michelin CrossClimate 2 tick all the boxes. Despite not being dedicated winter tires, they can safely carry you from point A to B in harsh wintry conditions. And the best thing about these tires is that they won’t harm this EV’s range.
Read on for more recommendations.
Best All-Season Tires
The majority of EV6 owners prefer all-season or all-weather tires due to their high fuel economy, superb road manners, and long road lives. Also, if you pick your A/S tire carefully, you may not have to replace it in mild to moderate wintry conditions.
#1. Bridgestone WeatherPeak
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Several qualities make the Bridgestone WeatherPeak an exciting pick for EV6 drivers.
First, it’s one of the best tires for driving in the rain. Whether the roads have just received a downpour or a drizzle, the Weather Peaks will help your EV6 brake, turn, and accelerate smoothly.
Second, it can safely navigate harsh wintry conditions. A super-flexible tread compound, as well as numerous biting edges, keep its grip firm on snow and ice. As such, you won’t have to go look for another pair when the weather takes a turn for the worse.
Don’t believe our word? The Three Peak Mountain and Snowflake (3PMSF) symbol on its tread reinforces our claims. This symbol indicates that the Weather Peaks are rated for severe snow driving. You can thus count on it to safely carry you in harsh winters.
Third, you can count on it to maintain your EV6’s range, thanks mainly to its rolling resistance, which is lower-than-average for an all-weather tire. It’s this quality that convinced us to recommend this SUV’s twin, the Hyundai Ioniq 5, to those who drive it.
Lastly, as mentioned above, these tires’ treadwear warranty (70,000 miles) is above expectations.
Pros
- Excellent traction on wet roads
- Carry 3PMSF and M+S emblems
- Won’t hurt the EV6’s range
Cons
- Slightly premium price
#2. Bridgestone Ecopia EP 422 Plus
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Besides its extended treadwear warranty (75,000 vs. 60,000 miles), the Ecopia EP 422 Plus offers several reasons to pick it over the CrossClimate 2.
The first of which is that it offers the best of both worlds. While its wet performance matches that of our top pick, this tire’s rolling resistance (and, by extension, wear rate) is much lower. This means a longer road life and much better fuel economy.
Need proof? Check out the internal tests conducted by Bridgestone on this tire. These tests indicate that the EP 422 Plus’s rolling resistance is 23% lower than its predecessor. The result? An additional 20 miles in mileage with a full battery.
You may also find it pleasing to note that they soak small bumps with ease. As long as you’re driving at a steady pace on the highway, they will stay quiet.
Another reason you may want to pick this tire is that it does well on unpacked snow (a fancy word for describing snow scattered by traffic). However, on deep snow, it struggles. You would thus need to replace it with a set of dedicated winter tires (mentioned below).
Pros
- Incredibly fuel efficient
- Quiet and comfortable ride
- 75,000-mile treadwear warranty
Cons
- Might not be the best tire for harsh winters
#3. Continental CrossContact LX25
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At the cost of sounding biased, the CrossContact LX25 is one of the best SUV tires money can buy, even for electric models such as the EV6.
One of the main reasons we rate it among the market’s top SUV tires is that it minimizes body roll, one of the major problems faced by most SUVs. It does that by staying glued to the road, come what may. This, in turn, makes your drive more stable.
Also, just like the three above tires, it can enhance your SUV’s mileage. Multiple reviews from previous owners (which you can read here, here, and here) testify to this effect.
Yet another quality of this tire is that it absorbs bumps without breaking a sweat. A vibration-absorbing foam attached to its sidewall makes sure of that. You can thus count on the LX25 to help you fully enjoy the plush ride the EV6 is highly famous for.
To further sweeten the deal, Continental backs this tire with a 70,000-mile treadwear warranty. This indicates up to 5 years of road life for the average US driver.
Pros
- Superior road grip minimizes body roll
- Absorbs small road imperfections effortlessly
- Backed by a 70,000-mile treadwear warranty
Cons
- Doesn’t come cheap
#4. Michelin Defender LTX MS
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Do you do most of your driving on the highway? If so, opt for the Defender LTX MS.
One of this tire’s best qualities is that it offers a refined ride. One that is free of vibrations, road noise, and all the other stuff that could hurt ride quality.
Another thing I like about this tire – and which my fellow EV6 drivers may appreciate – is its excellent mileage. While I won’t go so far as to claim that it can rival EV tires in terms of fuel economy. Yet, what I can say is that it will reduce your trips to the charging station.
Then comes its ability to react quickly to steering inputs. Equally commendable is its excellent road grip. This combo allows you to execute quick lane changes without worrying about excessive body roll.
Want to hear more good news? Michelin backs this tire with a 70,000-mile treadwear warranty, a highly impressive number for a highway tire.
There’s, however, one problem with this tire – it isn’t engineered for snow driving. If that is a deal breaker, but you still want a tire from the same family, opt for the Defender 2. That tire combines everything good about the LTX MS with decent snow performance.
Pros
- Delivers a refined ride
- May improve your EV’s range
- 70,000-mile treadwear warranty
Cons
- Not for snow driving
Best High-Performance Tires
There are several reasons why the EV6 comes with stock HP tires. Besides helping you fully exploit this SUV’s sweet driving dynamics, these tires make the EV6’s steering even sharper and its handling slightly more well-balanced. That said, the range may take a hit.
#5. Pirelli P Zero PZ4
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If you’re more likely to push your EV6 to the max than worrying about ‘trivial’ stuff like its range, the Pirelli P Zero PZ4 may fit the bill.
Pirelli has equipped this tire’s tread with a silica and carbon black tread compound. Why should that concern you? A rubber’s silica content directly impacts dry performance. With 50% silica in its tread, the PZ4 should offer excellent dry handling.
The remainder of the tread compound is made up of carbon black, a substance that is crucial for wet performance. As such, you can expect short braking distances, controlled acceleration and cornering, and high lateral grip in slippery conditions.
To further up the ante, Pirelli has opted for an asymmetric tread pattern with wide shoulder blocks. While the former should enhance this tire’s grip, shoulder blocks improve responsiveness and handling, making the PZ4 a capable UHP tire.
All the above features may convince you to push this tire to its limits. For other tires, that would have raised the risk of premature deformation.
Luckily, that isn’t the case with PZ4. Want to know why? Its internal steel belts have been wrapped with Kevlar to lower the risk of warping.
Pros
- Excellent dry and wet performance
- Direct and responsive handling
- Decent refinement for daily driving
Cons
- May begin to lose traction upon getting too hot
#6. Kumho Crugen HP71 EV
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If all the above tires fail in wooing you and you’re the sort of person who doesn’t like rocking the boat, why not stay with the OEMs?
Sure, the Crugen HP 71 EV tires do have their fair share of shortcomings (which is why so many people want to replace them in the first place).
In order to strike a balance between performance and mileage, they have cut corners in various other areas. Their feedback is average; handling isn’t as great as you may get on some other UHP tires, and they may slip on wet roads when at slow speeds.
However, they also have a fair amount of qualities you cannot ignore.
Take rolling resistance. Many drivers I have spoken to claim they are yet to find aftermarket tires that can rival the HP 71 EVs in maintaining their EV6’s range. Also, they stay quiet for the most part and offer a decent tread life, as long as you don’t repeatedly push them to the max.
All of the above is to say that the HP71 EVs aren’t everyone’s cup of tea. You may like them if you can put up with average dry performance in return for excellent range.
Pros
- Best in terms of range
- Stay quiet for the most part
- Offer a decent tread life
Cons
- May slip on wet roads at slower speeds
Best Snow Tires
If your area receives more than its fair share of snow, don’t fool yourself into believing that regular all-season tires would keep you safe out there. Only dedicated snow tires or, as noted below, all-weather tires should be used when the weather has become worse.
#7. Michelin CrossClimate 2 SUV
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Despite my strong belief in the in the need of dedicated winter tires during the colder months, I’m willing to make an exception for the CrossClimate 2s.
Mainly because I have seen how well these tires perform on snow. Not only are they able to brake, accelerate, and corner effectively. The CrossClimate 2s can also stay flexible in lower temperatures. This is a quality I have yet to see in any other non-snow tire.
Another reason I’m recommending this tire is because I know how much damage winter tires normally do to an EV’s range. In return for that little bit of extra traction (vis-à-vis CrossClimate 2) in harsh wintry conditions, those tires decimate an EV’s mileage.
Fortunately, the CC2s are different. These tires do an excellent job of retaining the EV 6’s range (you can verify this by speaking to any tire dealer of your choice).
Best of all, they come with a 60,000-mile treadwear warranty. This warranty appears lackluster compared to tires in the same category. Yet, juxtapose it with that of winter tires, and your respect for the CC2s would go up.
Pros
- Excellent traction on wet roads
- Carry 3PMSF and M+S emblems
- Won’t hurt the EV6’s range
Cons
- Average treadwear warranty
#8. Nokian Hakkapeliitta R5 EV
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Not willing to tempt your luck with non-winter tires on the snow? In that case, the Nokian Hakkapeliitta R5 EVs should be on the top of your wish list.
Just as with other Nokian tires, these have been developed and tested in Ivalo, one of the world’s northernmost regions that experiences one of its most brutal winters. This fact alone should convince you of the R5 EV’s impeccable snow-driving credentials.
Another fact that favors them is that these tires feature 40% more tread blocks than the R3. This has helped them offer a wider contact patch. Why should that interest you? A larger contact patch means more road contact, which, in turn, means better grip.
To ensure they offer the same grip throughout their tread life, Nokian has equipped these tires with its proprietary Arctic Grip Crystals. These microscopic studs only emerge as the tread around them has worn down, helping this tire offer consistent traction.
Lastly, this tire has solved one of the major issues affecting winter tires – high road noise. Thanks to Nokian’s Silent Drive Technology, they offer a refined ride.
Pros
- Best for driving on snow and ice
- Specifically designed for electric vehicles
- Significantly silent than rival winter tires
Cons
- Asking price may blow a hole in your pocket