The 9 Best Tires for the Kia K5
The Kia K5 is one of the best mid-size sedans money can buy. Unfortunately, we cannot say the same about its factory tires, which can’t help this sedan achieve its true potential.
Aftermarket all-season tires are your best bet if you use this sedan for daily commuting. Models like Continental TrueContact Tour and Michelin Primacy A/S provide a sought-after blend of high mileage, excellent longevity, and superb comfort levels.
Summer tires are a better option if you want to fully exploit this sedan’s turbocharged engine, especially if you opt for premium UHP tires. These include Michelin Pilot Super Sport, Continental ExtremeContact Sport, and Bridgestone Potenza RE-71 R.
Searching for dedicated winter tires? Michelin’s X-Ice Snow and Bridgestone’s Blizzak WS90s are the best options for you. Not only are these tires great on snow and ice. They can also hold their own on dry surfaces. Isn’t that great?
Best All-Season Tires
All-season tires are the preferred choice of most drivers these days, as they offer good mileage and road manners at a relatively reasonable price. In addition, these tires offer year-round utility, especially if you live in an area that doesn’t see much snowfall.
#1. Continental TrueContact Tour
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The Continental TrueContact Tour checks several boxes for the average K5 driver.
Start with the fact that its rolling resistance is pretty low. This enables this tire to maximize your K5’s fuel economy while fully exploiting its engine’s considerable power output. The result? A perky ride only the K5 can deliver.
Another is that it’s optimized for year-round performance. Also, thanks to DWS (Dry, Wet, Snow) indicators on its tread, you can see whether it’s safe for your driving conditions. How so? By checking the fading rate of these emblems.
There’s another reason you may want to purchase this tire – it comes with a class-leading 80,000-mile treadwear warranty. This indicates that an average American driver – who drives around 15,000 miles per year – can easily get 6 years out of it.
Bear in mind, though, that this tire isn’t for speed lovers. How can I be so confident? Because it becomes noticeably twitchy the moment you push it too hard. As such, enthusiasts would be better off with other tires.
Pros
- Low rolling resistance for improved mileage
- Stays useful 365 days a year
- 80,000-mile treadwear warranty
Cons
- Not the best tire for enthusiasts
#2. Bridgestone Turanza QuietTrack
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The Turanza QuietTrack is one of the best all-season tires money can buy.
Mainly because it performs excellently on dry surfaces. The levels of grip are pretty high, and you won’t find this tire wanting for grip in the corner. Plus, it’s quick to respond to steering inputs, meaning you can easily execute quick lane changes.
This tire also does well over the snow. The grip levels are good enough to keep your car stable, especially if you don’t decide to drive your K5 rally style. Things are pretty much the same on the traction front, though it still won’t replace winter tires.
The ride it offers is pretty comfortable, too. Minor road imperfections are taken care off with ease, and even the larger ones get absorbed with no harshness.
In terms of sound, the QuietTrack justifies its name. Bridgestone has designed it so that the road noise is cancelled out by the tread growl. The fact it offers a whisper-quiet ride is the reason why one of my colleagues rates it as one of the best tires for EVs.
To further sweeten the deal, Bridgestone backs it with an 80,000-mile treadwear warranty.
Pros
- Offers refined comfort levels
- Backed by a 80,000-mile treadwear warranty
- Does well over the snow
Cons
- Average wet braking distances
#3. Michelin Primacy A/S
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The Primacy A/S has every quality you expect a premium all-season tire to possess.
The first of which is that it offers a quiet and comfortable ride. Michelin’s PIANO noise reduction technology ensures that your K5’s cabin remains exceptionally quiet, even when your driving route has lots of bumps, potholes, and speed breakers.
Secondly, this tire performs reliably over snow. A slight tweak to its tread design has seen this model’s snow traction increase 17% over its previous version. The result? Shorter braking distances and a much-reduced risk of fender benders on slippery roads.
The tread design is not only responsible for adequate snow performance. It also improves this tire’s handling, especially in non-dry surfaces where this tire’s 4 circumferential grooves (water evacuating channels) and countless lateral sipes work their magic.
Unfortunately, though, its treadwear warranty is quite lackluster. Among the tires in the premium segment, the 55,000-mile guarantee is among the shortest.
Pros
- Plenty of grip and traction in all conditions
- Incredibly short wet braking distances
- Improved snow performance over its previous version
Cons
- Lackluster treadwear warranty
#4. Goodyear Assurance WeatherReady
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Do you regularly deal with snowy roads but don’t want to splurge on a winter tire? The Goodyear Assurance WeatherReady may be just what you need.
This all-weather tire has a flexible tread compound and multiple biting edges. Why should that interest you? Both keep it stable no matter how low the temperatures drop, helping drivers like yourself who don’t want a separate set for driving on snow.
Two more features help it perform reasonably well in light snow. These include Goodyear’s WeatherReactive Technology (that doesn’t let the rubber get hard in low temperatures) and 3D TredLock Technology (that boosts its braking power).
Want to hear more good news? This tire provides the same amazing traction on its first and the 1000th day of use. The credit for this goes to the grooves hidden in its tread. These grooves bare their teeth over time to prevent a loss of traction.
Sure, its 60,000-mile treadwear warranty might raise more questions about this model’s tread life than it answers. But that’s the price you have to pay for superior wet traction.
Pros
- Offers excellent traction on snow and ice
- Carries the 3PMSF emblem
- Keeps the ride quiet and comfortable
Cons
- Treadwear warranty could be higher
Best Performance Tires
If you drive the Kia K5 GT, a performance-oriented sedan capable of achieving higher speeds, performance tires are a no-brainer. These tires will offer enhanced handling and grip and make this sedan more agile and responsive, especially on twisty roads.
#5. Michelin Pilot Super Sport
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The Michelin Pilot Super Sport is a must-have for anyone who drives a K5 with a GT badge.
This sedan takes just 5.2 seconds to go from 0 to 60 mph, but things could go haywire pretty quickly unless you have tires offering excellent traction underneath this vehicle. Guess what? That is precisely what this tire offers to ensure a safe driving experience.
The K5 GT comes with a turbocharged engine that offers a good balance of power and fuel economy, which is what the Pilot Super Sport upholds. How is that so? This tire has a lower rolling resistance than its peers, which helps it keep that balance undisturbed.
There’s another reason you may want to install this tire on your K5 GT – it offers a better ride than the competition. Thanks to a sound-absorbing foam inside its sidewall, the Super Sport won’t let many road disturbances enter this sedan’s cabin.
The final great thing about this tire is that it comes with a 30,000-mile treadwear warranty, class-leading for a tire in the ultra-high-performance category.
Pros
- Offers a good balance of performance and fuel economy
- Delivers a quiet ride for an ultra-high-performance tire
- Backed with a 30,000-mile treadwear warranty
Cons
- Wet grip could be better
#6. Bridgestone Potenza RE-71R
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The Bridgestone Potenza RE-71R is another exciting option for K5 GT drivers.
This summer tire has the handling and steering responsiveness that you have come to expect from premium summer tires. Its dry grip and straight-line tracking are also exceptional, meaning you can confidently push your K5 to its limits.
At the same time, its wet traction is a level above the Pilot Super Sport. Want to know how? A combination of 2 circumferential grooves and 7 lateral grooves. Both these water evacuating channels work side by side to help the RE-71R perform reliably in the rain.
The RE-71R also boasts a sturdy internal structure, with a spirally sound nylon fortified by two inner steel belts. This should interest you because high-speed driving – the kind K5 GT is famous for – is enough to deform any poorly built tire.
To further sweeten the deal, it’s surprisingly comfortable at 32 PSI (the recommended tire pressure for most K5 trims). A soft tread compound does a pretty good job of softening out imperfections, especially if you are driving your K5 well below the limit.
Pros
- Brilliant dry traction and grip
- Performs reliably in the rain
- Highly resistant to premature deformation
Cons
- May get loud as it wears down
#7. Continental ExtremeContact Sport
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Although its successor has already hit the market, we see no reason why K5 drivers should overlook the ExtremeContact Sport just yet.
While it may sound like a cliché, this UHP tire does offer the best of both worlds. Think of the handling you expect from premium tires in this category and the year-round utility typically associated with all-season tires. The ExtremeContact Sport delivers both.
But it doesn’t stop at that. Continental states that this tire’s 2-ply sidewall is 86% stronger than the one used in its previous version. This means its ability to resist premature deformation (a risk all too likely for UHP tires) should be pretty good.
Yet another commendable feature of this tire is the 6-rib asymmetric tread pattern. As it ensures high feedback at the steering, a quicker and more precise reaction to steering inputs, and much better stability at higher speeds.
Pros
- Superb high-speed stability
- Decent steering response
- Stays useful year-round
Cons
- Ride may get uncomfortable over poor roads
Best Winter Tires
Does your area receive more than its fair share of snow? In that case, there’s no substitute for dedicated winter tires to carry you over frozen surfaces safely.
#8. Michelin X-Ice Snow
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The Michelin X-Ice Snow is an excellent option for K5 drivers who want a tire that performs reliably on snow and ice and also comes in handy on dry roads.
One of the most amazing things about this tire is that it comes in studded and studless versions. This makes it as reliable on fresh show (on which studded tires perform better) as for unpacked snow (where studless tires offer better traction and grip).
Yet another thing I like about this tire is that it won’t hurt your car’s mileage, a complaint many people have about dedicated winter tires. Need proof? Then you must check out what EV drivers – one of the most conscious groups – have to say about its range.
You may also find it good to note that this tire’s utility doesn’t end the moment it stops snowing. Many drivers claim that it’s very good in the dry, with plenty of grip and steering feedback.
A 40,000-mile treadwear warranty further distinguishes this tire from its rivals. Most of which don’t come with any sort of guarantee whatsoever.
Pros
- Class-leading 40,000-mile treadwear warranty
- Offers superb traction on snow
- Excellent ice grip
Cons
- Asking price may blow a hole in your pocket
#9. Bridgestone Blizzak WS90
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If the lack of treadwear warranty doesn’t bother you, the Blizzak WS90s are every bit as good on snow and ice as Michelin’s X-Ice Snow tires.
A specialized tread compound makes sure that these tires brake and accelerate as reliably on wet surfaces as snow- and ice-laden roads. It does that by keeping the rubber flexible in all sorts of weather conditions, a feat not many tread compounds can manage.
Bridgestone’s MultiCell Technology is another reason why the WS90s are as highly rated. This technology utilizes small pores in the tread to trap snow between the channels. The result? Snow-on-snow contact, which, in turn, leads to better snow grip.
In case you still need proof of this model’s amazing snow traction, seeing the 3PMSF symbol on this tread should be enough to allay all your fears. This symbol is only awarded to tires that have met the rater’s strict criteria for harsh weather performance.
Pros
- Gives superior traction on thick snow
- Carries the 3PMSF symbol
- Wears less quickly than rivals
Cons
- No treadwear warranty