Tires for Honda Element

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A friend needs tires for an '03 2wd Honda Element. The originals are 215/70R16 99S. Not much in this size and load index except pickup & SUV tires. Her needs are mainly quiet, comfy ride, excellent wet braking traction, hope for low rolling resistance. Her first choice in a tire shop pushes Toyo Open country H/T.

Continental ContiProContact, Yokohama AVID TOURING-S, and Goodyear Assurance All-Season are the few car tires in the correct size & load index.

Some of the SUV tires that interest me are:
Continental CrossContact LX20 (most interesting)
Bridgestone Dueler H/L 422 Ecopia (has [censored] improved their offerings?)
Goodyear Assurance CS TripleTred (last TripleTreds I had were noisy)
Michelin Latitude Tour (pricey, don't need the highest mileage)
Goodyear Assurance CS Fuel Max (Hmmm, might be OK)

Pickup tires include:
Firestone Destination LE 2
Hankook Dynapro HT RH12
Yokohama Geolandar H/T-S G051
General Grabber HTS


Any thoughts on which tires will give this car service that best suits her needs? Which to definitely avoid?


So, I used a two initial abbreviation for Bridgestone and this forum software censored it!
crazy2.gif
 
I bought my Element with a fairly fresh set of Toyo Open Country HTs on it. I've put about 23k on it and it still has 9/32" on it. I don't know know how many miles were put on before I got a hold of it.

Either way, from the beginning, I've felt that the Toyos were pretty terrible in anything except dry conditions. Any rain and the Element was spinning tires. In snow, it felt infinitely less capable compared to my GF's Civic with new Firestone tires on it (Affinity Touring, same as Precision Touring on Tire Rack).

I've decided that even though the Toyos probably still have 30k+ miles of life on it, I'll be swapping the tires out. I wouldn't recommend them.

I'm debating between the Destination LE2 and Dueler Ecopias. I'm getting the tires put on in a couple weekends and am leaning toward the Ecopias in hopes of slightly better gas mileage and possibly better ride quality. They are both rated very well on Tirerack.

http://www.tirerack.com/tires/surveyresults/surveydisplay.jsp?type=CSTAS
http://www.tirerack.com/tires/surveyresults/surveydisplay.jsp?type=HAS

The Destination LE2 has a 25% off thing going on at Firestone stores: http://www.firestonecompleteautocare.com/tire_promotion/show_tire_promotion.jsp?id=10002053
 
I'd go for the CS Fuel Max.

Goodyear's CS tires are just truck/SUV versions of their regular Assurance Tripletred and Fuel Max car tires.

My second choice would be the Yoko Avid Touring S.
 
The Bridgestone Dueler 422 is a pretty decent tire that meets most of your criteria. I'm considering the same for our CR-V in the next few months. I'd advice against any of the "TripleTred" versions of the Goodyear offerings; they consistently score lower than their peers in the areas of quiet and comfortable (as you've experienced prior).

TireRack tested some of your possible choices, and the Continental/Bridgestone/Goodyear finished 1/2/3:

http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tests/testDisplay.jsp?ttid=157
 
Thanks for the info. I'm suggesting the GY Assurance CS or the Conti LX20 to her as best meeting her needs.
 
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