In advance, thanks to all that have posted comments and experience about tires. I am going to a 235/60X16 and am rapidly approaching purchase. (Looks like I'll get about 20K out of the OEM Goodyears!)

Your opinion please: in a 215 or 225/70x16 you can find light truck tires; in the 235/60, there are mostly car based tires. Since I am looking for best ride, lowest noise and better handling (in that order), my assumption is a car tire will deliver these qualities better than an truck tire, even a highway or all-season truck tire. Am I correct?

Are there downsides from using a car tire rather than light truck tire on the Element? I was looking at the Falken Ziex 512, but have talked to shops that have high returns on them, so they are dow my list. Yesterday, a store recommended the Hankook Optimo H418. It is a passenger car tire, but is OEM on the Kia Sportage, which is about 300 lbs. lighter than the Element. The store will let me "test drive for 30 days or 500 miles and if I don't like them, I can swap.

In the wings are the Michelins, Bridgestones, etc., but at a much higher price.

Please let me know your thoughts. I appreciate any feedback you give.

did you change your wheels? are you going with a 60 series for some particular reason? i have had two sets of 235/70/16 and they have been superb. first was the Bridgestone AT Revos and now Michelin Cross Terrains. This size fills up the wheel well really well and gives the E a much more substantial appearance. I got my Michelins on eBay for $95 each and they were brand new. The stock Honda tire on the Pilot is 235/70/16 and I drove a set of those while my wheels were being chromed. VERY SMOOTH AND QUITE RIDE. They were the Goodyear Integrity brand. You can probably pick those up on eBay even cheaper (with the Pilot wheels!) than I got my Cross Terrains for.

this is how the Integritys looked with the Pilot wheels, while I was driving on them:

235/60/16 is a reasonable choice if you want to move to a lower profile 'performance' tire, without changing rims. It's a bit smaller in diameter than stock (2%?). Toyota used to offer that size on its 'sports' models of the RAV4.

I have my doubts as to whether this change in profile is enough to make a noticible difference in handling for an ordinary driver. I did not notice much change in handling of my 97 RAV4 when I switched from 225/60/16 tires (which it started with, used) to stock 215/70/16.

A search on Hankook produces a couple of pages of threads. My impression is that most who switched to Hankooks, used them with larger rims, and go performance suv models like the RH06.

Noise is largely a function of tread design. Obviously the large blocks of an AT category tire will make more noise. But it is hard to tell whether one all-season tire (passenger or suv) is quieter than another. All manufacturers claim low noise using xyz patented techologies (Bridgestone has some sort of '5 degree' feature). Goodyear's latest suv all-season is called something like 'silent armor'. A lot of owners claim their new tires are quieter, but few have actually taken noise measurements.

Ride is a vague quality. Assuming the tire is truely round, and properly balanced, it shouldn't contribute any bouncing of its own. So then the question is whether one tire absorbs road bumps better than another. Generally tires choosen for handling - wide, low profile - have a rougher ride. There is, in effect, less tire and air between you and the ground.
Look at this tirerack tech note on contact patch shape:
http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tiretech/techpage.jsp?techid=10

paulj

I had GY Integritys (Passenger all season) on my Element for a while (225/70/16) (from 16,000 to 22,000 miles). I got them slightly used at a great price ($100 for the 4, mounted). Generally they were ok, though there wasn't any obvious difference in handling, noise or ride compared to the stock Wranglers.

The GY Integrity and Wrangler HP tires illustrate the fuzzy boundary between passenger all-season and highway all-season tires. Both are Honda OE tires - the 'passenger' one on the larger, more luxurious Pilot, the 'suv' one on the rougher Element. Tread pattern is obviously different, but I suspect construction is similar.

paulj

If you stick with a passenger tire, consider going with a Z rating. The higher speed ratings mean the tires are constructed to a lot higher standard and your handling will improve dramatically. You pay more, but you get more, Tim

'Z rating' means good for speeds in excess of 149 mph. (W & Y are even higher)
http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tiretech/techpage.jsp?techid=35

If a tire is designed to handle these speeds it is also designed for good handling at these speeds, on cars designed to drive at these speeds. Most likely they will be classed as 'performance' or 'high performance', and will have a low profile (less than 70). Tread wear will also be on the low side (400 or less), since you want soft enough rubber to give you good dry traction.

You can search on Tirerack by size and speed rating.

paulj

got the falkens and love them

Falken uses micro vacuum capsules that literally suck up road noise

The 512's don't have this feature, but the 512 spec table is a good illustration as to why the speed rating isn't everything. The largest size, which would work on the Element has a 100H rating (the Wranglers have a 99 load rating). There are 512s with higher speed ratings, but you have to go to a 255 width to get a 99W rating.

Here's a Cooper tire with a directional tread pattern that comes in the 235/60/16 size,Discoverer Sport HP (100H). Here the noise reduction is by 'Opti-noise technology reduces road noise by design of the tire pattern'

http://www.coopertire.com/us/en/ProductDetails.asp?ProdType=SUV&id=198&title=SUV+Tires

I just installed a set of Yokohama Avid V4S, 235/60/R16s on my ride this week and they are significantly better than the stock Goodyears. Great dry traction, low noise, pretty good wet traction. According to the rack, they are rated as a high performance all season tire and not specifically a light truck tire.

Go to tirerack.com and search for tires by size and style of tire. ie performance all season, and you can get a quick idea of who makes what in that particular size. One you go to a particular tire you can get a specifications page for each tire that will show things like tread width and revolutions per mile.

I found this helpful in deciding what tires to use because I wanted about the same revs per mile as the stock good years so as to not throw off my speedo but wanted a bigger foot print for more traction on take offs. (M/T likes to spin tires on launch more than A/T equipped elements)

Hope this helps in your decision making process.

I put some 235/60/16 Falken 512's on my wife's E some time ago. I noticed a significant improvement in handling and traction.

Thanks for all your advice and comments. I've been crawling through the local and chain tires stores locally as well. Had a good conversation with a local guy that recommended the Hankook Optimo 418, which is built as a passenger tire for small SUVs. It is standard on the Kia Sportage. It is available in 235/60x16 at a pretty reasonable price compared to the Michelin, Bridgestone, yokohama alternatives.

Other advantage....this store will let me drive on them for 30 days or 1000 miles; if I don't like them, they'll swap for an alternatiove. They sell most all brands.

I'm down to 4/32 on the front tires, so I need to get this done soon; it's a crime the Element only has 19000 miles on it and the tires are shot.

Again thanks to everyone. i will post a followup once I have the tires installed and some driving impressions.

H'mmm. Interesting thread. There certainly are a LOT more tires available in the 235-60 size than 225-70 or 215-70. I would prefer more of a street/performance tire than an "all terrain" tire, but there are few available in the taller sidewall sizes.

To all those that got tires in this size, did the store where you had them mounted have any issues with putting them on? Have you had any problem with interference?

Thanks,

cdubea, Costco will only put on the stock size 215/70; when pressed, their book says a 235/65X16 would fit, but it is a rare size.
Discount Tire says the upsize is a 225/70. They will install the 235/60 without much concern, other than the standard warnings about the speedometer being off.
Other local stores will install whatever size I asked for, as long as it is within the range of what expects to fit.

Anyone else have a difficulty?