Best Tires for the Hyundai I30

I replaced the Bridgestone Turanza T005 tires with these in 2020 and used them for five summers, covering 42,000 km. These tires are significantly better than the Bridgestones. They wear much more slowly, are far quieter, absorb road imperfections better, and offer superior resistance to aquaplaning.

With the Bridgestones, I could feel every tiny bump in the road, as if I could tell what was written on a coin I drove over, whereas the Goodyears smooth out road imperfections very well. The Bridgestones were quite loud, which made them especially annoying on the highway, while these are genuinely quiet.

With the Turanzas, even shallow water crossing the road was very noticeable; it would noticeably slow the car down, and once it even caused the cruise control to disengage. These, on the other hand, pass through such patches of water smoothly without affecting the car’s motion.

Because the Goodyears are so comfortable, you might think they’re not suited for more spirited driving, but the moment you start pushing them, it becomes clear that they offer excellent grip and feel very safe.

The only area where the Bridgestones were slightly better was fuel consumption: with the Goodyears, consumption increased by about 0.1 liters per 100 km.

What’s truly impressive (almost unbelievable!) is that after five summers and 42,000 km (often driven dynamically), the tires still looked nearly new, with a tread depth of 6.2 (!) mm.

Over nearly 25 years of driving, I’ve used summer tires from Continental, Michelin, Pirelli, Fulda, Vredestein, and Bridgestone, but these outperform all of them by far. These have been the best summer tires I’ve ever owned.

As a side note, before the Bridgestones I had the predecessor to these Goodyears, the EfficientGrip Performance. It wasn’t bad, but it’s nowhere near the EfficientGrip Performance 2.

I'm driving a Hyundai i30 1600 with 225/45R17 and had Michelin Pilot Sport 5 on the car, when had to change tires, I chose these Goodyear Eagle Sport 2 UHP ones, and they cost less, and I touched the sidewall and it was soft compared to other tires I've considered. Once installed, I got so surprised, they are SOOO comfort to drive, soft, rolling great. When I had the Michelins, I've inflated the tires with 40 PSI so they'll roll nicely, if I've inflated with 32PSI as Hyundai recommended, the car did not roll... with the Goodyear I'm inflating 32 PSI and the car is rolling, the noise during driving is very low, the dry and wet grip are very good, in few years when I'll need to change tires, I'm back to these for sure !

Tires arrived with the car.

Went through a large pothole at speed. Wheel damaged, tire very damaged, but held its air and prevented an accident.

Whay kore can we ask of a tire?

Just a note that this is my initial thoughts, after less than 2.000 km driven in the Nordic countries, in winter, under extreme snow and ice. I have driven multiple vehicles with studded tires, in the arctic circle, under extreme snow and ice conditions. The vikingcontact 8 matches the performance of the studded tires i have used on the past, with superior handling in harsh winter conditions. I used them on a trip in Swedish lapland, in -25C and with severe ice on the road, and could go over 80 km/h with safety. They offer superior handling, makes you feel safe where most tires would struggle. I did the same trip with normal mid-european tires, and the difference in traction and handling is night and day. Great grip, amazing handling, good braking. Overall an amazing winter tire for the nordic area. Not tested in dry, as it's impossible to find a dry road in the arctic circle during winter time. I highly recommend them.

Used them all over Europe, plus the Nordic region. Very good in dry and wet. Decent grip and handling in little snow and slush conditions. But in the cold winters of Sweden and Norway, where snow and ice is the norm, a nordic winter tire is highly recommended. So after moving to Scandinavia, i had to replace them with the ContactViking 8, as the Michelin's ice and deep snow grip was non-existent. Overall, a very good tire for south-mid european winters, where rain and cold is the norm. Just avoid them if you are in a Nordic country, as the ice traction and handling is not enough.

I live in central europe in the city and I think it's a great compromise of a tire for us. We drive around 15k km / y and we've been using them for 1,5 yr so far.
When it's dry, it is good enough. It's a bit noisier than the summer eco tire Hankook kinergy eco2 I had previously.
In the wet it feels great. Some light offroading and mud/grass driving is also great, much better than the summer tire.
Snow handling is okay/good. Ice is a bit worse, but still okay. Thankfully we don't see that often.
For our case, I believe it's better to have a 3-4yr old all-season tire compared to using ~6-7 yr old winter tire. That's not only in terms of grip, but also about saving money - I don't need to either have another set of rims or pay someone to change the tires. Just once a year or so, it's probably a good idea to rotate the tires and that's it.

Excellent grip/durability ratio. It's a shame the sidewalls are so soft, which causes skidding and imprecision in steering. I recommend inflating the tire well above the car manufacturer's recommended pressure (+0.6 bar) to alleviate this problem (but if you go overboard, you noticeably lose grip and the tire wears prematurely in the center). What good is grip if you can't exploit it because the car feels like a flannel? In wet conditions, since the brakes aren't as strong, this problem isn't as noticeable (common with many new tires, by the way).

Last Summer: Only done 2000 miles to date. But seems a well rounded touring tire. Exceptionally quiet and comfortable. Very strong in the dry but a little weak I think on wet braking. Steering more vague than old worn tire but that is mostly due to approx 8 mm new tread. Recommended
Update June 2025. Done about 8000 miles. Very well balanced tire. Exceptionally quiet and comfortable. 8 mm original tread done to circa 7.2 mm with about equal mileage on front and rear axle. Incredible wear. Just fitted two more to car.