Best Tires for the Kia Motors Optima

As a family car guy with a heavy PHEV (almost 2 tons), I was looking for tires that are genuinely good in the rain, quiet, comfortable on our crappy roads, and don't cost a fortune – since I only do about 5–8 000 km per year on my private car.
Most of the time I drive the company car on Continentals (which makes sense with 80k km/year), but for the private Optima I wanted something sensible.
After some research I went for Vredestein Ultrac+ XL 215/55 R17 98Y.
Short verdict: I'm very pleasantly surprised – these are excellent tires for the money.

Rain performance – really top class. I tested them hard in heavy downpours on the highway at 110 km/h – zero aquaplaning feeling, zero twitchiness during overtaking, they just hold the line like they're glued. Much more confidence-inspiring than my previous Dunlop Sport Maxx RT2 in really bad weather.
Noise & comfort – massive improvement. The Dunlops were quite hard and transmitted every single pebble and expansion joint straight into the cabin. The Vredesteins have a noticeably softer sidewall (thanks to the taller profile and construction), so they filter bumps much better. Cabin is now properly quiet even at highway speeds.
Grip & handling – they sit very planted, steering feels precise, no drama on wet corners or sudden lane changes.
Price – paid ~93–94 € per tire, so ~375 € for the set. For that money getting this level of wet safety + comfort is a steal compared to 120–130 € Continentals or Michelins.

Slightly higher rolling resistance (B label) than some premium EV-optimized tires (A label), so probably 1–2% more consumption on battery mode – but with my low mileage it's completely negligible.
Wear will probably be average (not as long-lasting as Primacy 5), but again – at 5–8k km/year this set will last 5–7 years easily.

If you have a heavy family PHEV/SUV, drive mostly in Central Europe (lots of rain, average roads), don't do crazy mileage and don't want to overpay for a badge – Vredestein Ultrac+ is currently one of the smartest buys in this size. For me personally – best value tire I've had in years.
Would buy again without hesitation.

These were fitted to my 2nd hand 2020 Kia Optima Gt line S on purchase and all 4 looked brand new. They were fine at first, but recently they have begun disintegrating with chunks coming off both front and rear tires after 10,000 miles. They are now terribly noisy and are being changed to Goodyear Vectors, this week. I'm not a fast driver so the very poor wear is a surprise. Had the car checked over by the main dealer and no alignment or mechanical issues to explain the issue. I would never recommend these tires to anyone, awful experience !

Review is from Southern California USA so no cold or other weather extremes: We're having to replace these early due to a slow leak on a long trip. It looks like we killed an additional 5,000 miles of wear on one tire. Looking at the set, I'd say these would be good for 40,000 to 45,000 miles if we hadn't had this issue. Overall we've slowly moved up the performance ladder to Michelin PS3's but they didn't like the weight and wore out way too quick so we went here next. For a touring car driven on windy roads and generally spirited driving these held up really well. I wouldn't put them on a weekend fun car (running some Michelin PS4S's for a smaller car for that) but we haven't had any issues in dry or wet. They roll smoothly into corners and grip for days. They do tend to wander on grooved freeways. They've become noisier with age but still do really well compared to others I've driven.

Extremely quiet tire with good wet grip after the first 1000+ km. Compared to the replaced Hankook Winter I*Cept evo2 W320, the new Nexen tires are more comfortable.

These things will go empty your wallet like an addiction to flying a private jet.

We had pirelli tires, they lasted about 32000miles. These tires which are premium allegedly have lasted 12 months and 11000 miles.

They are not fitted to a drift car, but a kia diesel estate driven to work and back. Not used like a track car obviously.

Also they handling is nowhere near comparable to the pirelli

A genuine disgrace the length of time they have lasted.

I replaced 2 of them after 2 years and all 4 together now (after 4 years). I was happy with them, cannot complain, replaced them only because it was recommended by the Kia (after servicing) to do this within the next few months and I wanted a nice change, It is unbelievable how long they last, I had these tires without any issues the last 4 years! (2 of them), but time to try a different now.

I had these Tires to replace my worn out Michelin Pilot Sport 4. I bought them based on the previous comments and reviews. I have just done a good 700 miles on mainly motorway driving in the UK in both wet and dry conditions plus cruising and stop start in traffic. What can I say...I found them to be quieter all round than the 4s and a much smoother ride. As one other review the first time I had to brake really hard the ABS kicked in. But since then I find that they stop you both in wet and dry conditions as expected. In cornering they are very responsive and the roll that I previously had has substantially decreased, so handling much better. I cannot compare the wear rate as not been on long enough yet. Excellent tire for the cost.

I left a review a couple of weeks ago and I would like to have it retracted/updated. These Forceum Hexa tires are horrible and the first 5,000 miles seems great, but I learned that they are rated to 10-12,000 miles not the 50,000 that was advertised, hell not even 25,000. I do courier work and 40,000 every 10 months, these will be lucky to last 4 months for me. They say you get what you pay for, and I regret the $85/tire price. I was sold by the tread pattern, 400 A A & alleged listed tread life. Currently the wet grip is amazing but the compound is very soft and should be 200 C C, and never should have been used for summer/hot weather. I wouldn't recommend these tires for anyone, even if they were on a tight budget.

To preface, I drive my car hard and love taking backroads. This tire has a surprising amount of cornering grip and imparts a nice firm feeling into steering wheel. These tires egg you on to put more power in the corners to a point but they don't lose control. On center feel is a bit vague but steering is very responsive. Comfortable ride even if tire noise is a little louder than I'd want it. Very good handling and around town performance in dry conditions. Surprisingly these tires allow a 1500 kg FWD car to rotate into turns ever so slightly. In the wet, the experience falls apart some. Wet traction is just not that good. Accelerating from a stop or turning and accelerating from a stop when there's even the thinnest layer of rain water on the road is difficult. My engine makes peak torque from a low RPM (1750 RPM) so I've learned to baby the throttle in those situations. Too often do they cause the traction control lights to flash. They caused the car to terminally understeer on a highway exit ramp after a horrible rainstorm and I noticed it hydroplaned slowly when I was going across an intersection. Luckily no one was around or else I would've slowly drifted into the adjacent lane and might have caused an accident. Very slow and very steady is the way to go in the wet with these. Braking performance isn't great but it isn't bad. It gets a bit worse in the rain. Overall, for the price, these tires are very good in the dry but if you need something that's confidence inspiring in the wet, make sure you do your research on all the available options.