I'm beginning a search for new tires for my '08 Fit Sport. Not competition or extreme weather tires. I want good quality tires that are QUIET AND COMFORTABLE. Any Recommendations? The Dunlop P195 55R15's have been fine, but I sure hope for a quieter ride with the new ones. I know it's a small car, but c'mon, it is the 21st century!

 

if you step up to a 195/60/15 you can get Good Year Eagle RS-As
Eagle RS-A | Goodyear Tires

or if you go to a 185/60/15 you can get the Good Year Eagle LS
Eagle LS | Goodyear Tires

The thing about going to a 60 series tire though is its a bit taller so it will throw off your speedo, though it will only be 1-2 miles max. There might be other options out there but thats what i came up with a quick google search

 

You said the 60 is a little taller - will that help raise the low front bumper that scrapes over parking blocks if I'm not REALLY careful? If it'll do that + give a quiet ride - especially on the interstate where the Dunlop's really sing in my ears, I think I've found my tires! Do you have any first hand experience with the Goodyear's?

 

The 60 is taller then the 55 but not by very much, I dont think it will give you enough clearance to clear a curb. Unfortunately I do not have any experience with the tires. My focus has always been performance with road noise and comfort at the bottom of the list. Hopfully some one that does can step in

 

Check out the reviews for these. Yokohamas are usually high quality.

Yokohama AVID ENVigor (H&V)

 

Check out the Yokohama AVID ENVigor. I have the older AVID V4S which were discontinued and replaced by the ENVigor on March 1st of this year. The V4S is noticeably quieter than the factory Dunlop SP31 dispute being such an old tire design (hence the discontinuation). The ENVigor is a updated design of the AVID H4S/V4S and offers improved traction in the wet or dry and is quieter.

Also, yes going to a 60 series (such as 195/60R15) will slightly raise the car's hieght due to the tire's sidewall aspect percentage being increased. A problem with getting a tire such as that is there is a possibility of the tire rubbing on the front fender liners when the suspension experiences compression (bump) or a a heavy enough load.

 

Based on tirerack's survey of owners the Continental Extreme Contacy DWS is the least noisy and more comfortable tire. They areassymmetric and have a fairly high UTOG rating (wear resistance).

 

Those tires aren't available in 195/55R15 (or any 15 inch variation) yet; nevertheless, they are some very good tires.

 

you're right but I meant to point out a source of information as to noise and comfort. Should have been more informative.
If soft riding and less noisy running try alternate sizes 185/60x15 and 175/65x15 if you can't find 1965/55x15'sbased on a top rated tire at tirerack comparisons. Should be able to find one you like.

 

Consider also going up in tread width, as well as aspect ratio. I have the Continental ContiExtremeContacts on my 08, these are the older tread design which is still offered in 15" sizes. They are sized 205-55-15. By increasing tread width and keeping the 55% aspect ration the sidewall grows by about 10mm. The difference in ride quality is measurable, even on my car which is lowered. I imagine if your car is at stock height you shouldn't have any issues with rubbing either. I had the
Contis on my cars for years in the past and remember them being rather noisy, but after driving on Nitto Neo-Gens for two years they seem quiet as a church LOL HTH

 

I have these tires and they are very nice handling and treadwear... but they are very loud in my opinion. Every turn I make they squeal very loudly while my previous sets of tires did not. I've had the tires for a thousand miles now.

 

I've been running 195/55R15 Kumho Ecsta SPTs for a while now - I downsized to them from 205/45R16.

So far so good - the Kumhos are quiet, comfortable, hard-wearing (a 340 treadwear rating is notably high) and great in the wet. They grip very well too.

 

I replaced the Dunlops with the Michelin Pilot Exalto A/S - P195/55-15. They are great. They run a lot quieter than the Dunlops and have great snow and rain traction. The basic tradeoff is that while they are stickier, the sidewalls aren't as stiff. In a hard turn there's a more pronounced movement to the side before you get full bite. The ride is a bit smoother.

 

I'm giving the Sumitomo HTR A/S P01 tires a shot now. They are definitely much quieter than the stock dunlops and have a mildly softer ride. However I really don't believe these would qualify as a good tire for mileage (mine has gone down a wee bit). The attractive feature for me is the set of wide grooves it has with angled-edged tread blocks on the sides of it that hopefully will grip the bit of snow we get here.

 

X2! I put these on (195/55-15) late last month (from TireRack), after removing my summer only General Exclaim UHP 205/45-16 (GREAT tire!) since cold weather was setting in and I didn't want to put the awful Dunlop SP31 A/S things back on. Not many miles on the Yoko's yet and I had to drop their pressure to 29 psi as 32 psi was too harsh a ride. Also purchased and put Continental ExtremeWinterContact 195/65-15 tires on my wife's 2002 Golf TDI, which has always run Bridgestone Blizzak WS60s during the winter since 2002 with excellent results, but decided to try Continental's newer technology. So, we'll see how well these two new sets of tires perform this winter.
FWIW,
-Rod

 

Check out the Michelin tires noted above. Quiet and wears like a rock. Or any Mich tire in either 185/65 or 195/60 will give you a little more cushion and raise the car a little.

 

Thanks to everyone who participates in these threads. My 2008 Fit finally needed new tires (40,000 miles on original Dunlops). Honda gave me an estimate for and recommended more Dunlops supposedly OEM equivalent and $800 when all was said and done.

I must confess to never paying much attention to tires. I'd take a vehicle in and buy whatever was in the right size and price range and that was that. Because I was on these forums a lot when my car was new I saw all the threads about tires and the difference they could make, so this time I did a little research. It seemed that for what I wanted (decent all weather with quieter ride), these 3 were worth investigating:

Sumitomo HTR A/S P01 ($80)
Yokohama AVID ENVigor H&V ($98)
Michelin Pilot Exalto A/S ($122)

So I looked up where I could get them in my area and thought I'd go for the mid-priced Yokohamas, but then just as I was thinking about it, there was an ad on the local radio that Discount Tire was offering a $100 discount for any purchase of 4 tires over a given 4-day period. That discount would bring the Michelin tires down to the Yokohama price, and I'd just seen an extra post about the Yokohamas from someone disappointed that they weren't as quiet as hoped.

Anyway, my Fit now has the Michelin tires. I'm not a very fussy or noticing person, but there's no question these tires are quieter and the ride is smoother. Not day and night, but noticeable, and I spent an also noticeably lesser sum than the recommended Dunlops. So thanks, everyone.