Top 10 Best Quietest Tires for Quiet Ride: Recommended & Reviews

“This post contains affiliate links, and I will be compensated if you make a purchase after clicking on my links.”

When car enthusiasts talk about tires, the first thing mentioned is handling and braking. However, the average driver isn’t always concerned with how the tire handles. If we are honest, most tires from reputable manufacturers offer a safe and reliable experience on the street. What the average driver mostly cares about, though, is comfort, especially quietness.

Noise is something that everybody can measure while driving or traveling. Testing other parameters, such as traction, grip, and braking, often requires driving the vehicle on the track. Experiencing noise, on the other hand, doesn’t require anything – you will experience it while driving anyway.

Modern tires have become increasingly good at minimizing road noise. However, there are still differences between various tires. Mostly, products from premium manufacturers tend to offer a quieter and most comfortable ride, but the line has blurred in recent years.

And you can’t value tires only by how quiet they are. The best tires for a quiet ride should offer a safe drive in any scenario, especially on dry and wet roads. In other words, there are some cheap tires that might be quiet but unsafe to drive on the street.

To help you find quiet tires that also offer safe traction and braking, we created a list of the 10 best tires for a quiet ride. However, our list has a catch. Instead of giving you a 1-10 list no-orientation like everyone else, we will give you the best quiet tires for any popular vehicle type. Passenger cars, crossovers, SUVs, trucks, etc. That way, everyone can find the best tires for their particular vehicle. There is no value in giving you the best quiet tires for passenger cars, and you own a truck.

And for those that don’t know anything about the quietest tires, we also created a buying guide. There we will talk about different tire types, both in terms of the type of vehicle and weather conditions. Be sure to check the guide, as it contains some very important information.

Update: In this list, Continental PureContact tires have been replaced with Continental PureContact LS

New Year Sale @Priority Tire
Valid through January 13, 2023
Available at PriorityTire.com

The 10 Best Quietest Tires for Quiet Ride You Can Buy: Recommended & Reviews

1. Continental TrueContact Tour

Best Touring All-Season Tires for Quiet Ride

New Year Sale @Priority Tire
Valid through January 13, 2023
Available at PriorityTire.com

With its exceptional performance across all categories, the Continental TrueContact Tour is easily the best-performing touring all-season tire on the market right now.

On the road, Continental’s latest value-oriented model is pretty comfortable over bumps and very quiet on the highway. Unlike some of its competitors, though, it combines refinement with class-leading traction in wet conditions. The TrueContact Tour will give you the shortest stopping distances in the rain, along with very balanced handling and excellent lateral grip.

Furthermore, the dry traction is outstanding for a standard touring all-season tire, and we are also fans of the direct and precise steering. Snow also won’t be an issue if you opt for this tire, as it provides very good overall traction and handling. You will have issues on ice, though, but it’s no different from its competitors.

Finally, the Continental TrueContact Tour comes with an 80,000-mile treadwear warranty on T-speed, and H-speed rated tires, and a 70,000-mile warranty on V-speed rated tires, both excellent.

Pros

  • Quiet at lower and higher speeds
  • Smooth ride over most types of roads
  • Class-leading wet traction
  • Easy to drive in the rain thanks to the balanced handling
  • Very good grip and handling on dry roads
  • Good snow traction and drivability
  • Long treadlife and excellent treadwear warranty

Cons

  • Ice traction is only average

2. Michelin Defender2

Best Touring All-Season Tires for Quiet Ride

New Year Sale @Priority Tire
Valid through January 13, 2023
Available at PriorityTire.com

The Defender2 succeeds the super-popular Defender T+H in Michelin’s lineup and promises better traction everywhere, along with even higher treadlife. In our testing, it showed to be quieter and smoother than most of its rivals.

Still, the area where it lags behind its biggest competitor, the TrueContact Tour, makes things harder for the Defender2 this time around, especially since it’s comfortably the most expensive tire in its category. Michelin’s standard touring all-season tire is still very good in the rain, but it’s not leading the category anymore.

In all other areas, though, the Defender2 excels. It’s a very enjoyable tire to drive in dry conditions, with very quick steering and excellent lateral grip. The snow traction is also very good for an all-season tire, translating into strong braking and balanced cornering.

But the best thing about the Defender2 is the treadlife – the previous model was already leading the category in this regard, and this model should be even better. Michelin also offers an 80,000-mile warranty on all sizes, which are at least H-speed rated for this generation.

Pros

  • Very short stopping distances on dry roads
  • Strong lateral grip in dry conditions
  • Responsive and linear steering
  • Good traction and handling on light snow
  • Very smooth ride
  • Supremely quiet, even at high speeds
  • Exceptional treadlife and an excellent 80,000-mile treadwear warranty

Cons

  • Not as impressive in the rain as its price suggests
  • Very expensive

3. Yokohama AVID Touring-S

Best Touring All-Season Tires for Quiet Ride

Best Tires For Quiet Ride

New Year Sale @Priority Tire
Valid through January 13, 2023
Available at PriorityTire.com

Yokohama’s touring tire is one of the quietest tires on the market right now. Thanks to the symmetric tread design and Silent Shoulders, it produces almost no noise in urban environments and very little noise on the highway.

Like most Yokohama products, it is also very responsive to drive, thanks to the Tri-plex Tread Compound. Traction, grip, and braking are excellent as well, even for some more aggressive drivers. Wet traction is covered with the Tapered Rain Channels, but sadly, they don’t improve the snow traction.

Finally, the Yokohama AVID Touring-S comes with a 65,000-mile treadwear warranty, which is good but not ground-breaking.

Pros

  • Responsive handling
  • Supremely safe on dry and wet surfaces
  • Very quiet on the highway

Cons

  • Snow traction could be better
  • The 65,000-mile warranty is lower than its competitors

4. Bridgestone Turanza QuietTrack

Best Grand-Touring All-Season Tires for Quiet Ride

Best Tires For Quiet Ride

New Year Sale @Priority Tire!
Valid through January 13, 2023
Available at PriorityTire.com

The Bridgestone Turanza QuietTrack is the newest addition to the grand-touring category, and boy, it is quiet. Equipped with the ComfortCruise technology, this tire is almost silent at highway speeds, impressive for a grand-touring tire. As expected, the ride quality is extra smooth.

Despite the excellent comfort, the Turanza offers outstanding performance on the road. Responsiveness is top-notch, and there is a lot of grip and traction on dry and wet roads. Unlike its competitors, the Turanza even works in light snow.

The 80,000-mile treadwear warranty makes the QuietTrack the new record holder in the grand-touring category. An amazing tire overall.

Pros

  • Quietest grand-touring tire
  • Smooth ride
  • Outstanding handling performance
  • Excellent on wet pavement
  • Works in light snow
  • Long-lasting treadlife covered by an 80,000-mile warranty

Cons

  • Expensive

5. Continental PureContact LS

Best Grand-Touring Tires for Quiet Ride

Best Quietest Tires For Quiet Ride

New Year Sale @Priority Tire
Valid through January 13, 2023
Available at PriorityTire.com

Continental is a manufacturer that is already known for producing quiet and comfortable tires. Their new grand-touring tire for 2020 is no exception to that rule.

Thanks to the ComfortRide Technology, the PureContact LS simply glides over the road. More importantly, the same technology limits vibrations and, consequently, noise that enters the cabin. For you, that means a serene and luxurious driving experience over any surface.

Apart from the outstanding comfort levels, the PureContact LS offers excellent performance on every type of surface. It is especially good over wet surfaces, but it handles excellently on dry tarmac and even snow. Highway stability is also top-notch.

Finally, Continental offers a 70,000-mile treadwear warranty, which is good, but still short of some competitors.

Pros

  • Very quiet on the highway
  • Plush ride over uneven surfaces
  • Outstanding wet performance
  • Excellent handling on a dry tarmac
  • Very good on snow

Cons

  • Slightly lower treadwear warranty than the best in the category

6. Cooper CS5 Ultra Touring

Best Grand-Touring All-Season Tires for Quiet Ride

Best Quietest Tires For Quiet Ride

New Year Sale @Priority Tire
Valid through January 13, 2023
Available at PriorityTire.com

The Cooper CS5 Ultra Touring is cheaper than its premium competitors, yet it still offers excellent performance across the board. We are especially fond of the low noise on the highway and the smooth ride quality.

On the road, the CS5 Ultra Touring is supremely responsive and direct, almost like a performance tire. Grip and traction are also very good, while braking is top-notch. Cooper’s grand-touring tire works very well in rainy conditions and has excellent resistance to hydroplaning. That said, snow traction is only average.

On the positive side, the tire comes with a 70,000-mile treadwear warranty for V-rated (149 mph) and H-rated (130 mph) models and a 50,000-mile treadwear warranty for W-rated models (168 mph), both pretty high considering the price of this tire.

Pros

  • Outstanding responsiveness and grip on dry pavement
  • Excellent traction on wet surfaces
  • Very good braking performance
  • Low price

Cons

  • Treadlife isn’t as good as premium competitors
  • Worse snow traction than premium competitors

7. Continental CrossContact LX25

Best Crossover/SUV Touring Tires for Quiet Ride

New Year Sale @Priority Tire
Valid through January 13, 2023
Available at PriorityTire.com

The CrossContact LX25 builds upon the LX20, which was already one of the best all-season tires for crossovers and SUVs. With several improvements across the board, Continental again made a class-leading tire upon which all competitors will be compared.

For instance, the CrossContact LX25 is a supremely comfortable tire over bumps, eating smaller and larger imperfections with ease. There is also almost no tread noise at urban speeds, and the LX25 is only slightly audible on the highway. The only thing that bothered us was a slightly louder thump when it hits sharper potholes, but that won’t happen often.

As for performance, the LX25 provides best-in-class traction in the rain, with surefooted cornering and predictable behavior at the limit. It’s the same story on dry tarmac, where Continental’s touring all-season tire provides very good braking and lateral grip. We weren’t impressed with the steering, which felt a bit dull, but we think that won’t be an issue for drivers of this tire.

Furthermore, the CrossContact LX25 works well on light snow, with balanced handling, good acceleration, and strong braking. On top of that, it’s also one of the most durable tires in its category and even includes Tuned Performance Indicators, which show the driver how much tread depth is left in a more granular way than its competitors.

Pros

  • Very low road noise, even at higher speeds
  • Smooth ride
  • Excellent traction and handling in wet conditions
  • Good hydroplaning resistance
  • Strong grip and braking on dry tarmac
  • Among the best all-season crossover/SUV tires on light snow
  • Long treadlife and good treadwear warranty

Cons

  • Noisy when it hits a sharp imperfection
  • The steering is a bit dull

8. Continental TerrainContact H/T

Best Highway Tires for Quiet Ride

New Year Sale @Priority Tire
Valid through January 13, 2023
Available at PriorityTire.com

The Continental TerrainContact H/T is currently the most accomplished highway all-season tire for SUVs and trucks. It’s a tire that excels in every category, with perhaps the only issue being the slightly lower off-road durability than some of its rivals. It’s still usable on dirt and gravel since it does have cut and chip resistance, but the Michelin Defender LTX M/S is slightly better.

On the road, though, no other highway all-season tire can match the TerrainContact H/T. Notably, it provides class-leading longitudinal traction on wet tarmac, accompanied by an excellent lateral grip and balanced behavior at the limit. It’s also excellent on dry roads, where its high-speed stability and surefooted handling beat most competitors. And if you wondered, the TerrainContact H/T also works on light snow better than most of its rivals.

However, the reason it is on this list is that it’s super quiet on the highway, with low road noise that never upsets the cabin. It also glides over most road irregularities, and repetitive impacts never unsettle the ride.

Finally, Continental offers an excellent 70,000-mile treadwear warranty on P-metric sizes and a 60,000-mile warranty on LT-metric sizes.

Pros

  • Exceptional braking in rainy conditions
  • Strong lateral grip on wet tarmac
  • Very good overall performance in dry conditions
  • Usable on light snow with excellent traction and handling
  • Smooth ride over most types of roads
  • Low road noise
  • Long treadlife and excellent treadwear warranty

Cons

  • Some competitors are better on gravel and dirt
  • Expensive

9. Continental ExtremeContact DWS06 Plus

Best High-Performance Tires for Quiet Ride

New Year Sale @Priority Tire
Valid through January 13, 2023
Available at PriorityTire.com

If you want a good performance all-season tire that’s also comfortable, look no further than the Continental ExtremeContact DWS06 Plus. The German tiremaker has been killing recently with its tire, and its latest ultra-high-performance all-season tire is perhaps its best example.

On the road, your family will never complain about noise – the ExtremeContact DWS06 Plus is very quiet at speed, with a low-pitched tone that is never tiring. Moreover, it glides over bumps better than any other UHP all-season tire, also great if you travel long distances. Still, this probably made the steering a bit less linear than what its rivals offer, though it is still super quick.

The ExtremeContact DWS06 Plus excels when it comes to performance, though. It offers class-leading traction in both dry and wet conditions, which is not easy to accomplish. The handling is also super balanced and the tire is easy to control at the limit. Put simply, no other UHP all-season tire grips the road better in dry/wet conditions right now.

But you must think that to make it so good on dry and wet tarmac, Continental surely satisfied snow performance. Well, not really – the ExtremeContact DWS06 Plus is among the best UHP all-season tires on light snow, with surefooted cornering and excellent traction.

As a cherry on top, Continental offers a class-leading 50,000-mile treadwear warranty!

Pros

  • Best-in-class traction in dry and wet conditions
  • Surefooted handling on dry and wet tarmac
  • Very good traction and handling on light snow
  • Quick and responsive steering
  • Smooth ride over most road types
  • Quiet on the highway
  • Long treadwear warranty

Cons

  • The steering could be more linear

10. Vredestein Hypertrac All Season

Best High-Performance Tires for Quiet Ride

New Year Sale @Priority Tire
Valid through January 13, 2023
Available at PriorityTire.com

The Hypertrac All Season is Vredestein’s first tire developed specifically for the North American market, and that shows in the way it performs. The Dutch tiremaker blended performance and comfort like the best out there, giving you a very quiet and comfortable ride without sacrificing traction.

If we are nitpicking, the Hypertrac All Season doesn’t feel as responsive or agile as its rivals, but only on the track – it’s plenty of fun on the road. In terms of grip, it competes with the class-leading UHP all-season tires, both on dry and wet tarmac. The light-snow traction is pretty good as well, enough for a safe winter drive in most places in North America.

Vredestein provides an 8-year/50,000-mile treadwear warranty on the Hypertrac All Season, yet the tire costs less than most of its premium rivals.

Pros

  • Excellent cornering grip on dry tarmac
  • Good acceleration and short stopping distances in dry conditions
  • Impressive wet traction and handling
  • Very good traction and drivability on light snow
  • Low noise on the highway
  • Smooth ride
  • Long treadwear warranty for a UHP all-season tire

Cons

  • The steering could be more responsive
  • It doesn’t feel very agile when driven hard

The Best Quiet Tires On The Market: Buyer’s Guide

1. Passenger All-Season Tires

These tires are designed to fit smaller vehicles like sub-compact and compact cars. They are super cheap, yet have a very good tread life. Today, most passenger cars are offered with an all-season compound, which means that they are useful throughout the year.

Passenger tires aren’t made for very fast driving. They lack ultimate traction and grip, especially at higher velocities. However, the best passenger tires provide good traction and braking for everyday driving, especially in urban environments. These tires have become increasingly good on wet surfaces as well, thanks to the excellent hydroplaning resistance.

The best thing about these tires is the comfort they provide. Thanks to the larger sidewalls, they have a very smooth ride quality, while the smaller size makes them very quiet on the highway. In other words, they are one of the best tires for a quiet ride.

2. Touring Tires

Touring tires are a step above passenger tires in almost every category. They come in sizes that fit sub-compact cars, compact cars, mid-size sedans, and even some compact crossovers. As their name implies, touring tires are made for people that cover a lot of miles annually.

That’s why manufacturers put a lot of effort into making them quiet. Touring tires are the best tires for a quiet ride on the market. In vehicles with good sound insulation, these tires are virtually silent. The ride quality is excellent as well, both in urban and rural environments.

Touring tires generally offer better high-speed stability than passenger tires. Traction and grip levels are also better, while braking is stronger, both on dry and wet surfaces. Touring tires are mostly offered with an all-season tread compound, which makes them useful throughout the year.

The best thing about touring tires, though, is how long they last. A set of high-quality touring tires today lasts for 5-6 years! Some manufacturers cover those claims with up to a 90,000-mile treadwear warranty, which is amazing, to say the least.

3. Grand-Touring Tires

Grand-touring tires are a version of touring tires made for faster and more powerful vehicles. As expected, they can be driven at much higher velocities – grand-touring tires usually have higher speed ratings. Like touring and passenger models, grand-touring tires are available mostly with an all-season compound, which makes them useful in warmer and colder conditions.

On the road, grand-touring tires provide a more responsive driving experience than touring tires. That’s why they are mostly used on mid-size sedans with larger wheels, sports sedans, sports coupes, and even some larger crossovers.

Like their touring counterparts, grand-touring tires offer excellent comfort to the passengers. The ride quality is very good, especially at highway speeds, due to the slightly stiffer sidewalls. They are also supremely quiet. Some manufacturers even design the tread pattern of these tires to minimize noise, which translates into a truly silent ride.

Finally, grand-touring tires also have a very good tread life. Usually, they don’t last as long as touring tires, but the difference is not that big. The highest-quality grand-touring tires today come with up to an 80,000-mile treadwear warranty.

4. Highway Tires

Highway tires are similar to touring tires but available in larger sizes and higher load ranges. They are specifically designed for larger SUVs, trucks, and crossovers. Some highway tires are specifically designed for commercial vehicles.

Due to the tougher casings, these tires are better than touring tires for towing large trailers and hauling heavy cargo. With a trailer attached, for example, they will provide the driver with better high-speed stability, stronger braking, and better responsiveness. However, touring tires for SUVs are still a better choice if you don’t plan to tow or haul heavy stuff.

When it comes to comfort, highway tires are slightly worse in the ride quality department but offer comparable noise levels to touring tires. The best highway tires on the market today are very quiet on the highway, as opposed to truck tires in the past, which were pretty noisy.

Highway tires are mostly available with an all-season compound, which makes them useful throughout the year.

5. High-Performance and Ultra-High-Performance Tires

As their name implies, high-performance tires are primarily designed for fast and powerful vehicles. These tires are the best choice for the most powerful versions of sports sedans (BMW M3 and Mercedes C63 AMG), very fast sports coupes, and even some sporty crossovers.

Ultra-high-performance tires, which are an even more aggressive version, are an excellent choice for supercars but also for every driver that wants the best driving experience on the road. Both tire types provide outstanding responsiveness, super-high levels of grip and traction, and very strong braking. These tires are also useful for driving on the track.

High-performance and ultra-high-performance tires are offered with summer, all-season, and even winter compounds. Summer performance tires offer by far the best handling experience, but only when the weather is warm. All-season tires work better in colder conditions but aren’t that useful on snow. Winter performance tires, on the other hand, work excellently on snow and ice.

With all that said, high-performance and ultra-high-performance tires aren’t the best tires for a quiet ride. Some of the latest models have become quieter, for sure, but touring and grand-touring tires are quieter still. However, we still included the quietest performance tire on our list because we want to cover most of the vehicles on the street.

6. Street/Sport Tires for Crossover and SUV

Street/Sport tires are the equivalent of high-performance tires but designed to fit larger crossovers, trucks, and SUVs. They offer a much better driving experience than touring crossover tires.

With a set of these tires, the steering is more responsive and direct, there are much more grip and traction, and the braking distances will be shorter. Street/Sport tires also provide the driver with outstanding highway stability.

That said, while they certainly perform well in terms of handling, Street/Sport tires aren’t the quietest around. They aren’t noisy by any stretch of the imagination, but still noisier than touring tires. The ride will be slightly choppier as well.

Still, considering the fact of how many sporty SUVs are there on the roads today, we included the quietest Street/Sport tires on the market.

7. Off-Road Tires

If you want the best tires for a quiet ride, you won’t be satisfied with off-road tires. All-terrain tires might be a good option for some people because they are designed both for on-road and off-road driving. However, mud-terrain and maximum traction off-road tires tend to be very noisy on the highway.

We haven’t included any of these tires on the list because they aren’t quiet at all. If you have to choose and want a reasonably quiet set, we would go with all-terrain tires.

8. What Difference Does Climate Make?

The main division between tires, apart from the type of vehicle they’re used on, is climate. You probably didn’t know, but the rubber compound in the tires is designed to target a strict temperature range. Some tires are designed to work in warmer weather; others are designed to work in colder weather.

For example, if you use warm-weather tires in freezing conditions, the tread compound becomes too hard and brittle. The result is seriously worsened traction and braking, especially on wet and snowy roads. The cold-weather compound, on the other hand, becomes too soft in warm weather. The result is seriously worsened responsiveness, traction, grip, and stability.

To mitigate these issues, every tire manufacturer today offers all-season tires designed to cope with warmer and colder conditions. All-season tires provide the driver with good handling in hot and freezing weather, and some even have good light-snow traction.

The best thing about all-season tires, though, is how quiet they are. They offer by far the quietest ride of any other tire type, especially in the passenger, touring, and grand-touring categories. All-season tires also have better ride quality.

Summer tires provide the driver with much better handling in hot conditions, both on dry and wet surfaces. However, they tend to be noisier on the highway due to the stickier tread compound. The ride quality is also a tad busier on comparable tires (summer touring vs. all-season touring).

Finally, winter tires offer, by far, the best performance in freezing weather. They work consistently in these conditions, giving the driver a lot of control on dry and wet surfaces, as well as snow and ice. However, the aggressive tread pattern with a lot of siping makes winter tires very noisy, especially on the highway.

To sum it all up, all-season tires are by far the quietest of the bunch. That’s why we only included all-season tires on our list when it comes to the tread compound used.

Final Words

Traveling with a set of quiet tires is certainly more luxurious and calmer. That said, you shouldn’t buy tires on that quality alone. For example, there are some cheap Chinese tires that are quiet but unsafe to drive, especially on wet roads. They also don’t last very long and might be more expensive in the long run. The best tires for a quiet ride should also give you a completely safe journey in most conditions and last at least 3-4 years. That’s why we always recommend choosing quiet tires from well-known and reputable manufacturers that you fully trust.

New Year Sale @Priority Tire
Valid through January 13, 2023
Available at PriorityTire.com

5 thoughts on “Top 10 Best Quietest Tires for Quiet Ride: Recommended & Reviews”

    • Hi Steven,

      We have a review of the Goodyear ComfortTread Touring on our site. The reason it didn’t make this list was the number of owners that report the tires become much noisier as the tread wears down.

      Thanks!

      Reply
  1. Thanks for this info about the ComfortDrive noise/wear issues. Yours is the only site with that information. Anyway, off to order the Bridgestones (currently $150 off a set at Costco). Thanks again!

    Reply

Leave a Comment