Top 10 Best Tires for Dodge Challenger

The Dodge Challenger doesn’t have the ultimate recognizability of the Mustang, but in the eyes of some people (including me), it’s the better muscle car. From the retro-derived yet modern muscular design to the excellent choice of brawny engines and high-performance models, the Challenger is a muscle car that every enthusiast craves for. 

And it’s not all about looks and straight-line speed. The Challenger proved that muscle cars could be fun to drive in the corners, and some models are even usable on the track. Moreover, the Challenger Hellcat is an absolute monster that can destroy even some exotic supercars on a drag strip. Suffice to say, Dodge offers one of the best and most passionate muscle cars on the market right now.

That being said, the Challenger will be nothing without a good set of tires. On powerful vehicles, such as the Challenger, the tires are extremely important for achieving great performance. Put bad tires on your muscle car, and it will immediately start to look for traction during acceleration and for grip in the corners.

The thing is, the market is flooded with different tire options. Buyers can choose from cheaper performance models to premium ultra-high-performance tires that cost a fortune. This can be confusing, especially if it’s the first time you purchase tires for your Challenger.

Moreover, tires are divided into several different categories, each serving different driving styles. Oh, and you should also put the climate into the equation. If not, your Challenger will not only handle poorly – it might be unsafe to drive on public roads. On top of that, some Challenger models are so powerful that they can rip through cheap tires after a couple of aggressive starts.

Now, everything that I said might sound confusing. For that reason, I prepared a curated list of the best Dodge Challenger tires on the market. In that list, I’ll include tires that will provide drivers with excellent driving dynamics, both for straight-line acceleration and burnouts and in the corners.

And, for those that don’t know much about performance tires, I also created a detailed buying guide on Dodge Challenger tires. In the buying guide, you’ll be able to learn about all the different tire types viable for the famous American muscle car. Furthermore, I’ll discuss the climate and how it affects Dodge Challenger tires.

The 10 Best Tires for Dodge Challenger Available in 2023

1. Michelin Pilot Sport 4S

Best Max-Performance Summer Tires for Dodge Challenger

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Right now, there is no better tire for sports cars than the Pilot Sport 4S. Sure, the tire is very expensive, but in my opinion, it is absolutely worth the extra cost.

The Pilot Sport 4S has it all. Handling is simply superb – responsiveness is outstanding, and the driver can rely on the exceptional grip, traction, and braking levels. The tire works tremendously over wet surfaces as well, and it’s outstandingly stable on the highway.

Moreover, Michelin managed to make the Pilot Sport 4S as comfortable as a max-performance tire can be. Also, they cover this tire with a 30,000-mile treadwear warranty, something no other manufacturer does in this category.

2. Bridgestone Potenza RE050

Best Max-Performance Summer Tires for Dodge Challenger

The Potenza RE050 is one of my favorite tires, primarily because it feels super-responsive behind the steering wheel.

Furthermore, the Potenza has super-high levels of grip in the corners and outstanding traction during hard acceleration. High-speed stability is exceptional, and you can trust this tire in the rain as well.

That said, the ride can be choppy over uneven surfaces, and you can easily hear the tires at highway speeds. Also, Bridgestone doesn’t provide any treadwear warranty on the Potenza RE050.

3. Falken Azenis FK510

Best Ultra-High-Performance Summer Tires for Dodge Challenger

With the Azenis FK510, Falken managed to combine excellent performance and a budget-friendly price. If you are tight on a budget, there is no better option than this tire.

The Azenis FK510 is an extra-responsive tire with a great steering feel. The handling is tight and controllable, while grip and traction are exceptional. The tire also works tremendously well over wet surfaces, even in heavy rain.

That said, while the Azenis FK510 is very quiet, it can be rough over uneven surfaces.

4. Firestone Firehawk Indy 500

Best Ultra-High-Performance Summer Tires for Dodge Challenger

The Firestone Firehawk Indy 500 might be old by now, but it’s still one of my favorite budget-friendly ultra-high-performance summer tires.

Behind the wheel, the Indy 500 feels super-responsive, and it communicates with the driver really well. Traction and grip are excellent over dry and wet surfaces, even though perhaps not on the level of the premium rivals.

Still, apart from the firm ride, you can’t really complain, especially considering the price.

5. Bridgestone Potenza RE-71R

Best Extreme-Performance Summer Tires for Dodge Challenger

When it comes to real enthusiast-level handling, the Potenza RE-71R is by far the best tire on the market right now.

With a set of these tires, your Challenger will feel super-direct behind the wheel – responsiveness is best-in-class. Also, you can trust this tire at very high speeds – the traction and grip are on the level of a racing tire.

Moreover, the tire is easily controllable at the limit, while also communicating with the driver outstandingly well. Oh, and it also works in rainy conditions, which is a great plus.

That said, be prepared to pay for the outstanding performance – the RE-71R is very expensive.

6. Goodyear Eagle F1 Supercar 3

Best Extreme-Performance Summer Tires for Dodge Challenger

The Goodyear Eagle F1 Supercar 3 is the nemesis of the Potenza RE-71R. Honestly, it’s very hard to tell these tires apart when they are hot – they both perform at a very high level. Nevertheless, the Eagle F1 requires heat to perform at its best.

Still, you get a lot of performance for the money here. The tire is outstandingly responsive and feels great behind the wheel. Furthermore, it provides the driver with extremely high levels of grip and traction and excellent stability. The Eagle F1 also works in light rain, which is great.

That said, drivers report that the tire becomes noisy when it wears down, so keep that in mind if you travel on the highway often.

7. Continental ExtremeContact DWS06

Best Ultra-High-Performance All-Season Tires

The ExtremeContact DWS06 is one of the few tires that can give you sporty handling and work in the winter.

On dry roads, the DWS06 provides the driver with responsive handling and high levels of grip and traction. Moreover, the tire performs outstandingly well over very wet surfaces.

Continental provides a 50,000-mile treadwear warranty on this tire, which is great. However, I would’ve liked less noise on the highway.

8. Pirelli P Zero All Season Plus

Best Ultra-High-Performance All-Season Tires

The P Zero All Season Plus might not be the best option for places where it rains frequently. It’s not bad in wet conditions, but it’s definitely worse than the best (ExtremeContact DWS06).

Apart from that, the P Zero handles beautifully. The tire is very responsive, and it has an excellent lateral grip. Furthermore, I was surprised by the smooth ride quality and quiet rolling.

Pirelli provides a 50,000-mile treadwear warranty on the P Zero All Season Plus.

9. Michelin Premier A/S

Best Grand-Touring All-Season Tires

The Premier A/S is the best grand-touring tire when it comes to handling. Behind the wheel, it feels crisp and responsive, and it communicates well with the driver.

Moreover, the tire works safely over dry and wet surfaces, and it’s stable at higher speeds. The best thing about the Premier A/S is that it’s supremely quiet and comfortable.

That said, the 60,000-mile treadwear warranty is low for the category.

10. Cooper CS5 Ultra Touring

Best Grand-Touring All-Season Tires

The CS5 Ultra Touring is an excellent grand-touring tire for budget-minded buyers. In terms of performance, it is close to the premium rivals at only a fraction of the price.

Moreover, the CS5 Ultra Touring is supremely quiet and comfortable. Also, the tire performs very well over dry and wet surfaces and has outstanding treadlife.

The only area where Cooper can make improvements is snow traction, but even then, the CS5 is usable for wintry conditions.

Best Tires for Dodge Challenger: Buying Guide

1. Grand-Touring Tires are a Good Option for Highway Cruising

In the past, I wouldn’t have recommended grand-touring tires to muscle car owners. However, today these tires have become much better in terms of handling, and they are also available in Dodge Challenger tire size.

Grand-touring tires are mostly designed for passenger cars and drivers that spend most of their time on the highway and do that every single day. Consequently, these tires possess qualities that work best for that kind of driving.

The first quality that people love about these tires is the durability. Grand-touring tires are designed from hard-wearing tread compound that can withstand the test of time. These tires have outstanding treadlife, especially if they are equipped with an all-season compound.

Also, tire manufacturers provide outstanding warranties on their grand-touring tires, often up to 80,000-miles. This means that the average American driver can use these tires for 5-6 years without worrying about losing traction in wet conditions.

Another quality that satisfies highway drivers is the comfort these tires offer. As a result of the more flexible sidewall, grand-touring tires simply glide over bumps. Compared to performance tires, you will feel much less from the road, especially over uneven surfaces.

Furthermore, tire manufacturers spend a lot of time improving the noise qualities of the tire. The best grand-touring tires today have noise-optimized tread patterns, unlike performance tires, for example. Accordingly, they offer a supremely quiet ride on the highway.

When it comes to performance, though, things become a bit tricky. See, grand-touring tires are great for safe and reliable handling down the road, but they aren’t designed for very aggressive driving. For example, if you use your Challenger mostly for grand-touring (GT) purposes, these tires will be completely fine.

However, if you want to attack corners on some mountain road or want to out-accelerate other muscle cars on the traffic stop, they won’t cut the mustard. Grand-touring tires lack responsiveness, which spoils the steering feel. Also, they don’t offer very high levels of grip and traction, and that’s especially true for the all-season models.

To sum it up, with grand-touring tires, you can use your Challenger only as a mile-eating machine, but not as a sports car. For that reason, I recommend these tires on less-powerful models of the vehicle, specifically those with the 3.6-liter V6 Pentastar engine.

2. High-Performance and Ultra-High-Performance Tires are the Best Choices for Most People

Well, guys, here is where the fun really begins. If you want to truly extract the best possible performance from your Challenger on the road, I recommend going for high-performance or ultra-high-performance tires. These models are designed for better driving dynamics, but also for tolerable comfort and quietness.

Please note that in Dodge Challenger sizes, you will mostly find ultra-high-performance tires, so I will only refer to them in this article. However, if you find some good high-performance tires, they are a great choice, too.

Ultra-high-performance tires offer much better responsiveness and steering feel than grand-touring tires. This is apparent from the get-go – performance tires feel better to drive even at lower speeds. Be more aggressive when attacking the corners, though, and the difference will become even wider.

On top of that, ultra-high-performance tires provide the driver with much higher levels of grip and traction. As a result of that, you can achieve much higher speeds in the corners, and accelerate more vividly.

Accordingly, ultra-high-performance tires provide the driver with much shorter braking distances. Also, thanks to the stiffer sidewalls, ultra-high-performance tires perform much better on the highway, at least when it comes to stability and safety.

That being said, you should be prepared for some disadvantages. These tires aren’t overly comfortable. On the highway, you might not feel that much, but the ride will be very choppy in urban conditions. Also, ultra-high-performance tires are noisier, especially at higher speeds.

Moreover, ultra-high-performance tires can be costly. They are not only expensive to buy, but they also have usually shorter treadlife than grand-touring tires. In other words, you’ll be changing tires more often and pay more to do that.

For that reason, I recommend ultra-high-performance tires for driving enthusiasts that really want to extract the best possible dynamics from their Challenger, especially in the corners. People that only drive on the highway might be better suited by grand-touring tires.

3. Max-Performance Tires are the Best Choice for Real Enthusiasts 

While ultra-high-performance tires are completely fine for most Challenger enthusiast drivers, they aren’t good enough for the most powerful versions, like the Hellcat, for example.

Max-performance tires are a step above ultra-high-performance tires in almost every way. They feel even more responsive and offer simply outstanding steering feel. Moreover, the levels of dry grip, braking, and traction here are simply superb, while high-speed stability is exceptional.

Wet traction, grip, and braking will be lower, though, especially in colder weather. Also, max-performance tires have even choppier ride over bumps and tend to be very noisy at higher speeds. Also, these tires exclusively come with a summer compound and, consequently, have very short treadlife – up to 20,000-miles.

For that reason, I recommend max-performance tires to people that go on track days with their vehicles. Max-performance tires are completely usable on the road, while still offering extremely good track-day handling. Some people even use them for amateur drag racing.

4. Extreme-Performance Tires are the Best Choice for Track Use 

You thought that max-performance tires are the most “performance” models you can get? Well, think again! Extreme-performance tires are an even more aggressive version of max-performance tires primarily designed for very fast driving. 

These tires offer exceptional responsiveness and go-kart-like steering feel. Additionally, they offer extremely high levels of traction for hard acceleration, superior grip in the corners, and outstandingly short braking distances.

That said, extreme-performance tires aren’t the best choice for wet conditions, especially during heavy rain. Also, they are uncomfortable on the street and very noisy on the highway. Finally, you should expect an even shorter treadlife from these tires.

However, if you mostly care about making your Challenger drive as good as it can, extreme-performance tires are by far the best choice. They will not only elevate the dynamics of your puppy on the street, but they will also make it a beast on the track, drag strip, or autocross circuit.

5. What About the Weather? Does it Make a Difference?

Well, of course, it does, and especially in the case of the Challenger. Apart from performance categories, tires are divided into weather categories. For the Challenger, you can have either summer, all-season, or winter tires.

The main differentiation between these tire types is in the tread compound. Tires designed for freezing weather are usually made from softer and more pliable rubber. This helps them retain traction and grip under severe weather conditions.

Moreover, winter tires also have more aggressive tread patterns with a lot of siping. Because of that, winter tires can provide the driver with outstanding traction and braking over snow, ice, or slush. Overall, winter tires are by far the best choice for harsh wintry conditions.

However, winter tires become too soft in warmer conditions. This not only makes them less responsive, but it also makes them less stable on the highway. Moreover, winter tires don’t have a large contact patch, which limits grip and traction over dry surfaces.

All-season tires are better in warmer conditions. They are made from a tread compound designed for a mix of warm and cold weather. For that reason, you can expect more responsive handling and higher levels of grip and traction. Nevertheless, all-season tires are adequate only for mild winters – winter tires are still a much better solution.

Besides, many enthusiasts view all-season tires as a compromise on both ends, and rightfully so. For example, summer tires are way better than all-season tires in warm conditions over dry and wet surfaces. And, it’s not even close! 

Even if you take tires from the same category, summer tires will give you much better handling. Ultra-high-performance summer tires perform much, much better than their all-season counterparts in all conditions except freezing weather.

With a set of summer performance tires on your Challenger, you can expect the best combination of responsiveness, steering feel, traction, grip, and braking. The only downside here is that you must replace your summer tires with winter ones when the weather requires it. Other than that, they are perfect for enthusiast driving.

That said, if you just want a dependable tire for highway driving, all-season performance tires might be a great solution. They not only work in freezing weather, but they also have a much longer treadlife than summer tires. 

Final Words

To truly appreciate the qualities of your Challenger, I strongly recommend choosing high-quality tires from reputable manufacturers. That way, you’ll be sure that the tires provide you with exceptional performance in most conditions, but also with long treadlife and high levels of comfort. Just be sure that you rotate your tires regularly – that will keep them fresh for longer!