Best Hyundai Santa Cruz Tires

Best Hyundai Santa Cruz Tires

Hyundai’s new Tucson-baed mini pickup truck is filling a niche that has everyone talking.

Efficient and stylish, it’s also incredibly practical. If you’re in the market for the best Hyundai Santa Cruz tires, we’ve got you covered, with excellent replacement options for all budget levels. Plus, we’ve included some unique picks, for all-terrain tires, winter tires and the longest lasting tires.

See our full list below.

Hyundai Santa Cruz Tire Size

Depending on the trim level of Santa Cruz, there are two main tire sizes that come equipped on the car from the factory, with a standard 18-inch size one the entry level models, and an optional 20-inch size.

  • 245/60/18
  • 245/50/20

Best Tire for Hyundai Santa Cruz

Kumho Crugen HP71

Kumho Crugen HP71 Review

It’s not the sportiest, or the longest lasting, but it is an ideal pairing of all of the most important factors you’d look for in a new tire. The Kumho Crugen HP71 offers nimble driving dynamics, impressive all-season capability, a quiet ride and decent tread life.

A sturdy center rib and wider shoulder tread blocks make for good responsiveness and handling.

Deep circumferential grooves help evacuate water, as do plenty of divisions in the tire’s tread.

That same design is also computer engineered to minimize road noise, delivering a luxurious ride quality.

The 65,000 mile tread life warranty isn’t quite as high as some rivals, but the pricing is more attractive than most in the segment, meaning you’re getting a lot of performance and capability for a decent price.

   

Best Tire for Hyundai Santa Cruz (alternative)

Continental Cross Contact LX 25

Continental CrossContact LX 25 Review

A more premium option for the Santa Cruz, the Continental Cross Contact LX 25’s high points include added grip in poor weather, heightened performance and a good tread life.

The intricate tread pattern offers more edges for superior grip in both wet weather and some wintry conditions. Amazingly, this design has no impact on road noise, and the tire is extremely quiet.

Connected shoulder tread blocks make for impressive handling, while a 70,000 mile tread life warranty is definitely a plus.

A superior tire to the Kumho option above, it also costs considerably more. So if you want more, you have to pay more.

   

Best Budget Tire for Hyundai Santa Cruz

Firestone Destination LE3

Firestone Destination LE3 Review

The Kumhos at the top of this list are already quite affordable and a solid option, but if you’re looking to save a few more bucks, then we’d recommend the new Firestone Destination LE3.

Its biggest drawback is in the dry weather handling department. It’s by no means bad, but it certainly sacrifices some overall grip for a tread that’s built more for long life. As a result, you do get a 70,000 mile warranty.

Thankfully, wet weather performance is not compromised and these tires still deliver a high level of grip in the wet, with good water evacuation capability and overall performance.

   

Best Four-Season Tire

Michelin CrossClimate2

Michelin CrossClimate 2 Review

One of the newest offerings from Michelin, the CrossClimate2 certainly doesn’t look like other tires on the road.

The unique v-shaped pattern, combined with unique features and a custom tread compound mean that it’s not just an all-season tire, but an all-weather tire too. What that means to you is that it is actually certified for true winter performance and offers impressive levels of grip.

In winter, siping between the long tread blocks helps snow stick to the tire to give it traction against snow on the road. In the rain or slush, the v-shaped pattern forces water away from the contact patch to help maintain a high level of grip.

And finally, in the dry, the extra wide tread blocks give great lateral stability. The siping even locks together under hard cornering and stopping to make a more robust contact patch and deliver excellent overall grip.

These tires do cost a premium and the 60,000 mile tread life warranty is lower than most other tires on this list. But if you do’t want to think about swapping tires twice a year, this is an outstanding new product.

   

Best All-Terrain Tire for Hyundai Santa Cruz

Falken Wildpeak A/T Trail

Getting the right tire for you and your vehicle is that we’re all about here at Truck Tire Reviews, so when it comes to all-terrain tires, the Falken Wildpeak A/T Trail is your best bet.

It’s not the most capable or aggressive, but we don’t expect any Santa Cruz owners are hitting the Rubicon Trail. Instead you need a tire that’s built for an active lifestyle, and this Falken is just that. It’s built for light off-roading, from dirt trails to gravel roads, and while outright grip isn’t it’s thing, it is impressively long lasting when used off-road and comes with a 65,000 mile warranty – that’s the most you’ll get from any all-terrain tire these days.

Apart from that, it has better on-road manners than most AT tires, rides quietly and it’s even priced attractively. All this and it’s certified for true winer capability as well, so you can hit the slopes in confidence.

   

Longest Lasting Tire for Hyundai Santa Cruz

Goodyear Assurance Max Life

Goodyear Assurance MaxLife Review

A luxurious all-season tire that will last and last. Always a contender for the best overall pick, the Assurance Max Life delivers on its name with an 85,000 mile tread life warranty – more than you’ll get from any other tire for the Santa Cruz.

Beyond that, it’s quiet, with decent handling and delivers as much all-season grip as you’re going to get from pretty much any all-season tire. The ride quality is slightly stiffer than some rival tires, due to the harder overall tread compound used.

Pricing is on the premium side, but for what you get, it’s quite reasonable.

   

Best Winter Tire for Hyundai Santa Cruz

Bridgestone Blizzak DM-V2

Want loads of winter grip? You can’t go wrong with the Blizzak DM-V2.

This tire will give you loads of confidence in snow thanks to the densely packed center tread section and siping that runs in every direction. As a result, it grips under acceleration, braking and cornering. It’s just so incredibly well-planted on snow-covered roads and turns with precision.

It doesn’t matter if you want performance, or safety, or both. This tire delivers.

   

Cheapest Winter tire for Hyundai Santa Cruz

General Grabber Arctic

The Blizzaks above might not be for everyone. Mostly due to the price. Although we’ll add that because they do so well on snow, if you get colder temperatures but not a lot of actual snow, their best feature might not be something you’ll truly exploit.

Overall our rule for winter tires is that you should have some. We’d like you to get the very best, but we understand that’s not for everyone. So if you’re on the fence about winter tires, then something affordable is a good choice: and the General Grabber Arctic is that good choice.

The directional tread pattern is good for stability and for clearing water and slush. Plus the center tread rib delivers stability and solid braking performance on dry but cold roads.

   

Cheapest Tire for Hyundai Santa Cruz

Sumitomo HTR A/S P03

Add some driving dynamics to your Santa Cruz and save some money at the same time, with these high performance options from Sumitomo.

The HTR A/S P03 is delivers a higher level of grip while still offering much of what you’d expect in an all-season tire.

The tread design uses five rows of tread blocks but two of them inter-twine to create a larger contact patch near the outside of the tire. As a result, this puts a lot of extra contact patch on the road, which really helps handling, making these some surprisingly grippy tires.

Wet weather traction is solid, though grip in colder climates does drop off pretty fast.

The tread life warranty varies significantly depending on the speed rating, but thankfully the H speed rated tires for the Santa Cruz come with a 65,000 mile warranty, which is quite good for a tire of this performance level.

   

What tires come on the Hyundai Santa Cruz?

The factory-equipped tires on the Santa Cruz differ depending on the tire size. Entry level models with 18-inch tires get the Kmho Crugen HP71 while the larger 20-inch wheels get Michelin Primacy LTX tires.

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