The affordable brand that always delivers in the style department, the Telluride might just be Kia’s best, and most attractive vehicle yet. Let’s face it, if the only real critique of the Telluride is that it looks too much like a Land Rover, well, you’ve clearly run out of criticisms.
With those great looks, a fantastic cabin filled with plenty of technology and lots of safety features, it’s no surprise this SUV has been a hit.
When it comes to equipping your Telluride with new tires, we’ve compiled a list of options for everything from improved tire life, to better all-season capability, to price.
Kia Telluride Tire Size
- 245/60/18
- 245/50/20
With a selection of different trim levels, the Telluride rolls of the factory floor with one of two tire size options (above).
Best Kia Telluride Tire
Continental Terrain Contact HT
Shopping for tires can be complicated and tire brand’s don’t always make it easy. Tires all have strange names with odd letters at the end, like the HT here. Generally speaking HT stands for Highway Terrain and such tires are designed for a smooth highway ride that’s quiet and long lasting. The “terrain” part of the name, however, means that they can handle some off-roading too. While far from an all-terrain tire, they can do the work when asked to and, often, that’s why you bought an SUV in the first place So a set of highway terrain tires makes sense for a lot of SUVs and crossovers.
The Continental Terrain Contact HT is just such a tire, offering excellent highway manners in terms of quietness and ride quality as well as a very solid 70,000 mile tread life warranty.
Often HT tires aren’t quite as good when it comes to driving dynamics, but Continental has overcome that hurdle here with decent performance and extremely impressive braking capability in both wet and dry conditions.
Pricing is comparatively affordable for what you get. Plus, we love Continental’s Total Protection Plan that includes a year of road hazard covered where the brand will replace your tire free of charge if it gets ruined from a pot hole or nail on the road, plus they also include flat tire road size assistance and will either change your tire for free or tow your vehicle 150 miles.
Best Kia Telluride Tire (alternative)
Goodyear Wrangler Fortitude HT
Another HT tire, this one comes from Goodyear and is a part of the Wrangler sub-brand of tires. You might associate this tire with Jeeps and there’s a reason for that: off-road capability.
True, this is an HT tire so it’s more on-road focused, but as a Wrangler it puts more emphasis on that off-road grip than on-road features. It still offers a compliant and quiet highway ride and tracks nicely, with responsive turn-in. It’s overall read life warranty is 5,000 miles less at 65,000 miles.
Be cautious when ordering these tires as Goodyear does offer them in two different sidewalls with just regular black lettering or white outlined lettering. So make sure you pick what’s right for you.
Best All-Season Tire for Kia Telluride
Goodyear Assurance WeatherReady
There aren’t a lot of four-season tires on the market and so Goodyear really has a unique and uniquely attractive offering here. The Assurance WeatherReady is technically classified as an all-season, although unlike most other all-seasons it’s certified for true winter use. Using a soybean oil infused tread compound it resists freezing at lower temperatures, while the custom tread design offers plenty of siping and other features to deliver winter grip.
Packed full of tire technology, the tread design delivers above-average summer performance due to tread blocks that lock together under cornering and braking. This allows for more stability in the tire with the tread blocks leaning on each other for support and can work to increase the overall contact patch. As for wet weather grip, it’s got that covered too thanks to a tread innovation where the water evacuation channels in the tire become wider as the tread wears.
The tread life rating for this tire is 60,000 miles.
One of the more expensive tires on this list, the Goodyear Assurance WeatherReady will save you the hassle of swapping tires in the Fall and Spring. It’ll also save you that expense.
Longest Lasting Kia Telluride Tire
Goodyear Assurance MaxLife
Get more miles out of your tires and put off thinking about buying new ones. Sounds great, doesn’t it?
Well, it’s all possible thanks to the Goodyear Assurance MaxLife tire, which offer a longer tread life warranty than any other tire on the market. This well-rounded tire offers solid driving dynamics, comfort and quietness. And best of all an 85,000 mile tread life guarantee.
It comes at a bit of a premium, but for many, that guarantee is worth it.
Cheapest Kia Telluride Tire
GT Radial Touring VP Plus
If you absolutely want the cheapest tires, you’ll actually want to go with the Sentury Crossover tire. We’re going to recommend that the Touring VP Plus from GT Radial is a slightly better option for an equally slight price increase. Performance here is quite good, at least in the dry. In the wet it’s nearly as capable as the average tire. And the options on this list are well-above average.
With a relatively sticky tread and a more summer-focused tread design it offers a great highway ride and solid responsiveness.
Tire life isn’t great at 50,000 miles (warranty). That is 10,000 miles more than the Sentury tires we mentioned earlier and only about that much less than some of the other options listed here.
For those reasons and its extremely affordable price point, it makes out list.
Kia Telluride Replacement Tire
Pirelli Scorpion Zero AS
If you can’t be bothered with detailed shopping comparisons for tires, the Pirelli Scorpion Zero AS is a safe bet. It’s what came equipped on the Kia Telluride from the factory and probably what you’re looking to replace right now. So if you’re pleased with the performance, comfort, quietness and life of the tire, this is an easy choice.
Driving dynamics with this tire are more performance focused than our recommendations on this list so if you prefer a more engaging ride, this is a top choice.
The only down side to this tire is it’s overall tire life. It doesn’t come with a mileage guarantee from the factory, however, you likely have some first hand experience with how long they last, so check your Telluride’s odometer and that’ll give you a good idea of the value they provide. And speaking of value, the Pirelli Scorpion Zero AS costs roughly 15-20% less than most of the tires on the list.
Best Winter Tire for Kia Telluride
Bridgestone Blizzak DM-V2
A tire that’s synonymous with winter grip.
The Blizzak DM-V2 is one of Bridgestone’s latest and greatest winter tires. The dense center tread section provides amazing stability on snow covered roads, while the multi-angle siping on each of the triangle tread blocks means you get grip when accelerating, braking and cornering.
In the snow this tire delivers performance, safety and confidence.
Some tires perform a bit better on icy roads, but this is a champ in the snow. It is expensive, but absolutely worth it!
Frequently Asked Questions
What Tires come on the Kia Telluride?
18-inch tires
Pirelli Scorpion Zero All Season
Bridgestone Dueler HP Sport A/S
20-inch tires
Pirelli Scorpion Zero All Season
How Long do Kia Telluride Tires Last?
Tires life for any vehicle varies depending upon driving style as well as proper rotation and inflation. However, even with that taken into account, the tread life for different factory-equipped Telluride tires varies significantly. Expect between 40,000 and 55,000 miles on a set, with the factory Bridgestone tires on the lower end and the Michelins up at 55,000. The Hankooks come with a 50,000 mile expected tread life from the manufacturer, while the Pirellis come with no such warranty.