The Best Tires To Perfect Your Toyota Corolla

The mighty Toyota Corolla is arguably one of the best compacts you can buy, and its tires are one of the most important components you can change. Performance, comfort, and economy could all be yours at the click of a button and a trip to the tire shop. How do you know which tires are right for you? There have been a dozen generations of Corollas over several decades. Some have proven more economical than others, while more than a few are fun, spritely enthusiast cars. 

Allow The Drive to guide you through a dizzying assortment of tires for your tried-and-true Toyota. From navigating blizzards to blitzing apexes and everything in between, I have you covered. I have combined knowledge with extensive research to deliver a comprehensive buyers guide.

Our goal is to deliver informative and honest reviews in every guide. To find the best Corolla tires, I’ve combined my current expertise with research, diving deep into expert test data and consumer opinion. Tire Rack has proven to be a stellar textbook of data on every tire I’ve chosen based on popularity, Tire Rack’s test data, and most important, consumer experiences with dynamics and quality. Tires from previous guides on other compact cars were heavily considered, with many making it onto this list with consideration for the Corolla’s range of talents and buyers. For more information on how we generally curate our buyers guides at The Drive, visit the link here.

Vredestein’s Quatrac Pro is a multi-talented hero, while Sumitomo’s HTR A/S P03 gets top marks for standing as an unbeatable bargain with usable attributes up its sleeves. 

Let us know in the comments which tires you prefer.

What to Consider When Buying Tires for Your Corolla

There’s an expansive array of tires available for Corollas tailored to all sorts of talents. Every type has its strengths and weaknesses that define its category. I want to share a few ways that tires can distinguish themselves in a crowded field. 

The most well-rounded, comfortable, and common tires on this planet, all-seasons make up the bulk of passenger car tires from both the aftermarket and OEMs. It’s a broad, all-encompassing term that can include cozy, highway-oriented touring tires with low noise and high mileage and even all-season performance rubber for year-round driving fun. 

All-seasons are often a jack-of-all-trades-type, meaning they’re rarely standout showstoppers. Their high-silica compounds, complicated tread patterns, and immense siping mean they’re ideal for rain and comfort but won’t be an enthusiast’s pick for maximum dry grip. Their need to function year-round also means they’ll seldom approach true winter tires in ice and slush except those bearing the 3PMSF badge.

Exotic compounds, ultimate traction, and car meet clout are yours with the use of dedicated performance tires. This ranges from more street-oriented summer tires like a Michelin Pilot Sport 4S to hardcore, ultra-focused rubber like the Yokohama Advan A052. Their overall missions are simple: elevate a car’s performance through increased traction on the road and track. 

Many streetworthy tires will often use a hybrid rubber compound to optimize wet traction and comfort while still having an unyielding level of grip as a wheel leans into a corner. Low-treadwear track rubber will sacrifice on-road comforts like wet traction and road noise in favor of softer compounds that can better glue themselves to the pavement in the name of lap times. Due to being optimized for better performance in warmer weather, it’s strongly advised to avoid winter driving on performance tires.

A snowbelt savior and a rallyist’s delight, winter tires step above even the desirable 3PMSF all-seasons in terms of traction in slush, snow, and ice in frigid temperatures. They’re commonly offered as options from dealers and manufacturers but rarely installed as standard equipment due to their focus on traversing the winter wonderland. 

These are defined by the softest compounds to better resist hardening at freezing temps, as well as the most aggressive tread patterns this side of an off-road tire. Their wide channels and bounties of siping are better suited to evacuating moisture and providing an abrasive edge for grabbing at the snow. Avoid running these in warmer months as the heat can soften the rubber leading to accelerated wear and sluggish driving dynamics.

All those gashes and slashes on the face of the tire mean something in how your tire ultimately performs in various conditions. Large channels run the circumference to flush out moisture to maintain contact and resist hydroplaning. Smaller, angled channels on the shoulders flush moisture outwards while siping (those itty-bitty cuts) assist on a smaller scale and even assist in grabbing at the snow. 

Winter tires will typically have the most aggressive tread patterns for their focused mission of traversing inclement winter weather. Performance tires will use as minimal tread as possible to maximize the contact patch, but most modern examples will use their tread cleverly not to sacrifice wet performance. Aggressive tread tailored for whichever discipline may contribute to increased road noise.

An essential factor in determining ride quality as well as cornering and steering feel, sidewalls are the vertical face between your rim and the road-contacting surface of the tire. Their construction is arguably the decider if your tire rides soft or firm, with numb or lively steering feel. Soft sidewalls found on some touring tires will greatly increase road comfort at the expense of having slow, sluggish responses during cornering as the rubber flexes and bends. 

Firmer sidewalls on high-performance rubber will be harsher but will better transmit road feel through the steering system as well as better resist deflection for more predictable handling. In the case of economy tires, firm sidewalls coupled with firm rubber compounds may lower rolling resistance and thus increase mileage and tread life.

Premium, more expensive tires that are honed for specific tasks will sport unique and high-tech compounds to suit their tasks better. High-performance rubber may utilize hybrid compounds with center blocks formulated for wet traction and ride quality, while the shoulders are just soft enough to provide adequate traction as the wheel leans over. Firm rubber will lower rolling resistance for improved tread life and gas mileage, while softer compounds enhance traction and ride comfort.

An ingredient that helps modern tires excel is silica, a filler that allows them to remain pliable in a variety of temperatures. Popular in all-seasons and winter rubber, high-silica compounds are excellent at resisting freezing temps. In premium touring tires, high-silica compounds may be used to soften the ride.

Most tires can be had for less than $1,000 per set. Four Quatrac Pros can be purchased for about $600. The same size for PureContacts would run nearly $720. Specialized performance tires such as the Pilot Sport 4S will ring in at roughly $900, while the super-focused Advan A052 hovers between $750 to $1,000 per set, depending on size. 

You’ve got questions. The Drive has answers.