[AlanBDahl]

I've been reading tire reviews and I see that the Hankook Optimo H426 tires which are one of, or maybe the only, 16" Fiesta tire options are rather poorly-regarded getting a very low "would buy again" rating from the Tire Rack's customers.

Hankook Optimo H426

Do all of the 16" wheel cars come with this tire or do some come with the Kumhos? I'm thinking about installing new tires within the first 100 miles (most likely the Continental Extreme Contact DWS but I'm open to other suggestions) if the care comes with the Hankooks. Are these the only tires that come on the 16" wheels or do some come with Kumhos? If the Hankooks are on it for sure I'll pre-order the Continentals but if there's a chance it will come with Kumhos I'll hold off until I actually have the car and see what tires it's on.

 

[iamz]

Interesting that you posted this because I was just about to post this;

Kumho’s Solus KH25 radials will be the standard OE fitment on the 2011 Ford Fiesta.

Tire Review - New Fiesta Gets Kumho Solus Shoes

Those of you that have your cars, which tire is it?

 

[mress]

I have understood that Khumo's are what we get, 15 or 16 inch all get Khumo's. I do not like them. They are not good. I have had these tires (optimo) recently. I will never confuse them with the ecsta supra's iv'e got on my ZX2.

 

[LMTech]

I am not sure if the production cars will have the same tires on the 16 inch as the second round of the Fiesta Movement cars have but the dealer I am buying my car from has one of the US Fiesta movement cars that had 16 inch wheels and it had the Hankook tires on it

 

[golf strom]

My Fiesta in Europe had Continential PremiumContact2 on it. A very nice tire probably would be considered a THREE season tire in the USA.

 

[GapBoyPCS]

The Canadian brochure has KUMHO on the tire sidewalls for all its models pictured. The "followthefiesta.ca" vehicles brought for promotion had Continentals.

In many cases, the OEM tires of any vehicle do a basic job - get you rolling along. So, they'll have to "balance" (i.e. sacrifice) fuel efficiency, ride, handling, traction, treadlife, etc. Chances are if you want better performance and don't mind spending the money, you'd swing for upgraded tires.

 

[Griff2002]

It will be interesting to see people's reviews of other tires on the Fiesta over time.

 

[golf strom]

I'm not sure about the longevity of the Conti PremiumContact2 but the ride and handling of this tire was EXCELLENT. Very good positive feedback from the steering, good straight line tracking (no follwing the crown of the road)
good adhesion to the road in wet with no apparent hydroplaning, no squealing during hard cornering or on twisty roads.

I wonder if the Conti PremiumContact2 was the benchmark tire used during the initial testing of the EU Fiesta.. usually the engineers select one or two tires that they do all subsequent testing of the car with.

 

[eRic]

my Fiesta has 195/50-16 Hankook Optimo H426 tires. hear them scream
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[blueflame]

Just buy some used honda insight tires, they are proven to add 3-5mpg to any subcompact vehicle when properly inflated and balanced. 44psi is the perfect air pressure, and setting cruise control for 58mph is best for gas mileage since any more than that you start to use 50% of the engine's power to overcome drag and rolling resistance.

 

[BRGT350]

The 15" tires should be the Kuhmo's, and the 16" are the Hankooks. The cars were all wearing Kuhmo's at the LA and Detroit shows, but they switched to the Hankooks before launch on the 16".

I am not using the OE tires at all on my Fiesta. For summer, I am using Yokohama Parada Spec II's on 17" wheels. Winter tires are still not picked out yet, but will most likely be Blizzaks mounted on 15" steelies. I don't like using all seasons or low rolling resistance tires. All seasons are too much of a compromise tire, and the low resistance tires are too hard of a compound and lack lateral grip and braking traction. What you gain in MPG is not worth the decrease in performance.

 

[blueflame]

The 15" tires should be the Kuhmo's, and the 16" are the Hankooks. The cars were all wearing Kuhmo's at the LA and Detroit shows, but they switched to the Hankooks before launch on the 16".

I am not using the OE tires at all on my Fiesta. For summer, I am using Yokohama Parada Spec II's on 17" wheels. Winter tires are still not picked out yet, but will most likely be Blizzaks mounted on 15" steelies. I don't like using all seasons or low rolling resistance tires. All seasons are too much of a compromise tire, and the low resistance tires are too hard of a compound and lack lateral grip and braking traction. What you gain in MPG is not worth the decrease in performance.

There are several LRR tires that outperform the OEM tires in traction, braking, and even road noise. The newer designed LRR tires are much improved from what many people remember back in 2001.

 

[Casca]

I have Hankook V12's on my bimmer. Rides smooth, quite and feels great on corners. Even though they are summer tires, I had to drive around with rain pummeling down and the car still felt well planted going through corners. I have heard other Hankooks are not as good and the V12's are the first of the Hankooks that are actually worthy. Car and Driver did a review on it and Hankook came in 2nd

Hankook Ventus V12 Evo - Comparison Tests - Car and Driver


For the price, (I can get x2 235/35 and x2 265/30's for $668) I am probably going to buy another set of Hankooks for my bimmer when it comes time. For the Fiesta, I'll probably go with 17" rims and get Hankook V12's 205/45 (maybe wider if I can) as well.

 

[timo]

There are several LRR tires that outperform the OEM tires in traction, braking, and even road noise. The newer designed LRR tires are much improved from what many people remember back in 2001.

The "OEM tire" part of the above sentance in critical. If you're interested in performance, the OEM tires (on vehicles in this class) are not the benchmark.

 

[BRGT350]

exactly, an OEM tire is usually not want you want if you are searching for maximum traction in either snow/ice for dry tarmac. An OEM tire is great for the average person who doesn't want to mess around with swapping wheels and tires depending on the seasons. All seasons used by the OEM's are great for 95% of the drivers on the road. For the 5% of us who are looking for maximum traction in summer and winter, we pick dedicated summer and winter tires. I would doubt you will find a Low Resistance Tire that has more lateral grip, braking/accel traction than a high performance summer tire.

 

[blueflame]

exactly, an OEM tire is usually not want you want if you are searching for maximum traction in either snow/ice for dry tarmac. An OEM tire is great for the average person who doesn't want to mess around with swapping wheels and tires depending on the seasons. All seasons used by the OEM's are great for 95% of the drivers on the road. For the 5% of us who are looking for maximum traction in summer and winter, we pick dedicated summer and winter tires. I would doubt you will find a Low Resistance Tire that has more lateral grip, braking/accel traction than a high performance summer tire.

Well, different tires for different things. I will say though, a car with such little horsepower will not benefit greatly from a pure high performance summer tire. I have personally used LRR tires that performed very close to a high performance summer tire, but they had less road noise and got much better mpg. On my Mustang GT of course I have to have a high performance tire if not a drag radial tire, simply because of how much power it is putting to the ground. I do not foresee the Fiesta ever having that problem, and I would take the extra 3mpg over the minimal traction improvement.

 

[eRic]

Just buy some used honda insight tires, they are proven to add 3-5mpg to any subcompact vehicle when properly inflated and balanced. 44psi is the perfect air pressure, and setting cruise control for 58mph is best for gas mileage since any more than that you start to use 50% of the engine's power to overcome drag and rolling resistance.

gag no. I'm shopping for Extreme Performance Summer tires. I'm more interested in cornering grip than MPG. I had 45 psi in the front and 35 psi rear when I was autocrossing but that didn't stop them for howling in protest and the stability control light from blinking Continental ContiSportContact 2 are Max Performance Summer and available in the OE size so they will fit my OE wheels and I can run in street Tire H Stock [THS] for now...

 

[BRGT350]

under acceleration, there may not be much difference between a LRR and a summer tire, but there most likely will be a huge gain in lateral grip. I am all about the maximum grip around corners, so a performance summer tire is for me. I am one of the people who actually put MPG at the bottom of the list when it came to buying the Fiesta. I would give up alot of MPG for more performance. I am not sure if the Fiesta uses the same Hankooks as the rental Focus I am driving, but those things make all sorts of racket around corners and under acceleration. My wife laughs at how loud they are around corners compared to the summer tires on the EU Fiesta. Heck, they protest more around corners than the tires on our Escape. The Focus Hankook's howl at first, then start to squeal very loudly around any corner. I am so used to driving on performance rubber (all of my Focuses and my Mustang use summer tires) that I really have to dial back the cornering. The Hankooks on the rental car are also not the best in the rain, and seem to be worse than a summer tire in that regard. They are fairly quiet, but that is not that important to me.

As long as I live in a climate with warm summers and heavy snow in the winter, I will always use a performance summer tire and a dedicated winter tire. I just can't compromise.

eRic, looks like we think along the same lines! I had good results from the Pirelli P-Zero's on the EU Fiesta, and I guess those were the same tires that Joel and Mandy had on theirs. Not all the agents got the same wheels and tires. I need to double check, but I thought I ran them at 37 psi hot front and 42 psi hot rear. Those were a perfomance summer tire, and reacted well to those pressures. We were told to run them at 42 psi cold, but that made the traction/ESC way too active on the track when they heated up. My pressures worked much better. The US car also has a much less intrusive ESC and TA than the EU car.

 

[dfw.embalmer]

Mine has the Kumho Solus.......

 

[BRGT350]

Han is a great guy to work with and we have discussed the suspension and tires for the Fiesta in great detail. The Exalto's are used as an OE Tire in Europe on the Fiesta. I went with a P215/40 17, but I know there may be some rubbing at full lock. Coming from Mustang land, I am used to rubbing at full lock with wider tires. Hopefully I will find out how bad the rubbing is tonight, assuming my Fiesta arrives today.