Best Tires for Comfort and Noise: What are the Options?

People with a longer commute are the type of tire buyers that would put comfort higher up the chain. Driving longer distances in a car and listening to the tire noise can be frustrating, and a similar story can be told about the comfort. Some tires can smooth out bumps in the road, offering a very comfortable driving experience. Others are harsh, and experiencing that harshness over a longer time is no fun.

One of the most common misconceptions is that a comfortable tire will not be fun to drive, which is untrue. What is true is that these kinds of tires are designed to be comfortable and quiet and may not be able to match the performance of some high-performance tires. Despite that, they are not as terrible when pushed hard as most people think.

If you are the type of person that is looking for a smooth ride with low noise from the tires, I’ve got the list just for you. I’ll be compiling a list of the best tires for comfort and noise. Considering that there are numerous car types and people are looking for different types of tires, I’ll try to cover all of them.

In my list of the most comfortable tires, I’ll include touring and grand touring tires for passenger cars, as well as touring tires for crossovers and SUVs. As a bonus, I’ll also include a high-performance tire with comfortable properties.

Without further ado, lets’ dive in.

Best Tires for Comfort and Noise Available in 2024

1. Continental TrueContact Tour

Best Touring Tires for Comfort and Noise

Continental has some claims regarding treat-wear, wet performance, and fuel economy of their TrueContact Tour model, and I can safely say that they nailed it.

This model provides everything you’d expect from a touring tire on dry surfaces and a bit more. You get plenty of grip in the corners from a tire that is very responsive to your inputs from the steering wheel. The high-speed stability is excellent, just as is the braking distances.

In the wet, the TrueContact Tour surprises even more. You’ll have a lot more confidence going into a corner once you feel that the tire has tons of grip. The braking distances are as impressive as they are in the dry, and you get one of the best hydroplaning resistive tires on the market.

Once it starts snowing, the tire will impress, as long as it’s light snow. Once it starts packing, you will have difficulties. The only aspect where the TrueContact Tour is not acceptable is with traction on ice.

Comfort and noise levels are probably this tire’s best advantage. It manages to smooth out almost any kind of road imperfections. On top of that, you get nearly no noise from the tires, regardless of the speed you are driving at.

2. Michelin Defender T+H

Best Touring Tires for Comfort and Noise

Many people criticize Michelin for having expensive tires, and the same can be said about the Defender T+H. Despite that, it is an excellent tire that you should consider.

Touring tires are not designed to give you a sporty driving feeling, but this model manages to surpass that. It handles as I expected and even better. It holds on in corners, stays stable at high speeds, and achieves that while offering dynamic handling and providing feedback from the road.

The trend continues in the wet department, where the Defender T+H impressed me with the handling and grip levels. The braking distances are short, and the tire doesn’t lose traction even when pushed slightly harder. As for hydroplaning, this tire can resist it without a problem.

When it comes to snow, the Defender T+H is a tire that I cannot praise. While it is true that all-season tires are not designed for snow, this one didn’t impress me with its performance. Considering the price tag, this is the biggest letdown.

The refinement on this tire is one of the best there is. The ride comfort is superb and smooths up any imperfections in the road. Noise levels are among the best. You may hear some faint tire noise at high speeds, but it would still be less than most of the competitors.

3. Pirelli P4 Four Seasons Plus

Best Touring Tires for Comfort and Noise

People that are mostly interested in a comfortable tire with an extended tread life would love Pirelli’s P4 Four Seasons Plus.

Kicking off with the dry performance, it’s not something that you’d find exciting. The traction levels are excellent, and the tire will stick to the road better than you’d expect. When it comes to handling, there are some more responsive options on my list. Despite that, it’s a tire that offers excellent stability and one of the shortest braking distances.

The wet performance is quite the opposite. You get one of the best wet performances in any all-season touring tire. The grip levels are phenomenal, just like the hydroplaning resistance, thanks to the two longitudinal grooves. The performance also means that you are getting a tire with one of the shortest stopping distances in the wet.

Snow is not this tire’s forte. Despite Pirelli’s claim that it is a tire for every season, deeper snow may mean trouble. The overall performance on snow and ice is about average.

The best part about the P4 Four Seasons Plus is how smooth and quiet it is. Like most of the tires on my list, you get a very comfortable ride where the tire smooths up the road's imperfections. Noise-wise, the tire is very quiet, even when driven at higher speeds.

4. Michelin Primacy Tour A/S

Best Grand Touring Tires for Comfort and Noise

You will hardly find a top list of the best tires without a Michelin model in it, so the same goes for my list. In the passenger car category, you have the Michelin Primacy Tour A/S.

Dry performance with this model is excellent. The tires grip on the road quite well and take any steering input while being precise. Even though it’s not a performance tire, you can still have some fun and have a sporty feeling.

On wet roads, the levels of grip are also to be praised. The 4 grooves and the asymmetric tread pattens with sipes down the sides help remove excess water from below the tire. This results in excellent performance even if you decide to give it some gas. Michelin’s tread design also helps with reducing hydroplaning, and the zig-zag pattern helps over light snow.

One slight downside is that in dry and wet is the feedback you get from the ground. This should not be surprising, as this tire’s main selling point is comfort and low noise levels.

Speaking of, the Primacy Tour A/S is excellent in this department. You get a very comfortable tire when you go out on the motorway. As for the noise, it’s not the quietest you’ll find on the market, but it’s near the top.

5. Cooper CS5 Ultra Touring

Best Grand Touring Tires for Comfort and Noise

Cooper is known for having tires with an excellent price per performance, and the CS5 Ultra Touring is no exception.

StabilEdge is the technology that Cooper used to get the tremendous dry performance for this tire. It prevents the blocks from flexing, giving the tire more stability in the corners. This technology also improves the responsiveness, almost giving it a performance-like feel.

As with most tires, the asymmetric tread design and the center grooves give a tire its properties on wet surfaces. The case is the same here, but Cooper managed to put more silica into the compound, meaning that even at lower temperatures, the tire will perform just as advertised.

Like with most all-season tires, deeper snow is their worst enemy, but they manage to deal with some light snow. Unfortunately, the CS5 Ultra Touring has problems even in lighter conditions. At the same time, the traction on ice is almost non-existent.

The CS5 Ultra Touring is a tire that is decent when it comes to comfort and noise levels. It’s not the best out there, but certainly not the worst. The ride is decently smooth, and you get relatively low noise from the tires.

6. Bridgestone Turanza QuietTrack

Best Grand Touring Tires for Comfort and Noise

If you are looking for a grand touring all-season tire with one of the more extended warranty in the market, you should check out the Bridgestone Turanza QuietTrack.

On dry tarmac, this model's performance is among the best you’ll find in its class. Thanks to the EdgePerformance technology with interlocking grooves, the Turanza QuietTrack provides excellent levels of grips in the corners and during braking. At the same time, you get outstanding stability at higher speeds.

The wet is where the tire starts to show its weaknesses. It is not terrible and does maintain grip, but the stopping distances are not as good as some of the other premium models. Despite that, the tread design provides exceptional resistance to hydroplaning.

Once it starts snowing, the Turanza QuietTrack surprises again. In light snow conditions, the tire has decent traction and behaves very predictably. Keep in mind that it’s not a replacement for a winter tire, so in deeper snow, it will struggle.

Bridgestone developed this tire with their ComfortCruize technology offering one of the smoothest rides in this category. It was designed with a unique pitch sequencing that makes this probably the quietest tire on the market.

7. Bridgestone Dueler H/L Alenza Plus

Best Quiet and Comfortable Touring Tires for Crossovers and SUVs

Bridgestone manages to make an excellent touring tire for crossovers and SUVs that is comfortable and can also tackle multiple conditions.

When you drive on dry tarmac, you will find this model to have an excellent grip. This is due to the larger shoulder blocks and a wide center rib that also provide stability at higher speeds. This tire lacks some responsiveness, which is not surprising as it’s a touring tire.

The grip levels you’d get on wet are just as good as they are on dry. The tread is designed to eliminate most of the water, increasing traction. This also means that you will be getting excellent hydroplaning resistance.

When you go out on the snow, you will notice that the block designs help the tire dig in and find traction. One thing to point out is that while it can handle light snow, it will struggle in deeper patches. On the ice, the traction is not the best, and I found that ice performance is not good at all.

As a touring tire, the Dueler H/L Alenza Plus is one of the most comfortable tire in this category. It can smooth up irregularities in the road with ease while keeping the noise levels surprisingly low.

8. Michelin Premier LTX

Best Quiet and Comfortable Touring Tires for Crossovers and SUVs

This is the third Michelin tire on my list and with good reason. It makes some of the best tires in the world, and the Premier LTX is no different.

Michelin puts lots of technology to get the performance, and it’s worth it. The EverGrip technology makes this a very capable tire on dry tarmac. You will get tons of grip and excellent stability at highway speeds.

Once the road gets wet, the performance doesn’t deteriorate. You get the same handling characteristics, thanks to the tread pattern that helps channel the water away from the tire. This also provides one of the best hydroplaning resistance out there.

For colder conditions, the sunflower oil helps the compound remain softer in lower temperatures. This, combined with the tread design, provides decent snow performance, but only in lighter conditions.

Comfort and refinement are what this tire is all about. The smooth ride is thanks to the tire's ability to even out most bums on the road. As for noise, there is some tire noise, but it’s among the quietest in this tire category.

9. Continental CrossContact LX25

Best Quiet and Comfortable Touring Tires for Crossovers and SUVs

The Continental CrossContact LX25 is the type of tire that managed to surprise me with how capable it is when compared to most of its rivals.

While it is designed for comfort and fuel economy in mind, it’s a tire with decent dry performance. You will get decent amounts of grip, traction, and stability. When compared to some of the more expensive competitors, it is not as good, but more than capable.

When I drove the CrossContact LX25, I was in for a surprise. The unique tread design provides one of the best handling characteristics. It may even compare it with some of the more expensive tires on my list. As a result of the treads, you get one of the best hydroplaning resistive tires.

On snow, things don't change too much. As long as you drive in lighter snowy conditions, the CrossContact LX25 will provide lots of grip, surprisingly. I must note that I wouldn’t compare it with a dedicated winter tire, as this one will struggle in deeper snow.

The final surprise is how comfortable the ride is. It provided a very smooth riding experience with no vibrations or harshness. The noise levels are also very low, even silent, regardless of the speed. You may hear some noises when you hit a pothole, but nothing too obnoxious.

10. Goodyear Eagle Sport All-Season

Best High-Performance Tires for Comfort and Noise

The Goodyear Eagle Sport All-Season is the type of tire that combines some higher-performance driving characteristics with a relatively refined driving experience.

Since it’s a higher-performance tire, you should expect better driving characteristics than the previous tires I mentioned.

The Eagle Sport All-Season doesn’t disappoint. On dry tarmac, the tire is very responsive to even the slightest inputs from the steering wheel. The levels of grip and traction are as good as some of the more expensive models while providing tons of feedback from the road.

On wet surfaces, the Eagle Sport All-Season is as good as it is on dry tarmac. The tread design ensures that no water remains under the tire, providing uninterrupted contact with the surface. The handling characteristics are excellent, and while the more expensive models are slightly better, the differences are negligible on the road.

If it starts snowing, you will see the biggest drawback from the Eagle Sport All-Season. The traction and handling are nowhere near as good as the competition. This is especially noticeable during braking. The same can be said about the tire’s performance on the ice.

For comfort, performance tires are rarely comfortable, but the Eagle Sport All-Season is an exception, to a point. While the ride is very comfortable, despite its properties, you may hear slightly more noise from the tires. Overall, it’s a performance tire that Goodyear managed to refine so that I can recommend it as a touring option for spirited drivers.

Final Words

The greatest difficulty most drivers face is when it’s time to change the tires. Most manufacturers have a different tire type for a different size, meaning that you’ll need to dig around to find which tire will fit on your car.

On top of that, as each tire model has different properties, it’s a struggle to decide which one would be the best. My list includes multiple variations in an effort to recommend a model for most readers. All of them are from reputable manufacturers, as the tires they have are much safer and better on a daily basis than some of the cheaper brands available on the market.