December 8

Best Tires For The Honda Pilot – The Top 5 Picks

Trying to find the best tires for your Honda Pilot?

Selecting a tire can be hard, especially with the variety of different brands and options that all claim to be the best in their class.

However to make the process a bit simpler, I’ve gone into the top tire picks for the Honda Pilot, tried and tested by drivers to give you the best experience for your needs.

In this blog we will be looking at the:

  • Top 5 best tires for the Honda Pilot
  • The different rim sizes for the Honda Pilot
  • And how you can select the best tire for your needs

Let’s get right to it!

Best Tires for Honda Pilot: 

OE Tires Continental Crosscontact LX Sport or Bridgestone Dueler H/P Sport AS
Best Mid-Priced Tire Sumitomo Encounter HT
Best All-Season Touring Continental CrossContact LX25
Best Sport Tire Continental CrossContact UHP
Best Winter Tire Bridgestone Blizzak DM-V2

OE Tires – Continental Crosscontact LX Sport or Bridgestone Dueler H/P Sport AS

continental and bridgestone
Source: tirerack.com

Depending on the variant you’ve got, the Honda Pilot comes with two different OE tires.

So if you’re looking for a quick fix you could purchase the one for your model and be back to rolling in your Honda Pilot.

Both these tires perform well in dry and wet climates, offering decent traction, with grooves to protect against hydroplaning.

You’ll also get good comfort in the city or highway, which is more than able to support the average driver.

However, both these tires are pretty bad in the snow, with a loss of traction and control on icy surfaces that could be a problem if you live up north.

Additionally, drivers report poor tread life with both these tires, which isn’t perfect. 

The table down below lists all the different models and their OE tires:

Trim: Size: OE Tires:
SportSpecial EditionTouringElite 20’’245/50 R20 102H Continental Crosscontact LX Sport tires
EX-LTrailSport 18’’245/60 R18 105H Bridgestone Dueler H/P Sport AS tires


Best Mid-Priced Tire – Sumitomo Encounter HT

Sumitomo Encounter HT
Source: tirerack.com

Want a tire that’ll give you great performance at a low price?

Then the Sumitomo Encounter HT is the tire for you, coming in at less than $800 for a full set.

While there may be cheaper tires out there, this option offers the best bang for your buck option, with exceptional tread life that may even stick around when it comes time to sell, with a 60,000-mile warranty to depend on.

Additionally, the Sumitomo Encounter HT is an all-season tire, so unlike the OE tires that perform poorly in even light snow, you’ll get decent all-round performance here.

While these tires are pretty comfy, some drivers do complain about greater tire noise, which may be an issue if you prefer luxury-level silence.

But if you’re just looking for a dependable set of tires that’ll offer great traction and long tread life at an affordable price, then the Sumitomo is the best bet for your Honda Pilot.


Best All-Season Touring – Continental CrossContact LX25

Continental CrossContact LX25S
Source: tirerack.com

Fan of long highway trips?

Need a tire that’s dependable at high speeds?

Then say hello to the Continental CrossContact LX25, the best touring tire for the Honda Pilot, that works well in a wide variety of different climates.

Rated all-season this tire truly performs, with excellent traction in wet and dry weather, while also providing decent traction and control in light snow with its signature Traction Grooves that incorporate biting teeth to grip slushy ice.

Comfort is another area Continental has nailed here, with these tires minimizing tire noise with its Comfort Ride Technology that places an absorption layer under the tread to keep your cabin noise-free.

However, if you’re looking to get into deep snow, then these tires may not be the best, lacking specialized features to deal with anything other than lightly snowy conditions.


Best Sport Tire – Continental CrossContact UHP

Continental CrossContact UHP
Source: tirerack.com

The Continental CrossContact UHP is the best tire on the market for your Honda Pilot if you’re fond of speed.

Its silica-enhanced tread compound offers excellent traction on wet and dry surfaces, with grip that’ll support high-speed maneuvering.

The tread and design, also make handling your Honda Pilot at high speeds easier, with an improved cornering response that makes taking quick corners a breeze.

However, these tires don’t do well in light snow, you’ll want to stick to warmer climates with these. So while these may perform well in places like Florida, they won’t be as good in places with regular snow. 


Best Winter Tire – Bridgestone Blizzak DM-V2

Best Winter Tire - Bridgestone Blizzak DM-V2
Source: tirerack.com

If you live in an area prone to heavy snowfall, then a winter tire is probably what you need to get you through the day.

And the Blizzak is that tire for your Honda Pilot, being praised by drivers for its great snow performance, sticking to icy surfaces like a champ.

The adaptive nanotech that Bridgestone has allowed for microscopic bite particles, that stick to snow where other tires fail.

Additionally, the aggressive block edges and wide lateral and circumferential grooves that these tires incorporate, help it to effortlessly glide water and slush away from the tire’s tread, improving traction and control.

And the best part is that these tires offer great performance in a moderate summer season as well, allowing you to get through the year without having to replace your tires every season.

However this is one of the pricer tires on this list, so if you’re looking for great all-around versatility and winter performance it will cost you.


Honda Pilot Tire Sizing Guide 

The latest variants of the Honda Pilot rely on 18’’ and 20’’ rims depending on the model, which most of the tires on this list can service.

However the model year and tire size can affect the tires that’ll fit your Honda Pilot, so it’s best that you click on the links above, and use the Tirerack tire sizing tool to make sure they fit.

How To Pick The Best Tire For Your Honda Pilot?

The best tires for your Honda Pilot is a pretty subjective question, as the type of tires that’ll be best for you depends on your needs and the driving conditions you typically use your tires in.

However, if you live in a moderate temperature zone, and want a quick choice, the OE tires the manufacturer recommends are usually a decent choice, offering all-around performance in the city.

But if you’re looking for a better option, at an affordable price, then you may like the Sumitomo Encounter HT which offers better tread life at a similar price to the Honda Pilot OE tires.

On the other hand, if you’re often on the highway and want a tire that prioritizes highway performance and comfort then the Continental CrossContact LX25 is a great choice, with features to meet your needs in all seasons.

Drivers living in colder climates will appreciate the Blizzak though, is designed to offer winter performance the average all-season tire simply can’t match.

So in the end, the best tire for you will come down to what you’re looking for in a tire.

Wrap up

So there you have it, the top 5 top tire picks for the Honda Pilot, with tires up above that’ll satisfy a wide range of driver needs.

While the tires above fit most latest models of the Honda Pilot, visiting the links above will allow you to use Tirerack’s handy tire sizing tool to make sure these tires fit any model of the Pilot you have.

Have anything else to add?

Let us know in the comments,

And good luck selecting your tires!

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