The Best Camry Tires for Every Driver
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Michelin Primacy MXV4 All-Season Tire -
General Altimax RT43 All-Season Tire -
Continental ControlContact Tour A/S Plus All Season Tire -
Nokian WR G4 All-Weather Tires -
Buyer's Guide
While no single tire is the “best” for the Toyota Camry, different drivers have different preferences. Many drivers live in areas where winter traction becomes an issue when the seasons change, while those who live in warmer climates have the luxury of leaving summer tires on year-round.
The best tires for Camry in 2022 listed here should not be viewed as first, second or third best. Rather, all of these are excellent choices for the Camry. Depending on your personal needs and wants, any one of these tires can be considered best tires for your Camry. However, each of our selections offers excellent overall performance, featuring high levels of grip, comfortable and quiet ride quality, and good tread life.
What Are the Best Tires for Camry in 2022?
Michelin Primacy MXV4 All-Season Tire - Best Tires for Camry Overall
The Michelin Primacy MXV4 works so well that you begin to wonder why it isn't factory-issue equipment to begin with. This class of car is designed to be a comfortable, efficient family car, and the Primacy MXV4 highlights these characteristics.
These tires give the car sure-footed traction in better conditions, and allows the car to remain drivable when Mother Nature catches you off guard. Certain sizes come with Michelin's Green X label, which indicates low rolling resistance for better efficiency.
High-traction tires are generally harder-riding and noisier than the rest, but the Primacy MXV4 remains quiet and compliant, even over bad road surfaces. Although you may be turned off by the higher price tag, it's important to weigh the abilities and tread life of the Michelin Primacy MXV4 before writing it off too quickly.
General Altimax RT43 All-Season Tire - Runner Up
The tread pattern of the General Altimax HP may lead drivers to believe that this is a summer-only tire, but it’s suitable for mild winter usage as well. That's not the only trick that the Altimax HP packs as there are visual indicators everywhere which indicate how the tread is wearing.
For example, a quick glance at the misalignment indicators on the shoulder blocks can show a driver whether an alignment is needed. Also, the center rib is engraved with a 'REPLACEMENT TIRE INDICATOR' which then wears down to 'REPLACETIRE' when the tread is worn out.
The Altimax HP grips well in both dry and wet conditions, and provides a plush, quiet ride. To top it all off, the General Altimax HP is one of the most affordable tires in its class.
Continental ControlContact Tour A/S Plus All Season Tire - Consider
The Continental ControlContact Tour A/S Plus all-season tires are designed to provide all-around performance while improving fuel economy due to their low rolling resistance and lighter weight. Although users report mixed results, these tires are nonetheless excellent tires overall.
The ControlContact Tour A/S Plus tires offer a quiet and comfortable ride, with confidence-inspiring handling in most weather conditions. Like any all-season tire, these are not nearly as capable of handling winter conditions as a dedicated winter tire, but in both wet and dry conditions they offer good steering response and traction. Tread life is also excellent, resulting in an overall solid tire that is good for general-purpose use.
Nokian WR G4 All-Weather Tires - Best Tires for Camry
Nokian is not a well-known brand in North America, but they are the manufacturers of some of the best winter tires for the harshest winter conditions in the world. This Finland-based company makes the WRG4, which is ostensibly the closest you can come to a "real" all-weather tire.
That's right, the Nokian WRG4 is technically an all-season tire, but they perform better than many dedicated winter tires on the market. As you might guess based on the tread design, these tires will not deliver the same sort of summer driving performance as dedicated summer tires. However, they offer a surprising level of high-speed handling and very little of the tread squirm associated with winter tires.
Winter performance doesn’t match up to the dedicated winter tires from Nokian, but the WRG4 offers overall a good amount of grip in winter conditions. The ride is firm but smooth, and road noise is reasonably low. While these tires won't win any awards for objective performance in any season, they offer excellent all-around traction and handling with enough of a winter bias to make them suitable for all-year use.
Buyer's Guide
The Toyota Camry is a perennial favorite in the American auto market, and for good reason too. It's reasonably priced, extremely reliable, very efficient, offers great safety features, and is one of the least expensive cars to keep on the road. However, there's no getting around regular wear and tear, and the tires that originally came installed on the car will need to be replaced sooner or later. How exactly do you choose the best replacement tires for your Camry? Here are a few pointers that will help you decide what works best for you.
The Right Time to Replace the Tires on Your Camry
It's no secret that tires wear out as you put miles on them, and there comes a point where they're no longer simply unsafe to drive on. Once you reach 2/32" of tread depth remaining, your tires are considered legally worn out. Risking a few extra miles on such worn tires can also net you a defective equipment ticket, and nobody wants that!
You can tell when your tires are worn by simply looking at the tread itself. Molded within the circumferential grooves are small raised portions in the rubber. These are not factory defects; rather, they're called "wear bars", and they will sit flush with the remainder of the tread when the tire is worn out. On average, this will happen after 40,000 to 60,000 miles for typical Camry tires.
Tires can also get worn out with age, so keep that in mind if you tend not to drive much. The rubber compound will begin to deteriorate after several years, and the tire will no longer provide effective grip to keep you on the road. Most manufacturers will recommend that you replace tires after 5-6 years of service, regardless of the amount of tread remaining.
Replacing with Original Toyota Equipment Tires
As a Camry owner, you might be wondering why you even need to look into tire brands and not buy the same ones that came with the car originally from the factory.
The simple answer is that there are several significant reasons to purchase different tires this time around, and all of them benefit your vehicle and you as the driver.
Toyota's tire selection might not be the best option for your Camry because when they purchase tires wholesale as automakers, their primary concern is the price. As a result, they buy tires in bulk to cut down on costs. As a car owner, you don't really need to factor that kind of balance sheet into choosing a tire supplier.
On the other hand, chances are that the considerations are entirely different for you. For example, you’d be more than willing to pay an additional $15 per tire if that meant braking 10 feet shorter than the alternative. Similarly, other Camry owners might not be ready to compromise on vibration, noise, tread life, or comfort.
Camry Tire FAQ
Q: What is an appropriate tire pressure for Toyota Camry tires
A: Experts recommend a tire pressure of 30-35 PSI for Toyota Camry tires. However, if you want a more exact answer, it should be visible on a label stuck to the inside of the driver’s side door. This should tell you the manufacturer’s recommendations for your tires.
Q: Do I need to replace all four tires at the same time?
A: It's always a good policy to replace all four tires at the same time, but sometimes it's not necessary or won't fit in the budget. If you're not replacing all four tires, the next best thing to do is to replace them in axle pairs. However, there is only one correct way to do this: the newest tires must go on the rear axle, not the front. Here's a simple explanation why:
The Toyota Camry is a front-wheel drive vehicle, meaning the engine powers the front wheels only. Knowing this, it's tempting to put fresh tires on the front axle. It may seem counterintuitive to put the new tires on the non-driven axle, but it all comes down to safety. Worn tires are unable to grip the road, leading to sudden and unplanned losses of traction. When this happens with the front wheels, the momentum you're carrying will cause the car to want to travel straight in the same direction. When a loss of traction happens with the rear wheels, it will cause slippage in relation to the front axle, and often in a direction that you're not planning on. The result is a spin, which is difficult to control and will potentially cause a collision. Even with the stability control systems that newer Camry models are equipped with, there's no overcoming the laws of physics.
That’s why the best approach is to replace all the tires on your Camry together, especially if they've been on the car for 5 years or more. If you're replacing only two at a time, have the new tires installed on the rear axle and rotate the old tires to the front.
Q: How often should I rotate my Camry’s tires?
A: As a general rule, you want to rotate your tires every 5,000 miles – that’s the typical interval between tire rotations for a front-wheel-drive vehicle like the Camry when driven in an urban environment. This means that the front tires get worn out much faster than the rear ones. Rotating the tires regularly will ensure that the tread on the tires will wear at an equal rate.
Q: What should I have in my Camry tire change kit?
A: If you bought your Camry brand new, it should already have the necessary tire changing equipment in the trunk. But in case you want to build your own emergency roadside kit, you’ll need a lug wrench, emergency jack, wheel wedges, and a tire pressure gauge. If you want to be extra-prepared, you may want to throw in a portable inflator and jumper cables just in case.
