I am an Ultra High Performance Tire Education Specialist for Bridgestone Americas.
Bridgestonetire.com has a tire advisor available. It will ask you questions like: do you need this tire for winter/snow, dry grip, wet grip, fuel economy & others. It also rates the tires strength in the different catagories, 1-10
If I had more info we could get the best tire for you. One of our newest tires in that size for your Kia is a Dueler Ecopia 422. The rolling resistence has been improved by around 40%. That translates into about 5% better gas mileage.
Please do not compare the OE tire because these are built with the OE manufaturers direction.
I think a better choice for the 968 in the Max Performance catorgory is the Potenza RE-11. The strong points of that tire over its competition is the assemtrical tread pattern & casing shape. This tire & others like it from Bridgestone can be rotated from side to side. This will help keep it quiet & wear even through out its tread depth. Our competitors tires if directional, do not have that option.