Tires are the most overlooked but one of the most important parts of your car. They are responsible for your vehicle’s safety, fuel efficiency, and driving feel. Here’s how you can navigate the confusing world of tire purchase. The best tires are the ones suited to your car and your driving style.
Passenger Tires
These are designed for personal cars like hatchbacks, sedans, coupes, and crossovers. You can find summer tires that are only used in warm weather or all-season tires that can handle several weather conditions, including a little mud and snow. Then you have touring tires made for comfortable drives with a little extra handling ability and performance tires made for speed, control, and hard gripping. Track and competition tires are also available, but they’re designed for racing and high-speed performance. The most popular option for most people is the all-season tires.
Truck & SUV Tires
These tires are meant for heavy loads. They are designed to support heavy vehicles and the cargo they carry. Some compact SUVs can make do with passenger tires, but larger SUVs need to stick to the heavy-duty tires. In this segment, you get highway tires for high load capacity and long-distance road driving or mud-terrain tires for drivers who spend most of their time off-road. Then there are all-terrain tires meant for vehicles with four-wheel drive that can be used on and off-road.
Specialty Tires
These are tires made for specific conditions like extreme winter or to mitigate the problem of a puncture. Here, you get spares made in the event the standard tire can’t be used to drive your car.
Original or Replacement
Original equipment (OE) tires are the ones that came with the vehicle when you bought it. They were designed and chosen by the manufacturer because they’re best suited to your car. Replacement tires are from other brands, and these aren’t made for a specific vehicle but can fit anyway. OE tires may work best for your vehicle as they were specially designed to deliver the performance recommended by the manufacturer. Replacements may change the behavior of the car but could perform better if chosen carefully.
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