Car and Truck Tires
Stay prepared for adverse road conditions with a set of new car or truck tires for your vehicle. Tires come in many types and are useful for a variety of applications, regardless of whether you require tires for commercial or personal use. Youll be able to find several brands, from Toyo to Cooper.
What are the basic types of tires?
Tires come in an assortment of shapes and sizes. The main types of tires include:
- All-season: All-season tires are made of specialized rubber that remains flexible during hot and cold weather. The design pattern of the treads for all-season tires makes them capable of safe operation in rain and snow.
- All-terrain: This type of tire has a combination of the useful features from regular and off-road tires. All-terrain tires have a tread design that works well on asphalt and in the mud.
- Low Profile: Tire makers consider sizes that score 50 or below on the aspect ratio spectrum to be low-profile. These feature short sidewalls with wide bases. They are useful for cornering and tight handling.
- Mud Tires: This style was created to conquer deep mud and snow. Mud-tire design elements include staggered shoulder lugs and wide voids.
- Performance Tires: Performance styles include design elements like sizable tread blocks, low profile sidewalls, and are made from soft-rubber materials. These features help provide better handling.
- Winter Tires: These include winter-friendly elements like pliable rubber that resists freezing. They also include design elements for snowy conditions such as additional sipes, which are thin slits in the tread that improve traction.
- SUV Tires: A sports utility vehicle may be used on regular streets and for off-road activities. To this end, just about any kind of tires work on an SUV, so long as they are the correct size. The tire that you choose for your SUV depends on your planned uses for your vehicle.
- Truck Tires: You can install most of the major tire types on trucks. For regular truck hauling, you would do well to choose sturdy, light truck tires.
What is a speed rating and load index?
Driving your car and truck at any speeds imposes load and stresses on your tires. When you accelerate your vehicle, these stresses and loads increase proportionally. Speed ratings exist to ensure that your wheels will withstand the forces created by your car or truck. Ratings exist on a letter-based scale. The letter “L” represents the lowest rating and the letter “Y” the highest, which is generally reserved for top-end sports cars. A load index is a number that tells you how heavy a load that a given tire can withstand at a set speed.