Season
The time of the year the tyres are designed for.
Tyres designed for the warm season are called
summer, for cold — respectively, winter (among the latter,
studded and
non-studded models are separated, see below for details). The need for separation by season is due to the fact that when the temperature drops, the rubber solidifies; therefore, cold weather requires softer tyres than warm weather. And the time when you need to change tyres is best determined by the average daily temperature: if it is above +5 °C, it is better to use summer tyres, if lower — winter ones. There are also more detailed recommendations regarding the time of changing tyres, they can be found in special sources.
Also note that there are tyres positioned as
all-weather. Such models should be treated with some caution: they can be produced in countries where winters are very mild, without snow and severe frosts, and be designed specifically for such “all-season”; for a full-mean winter, such tyres may not be suitable. So the specific attributes of all-season tyres should be specified separately (including reviews). If there are no detailed info, such tyres are best considered as summer tyres with slightly increased resistance to cold, and if used in winter, then in simple conditions (for example, driving along well-cleaned city streets).
Product Type
The type of tyre is the type of vehicle for which it is designed.
This parameter is determined mainly by the height of the profile in centimeters, and in some cases by the size and load index. In general, there are three main types of tyres - for
cars and SUVs, for
SUVs and
vans. Here is a more detailed description of each option.
— Passenger car. Tires with a relatively low profile height for a wide range of passenger cars, aimed primarily at smooth roads and more or less favorable operating conditions. Among such products of the tire automobile industry you can find both rubber exclusively for passenger vehicles and tires for SUVs (SUVs, crossovers, city SUVs). SUV tires differ from their traditional passenger counterparts by increased radius and profile height, reinforced internal structure, as well as increased load indices.
— Off-road. SUVs are designed for more difficult conditions than regular cars; they often have to deal with difficult terrain or some high unevenness. Therefore, tires of this type have a significant profile height - more than 14 cm. It is worth considering that such tires can have different specializations - both all-terrain and off-road; For more details, see “Purpose”.
— Minibuses. Tyres designed for relatively heavy vehicles – minibuses and mini trucks. Such vehicles still does not reach the full-fledged f
...reight transport, however, they have more weight than passenger cars. Accordingly, tyres for such vehicles has a high load index.Suitable for
This parameter is indicated for models that are designed for a specific format of operation and differ markedly from conventional tyres for "everyday" use. In our time, there are such destinations:
sports track tyres(namely, semi-slicks and slicks for track days and training on race tracks); off-road tyres - all-
terrain (All-Terrain) and
off-road (Mud-Terrain). Here is a detailed description of each of these options:
— Sports track. A special kind of "high-speed" tyres with a reduced tread depth. More precisely, this feature is characteristic of semi-slicks; in slicks, there is no pattern at all, the surface of such a tyre is completely smooth. This provides excellent speed performance. On the other hand, slicks and semi-slicks are intended mainly for specialized racing tracks with high quality even surfaces; the use of such tyres on ordinary roads is at least not recommended, and for some models it is completely prohibited.
- All-terrain (All-Terrain). Universal all-terrain tyres, designed mainly for dirt roads and off-road, but quite effective on even asphalt. They are inferior to off-road ones (see below) in terms of efficiency on rough terrain, but they behave better on hard surfaces. So it is precisely such rubber that will be the best choice for tech who, in addition to difficult terrain, often have to travel on ordinary roads. Externally, tyres o
...f this purpose are characterized primarily by a rather deep tread and high profile.
- Off-road (Mud-Terrain). Tyres designed for maximum cross-country ability and efficiency on rough terrain, including complete off-road. According to these indicators, such tyres are noticeably superior to all-terrain tyres (see above); outwardly, it is distinguished by a very deep tread and a high profile height (in most models - 60% and above). But for regular driving on asphalt, tyres of this purpose are poorly suited. Therefore, paying attention to off-road tyres makes sense, first of all, to tech who have to drive on dirt roads and off-road most of the time.Fuel efficiency
The rolling resistance rating that the tyre corresponds to. The higher this figure, the lower the resistance, the less fuel is spent to overcome it and the more economical the tyre is. Efficiency indices are denoted by letters of the Latin alphabet in descending order of efficiency:
A(highest efficiency),
B,
C,
D,
E,
F,
G(lowest efficiency).
With other things being equal, more economical tyres tend to cost more, but the difference is offset by fuel economy.
Wet Grip
An index that determines the overall performance of a tyre on wet pavement. Lettered from
A(highest) to
G(lowest); intermediate options, respectively —
B,
C,
D,
E and
F.
The higher this indicator, the stronger the tyre grips to the wet road, the more efficient and safer it will be in difficult weather conditions. At the same time, it is worth noting that a low grip index does not mean unsuitability for driving in rain or snow — you just need to be more careful using such tyres. Conversely, a high index does not relieve the driver of the need to be careful in difficult weather conditions.
Noise Level
The average noise level created by a tyre while driving. The lower this indicator, the more comfortable this model will be, the less additional noise it will create.
Note that EU rules provide 3 categories of tyres in terms of noise.
“Quiet” are considered models with an index of up to 68 dB,
“medium” — 68 – 71 dB,
“loud” — 72 dB and above.
Wear resistance (Treadwear)
Tyre wear resistance rate according to the Treadwear standard issued by the US National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.
This rate indicates how far the tyre is able to travel until the tread reaches a critical level of wear. Treadwear is indicated in conditional points; formally, every 100 points correspond to 48,000 km (30,000 miles). However, it should be noted that testing according to this standard is carried out under perfect conditions — on flat roads, without numerous sharp accelerations and brakings, at a stable temperature, etc. Therefore, real wear resistance, usually, is lower by at least 20 – 30 %; and for a full guarantee, the claimed indicator is generally recommended to be divided by two. For example, formally the value of Treadwear 240 corresponds to a mileage of 48 × 2.4=115.2K km — however, in fact it is hardly worth counting on more than 90K km, and it is best to keep on the value of 55 – 58K km.
Generally, Treadwear ratings up to 250 are considered fairly low, 251 – 300 are considered average, 301 – 350 are above average, and over 350 is typical for
the most durable tyre models. Note that this characteristic is given mainly for summer, less often — all-weather tyres; winter tyres should be quite soft, which makes it difficult to achieve more or less worthy wear resistance rating.
