Useful

TYPES OF TIRES

Sports tires are somewhere between a racing slick and normal tire, but are closer to the first type. They have a minimal number of grooves which are of less depth. Furthermore, they are made of a softer compound and have a much shorter life. Their excellent performanceon dry road, however, is at the expense of the quite mediocre performance on wet surfaces.

All-season tires should gather a huge number of contradictory requirements - they must have a sufficiently long life, good traction on dry, wet, snow, ice, etc. and like any compromise they are quite mediocre in all these conditions. In most cases their winter skills are limited to a very mild winter tire for the city. Of course, all-season tires provide safer driving in winter conditions than summer tires, but generally are designed for vehicles that have a high yearly mileage. Their construction may be such that the various parts combine different compounds and different patterns, but is often a variation of the summer tire with more sipes and slightly softer compound than it.

Summer tires are much safer and with more dynamic performancecompared to the all-season tires in the summer and an appropriate combination of options for performance on dry and wet roads. The balance between these qualities depends on the compound and the ratio of the cut area and the common area. When buying tires the best way is to consult with the salesman for the most suitable tires for your car depending on the conditions in which it will operate. We must not forget that there are tires with high speed index, specially designed for vehicles in which they deploy their best qualities. That does not mean that they cannot be used with other models, but the effect will not be full.

Winter tires are made of compounds which retain their flexibility even at low temperatures, have deep grooves and a huge number of specifically shaped sipes. They will be discussed later.

All terrain tires – they are usually used for pickup trucks and SUV vehicles. They have large diameter, high and reinforced sidewall and bead, and increased strength. They use medium soft compounds and multiple big block elements with sipes. The rough tread pattern worsen dry performance and increase noise level, but the powerful blocks are digging into the mud and the sipes - in the snow, which guarantee significantly higher patency off the road.

Mud-terrain tires and off-road – people who drive off-road, will tell you what is the performance of mud-terrain tires on asphalt. In fact, they have no place there. However, they are built with huge massive and extremely resistant blocks that can pass through the sharp edges of the stones and dig into the mud.

Run flat tires are with reinforced sidewalls that allow driving without air when the tire is punctured. Some companies such as Mercedes do not hurry to bring them widely in use, because they are afraid of worsening of comfort, but BMW uses them as OEM tires in almost all its models.


TYPES OF TIRES ACCORDING TO THE TREAD DESIGN

Asymmetric - any part of the surface of the tire has a different purpose - for instance the outer part is formed so to provide stable adhesion while steering. They are suitable equipment of sports cars.

Symmetric - with absolutely even and identical compared to the central part profile.

Directional–they have marked direction of rotation: the compliance provides better handling when driving in a straight line, better release of water and significantly less noise generated.