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Whether you're on a road trip across the country, riding in your four-wheel drive, or heading to the ski area, having the right tires on your vehicle will get you there. make it safer and more comfortable. Many drivers do not care about their tires, but these problems of blackness are the only link between your machine and the land. Make the right choice and greatly improve your ability to get where you want to go. Choose the wrong ones, and you could end up in a clash, stuck in the desert or worse.
Things to know
Basic tire construction
A little science goes into these rubber donuts. Obviously, the base material is rubber, which is actually a shade of white when it's pure. The tires become black after the addition of carbon black powder (known as soot), which can be incorporated into various rubber formulas for your tires, mainly for strength and abrasion resistance. Carbon black and silica can be added to the compound to optimize adhesion, tread wear, fuel consumption and endurance.
Under the gum, perpendicular steel and nylon straps are woven into covers to give the tire its structure and strength.
Tires consist mainly of four components: a heel, a sidewall, a shoulder and a tread.
the pearl is the part of the tire that tightly connects it to the metal rim. This segment of the tire consists of a series of high strength steel wires wrapped in hard rubber, with ribs to prevent the tire from turning on the rim.
the side wall connects the contact area of the tire to the rim and its height determines the handling and behavior of your car. A higher sidewall will generally help create a cushion between the road and your wheels, reducing some sudden impacts, such as potholes and ruts. A shorter sidewall is generally desirable for road grip.
the shoulder is the transition between the sidewall and the tread of the tire. Most road tires have a sharper shoulder angle, which reduces road noise and increases fuel consumption. Off-road tires often extend the sculpture on the shoulder, allowing better grip on soft terrain. This results in more road noise and less predictable cornering, but the dirt benefits are often worth it.
The most important part of the tire is the tread. This is the current contact between your car and the ground. It is composed of rubber pavers (raised sections) and voids (the space between the pavers). In general, a shorter and less empty paver between each creates maximum contact on paved roads, while a higher footing with wider spaces between pavers will be more conducive to adhesion. on the slopes, because the tires can bite and conform to the terrain. more.
sizing
The size of the tires can be a bit confusing. The first number corresponds to the width of the tread in millimeters. The second digit is the height of the sidewall, expressed as a percentage of the tread width. The third number is the diameter of the wheel on which the tire fits. Thus, for example, a tire 225 / 50-15 would have a tread width of 225 millimeters, a sidewall height of 112.5 millimeters, and could fit a rim of 15 inches.
Ratings
If you are using a pickup truck that you use to transport heavy loads or tow trailers, you should use light truck tires instead of standard P-metric tires designed for most passenger vehicles. Light trucks are considered to be all available for regular use as opposed to commercial or industrial transportation. Tires are generally delivered as standard on three-quarter and one-ton trucks, but they are also stiffer than normal tires, which can make driving harder. Be sure to balance the transport volume you expect and its frequency with the type of surface you will be riding on.
Types of tires
Highway Passenger
General purpose tires for daily driving are generally called passenger tires. In this classification, there are dozens of different types for everyday use. Some are good for off-road light, and some are heavy for longer life. Others are built for luxury and comfort or specifically to improve your fuel economy with low rolling resistance. And then there are the tires that overlap with different disciplines, like all-season tires. For the purposes of this guide, we will skim over most of these categories and focus on the other three types of tires. Just be aware that if a tire is designed for more than one purpose, it is in itself a compromise and may not be the best for a specific task.
Winter
We will start with a type of tire often overlooked by American drivers: the winter tire. All of Germany and parts of Canada make their use mandatory in bad weather. I asked Woody Rogers, product information specialist at Tire Rack, to explain when to consider winter tires. "In simple terms, winter tires are suitable for all drivers whose average winter temperature is below 40 degrees Celsius and whose snow, slush or ice is scarce," he says.
Winter tires are formulated with generally more silica to give your vehicle maximum traction on ice and snow. Most people only associate traction with being able to accelerate without turning the wheels, but it's also extremely important for cornering and braking. As a general rule, do not think that every good winter tire is wide; you want a narrower one on snowy or icy roads so that the weight of the car can drive them into the snow instead of skating over it.
Rather than simply having winter tires, it is useful to mount them on a second set of dedicated wheels so that you can change them yourself at the first sign of cold, instead of needing a shop for swap the tires on your wheels. Generally, it makes sense to reduce the stock's one-inch wheels, allowing for a larger and softer sidewall than your regular tires, but in a full set of the same size. A softer side will better treat ice chips and potholes.
Even if you live in a temperate place that does not require winter tires, if you drive frequently, I recommend you get one. The safety and peace of mind provided by the winter tires are invaluable. And they could save you thousands of dollars if you stop a little before putting the car in front of you, while your four seasons may leave your front bumper in the back seat. Owning a second set of winter tires for your car is rarely cheap, especially for modern cars and trucks, but for an average set of 18-inch wheels and tires, the minimum budget is 1,000 dollars.
I am a fan of the Bridgestone Blizzak tire, invented in the early 90's as the first winter tire without modern crampons. The line remains one of the best options for all drivers.
Off-road truck and SUV
If your plan is to go out into the wilderness, be it for a light landing, an occasional fire trail or graying trails, you'll need something more suited to the task than a common road tire . .
The tread of an off-road tire is much more aggressive, characterized by a greater vacuum between the tread blocks. The width of the vacuum zone allows the tread blocks to sink into soft surfaces such as dirt, rocks, fine sand and mud to gain traction. This sculpture is also much deeper than that of a conventional tire, thus filling voids on a loose terrain, which effectively treats the treads as individual paddles looking for traction.
You want strength in a tire you plan to use on deep forest trails or through miles of desolate deserts, and because of this, these tires are designed to withstand cuts, chips and tears. (A regular road tire would tear quite easily after a short off-road ride.) The sidewalls of off-road tires are thicker, reinforced with steel, fabric and high density rubber to prevent cuts and punctures. .
This stronger sidewall also helps prevent the tire from coming off the heel of the wheel. The tires are designed so that, when inflated, the internal pressure pushes the tire bead against the inside of the rim. You have to ventilate the tires every time you get off the road to give them bigger footprints on particularly sandy or slippery terrain. Twenty psi is a good pressure to start. (Check the owner's manual for safety pressures on the road and inflate them before returning to the roadway.) Be careful not to extract too much air as the tire may detach and deflate. When you are forty kilometers from an undefeated path, it's a real problem. The stronger sidewall reduces the risk of tire deformation so as to separate it from the rim.
There are different levels of off-road tire performance, including dedicated models that will be too stiff and too noisy for road use. Take muddy terrain tires, which have the most capacity (save on sand). But the wide, chunky tread creates vibrations when pushed into a difficult road. This hard rubber is ideal for longevity in dirt, but it is an infernal noise when forced to drive daily. An off-road tire will give much better results on the asphalt. This is what most people need for their level of off-road driving.
It is always best to talk to an experienced snowmobile before you commit to buying a tire for your specific needs. If you want a daily driver tire that is also capable of driving on tracks, check out the BF Goodrich T / A KO2 All-Terrain. These can be mounted on a standard wheel, and an 18-inch will cost around $ 900 for tires only.
The best
Although many people do not even think about their tires, they are the most important factor in the performance of your vehicle. There are also many places, such as Tire Rack, where you can read consumer reviews regarding a specific tire before you buy it. Having the tire that suits your needs may mean climbing a hill and arriving at your destination. Get the right rubber.
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