There is a lot of maintenance that you will need to carry out when you are a vehicle owner. One of these tasks includes checking up on the health of your tyres and changing them when needed. Tyres are crucial when it comes to vehicle handling and providing comfortable driving vehicles.
If you are looking for new tyres for your vehicle, there are many places to check prices. You can check online for prices of Dunlop tyres to compare. However, before you reach the stage of purchasing, you have to narrow down which tyres are compatible with your vehicle. There are certain parameters that will help with these. You need to check the width of the tyre you need to purchase. You can check the first three digits of your current tyre label to find this out.
This value is given in millimetres. When a tyre is wider, there will be more surface area that is in contact with the road and it will provide good grip. However, with narrow tyres you have smaller contact contributing to reduced grip but this actually reduces the noise of the vehicle when you drive. There is no right answer when it comes to tyre width. You have to choose what your priority is. Also, you can check the driver’s manual for your vehicle to see what is recommended by the manufacturer. This applies to all tyre parameters.
The size of the tyre has to be compatible with the vehicle. If the tyre doesn’t fit properly, then it can cause accidents. There is also a speed rating provided for the tyre. This is the last letter that you can read on the tyre label. You can search online for what this letter corresponds to. You will be able to have better grip and have more control over your stopping power if you have a high speed rating. But the treads will not last as long as low speed ratings. So if you are a fast driver, then you will need to go with tyres that come with higher speed ratings.
This comes with the downside of having to replace tyres often. The tyre profile is basically the thickness of the sidewall and a percentage of the tyre width. This will be provided on the label. A profile above 50 is considered a high profile and this will provide more protection and durability for the wheels. You will also find that driving with high profile tyres is more comfortable. But if you are going with a low profile tyre, you will benefit from better steering performance and it will also look more aesthetically pleasing. However, lower profiles tend to be at high risk for damage.
There are different tread patterns that you may come across. There are symmetrical, asymmetrical and direction treads. You will find symmetrical tyres to be the most common ones and these are used for quiet performance. However, if you live in an area with a lot of rainfall, these will not be ideal as their performance drops in the rain.
So in this case, you will need to go with a directional tread that can disperse water and grip the road surface better. But you will have to contend with more noise compared to symmetrical treads. Asymmetrical treads tend to respond to both concerns. They are better suited for rain than symmetrical treads and they are designed for noise reduction as well. However, they can be more expensive.