6 of the Best Tips When Buying New Car Tires
Buying tires for your car might sound like a simple thing to do and indeed it can be. Maybe the tires you are changing are the originals that came with a new vehicle and you have decided to go like for like. Or perhaps you have a really good mechanic and he will recommend exactly the best tire choice for you. However this isn’t always the best way to do things and sometimes a little knowledge and consideration can go a long way.
First of all when you are purchasing a new set of tires sometimes there is the reasoning that buying bigger or wider tires will make your car look sportier or better. Whilst this is often true it doesn’t always make your vehicle handle any better and in most cases will actually make performance worse. Your vehicle has been designed to run on a certain size of tire and changing the dynamics isn’t advisable.
Consider what you need from your tire and where it is most likely to be used. If you mainly use your car for driving around town or taking the children to school then you won’t need off road tires. Again they might make the car look better but they are noisy and don’t last as long as road tires.
When you price up your tires remember to ask about extra charges for fitting and balancing the wheels. The price of having your four tires fitted can increase quite considerably and although another shop may charge a little more for the actual tires the extra charges could be less giving you a better deal over all. Make sure you get a price for the complete job and not just the tires.
Tires have ratings and some will have a mileage warranty. The more miles you do before the tires need replacing the less money you will spend in the long term. Sometimes the more expensive tires will work out cheaper when you consider how long they last.
Always think about the weather conditions in the area you are going to be driving in. If you get a lot of rain and snow then think about getting tires that are designed to cope with this type of road conditions. Alternatively if you live in a hot climate then choose tires that are specifically designed for summer road conditions. Tire manufacturers design tires for all types of weather and matching the right tire to the right condition is important.
Finally consider your speed; tires have a speed rating which they must display. If you consider this rating against not just the speed you intend to travel with but that at which your vehicle is actually designed to ride, then you can make a sensible choice. Many car manuals will give you the recommended speed rating of tires that you should be looking to fit to a specific car. Don’t go for all out performance and high speed tires if you only intend to dawdle around the city. Not only will high speed tires tend to wear out quicker but at slow speeds they won’t perform as well as normal tires.
The tips above can help you to choose easily the best summer tires (Interesting is that the Danish term is bedste sommerdæk) for your car.