Selecting the Perfect Car Tires: Avoid Costly Mistakes!

Published at:

03-10-2023

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Selecting the right car tires is crucial as it impacts safety, comfort, and driving performance. Moreover, using tires that match your vehicle's specifications can provide good traction and fuel efficiency.

It's important to note that there are several factors to consider when choosing car tires, such as size, type, and more. To provide you with a clear guide on selecting the right car tires, here is our comprehensive guide:

Guide to Choosing the Right Car Tires

1. Know the vehicle's tire specifications

The first step in choosing car tires is understanding the tire specifications recommended by the vehicle's manufacturer. Each car has different tire specifications, and information regarding size, maximum speed, maximum load, as well as tire type suitable for the vehicle is usually available in the vehicle's manual. Knowing your car's tire specifications is crucial because it impacts safety and comfort while driving.

2. Check the tire code

In addition to consulting the manual, information about the type of car tires used can be found by examining the code on the vehicle's tires. Pay attention to the engraved code on the side of your vehicle's tires. From this code, you can gather information about the tire's specifications.

For example, if you see a code on the tire like P185/75 R15 70 V, here is the information you can obtain:

"P" stands for Passenger, indicating that the tire is intended for passenger vehicles.
The number "185" represents the width of the inner tread (in millimeters).
The number "75" represents the aspect ratio, indicating that the tire's thickness is 75% of 185 mm.
"R15" indicates the diameter of the wheel rim (in inches).
The number "70" represents the maximum load index that the tire can support, with a value of 70 indicating a maximum load index equivalent to 335 kg.
"V" represents the maximum permitted speed, with "V" indicating a maximum speed of 240 km/h.

Here is a list of vehicle types, maximum load indexes, and maximum speed codes to help you understand the tire code more easily:

Vehicle types:

P (Passenger): Passenger car tire type.
LT (Light Truck): Light to medium-duty truck tire type.
ST (Special Trailer): Tires for heavy-duty trailer vehicles.
C (Commercial): Tires for commercial vehicles with light loads.
T (Temporary): Spare tire type.

Maximum load indexes:

62 maximum load: 265 Kg.
63 maximum load: 272 Kg.
64 maximum load: 265 Kg.
66 maximum load: 300 Kg.
68 maximum load: 315 Kg.
70 maximum load: 335 Kg.
73 maximum load: 365 Kg.
75 maximum load: 387 Kg.
90 ~ 100 maximum load: 600 ~ 800 Kg.
80 ~ 89 maximum load: 450 ~ 580 Kg.

Maximum speed codes on tires:

Q: 160 km/h.
S: 180 km/h.
T: 190 km/h.
U: 200 km/h.
H: 210 km/h.
V: 240 km/h.
W: 270 km/h.
Y: 300 km/h.

3. Pay attention to the tire's production year

When choosing car tires, it's essential to consider their production year. To find this information, you can look at the four-digit production code on the tire.

In this code, the first two digits represent the week of production, while the following two digits indicate the production year. For example, the number 1020 indicates that the tire was manufactured in the 10th week of the year 2020.

Although tires don't have an expiration date, it's advisable to choose tires produced within the last 4 years. This is crucial to note because the elasticity of the rubber in tires can decrease if they are stored in less than ideal conditions for more than 4 years.

4. Observe the tire tread patterns

To select the right car tires, you need to pay attention to the tread pattern or design of the tires. The pattern on the tire influences the level of traction between the tire and the road surface. Generally, there are three types of tire tread patterns: symmetrical, directional, and asymmetrical.

Symmetrical tread pattern tires are the most commonly used. These tires can be installed anywhere without regard to the direction of the tread pattern or the inner and outer sides. Symmetrical tires are also suitable as spare tires because they can be flexibly installed in various positions.

Next, directional tires have a tread pattern resembling an arrow pointing in one direction. These tires can be used on the left or right side, but it's essential to ensure that the direction of the tread pattern isn't reversed. If the tread pattern direction is opposite to the vehicle's direction of travel, the tire tread will wear unevenly, create noisy friction sounds, and result in inefficient fuel consumption.

Meanwhile, asymmetrical tires have different tread patterns for the inner and outer sides of the tire. Typically, there are markings on the tire sidewall indicating "inside" for the inner side and "outside" for the outer side. The tread pattern on the inner side of asymmetrical tires is designed to provide optimal traction and braking, while the tread pattern on the outer side aims to enhance stability and maximize vehicle handling.

5. Choose a well-qualified brand

When selecting car tires, it's advisable to purchase tires from well-established and trusted brands. Currently, there are many high-quality car tire brands available in the market with a range of prices, from affordable to expensive. Some reputable tire brands include Achilles, Bridgestone, Michelin, and Pirelli.

By following this guide, we hope you can choose the right car tires. Selecting the appropriate tires will bring comfort, safety, and optimal performance during your journeys. Therefore, if you encounter difficulty in choosing tires, don't hesitate to seek further advice from experts before making your decision.

While your car is in the workshop for tire replacement, you can use the daily car rental services from MPMRent. We offer both short and long-term car rental options with a variety of car choices. For more information, please contact us.

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