Wheel Deal

One might show off a prize possession like the sports suspension that allows a car to cut corners at high speed.

How to choose the right tyre for your car
One might show off a prize possession like the sports suspension that allows a car to cut corners at high speed,but unfortunately,most of the time,they miss out on one major part; make that four: tyres. The tyre is the only real contact between the car and the road,and responsible for road holding,comfort and safety. There are different ones for different cars. What you choose depends on how you use your car,the place where you live and its weather conditions,how you like the ride and handling of your car and a variety of other factors. For instance if you spend a lot of your working day,driving up and down the motorways,you will need a hard wearing tyre that doesnt make a lot of noise. If you live in the countryside,a tyre that provides better grip on muddy roads would be more suitable.

Performance tyres or summer tyres:
These are designed for faster cars. They typically put performance and grip ahead of longevity by using a softer rubber compound. Tread block design is normally biased towards outright grip rather than the ability to pump water out of the way on a wet road. The extreme example of performance tyres are slicks used in motor racing,so-called because they have no tread at all and offer exceptional grip on dry tarmac. Also known as summer tyres,these are designed to provide excellent grip in the dry. They can be used all year round if you live in a region with a warm climate and little rain. It is important that these tyres are kept in excellent condition as driving in the rain is hard enough with these tyres and if there is any sign of wear it is virtually impossible to get good grip.

All-round or all-season tyres:
These are what youll typically find on every production car that comes out of a factory. Theyre designed to be a compromise between grip,performance,longevity,noise and wet-weather safety. For increased tyre life,they are made with a harder rubber compound,which sacrifices outright grip and cornering performance. For 90 per cent of the worlds drivers,this isnt an issue. The tread block design is normally a compromise between quiet running and water dispersion. These tyres are not too noisy in normal use and work fairly well on wet roads.

Wet-weather tyres:
Instead of using an even harder rubber compound than all-season tyres,wet weather tyres use a softer compound than performance tyres. The rubber needs to heat up quicker in cold or wet conditions and needs to have as much mechanical grip as possible. They will normally also have a lot more sipping to try to disperse water from the contact patch. Aquachannel tyres are a subset of wet-weather tyres. These are designed for maintaining grip on wet roads and work efficiently on Indian wet roads especially in conditions where heavy rain usually makes driving a challenging task.

Snow & ice special winter tyres:
Winter tyres are designed to work extremely well in winter season especially from November to March. These work well when there is snow and ice on roads. These tyres typically have larger and noiser tread block patterns. In extreme climates,true snow tyres have tiny metal studs fabricated into the tread for biting into the snow and ice. They are incredibly noisy on dry roads and wear out both the tyre and the road surface quickly if driven in the dry.

All-terrain tyres:
All-terrain tyres are typically used on SUVs and off-road vehicles. They are larger tyres with stiffer sidewalls and bigger tread block patterns. The larger tread block means the tyres are very noisy on normal roads but grip loose sand and dirt very well when you take the car or SUV off-road. As well as the noise,the larger tread block pattern means less tyre surface in contact with the road. The rubber compound used in these tyres is normally middle-of-the-road,neither soft nor hard.

Mud tyres:
At the extreme end of the all-terrain tyre classification are mud tyres. These have massive,super-chunky tread blocks and really shouldnt ever be driven anywhere other than loose mud and dirt. The tread sometimes doesnt even come in blocks any more but looks more like paddles built in to the tyre carcass. These tyres are to be strictly used for off road purposes only.

Run flat tyres are a relatively new concept designed to minimise the loss of handling that occurs after a puncture or loss of air in the tyre. The car tyre can operate without air to enable the vehicle to continue to be driven. However this is only suitable for a short distance and at a reduced speed,until the tyre can be safely changed. These tyres are quite expensive,thus they come as a standard fitment on only expensive cars.

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writer is a car rallyist,consultant for various car manufacturers and is running an automobile workshop in Chandigarh

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