Performance Tires

Summer Tires

Summer performance tires are different than winter and all-season types. The tread designs have grooves intended to cut through water and prevent hydroplaning, but the main reason of summer tires is to maximize the amount of rubber that contacts the pavement, so the grooves are thinner and often not as deep. Grip on dry surfaces tends to increase with wear, even with all-season tires.

Another known fact about summer performance tires' traction is that the rubber is softer than all-seasons, and are able to mold into the pavement's rough texture better. The down-side is lower treadwear ratings and a shorter lifespan. Summer tires are soft when it's warm but get very hard in lower temperatures making them dangerous on ice and snow. All-wheel drive won't help when a car is equipped with summer tires in a winter storm.

Summer performance tires come mostly in low-profile sizes providing tight steering response and higher grip desired by sport-driving enthusiasts as well as the large-wheel appearance. There are a lot of tradeoffs with low profile tires. Ride quality gets firmer as sidewalls get shorter, and some performance tires can be very noisy.

With low-profile tires, there is also the higher risk of wheel and/or suspension damage: The tire is not able to absorb hard shocks as well, and that means the rim and suspension components do. Low-profile tires make the rims closer to the ground, which allows them to get damaged easier when parking along a curb. With normal tires, the sidewall absorbs any contact and typically has no damage to the tire or the rim.

Winter Tires

Winter tires have come a long way since the studded bias-ply snow tires that we used to throw onto our cars before winter.

The patterns of those tires are still basically the same. They have aggressive patterns and deep tread that is characteristic of winter tires. The deep grooves take a bigger bite than all-seasons do, and the tire's corners are squared off most of the time instead of rounded, providing an edge to dig into snow and prevent sliding as the car turns.

The biggest difference in winter tires, is the rubber compounds that are used. They are designed to remain soft in cold temperatures, and their grip is much better than all-season tires, especially on ice.

The downside with winter tires is that stopping distances are increased and the deep tread blocks and softer rubber creates less-responsive handling. Winter tires also wear more quickly than all-season tires, especially as temperatures rise above freezing.

Off-Road Tires

Off-road tires for SUVs and pickups share some of the same characteristics as winter tires such as tread that has more bite, deep grooves and high profiles, but tend to be pretty wide.

You can now get winter tires for just about any model of vehicle, including off-road vehicles, but there are also some tradeoffs for cars, including less traction in warm dryweather and a higher amount of treadwear.

Off-road and all-terrain (on/off-road) tires might be the more versatile choice for most truck owners.

All-Season Tires

All-season tires handle everything very well, though they do not excel at anything in general.

All-seasons won't give you the strong traction of a summer performance tire, but they do a pretty good job on snow and ice, where summer tires fail. They also tend to last longer than single-season tires, and as a result most models come with treadwear warranties. They are usually less noisy than summer tires and have a lower resistance on the road so cars equipped with all-season tires will get lower gas mileage than a summer tire.

The height of a tire's sidewall is known as its profile or series, and lower profiles mean shorter sidewalls. All-season tires tend to fall in the middle of sidewall height. All-seasons seek the middle ground between the nimble handling of low-series tires and the comfort of higher sidewall tires on smaller wheels.