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Choosing The Right Tire For Your Truck

Choosing The Right Tire For Your Truck
Author: Debbie Pettitt

There are a variety of to choose from, depending on your needs:

Highway Tires. These tires are designed for driving on both wet and dry surfaces but do not have the traction required for snow.

All-season tires (or all-weather.) These are exactly that--tires for all seasons. They work well on both wet and dry pavement and light snow; just a step above the highway tires.

All-terrain tires. These tires are designed more for heavy-duty and off-road driving. These generally carry an AT or AK rating.

Hi-Performance Tires. High-Performance tires are excellent for high speed driving and good cornering response. They carry an H or V rating.

Maximum traction tires. These tires are more aggressive than the all-terrain tire--definitely for off-road use. They carry an MT of MIT rating.

Winter tires. These are strictly for on-road use in snow, slush, ice and freezing rain.

When buying new tires, here are some considerations:

Know your driving needs. Do you only drive in town, with lots of stop and start? Do you drive mostly on highways? Will you want to drive your truck off road?

If you're using your tires for off-road driving, you'll need tall, thick sidewalls to resist punctures and tears and you'll also need an aggressive tread pattern. Large tread blocks, wide grooves and heavy siping are best for this purpose.

Once again for off-road driving, an off-road suspension package will lift the suspension and provide room for a taller wheel and tire combination. The lift kit moves the suspension in relation to the vehicle fram. It provides more ground clearance for tougher terrain, providing better suspension travel and smoother rides.

What size of tire do I need?

Tires must be able to carry the weight of your vehicle. If a tire is overworked just carrying the load, it will have little reserve capacity to help your vehicle respond quickly and safely. Do not buy undersized tires.

Check your owner's manual, vehicle door jam or glovebox, to find the size of tire recommended for your vehicle or try our Kal Tire vehicle database. Go to the Kal Tire Selector.

The other size consideration is overall tire diameter. For cars and vans, stay within a ±3% diameter change. Pick-ups and sport utility vehicles (SUVs) are usually engineered to handle up to a 15% oversize tire.

Find out more about Plus Sizing or custom wheels.

What weather and driving conditions will the tires face?

Select a tire that suits the driving conditions you face most often:

Snow or ice: snow tires

Heavy traffic: more responsive tires

Winding roads or in the mountains: a tire that handles well

Extensive highway driving: tires with a smooth, quiet ride

If you face very different driving conditions (heavy snow in the winter and lots of highway driving in the summer), consider selecting two sets of tires. You'll get better driving performance and longer total wear from your tires.

What kind of 'look' do I want?

Think about whether you're happy with standard tires or you want the added flair of custom wheels or Plus Sizing.

How can I find the best value?

Simple fact: In the long run, cheap tires won't save you money. They don't last as long as higher quality tires and may result in a rougher ride and inferior handling.

Your goal in tire shopping should be to find the highest quality tire that meets your specific needs and your budget.

What Your Tire Does

Consider this fact: the tire is the only point of contact between a vehicle and the road.

A tire has several important functions:

Steers the vehicle

A tire's ability to maintain its course affects the vehicle's ability to drive in a straight path. The tire has to help the vehicle steer regardless of road and weather conditions.

Supports the vehicle

A car tire has to carry more than 50 times its own weight.

Absorbs bumps

The flexibility of a tire helps it to absorb obstacles on uneven road surfaces and provides a stable ride for the driver and passengers while protecting the vehicle.

Transmits forces

Tires transmit the engine's power to accelerate and the braking force to stop.

How well the tire performs these functions depends in part on how well the tire is maintained. See how to maintain your tires.

Different Types of Tires.

Selecting the right tires for your vehicle is an important decision. Understanding the difference between the different types of tires available will help you choose the best tire for your driving needs and safety. Here's a quick reference guide that explains the different types of tires available.

All-Season Tires: All-Season tires are among the most cost effective tire types available. They provide a smooth ride, long wear and adequate traction on dry and wet weather conditions. They are not however, recommended for use in snow-belt areas.

Touring Tires: Touring tires feature enhanced performance blended with excellent ride and handling characteristics designed for many of today's late model luxury vehicles. These tires feature slightly lower profiles and wider tread for improved handling and stability. They are available in All-Season and Summer treads.

All-Weather Tires: Revolutionary new product. These state-of-the-art tires have revolutionary tread designs and rubber compounds that provide maximum safety in all applications encountered in ever changing weather conditions. A true four-season tire. These tires provide high mileage and carry the severe weather problem exceeding new government snow conditions regulations. All-Weather tires eliminate the need for costly winter changeovers.

Performance Tires: There are three categories of performance tires; Performance, Hi-Performance and Ultra Hi-Performance. The first is the cosmetic or specialty performance tire. These are designed to enhance the look and low speed traction on vehicles such as muscle cars, street trucks, and vans. Most tread patterns are an All-Season design which provide good wet and dry traction.

Hi-Performance Tires: High-Performance tires are original equipment on many of today's late model cars. These tires are designed to extend high speed handling and stability. Their lower profile, stiff sidewall and wide foot print, provide improved cornering response, lower rolling resistance and increased tread stability. They're available in All-Season and Summer style tread designs in H rated and V rated speed ratings.

Ultra Hi-Performance Tires: Ultra Hi-Performance tires take material and tire design to the max! They are designed for today.s most sophisticated sedans and sport cars. Their low profile designs deliver the ultimate control and response at speed. Their sticky tread compounds enhance performance, but the trade off is they can wear quicker. These tires provide a smooth quiet ride.

Light Truck / SUV All-Season Tires: Light Truck All-Season tires come original equipment on many of today's vehicles. Their tread pattern design provides a smooth, quiet ride while delivering adequate traction in most conditions for everyday use.

Light Truck / SUV All-Terrain Tires: All-Terrain tires are a "notch up" from All-Season tires in off road conditions. These tires are designed with a more aggressive open tread design which provides additional traction in on "off-road" applications, such as mud and deep snow. Their larger voids (large spaces between the lugs) expel the mud and snow providing additional traction. The tread compounds used makes the All-Terrain tire tougher and more durable in aggressive working conditions. The trade off over All-Seasons is the slightly more aggressive ride with the All-Terrain tire. Most consumers accept this in order to get the additional traction.

Mud-Terrain Tires: Mud-Terrain tires provide extreme traction in off-road conditions, while still providing an acceptable ride for highway or on road use. Their massive tread blocks provide the ultimate grip in mud, sand bog or rocky conditions. Mud-Terrain tires have the largest deepest tread designs. Their tread compounds and reinforced side walls are designed to expel rocks, sticks and foreign materials. They are available in the tallest and widest sizes available for increased flotation and axle clearance. These tires are not suitable for winter driving unless they have been siped and studded.

Winter Tires: Winter tires provide the best traction for a wide range of winter conditions such as snow, slush, ice and freezing rain. Not having winter tires could jeopardize safety if serious winter conditions suddenly develop. Today's winter tires offer state-of-the-art designs and compounds. Winter tread compounds are highly siped (small slits that expel water and provide extra traction) and are made of microfilment compounds that stay pliable in cold weather. This combination provides superior traction without the need for studs. Because of this significant traction . . . only sets of 4 winter tires should be used.

Winter Performance Tires: Winter Performance Tires are now also available for those who need enhanced winter traction and as much responsive high-speed handling as possible. Performance winter tires are available in H and a few V rated patterns. Winter Performance tires also have similar siping and compound materials that regular winter tires have, keeping them pliable in cold winter conditions. These tires are available in up to 18" sizes to fit most of today's late model luxury and performance vehicles.

Refer to your owner's manual for the correct size tire your vehicle needs. Generally, passenger and performance cars require smaller tires than light trucks. Some lines of tires are specific to light trucks, for example, and need not be considered by a compact car driver.

Take into account what you use your car for. This may be for long distance driving, off-road work, taking the family out to eat or just driving for the fun of it. Depending on which you choose, you may be looking for a tire that features long mileage, off-road traction, all-weather handling or high performance cornering.

Consider seasonal use - are you looking for extra traction when winter comes? Or do you need to switch back to summer tires from your existing winter radials? There are tires designed specifically for winter use, as well as all-season selections.

Keep in mind how much you want to spend. Many of our most popular tire lines feature low-cost, high quality selections to fit your budget.

Debbie Pettitt is webmaster of http://everythingtires.com and http://truckextravaganza.com. If you're looking for tires for your truck, car, golf cart, trailer, tractor or motorcycle, visit Everything Tires. If you're looking for information on trucks, truck accessories, truck parts or truck reviews, visit Truck Extravaganza.

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