Everything you need to know about car tires

January 2021

Every year you can observe the same picture on the roads, some driver in his car has not changed tires for the season, everyone is driving, but he is standing. Why? I didn't have time, I didn't want to, I forgot, why?

The seasonal tire change plays a significant role and affects road safety. There is no requirement by laws for mandatory tires change in Ukraine. However, there are a lot of conscious people on the roads.

Why it is so important to keep track of your tires, RACE car rental specialists will tell you in this review.

Why do we change the tires?

The tires can be divided into winter, summer and all-season. Summer tires have an excellent coupling on the road in a warm period. Summer tires allow you to keep the on the road even you have high speed. High temperature is achieved due to weather conditions and high road temperature in the summer time. The friction also increase the tires temperature. All these factors work perfectly with summer tires.

What happens if summer tires are used in winter?

Tires loose its properties and looks like plastic one. You won't be able to climb the slide, and the grip will be close to zero. Imagine, you dressing plastic flat shoes (without any gaps on the sole) and trying to walk down the street, you will not be able to take a step at the ice covered places. Summer tires have the same effect in the winter season. Don't take any chances, use seasonal tires.

Winter tires

Winter tires are designed for low temperatures. It copes well with ice, snow and does not lose its properties at low temperatures. Don’t expect excellent grip from the winter tires, because it cannot melt like summer tires, in fact, the temperature regime does not allow this. The main task of the winter tires is to provide grip on ice and snow, to catch and push out the car, prevent the car from skidding and losing control

What happens if you use winter tires in the summer?

If you leave winter tires on your car for the summer season, then it is fraught with:

1. Rapid consumption of tires - winter tires wipes off very quickly or crumbles at warm temperatures, it does not withstand heating.
2. No grip - of course this tires does not become "plastic", but it does not have the effect of grip with dry roads, such as summer tires, and even more this tires does not behave well in the rain and becomes quite dangerous.

read more here

All season tires

All-season tires are used less and less in the territory of Ukraine. Nevertheless, there are those who want to save money and buy such tires. The all-season tires is neither summer nor winter, it will not perform well the functions of summer tires, as well as winter ones. Can I use it?

You can, if you move in the summer no more than 80 km/h, brake in advance, you will not have emergency braking, and in winter you leave by car only when it is dry, there is no ice, snow or rain.

Tread pattern

There is one of the important parameters in summer tires. It is worth to choose a pattern according to your region, if you have frequent rains, take tires with a lot of drainages, if you are driving on a dry roads, high-speed tracks, then your choice is a speed pattern for track wheels.

Studded tires and tires for the spikes

Analyzing the last winters, we see, that studded tires are not needed. The spikes work perfectly only at icy roads. The spikes do not save in the snow. Considering that full ice in the city happens 2-7 days a year, and you will encounter bare asphalt for more than 30 days during the winter, the practicality of the spikes does not make sense, since you will lose them on the asphalt. If you still need a spike, and you firmly believe in it and want it, then buy it.

What to buy: studded tires or tires for spikes?

If you buy a tires for spikes and want to install spikes, do it before using the tires, because after you use them you’ll not be able to install spikes properly, even if you've only been rolling for a few days.

When to change tires

This question is being asked by many. As a rule, everyone begins to move as soon as they see snow and this is the whole problem, the tire shops are clogged, it is impossible to change tires. The tire change parameter is very simple:

1. Pass from summer to winter tires - the average daily temperature does not rise above 5 degrees Celsius.
2. Moving from winter to summer tires - the average daily temperature is more than 8 degrees Celsius.

Size matters

When choosing tires, pay attention to the size. The size will not necessarily be the one that you had from the moment you bought the car, the size can and need to be changed sometimes.

When do we need to resize?

1. If you need to make the car higher because of the road surface in your city, country.
2. If the size is perfectly interchangeable.
3. If the interchangeable size is not so popular and therefore cheaper by 20-30% of what you have on your car. After all, everyone buys exactly the one that costs initially.

Size Recommendations:

1. Be sure to look at interchangeability.
2. The tires may be more narrow for winter season, this is more of a plus in cross-country ability than minuses.
3. Be careful with low-profile tires, it is easy to damage it on a bad road, take it higher, this will save you from falling into holes.

How to read tire size

Each size has 3 main parameters that you should consider when choosing for your own car.

1. Width - the narrower wheel is great in winter, but within tolerance. In summer, you want it wider, some car models look nice with wide tires. However, when using a wide profile, please note that the wheels can rub over the car arch, which will affect the eversion of the steering wheel. The width is always indicated on the wheel in millimeters.
2. Height - the height of the wheel is calculated from the rim (disc) to the top. This parameter is specified as a percentage of the width. For example, the tire size is 195/65 R15, here the width is 195 mm, and the height is 65% of 195, that is, 126.75 mm. This way we can immediately pick up an interchangeable tire. For example, 205/60 R15, here the tires are wider, but what about the height? 60% of 205, it comes out 123 mm, that is, the tire is almost 4 mm lower than 195/65 R15.
3. Radius - indicated as “R”, it can be replaced only with a complete change of the disc, if we can make changes with the width and height, then with the radius it is impossible, except to change the discs.

I use just the summer tires in any season

This is not uncommon to hear from residents of the EU or other countries. If you live in a city, the roads are clearing, and your climate rewards you with snow a couple of times a year, changing your tires may not be the best option. You can use it - great.

Take care of yourself, tires are always your safety, the safety of other people, your braking distance and drift resistance of the car.