Tires : Myths, Facts, and Legends

Last time, I defined some of the tire jargon that most newbies don’t understand. Now with a new dictionary of terms, its time to put them to use. I’m going to be talking about the different types of tires. And throw some cautions about going too far with your selections.

Basic round donuts. This is the first tier in replacement tires. These are usually all-season tires. There are sub groups within this level as well. Grip levels are usually inferior to original equipment (OE) tires. Most of these tires have a minimum construction cost and the lowest speed rating of all. In the American market, I call these the crap Chinese tires. Fast wearing, no grip, noisy, bumpy, these are usually the lowest cost tires at the tire rack. The name brands also compete in this segment with a better built product. The name brands normally carry a mileage warranty, and when following manufacturers recommended maintenance, can come with a pro-rated refund if they don’t make stated mileage. There are special use tires that cost more but give not much more in grip or response. Recently, with the rise in gas prices, most major tire makers have come out with a low rolling resistance, high gas mileage tires. Also in this category are single focus tires. Snow tires, all-season, studded ice tires, and tires with tread designed to sweep water away in rainy environments. With these cases, the single purpose outweighs an upgrade in dry performance. But then you don’t buy a snow tire to go drag racing do you.

UHP tires. Despite the tag Ultra High Performance, most of the tires are not. But they are a step up from the BRD’s. These tires balance out grip, longevity, noise, ride, and weather conditions. They have a better construction, able to take higher speeds and less side wall flex. They are an all season tire, and depending on the tread pattern most are multi-directional. You run the gamut of cheap brands with serious tread flapping problems at high speeds, to very good product that live up to the UHP name. The good ones are most likely found on higher end luxury sport vehicles. My recommendation is to look into Dunlop’s Direzza series tires. They are comparable with the Michelin Pilot Sport Cups but at almost half the price.

True High Performance tires. These are known as summer tires to most grip enthusiasts. We are talking serious street tires with stiffer side walls and stronger tread facing capable of higher speeds and greater G forces the stickier compound allows. They are full treaded tires with less focus on noise, ride, and longevity. The intended weather these tires are to see is rain only. Slicker conditions will require going to a snow or ice tire if you live in a region with more than one season. These are about the best tires for a performance based daily driver. If you find yourself jumping off the expressway to hit some of your favorite backroads once or twice a week on the drive back home, these tires are for you.

DOT radials. Welcome to the class that will warp your mind to what a tire can do for grip. DOT tires are the barely legal tires. Basically, we are talking about a racing slick with just enough grooves to pass US Department of Transportation (DOT) street regulations. These are no compromise tires. Longevity, noise, ride, nothing matters but making the gray stuff in your head leak out due to centrifugal forces. There are down sides to this class. If you drive them in the rain, you take your life in your hands. Most need to brought up to temperature for maximum grip. And with anything but a serious performance car, they actually can ruin the balance or driver confidence by having making the car have to much body roll. At this level, you want to get personal feedback for a brand recommendation. Each manufacturer has its own characteristics with its product. These can seriously affect driver confidence and control. Now we get into the deep end with the tire lingo pool. Things like slip angle, sidewall flex, and control past maximum grip are your concerns. For recommendations, I would go around to your local autocross or an open track event and look and ask competitors. Hands on experience is key to find a tire that fits your cars modification level and your driver experience.

Full race slicks. If your on full race slicks, you’re series racing and you have virtually no choice as to what tire you can run. In the higher levels of endurance and F1 racing you do get a manufacturer and compound choice. But at that level, you’re building the tire to the car and driver combination. Which is in the millions of dollars on costs. If you haven’t woken up as Allan McNish or Fernando Alonso lately and are running a slick tire, its most likely a spec tire. Spec series use this as another balancing tool to determine driver skill and not just who can pay for a tire development contract for an unfair advantage. One tip, when you are buying the spec tires, dig around and try to find sets with the same batch code. Even though everything is mixed and made the same after the same, there are differences from batch to batch. This is the Harry Hyde matched set and staggered special tires. OK not really, but the likelyhood that you get four tires with exact same rubber compound betters the chance of getting better F/R balance in tire grip. You can focus on chassis balance and what the driver needs to make the car go faster instead of chasing F/R or even L/R grip balance through the turns. This affects drag slicks as well. Mismatched tires may have different grip levels and push the car left or right out of the groove.

I hope your clears up which tires are right for you. Most street cars will find UHP’s or the summer tires to be the best bet. The no compromise performance crowd can see better with the DOTs. And hopefully that one little tidbit about buying your race slicks can help you on a bonus point weekend.