Buyer Know Your Tire! Tire Buying Tips

By Roman Robinson

Its like a jungle out there! You walk into a tire store and you clap eyes on mountains of rubber. To the untrained eye, and lets face it, thats most of us, the tires all look the same. Youre confused, should you go for the cheapest? Or the most popular brands? Surely as long as the car has four tires, all will be well?

Well no, unfortunately, its not as simple as that. So here are some handy hints to ease you through the process, as going to the store with some knowledge will be useful, especially if the retailer starts firing questions at you about your needs.

First of all do the do you actually need new tires. Inspect them for any wear or tear, cuts, bumps and scrapes. You should be gemmed up on the type of tire you will need. Is it for all seasons, or mainly winter conditions? Therefore it will be helpful to understand the regular conditions that you drive in.

You should know your tire size. This can be found in a number of possible places; in your manual, in the glove compartment or on a sticker near the drivers door. And then there are the numbers all over the tires sidewall, but you dont need to be an international code breaker to decipher them. Read on.

You might see some numbers and letters that look this - P215/65R 15. The P is for the vehicles purpose. In this case passenger. You may also see LT which sands for light truck. The next set of numbers the 215 is the tires width in millimetres. The next 2 digit number, the 65 is the tires aspect ratio. The ratio of height to width. The R stands for radial construction, the way the tire was made.

Finally, when it comes to handing over the cash, buy the tires in pairs. That is buy the front two or the rear two together. Tires vary in quality and unbalanced tires can be very dangerous. - 29952

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