ARTICLE: Choosing The Right Set Of Tyres for your Car

[arunforu1]

Originally Posted by low_bass_makker

so how does a thinner tyre will help here as mentioned in the first post....

Not sure just a guess, that thinner tires will cut through water more efficiently, whereas wider ones may cause aquaplaning.

eg, a bicycle tire driven through water at 60km/h(just an example) is more likely to cut through, whereas a car tire being more in width & hence more wider contact patch will tend to glide over water, instead of cutiing through it.

If i am wrong, experts please correct.

[theMAG]

Nice articles, Rehaan and Iraghava.

Can a supplement featuring current tyre brands and the USP of each brand - E.g: Tyre A - Best Grip, Tyre B - Lowest noise etc. be compiled as well ?

[madan80]

iraghava -brilliant XLS. really useful. Kudos! Will be very helpful in my research. Thanks!

[lohithrao]

@Rehaan:Superb info there.

[ad75]

@rehann excellent article dude

@iraghava the excel is too good.

[vid6639]

In wet conditions a thinner tyre helps. If you have a wider contact patch the tyre has to disperse water from the centre to the outside. The distance the water has to be dispersed is more than when the tyre is wider but when the tyre is thinner the distance is lesser and it's easier to disperse.

[Rehaan]

Originally Posted by low_bass_makker

In wet conditions wider tyre helps or a thinner one ?

A very wide tyre has its disadvantages in the wet.
Ever noticed in WRC how narrow the tyres are in the snow stages? Same principle....

Force = Pressure / Area is one way of looking at it.


Rks,
Regular load indexes are generally sufficient for 4-5person passenger vehicles, however, as you mentioned, they should be taken into consideration if you plan to run a fully loaded MUV or transport a lot of goods etc.
As for speed ratings, the higher the better! If i am not mistaken, speed rating indicates that the car can be driven at that speed for 60minutes(?) without causing tyre damage, but not more.

cya
R

[appuchan]

Originally Posted by vid6639

In wet conditions a thinner tyre helps. If you have a wider contact patch the tyre has to disperse water from the centre to the outside. ...

Yes, you can see that its easy to drive bicycles in wet conditions as it will slice through water easily. The more wider the tyres, the more resistance and effort required by the tyre to push out water from its path.

[shrivz]

Great article there rehaan!

I just have one doubt

Originally Posted by Rehaan

2. Size
For eg. 205/55 R 15, which can be read as follows:
205 (mm) - or 20.5cm is the width of the tread on the tyre.
55 (%) - is the height of the sidewall represented as a percentage of the tread width.
R (Radial) - Radial construction, as almost all tyres are nowadays.
15 (inches) - Is the rim diameter of the wheel on which this tyre is designed to fit.

Methinks 205 is the section width of the tyre, not the tread width, tho in most cases the section width is almost equal to the tread width.

Could someone please clarify this.. kpzen, irags?

cheers!

[bayuin2004]

oh great dude,that information is very much helpfull..
thanx a lot

[shrivz]

Got a PM from kpzen explaining my doubt.

He said and i quote:
"Today's radial tires often feature tread designs that incorporate rounded shoulders and there is no industry standard pertaining to "how much" of the rounded shoulders should be included in the tread width measurement. Because of this, it is difficult to accurately compare the tread width differences of one tire brand to another. Tread width measurements are best used when comparing the various tire sizes or lines manufactured by a single tire manufacturer.

The section width will vary with different size rims so tread width would be a correct term to be used..."

thanks a lot for clarifying my doubt..

cheers!

[zeeshan suleman]

Really nice Article guys... relly helpful info...

just one thing i need to know.. how to we determine the top speed a tyre can do ..how is it dekarkated?

[Jaggu]

thats a comprehensive one, make it a sticky/parking post and guide people with tyre questions to this

[Rehaan]

Thanks for the comments guys.

Shrivz, kpzens PM explains that well, better than i would have!

just one thing i need to know.. how to we determine the top speed a tyre can do ..how is it dekarkated?

Its demarkated by a letter, placed after the load index which is a number -
see this

make it a sticky/parking post and guide people with tyre questions to this

I actually tried doing that earlier but if it was a sticky in the Tyre section it also became a sticky here, but i just realised i should make a COPY of this thread and Park it in the Tyre section
So i did.

cya
R

[greatDrive]

Can anybody please mention about the width of steel Rims and Alloys for specific width tyres.
Can a 5.5J width steel rim hold good for 195/60/R14?
Can someone compile and put what should be the Ideal width for Rims for different sizes?

Thanks in Advance
GD