Choose tires, 3 parameters you must look at

There are many types of tires on the market. When you need to change tires, do you have no idea where to start and how to choose tires? The biggest misunderstanding when buying tires is to only look at the brand. Some people also pursue the production date. In fact, these are useless. The three indexes that really relate to tire performance are.

01 Tire load index
For example, "HL 245/45 R 19101 Y XL". This HL tire has a load capacity of 1819 pounds (load index 101), which is 10% higher than the similar (other) XL standard of 1653 pounds (load index 98). Tires made according to the SL standard are also suitable for many cars, even medium-sized models, and can bear a maximum load of 1477 pounds (load index 94).

You may think that the load index is far enough, but in fact, because of the inertia caused by sudden braking, the two front wheels will bear 80% to 90% of the vehicle weight, or even more than the weight of the entire vehicle. Therefore, in theory, the load design of the original tire will leave double redundancy, that is, the upper limit of the load of the two tires is almost equivalent to the curb weight of the vehicle. Therefore, the higher the load index, the better the stability of the vehicle.

02 Maximum speed level of tires
The tires with high speed levels can run faster, and the tires with low speed levels will run slower. This is easy to understand. The speed level of passenger car tires starts from M, and the later the letters represent higher performance. However, the current speed limit on China's highways is 120 kilometers per hour. Nowadays, the speed level of most passenger car tires is between S and Y, which means that the maximum tolerable speed is between 180-300 kilometers per hour. In this way, almost all passenger car tire speed levels can meet the needs, but the speed level of common tires on the market is tires with a speed of more than 200 kilometers per hour. What are the advantages of high-speed tires over low-speed tires?

In order to better buffer heat generation and tire deformation, tires with high speed levels will be designed with enhanced shoulder and tread design. Generally speaking, tires with high speed levels have stronger grip when the vehicle turns. Foreign professional drivers once conducted a comparative test on speed levels. Two identical cars used tires of the same size. The higher the speed level, the better the braking performance of the tire. In addition, the driver's experiment showed that the higher the speed level, the more stable the tire's extreme speed steering.

03 Tire wear index
The wear index is usually engraved on the side of the tire in the form of numbers. The larger the number, the more wear-resistant the tire is. The wear index of general household car tires is in the range of Treadwear240-400, and the manufacturers' markings on these tires are more comfortable, quiet, wear-resistant, etc.

However, the wear index of performance tires with stronger grip is usually 200 or less. For example, the wear index of Pirelli P ZERO CORSA tires installed on many supercars is only 60. So what is the purpose of tires? It is also necessary to pay attention to the daily use environment when choosing tires. The brand, price and model of tires are also factors we need to consider when choosing tires. But the above points are the top priority when buying tires. Therefore, we should choose tires in multiple dimensions according to our needs.