Rims; Custom Wheels; Wheels and Tires

TIRE Vehicle applications

Tires are classified into several standard types, based on the type of vehicle they serve. Since the manufacturing process, raw materials, and equipment vary according to the tire type, it is common for tire factories to specialize in one or more tire types. In most markets, factories that manufacture passenger and light truck radial tires are separate and distinct from those that make aircraft or OTR tires.

Passenger vehicles and light truck

High performance

High performance tires are designed for use at higher speeds, and more often, a more "sporty" driving style. They feature a softer rubber compound for improved traction, especially on high speed cornering. The trade off of this softer rubber is shorter tread life.

High performance street tires sometimes sacrifice wet weather handling by having shallower water channels to provide more actual rubber tread surface area for dry weather performance.^[The ability to provide a high level of performance on both wet and dry pavement varies widely among manufacturers, and even among tire models of the same manufacturer. This is an area of active research and development, as well as marketing.

Mud and snow:

Mud and Snow, (or M+S, or M&S), is a designation applied rather arbitrarily by manufacturers for all-season and winter tires designed to provide improved performance under low temperature conditions, compared to summer tires. The tread compound is usually softer than that used in tires for summer conditions, thus providing better grip on ice and snow, but wears more quickly at higher temperatures. Tires may have well above average numbers of sipes in the tread pattern to grip the ice. There are no traction performance requirements which such a tire has to meet; M&S relates to the percentage of tread void area.

Dedicated winter tires will bear the "Mountain/Snowflake Pictograph" if designated as a winter/snow tire by the American Society for Testing & Materials. Winter tires will typically also carry the designation MS, M&S, or the words MUD AND SNOW (but see All-season tires, below).

Some winter tires may be designed to accept the installation of metal studs for additional traction on icy roads. The studs also roughen the ice, thus providing better friction between the ice and the soft rubber in winter tires. Use of studs is regulated in most countries, and even prohibited in some locales due to the increased road wear caused by studs. Typically, studs are never used on heavier vehicles.

Some jurisdictions may require snow tires or tire chains on vehicles driven in certain areas during extreme weather conditions.

Mud tires are specialty tires with large, chunky tread patterns designed to bite into muddy surfaces. The large, open design also allows mud to clear quickly from between the lugs. Mud terrain tires also tend to be wider than other tires, to spread the weight of the vehicle over a greater area to prevent the vehicle from sinking too deeply into the mud. However in reasonable amounts of mud and snow, tires should be thinner. Being thinner, the tire will have more pressure on the road surface, thus allowing the tires to penetrate the snow layer and grip harder snow or road surface beneath. This does not compensate when the snow is too deep for such penetration, where the vehicle will sink into the snow and 'snowplow' the snow in front. In this case, wider tires are preferred, as they have a larger contact patch and are better able to 'float' on top of the mud or snow.

All season

The All Season tire classification is a compromise between one developed for use on dry and wet roads during summer and one developed for use under winter conditions. The type of rubber and the tread pattern best suited for use under summer conditions cannot, for technical reasons, give good performance on snow and ice. The all-season tire is a compromise, and is neither an excellent summer tire nor an excellent winter tire. They have, however, become almost ubiquitous as original and replacement equipment on automobiles marketed in the United States, due to their convenience and their adequate performance in most situations. All-Season tires are also marked for mud and snow the same as winter tires but rarely with a snowflake. Owing to the compromise with performance during summer, winter performance is usually poorer than a winter tire.

All-terrain

All-terrain tires are typically used on SUV's and light trucks. These tires often have stiffer sidewalls for greater resistance against puncture when traveling off-road, the tread pattern offers wider spacing than all-season tires to remove mud from the tread. Many tires in the all-terrain category are designed primarily for on-road use, particularly all-terrain tires that are originally sold with the vehicle.

Run-flat

Main article: Run-Flat Tire

Several innovative designs have been introduced that permit tires to run safely with no air for a limited range at a limited speed. These tires typically feature strong, load-supporting sidewalls. An infamous example of an alternate run-flat technology has plastic load-bearing inserts attached to the rim instead of the reinforced sidewalls.

A disadvantage is that run-flat tires cannot be repaired if a puncture occurs, this is due to manufacturer's informing the automotive industry that you cannot tell what kind of state the sidewall is in due to the compacted sidewall of rubber.