Tires

One of the first things that you can do as an easy upgrade is to change the tires of your rig. Sounds easy to do, right? Not as easy of a decision as you might think as there are many different things that you should be aware of before you make the purchase. Since this purchase could be a significant investment starting around $1,000 and not a purchase that you can return, you need to make sure that you understand the ramifications of your choices.

There’s a big difference between sandy deserts, wild forests, and mountainous terrain… and vehicles should have different tires based on the kind of terrain they’re going to encounter. That’s why the first step in installing the best off-road tires has absolutely nothing to do with the tires themselves and everything to do with the intentions of the person driving the car

The first thing that you should do is decide what type of driving that you will be doing. There is a large difference in the types of terrain that you will be driving on such as road, sand, mud, trails, gravel, rocks, snow and other types. Each type of terrain requires not only a specific type of tire but a unique way of driving over them.

The next thing you should think about is the performance of your tire. How much driving you will be doing on these types of terrains. If you are going to be doing a majority of on road driving and only occasional off road then you should think about a tire that is more of an all weather tread. This type of tire will be better on gas economy and longevity of the tire. If you drive more off road then you should look at a tread that is more aggressive and these types of treads will be louder on the highway and wear much quicker. Maybe you will only drive your vehicle off road and trailer it to and from where you will wheel. In that case you will want a more aggressive and softer tire that will help you grip the things you will climb over.

Okay, so you have decided what type of driving that you will be doing now you will doing, now you need to decide what type of tire you should be looking at. This area covers sizes like the size of the rim, width of the tire, height of the tire and how much sidewall you want to have. I will go over rim measurements in another blog as there are many decisions on that alone.

Learn how to read the metrics of a Tire from Yokohama. It’s good quick read.

All-Terrain Tires

Advantages: good for all weather driving, less road noise, great tread life, performance on the road. Does work in mud but not as effectively as mud tires. Good combination for on/off road performance. Quieter on the road.

Disadvantages: not as cool looking as the mud terrain tires, less aggressive off pavement. They do not excel in clearing mud easily due to smaller voids that larger lugs give.

Mud Tires

Advantages: Softer tires give better grip off pavement. softer side walls to allow for flex. Larger gaps between lugs to help grip obstacles and clears mud out of tread quickly

Disadvantages: low tread life if driven on road. expensive to purchase. Performance drops in warmer temps as the rubber becomes more pliable and wears faster. Loud on road noise. Less on road performance.

Low profile tires.

Advantages: Allow you to fit larger rims (which doesn’t help performance but provides more space for large brake disks). Better cornering grip and feel, the rig will corner faster.  The rig feels more stable in straight lines and on cornering. Look great on show rigs.

Disadvantages: More road noise. The ride is firmer. Low profile tires are more prone to following ruts in the road. Sudden loss of grip when pushed beyond the limits. Not off road friendly as there is little sidewall to “give” when going over obstacles. They are more expensive.

Sidewall size

ok, so we just covered the basic tires that you can get but we really need to talk about one more thing and the is the side wall size. Why would that matter? It depends on the type of driving that you will be doing. If you plan on creating a show vehicle then low profile (almost now side wall) looks good but can not be effectively used off road as the tread of the tire will not be able to grip what you are going over. Now if you have a large sidewall, it can grip the items easily (by airing down) but will not be as good on road due to the large amount of sidewall. Think of it this way, when you turn your wheel, it turns the rim, then the sidewall, then the tread. The more sidewall you have the longer it takes to turn the tread. This is not usually an issue and more about on road performance.

When all is said and done, it is all about a personal choice. Think about how you will be driving your rig the majority of the time and plan for that to get the best performance out of your tire. You can run any tire you want, just be aware that each tire performs and costs differently.

After all the decisions have been made, then you should look at the Wheels you want to mount the tires on. Keep an eye out for the next blog posting on this.