Don’t forget that the tyres are one of the car’s most important safety features

When you purchase a car, you should remember how essential the tyres are for your vehicle’s safety performance. Most people consider the safety aspects when purchasing it, but not for the tyres when buying them. Here the decision is made without many facts to support their decision. At least the EU tyre label introduced some years ago tries to assist you in the selection by simplifying the comparison of tyres. It might not cover all the essential aspects of the tyres, but at least you will choose wisely on three factors that positively impact your car’s performance and driving comfort.

Regardless of if you plan to purchase new summer tyres or new all-season tyres, the tyres should be of premium quality to exhibit the best safety performance. It is advisable to use various tyre reviews and tyre tests done by independent car magazines to guide you based on how they perform in their tyre tests. Some tests might favour certain tyres, and that test might not fully represent your driving conditions, so it is good to be a bit sceptical about the tests. Still, tyres that are picked and perform well in the tests should be included in your range of tyres for consideration when selecting a tyre. If you choose tyres for an SUV, remember that you will need specific SUV summer tyres or SUV all-season tyres, as they require different tyres than standard passenger cars.

The same goes for if you have a hybrid or an electric car, you should make sure that the tyres are suitable for heavier vehicles, caused by the heavy battery packs needed in electric vehicles and hybrids, which increases the weight. This can cause standard tyres to wear out too quickly. An electric motor also has a much higher initial torque that can cause the tyres to slip when the car is at a standstill. Due to the increased wear of these vehicles, it is important to regularly measure the tread depth to see if you should rotate the tyres to even out the wear between the rear and the front wheels. This can extend the lifetime of your tyres by more than 50%, and you always want to purchase a complete set of tyres to ensure that you have a similar grip on all positions.

Choosing tyres that aren’t safe will decrease the overall safety of your vehicle, so it will also a wrong tyre choice. Selecting tyres with a longer braking distance or worse wet grip will, by default, put you in a worse position than a better tyre. Using tyres that are not designed for your vehicle or with the wrong speed rating or using tyres meant for normal roads when you drive off-road will lower your overall safety and make the vehicle perform suboptimally. This is why it is essential to select a safe car and match it with equally safe tyres based on the weather and other driving conditions.

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