I was shock when I saw my colleague's car tyres are nearly flat and she think it is ok...
In fact, most people are trying to get the cheapest tyre when they are changing tyres. Well I do agree that changing 4 tyres are quite costly because normally you gotta pay for like RM600 and above. Think about this, tyres are the only part in the car that is touching the ground. Good tyres can save your life!
I am going to discuss about tyres, and how should you choose a set of good tyres.
Brands
They are some famous tyre manufacturer such as Yokohama, Goodyear, Bridgestone, Michelin and our local brand: Silverstone. However, Brand does not matter - each brand has their lowest grand of tyres until the flagship tyres. So it is kind of stupid if you are comparing Goodyear NCT5 with Silversone FTZ, you must know the class of tyres first.
Normal driver will have economical tyres in their mind, such as NCT5, MY01 and so on, but this type of tyres are mean for daily drive - it's gonna risk your life if you are aggressive on the road.
So, know yourself before knowing the tyre.
They are standard daily drive tyres, performance tyres, luxury car tyres and the 4X4 tyres. Please remember, you need more grip on the road means the tyre won't last long because it will be soft. The harder it is, the longer it last, the lesser its grip.
This is the standard tyre, because you can see the tread compound is quite small - good to drain water while raining but less grip on dry road.
This is an example of a performance tyre, there are only 2 major drain in design and the compound is bigger comparing to the first one. More grip on dry road, good draining on wet road as well - so it is a choice for those who like to drive fast. High performance tyre where you can have normal drive on the road and also go racing on track.
This is a type of semi slick tyre, which is for competition purpose only. If you notice, the compound is bigger than the previous model, which will touch the ground more, but the handling will become nightmare if it is raining.
This is the ultra one, it is totally flat and it is a full slick performance tyre, where normally people will use for drag car to have maximum grip while launching. Don't think you can use it on a wet road.
Tyre Size
There are various size for tyres, for example 13 inches, 14 inches which are the diameters, 55%, 60% which is the thickness of the tyres as well as 195mm, 205mm which is the tyre width. For ease of reading normally it will be like this: 15/195/55 which is a 15inches tyres with 195mm width and 55% of thickness. Tyre go expensive when it become bigger, thinner or width size is bigger. For example, a standard tyre for 15inches will be 15/195/55, if it is 15/205/60 then it will be more expensive. Same goes to those like 17inches or 18inches tyres.
Tyre pressure
Some people tend to overlook this, and this is important for handling and fuel saving. You will have the desire tyre pressure for your car in the booklet or a sticker showing near your door. If your tyre is flat then more surface is touching the road and you will pay for your fuel. Normal tyre pressure for passenger car should range from 30psi to 34psi, depending on tyre size where more pressure on front tyres. For competition purpose sometimes it can go up to 40psi to minimize understeer when take corner.
Performance tyres that I have used:
Yokohama Advan Neova AD07 - my first high performance tyre, which has excellent control on dry but bad handling while the road is wet. Tyres went out of tread easily.
Goodyear Eagle F1 - The handling is good on wet road but the grip is out when dry.
Bridgestone Potenza Adrenalin Re001 - The best I have ever used, excellent control on dry and good control on wet - the draining system is very well done. Very stable in high speed.
Enclosed with the explaination of each info for your tyre.
Remember: Good tyres come with price, and it is priceless if it can save your life.
