I like tires. Plain and simple. It’s probably one of the most important parts of a car that can truly change the dynamics of handling, ride quality, performance, and even road noise. Yet, tires are probably one of the most overlooked items on a car. They’re round and rubber right, so who cares? The cheaper the better, they’ve got tread right, yes? Sign me up! Now admittedly, I’d have to say that a new set of cheap tires still beats old, bald, and dry-rotted tires any day of the week. All things being equal though, it makes a difference on what you decide. After all, they’re the only thing between you, your car, and the road. So yes, I’d say they have some weight when it comes to importance!

Now, there are quite a bit of things to talk about when discussing tires. Unfortunately, much like the title states; this article will do only as advertised. That is, to roughly explain the tip of the iceberg to help you, the reader make a sound, if not more educated choice when it comes to the rubber found on your ride. My goals are to discuss not only the types of tires found on the market, but also what all the numbers, letters, and whatever else that seems foreign becomes a little less foreign, simply stated. There’s also the difference in tread design and construction. We’ll cover that as well. Shall we begin!

Okay, now there are quite a few types of tires available for your car or truck, and depending what you’re trying to accomplish; whether just making a simple commute back and forth from your daily grind, exploring the wilderness, or fighting for the best time at your local autocross event, it makes a difference on what you decide. Basically, there are two very broad types, in my opinion, for tires: cars and truck/SUV tires. I’ll start with tires for cars.

Car tires can then be broken down into 3 main categories. Now, there are farther segments in each category, to make matters more confusing for you, but the general categories for tires you can drive on the street are: summer, all-season, and winter. We’ll avoid going into the further segments. After all, this is tires, roughly explained. We’ll start with the more common of the three, all-season.

All season tires are by far the most common tires found on your everyday commuter. When shopping for new treads to throw on your Camry, these are likely what you decide on. I’ve heard the saying more than once, but they truly are a jack of all trades, and a master of none. They don’t provide any real serious grip when pushed to their limit from a performance standpoint, nor do they offer any serious traction on snow and ice. This is why some states require winter tires on vehicles during certain times of the year. To sum it up, they will do okay in most driving scenarios. Living here in the Midwest, I’ve gotten by just fine on all-season tires for most of my driving years. 3-5 inches of snow, rain, dry, hot, and cold, you name it, they got the job done. Then, after acquiring some knowledge and experience, I found the other two types offer a bit more, but sacrifice some all season function. On to the next.

The next category of tires to be explained is Summer. Exactly as the name states, they’re good for one season, maybe 2 seasons. In any case, warm temperatures are where these tires excel. The rubber compound found in these tires tends to be soft. This provides a much higher level of grip for cornering, acceleration, and braking. Often, summer tires are the choice for anything built for performance. The down sides? Unlike all-season tires, they’re down right awful in the winter months. Forget about snow, just in cold temperatures the rubber compound can become hard and lose their capability for grip. Next pitfall? As a result of the soft rubber compound, they really don’t last long. On average, most summer tires will only last for about 10-20k miles. 10K being the more common threshold in my experience. A good set of all-season tires will last typically 30-40k miles. Again, some higher some lower.

Now for the third type of tire, Winter! This was probably one of the most surprising personal experiences when it came to tires. My first set of winter tires left me astounded come first snow. I was actually eager to go try them out. Let’s just say that I was pleasantly surprised. Compared to all-seasons, winter tires had provided a level of snow traction I had never experienced in my then trusty Nissan Maxima. I was astonished at the ability to corner, brake, and accelerate in deep snow. From that moment on, I was sold. So with that said, winter tires are great for, you guessed it; winter. The compound of rubber combined with the tread design offer a superior winter driving experience. These tires do well on dry roads in cold temperatures as well. The cold is when the compound becomes “activated.” Now, they’ll do okay in the summer months but I don’t recommend it. I burned through my first set of winter tires pretty quick as a result of leaving them on year-round.

So we’ve discussed car tire types, now briefly onto truck and SUV tire types. So the first type of broad category tire is going to be, as you can probably imagine all-season tires. The difference in car vs. truck/SUV tires is mainly going to be things like sizes offered, speed ratings, overall construction, as well as intended use. In grand scheme of things however, the end result result remains the same; functionality in four seasons. The next two types of popular tires are all-terrain and mud-terrain. Again, there are many varieties of each, but for the most part these are the most common.

Technically, all-terrain tires, much like all season tires are often useful year-round. The major difference, if it’s not obvious already, is the terrain use. All-terrain tires have capability off road on different types of surfaces but remain somewhat civilized on road. Noise and ride quality are often important factors for those looking for a tire that can do both. Compared to mud terrain tires, all terrains offer this compromise.

The next popular category of truck/SUV tires is mud-terrain. In terms of tread pattern, these are generally more aggressive in look and design than all-terrain tires. Grooves between tread blocks are wider and the shoulders, or outside edges offer sharper corners for biting into mud. In terms of all season capability, mud-terrain tires can work. It’s often advised however mud-terrains not be used for snow driving. It doesn’t mean they won’t work, they just don’t work as well as say, all terrains. Keep this mind when choosing tires for on/off road use.

Okay, so now we’ve covered the basic types of tires for cars, trucks, and SUV’s. Again, there is actually a lot more on types that can be covered, but this was more intended to be a view from 30,000 feet. Let’s discuss now what all the goofy numbers and letters mean when talking about size and capability. Let’s say, we were looking at a tire size of 205/55R16. This is called p-metric size by the way. The first number, 205 is section width in millimeters. The tread width on this particular tire is 205 mm wide. The next number, 55 is the aspect ratio. This is the height of the sidewall. However, it does not mean that the side wall is 55 mm tall. 55 is a percentage of the width. This means that a 205/55R16, and 255/55R18 DO NOT have the same sidewall height. In our first size example, 205/55R16, the sidewall height is 55% of 205 mm. Yes, it’s up to you to do the math unless you have a tire size guide. The last part of the size, R16 refers to the rim size. The rim size for this tire is 16 inches. Inches and millimeters together, makes a lot of sense, I know. Now let’s say we see a size of 255/40ZR18? Great question! It’s still rim size 18″, the ‘z’ just means that the tire is capable of 149MPH or more. Since we talked about truck/SUV tires let’s throw some more confusion in mix. Let’s say we saw a tire size advertised as 35×12.50R20. This actually, in my opinion a little simpler to understand but leaves out sidewall height. It’s pretty easy to figure out though with some simple math. The first number, 35 is overall diameter of the tire, or height in inches. The next, 12.50 is the section width, or tread width of the tire. It’s also expressed in inches. The last number is same as p-metric sizes; rim diameter in inches.

We’ve now covered size. Let’s talk about some other markings and classifications found commonly on tires. Going back to our first tire size, let’s say we see a tire advertised as, 205/55R16 91H. So what’s 91H? It’s called the service description. 91 is the load index and H is the speed rating. The load index of 91 gets assigned a maximum load value in pounds. So in this case, 91 load indexed tires can handle 1,356 lbs per tire. H, the speed rating means the tire is designed to work at speeds up to 130 MPH. On a side note, just because you don’t plan on driving at speeds over 100 MPH doesn’t mean you should install a tire with a lower speed rating. Overall construction of the tire is an important factor in braking as well as cornering. These are just as important as accelerating! Moving on.

The final piece of information I would like to discuss is the UTQG, or Uniform Tire Quality Grading. Say our 205/55R16 tire has a UTQG of 660 A A. You see another tire of the same size with a UTQG of 200 AA A. Which one do you choose for performance driving and which do you choose for your Corolla? Let’s dissect what the UTQG is first. In our first example, 660 A A, the 600 means treadwear. Generally the higher the number, the longer the tires last. So in this case, the 660 tires will last a lot longer than the 200. Remember previously what we discussed regarding summer vs. all-season tires? 200 rated tires don’t last nearly as long but may offer more grip. What about the next letters? In the case of 660 A A, the first A is traction, the second is temperature. For traction, the possible ratings are AA, A, B, and C. AA is the best. So the 200 AA A tires will provide the best grip on wet surfaces. The next letter, also A is for temperature. This is rating for a tires resistance to heat when at speed. These ratings are A, B, and C. Again, A is the best rating.

Okay, so that was a lot to cover! My fingers officially need a break from typing everything. In conclusion, I’m hoping that now you have a better understanding of what you are looking at when discussing tires. Also, hopefully this helps you choose the right tire based on your needs.