What You Need to Consider When Buying Summer Tires in Quebec

Despite the warm temperatures of summer not being upon us yet, spring is here so you need to start looking for a set of summer tires. However, we know that it may sometimes be complicated to choose one among all the available options on the market, especially one that is appropriate for your vehicle. For our latest article, we chose to give you some useful information about what you need to consider when buying summer tires in Quebec.

Load Index

The load index indicates the maximum weight that a tire can support. Thus, small car tires cannot be the same that the ones that are installed on SUVs. Moreover, it is essential to choose tires that have the same load index than the ones recommended by your car’s manufacturer, because if you do otherwise, it could have a negative impact on your vehicle’s tires and road behavior.

For example, a tire that has a 115 load index can support a maximum weight of 1 215 kg and a tire that has a 125 one can support up to 1 650 kg.

Speed Rating

A tire’s speed rating represents the safe maximum speed that a tire can reach before failure risks become increasingly high. Your car’s manufacturer will provide you with a speed rating to follow for your tires and you need to install tires of the same rating on your car to ensure your safety on the road.

It is represented by a letter and each one is associated with a maximum speed. For example, tires that have a T speed rating are built to go up to 190 km/h and tires that are rated V are made to withstand speeds up to 240 km/h.

Relation Between Tire Size and a Vehicle’s Road Behavior

In general, the higher the tire’s side is, the more comfortable your drive will be. However, if you are looking for a tire that offers a sport oriented drive, you will need to choose tires that have a low side and sacrifice comfort. Indeed, buying a set of summer tires is all about compromises.

Also, you may believe that very large tires automatically enhances the performance of a car on which they are installed. In reality, it will not be the case if your vehicle is not powerful enough to benefit from this performance increase. You also need to know that larger tires, because of their higher friction level, may increase your gas bill, have an impact on the car’s suspension, are often more expensive and may increase aquaplaning risks when the road is wet.

This concludes our article on useful information about what you need to consider when buying summer tires in Quebec. Given the vast selection of models available on the market, it is best to do some extensive research and shopping in order to equip your car with tires of the best price/quality ratio as possible. Finally, if you need further counselling before pulling the trigger on a purchase, do not hesitate to go meet a Quebec summer tire specialist in a tire retail store near you.

Share this:
Share this page via Email Share this page via Stumble Upon Share this page via Digg this Share this page via Facebook Share this page via Twitter

You may also like...