This is a follow up piece of my tyre review articles. Do check out my earlier articles to get a better context of the story.
Did you know if you actually upsize your tyres, you get a fair bit of benefits? GoodYear states that if you do upsize your tyres, these are the benefits you would get.
- Improved response to direction changes
- Greater contact area with the ground
- Increased traction
- Greater overall control and handling
- A sleeker and more modern appearance
I guess to some extent these points are quite true but what I do tend to see is people skimping on tyres. That means that they try to save as much money as they can on tyres. Hey, I have nothing against saving money but what I have against is that people who tend to focus more on power modifications and then completely lose their focus on tyres and just get the cheapest they can afford.
Looking back over the past couple of years, I have always paid little attention to the tyres I have used. I would normally have a set budget in mind and then negotiate with the tyre shop to find the best that suits my budget. Nothing wrong with that. It was when I started going on the track that I knew how important tyres were. Using my standard road tyres, finding grip on the track was extremely tough!
Every time I tried to push the limit on the track, the tyres lose grip and when I went in too fast into the corner and cause an understeer, my front tyres were wearing out even faster. I experimented with a couple of higher performance tyres and the difference was clearly night and day. The little I knew about tyres, I still believe that I am a novice. But what I could understand was the faster times I am clocking around the track.
This revelation was like an “aha” moment.
Now back to the roads. In truth, my philosophy is to always get the best tyres you can afford. If you can afford to spend RM10,000 on other modifications, I would always say that they should always factor in the costs of the tyres as well. Your tyres are the only contact you get between the car and the road and wouldn’t you want the best you can afford?
Thats why whenever someone asks me about a recommendation about tyres, the first question I would ask back is their driving style, where do they normally drive and then advise accordingly. Those who like spirited runs in both wet and dry then I would give me recommendation. Usually I get the same complaints saying that the ones I recommended are expensive but I would argue back saying whether their lives are worth that much.
Back to the point of upsizing, you can also upsize your tyres without the need to change your rims. To start, you first need to know the dimensions of your current rims. Once you have that, head over to this website and input in those dimensions. What you would get is a set of tyres which would fit, the one with the minimum width size, a couple of ideal tyre width sizes and finally the maximum width. Do note that certain tyres have also different shapes, some may have a stiffer sidewall or some may have a straight sidewall. This will have an effect on how the tyres would look on your car.
Also do not forget to watch out for certain width tyres such that it doesn’t rub against the fenders of your car. Going too wide may have that cause and effect as well.
Before I finish this piece off, I do hope that you would at the very least pay attention to your tyres, constantly keeping an eye on it and giving it a couple of visual inspections in a month. You never know, your tyres may very well save your life on the road. Don’t skimp on them.
- Read Part 0 of my tyre review series
- Read Part 1 of my tyre review series
- Read Part 2 of my tyre review series
- Read Part 3 of my tyre review series
- Read Part 4 of my tyre review series
- Read Part 5 of my tyre review series
- Read Part 6 of my tyre review series
- Read Part 7 of my tyre review series
*This is the personal opinion of the writer and does not necessarily represent the views of Autofreaks.com
