If you’re not a tire expert, shopping for tires for your car can seem overwhelming and complicated. Unfortunately, you can’t just choose the first pair of tires you see, and a few key factors go into ensuring that you have the right tires for your vehicle.
The first thing you should do when shopping for tires is know what size tires you need. Tires come in a huge range of sizes. Many cars and trucks come with different sized tires, even on the same model.
One of the best ways to ensure optimal performance of your tires is to pick a tire that can handle the weight of your car. If your tires are overloaded, your car will be more difficult to handle and less effective in reacting quickly to emergency stops or turns.
Tires come in a wide range of types, and each type is meant for a specific function or use. Knowing your needs will help you choose from the following tires:
All-season tires are designed to be able to function properly and safely in most kinds of weather. They also have features that generally make them great for smooth rides, and are typically more fuel-efficient and have a longer tread life. However, if you live in an area that gets extreme weather, like Ontario, then it’s best not to consider all-season tires as your year-round tire option as they just aren’t up to the task for our winters.
Winter tires are essential for Ontario winters and they’re designed with a more aggressive tread for snow, ice and slush. Winter tires are made of different rubber compounds (the recipe that makes up the rubber in your tires) than other tires. This allows winter tires to stay softer and more able to grip the road in freezing temperatures, up to -30 degrees!
If you’re a driver who values vehicle higher speed driving and handling, then performance tires are the way to go. These tires are designed to hug the road and not let go. Super soft rubber compounds and large tread blocks give you the best dry road handling you can get. Be aware that performance tires tend to have lower tread life, and their performance can start to diminish in temperatures below 7 degrees celsius. These are designed for summer use only, and are not recommended for early spring, late fall or winter driving at all.
If you love taking your truck or SUV off the beaten path, you’ll want all-terrain tires to handle the muddy, sandy and rocky surfaces of off-roading. These tires offer a rugged look, and can handle rough terrain and still give you a smooth ride back home. Suitable for daily driving, all-terrain tires are a great option to upgrade the look and performance of your truck or SUV without giving up much comfort or practicality.
If you often find yourself driving through muddy, rocky, or sandy surfaces on a regular basis, you might just want to consider mud-terrain tires. These tires are a more vigorous version of all-terrain tires and will greatly improve your vehicles off-road ability. They have a deep and aggressive tread pattern for solid traction when off-roading, but they don’t exactly ofer a smooth ride on paved roads. Mud tires often come in larger than stock tire sizes, which mean you may need a lift or a leveling kit in your vehicle to fit mud tires.
We should all have a spare tire in the back of our vehicles, but it’s important to know that they’re not designed like regular tires. Spare tires are designed for short-term use and sometimes are limited to travelling at speeds no higher than 80 kilometres per hour. Spare tires can be your best friend in an emergency. They’re smaller than a regular tire so that they don’t take up much room in the truck or underneath your car. Some new vehicles don’t come with spare tires, so it is important to make sure that you have some form of road-side assistance in case of a flat tire.
Replacing all four of your tires at once is best, but sometimes life happens and that’s not possible. If you have to replace one or two tires because of damage or an accident, you should always ensure that you’re choosing replacements that match your current tires in size and type. New tires should be installed on the rear axle of your vehicle.
While you don’t want to overspend on a pair of tires that are outside of your budget, we don’t recommend buying the cheapest tires on the market. Paying a little bit more upfront for a set of tires could actually save you money in the long-run if the more expensive pair is designed to give you better mileage. Calculating the cost per kilometre of the set of tires (cost of the tires divided by the estimated mileage) can help you determine whether they’re a good deal.
8AM—5:30PM: Monday—Friday
8AM—12:00PM: Saturday
Closed: Sunday