We've been helping people find the right tires, wheels and performance parts since 1979. If you're looking for the best and most accurate information on all things tires, you've come to the right place.
A tire's most important job is to carry the load required of it, and the load range/ply rating branded on the tire's sidewall indicates how much load the tire is designed to carry (at a specific pressure). Whenever changing tire sizes or from one tire type to another, it's important to ensure...
A load index is an assigned numerical value that signifies a tire's maximum load carrying capacity. They're useful to help compare load carrying capacity of different-sized tires, and as you might expect, the higher the tire's load index number, the greater its load carrying capacity. Using the...
Though tires may look simple on the outside, they are actually complex laminate structures made up of over 100 individual parts. The individual parts of a tire include steel, textiles and multiple rubber compounds, and they must all work together to achieve many, often conflicting, performance...
Regardless of its size, every tire's load capacity, durability, traction and handling is dependent on using the right inflation pressure for the application. Since both too little and too much inflation pressure sacrifices some of the tires' performance, maintaining the "right" inflation...
Most modern passenger car and light truck tires feature size designations that indicate the tire's dimensions in a combination of metric, mathematical and English systems. While this unusual combination of millimeters, percentages and inches is a byproduct of the evolution of global tire...
While it's often referred to simply as an "alignment" or "wheel alignment," it's really complex suspension angles that are being measured and a variety of suspension components that are being adjusted. This makes an alignment an important suspension-tuning tool that greatly influences the...
Most drivers realize that tire load capacity is determined by tire size and inflation pressure. Larger tires and higher inflation pressures provide more load capacity, while smaller tires and lower tire pressures provide less. An under-inflated tire will tend to wear the shoulder areas of the...
Most drivers realize that tire load capacity is determined by tire size and inflation pressure. Larger tires and higher inflation pressures provide more load capacity, while smaller tires and lower tire pressures provide less. Correctly inflated tires receive appropriate support from the...
Advantages of Correct Tire Inflation Maintaining correct tire inflation pressure helps optimize tire performance and fuel economy. Correct tire inflation pressure allows drivers to experience tire comfort, durability and performance designed to match the needs of their vehicles. Tire...
What Are All Those Lines, Numbers and Letters on a New Tire's Tread?While tires may appear to be a homogeneous piece of rubber after they are vulcanized during curing in their molds, most tires feature dozens of fabrics, metallic and/or rubber components that must be shaped, sized and...
Like the motorsports tires they have evolved from, all Extreme Performance Summer performance category tires feature constructions and compounds that have been tuned to maximize traction and performance within a range of warm-to-hot ambient temperatures. Therefore, unlike less highly tuned...
We all want to get the most out of the money we put into our vehicles, but inevitably, even the most long-lived tires and rubber compounds wear down from driving. As tread wears away, both conventional knowledge and prior testing says that braking performance on wet roads drops dramatically,...
A tire's section width (also called "cross section width") is the measurement of the tire's width from its inner sidewall to its outer sidewall (excluding any protective ribs, decorations or raised letters) at the widest point. This measurement is made without any load placed upon the tire and...
Everybody knows tires are black, round, and hold air, so it can come as a bit of a shock when brand new tires have a white, waxy film on the sidewalls and shoulder area. It doesn't wash off easily, and it "balls up" when you rub it with your finger. What is it? Why is it there? Sometimes it can...
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