Find the Best Tires for Your
When the rubber meets the road, tread life is one of the most important things to consider while shopping for tires.
All-Season Tires
All-season tires come in sizes to fit everything from small cars to light-duty SUVs and pickups (and they come standard on many sedans and minivans). They are the most popular type of tire and are designed to handle most conditions, including dry and wet pavement and light to moderate snow.
Performance All-Season Tires
Performance all-season tires provide year-round grip tuned for enthusiastic driving. They are a step up from regular all-season tires, and they place more emphasis on handling, though the trade-off tends to be shorter tread life.
Ultra-High-Performance All-Season Tires
All-season ultra-high-performance tires are commonly fitted to upscale sedans or sporty vehicles. These tires deliver high levels of dry and wet grip and handling but give up some light-duty winter traction.
Ultra-High-Performance Summer Tires
Summer UHP tires are not intended for cold weather and won’t grip in snowy or icy conditions. And like all-season ultra-high-performance tires these tires deliver the ultimate dry and wet grip and handling.
All-Season Truck Tires
These tires are commonly used on SUVs and light-duty pickups. They are designed to handle most conditions, including dry and wet pavement and light to moderate snow.
All-Terrain Truck Tires
All-terrain models differ from all-season tires in that they have a more aggressive tread pattern intended for use on-road and in moderate off-road conditions.
Winter/Snow Tires
Winter tires have a tread with more biting edges for better grip on snow and ice than all season tires, and many have a softer rubber compound that remains flexible in extremely cold temperatures.
Performance Winter/Snow Tires
Performance winter tires have higher levels of snow and ice grip and keep some of the handling and cornering capabilities of the performance tires they replace, but they’re not always as good as all-season tires on dry and wet pavement and tend to wear out faster.
Winter/Snow Truck Tires
Truck winter/snow tires are specifically designed for pickups and SUVs. Like car winter/snow tires, always use truck winter/snow tires in a set of four for optimum grip to go, stop, and corner. But on cleared roads they might not grip as well as all-season tires, and they tend to wear more quickly.
Tires Buying Guide
Despite advances in longer-lasting tires, actual tread life will vary by car type, tire type, driving aggressiveness, and even road and weather conditions. You still need to replace your tires a few times or more throughout the life of a typical vehicle.
