The vehicles tire dimension is important to know. You don’t need to memorize it, but you will need to know where to find the information. There is basically three easy ways to find it out. The first is by checking your current tires and decipher it from the reading on the sidewall of the tires. The second way is to consult the owner’s manual of the vehicle, where you can find the information and the last is to do an Internet search based on the car model and year, where you should be able to find the information in the search result.
The tire dimension is important for the performance and safety of the vehicle. It also ensures that it is operating as it should. If you change the tire dimension you alter the performance and it might not be as safe to drive with. You can also get inaccurate reading from key gauges, like the speedometer and odometer.
If you have a vehicle where you currently have 225/65R17 winter tires, you can’t necessarily change to 265/70R17 all-season tires when the winter has passed. Those tires are both wider and have a higher width to height ratio, but the same rim size. This can alter the circumference of the tires and therefore give wrong reading as every full turn of the wheel will change. If you for some reason what to have a different dimension on your vehicle when it comes to all-season tires, then you will need to compensate with different size of rims to ensure that the circumference is the same. Check with your local tire dealer for their expert advice on the matter. The best is however always to stick with the dimension that the vehicle manufacturer recommends.
Basically, the tire dimensions will follow the size of the vehicles where the larger vehicles will require larger dimensions of tires and often, they are wider as well to increase the contact area and decrease the pressure applied to the surface area. Sportier tires tend to be wider and have a low height to width ratio and often the want to have large rims. The sportier cars tend to be heavier due to a larger engine, so the wider tires make sense and this will then already be standard when you purchase a new sports car. A sports car will never come with small and narrow tires as it will ruin the esthetics of the car and won’t give you the optimal performance.
Therefore, know your dimension that your vehicle will need and then make sure to match the vehicle with tires that are optimized for the vehicle to ensure that you get the optimal performance and safety when your drive. If you do venture outside the set limits of the vehicle’s recommendations then make sure that you discuss the matter with some experts to ensure that you are still within the safety limits for driving on public roads and that you have enough clearance to be able to freely turn the tires.
For more information regarding tire dimensions, visit: www.nokiantires.com
