Summer Tyres

UHP - Ultra High Performance Tyres

These tyres are designed for drivers who prefer fast, sporty ride, and for whom high performance and lots of grip are far more important than tyres' longevity.

UHP Tyre

UHP tyres are made of a softer compound which allows for more grip and aggressive but safe cornering. On the other hand, they wear faster. The tread is designed to sacrifice the grip on wet in order to achieve the best possible grip on dry.

High Performance Tyres

High Performance Tyre

High performance tyres are designed for driving in the city and on the highways. The tread has shallower canals which give better performance on the dry road than on the wet road. Depending on both model and manufacturer, tyres' performance characteristics may vary greatly. There is an ongoing competition between manufacturers to make a well-balanced tyre with good performance on both wet and dry roads.

Standard Tyres

Standard Tyre

Standard tyres are meant to be used mostly for city ride, and are often referred to as three-season tyres. They are optimised for warm weather, for wet and dry roads. They exhibit poor performance on ice and snow, and therefore they must be replaced by winter tyres in winter. These tyres tend to be cheaper than high performance tyres.

Winter Tyres

When the temperature drops below +7°C (+44.6°F), summer tyres loose their features and need to be replaced with winter tyres. Since the conditions on the roads change (ice, snow, water, melted snow), a different compound and a different overall design of the tyre is required. The winter tyre compound is softer, silica-based. The tread has a different design with more lamellas, parallel canals are deeper, and designed to disperse water more efficiently. Therefore, the car gets more stable, the grip is better, and the braking distance shorter.

However, in the hotter climate, they wear more quickly and have worse overall characteristics. Thus, they need to be replaced by summer tyres.

All Season Tyres

All season tyres are an attempt to create a tyre which would be a compromise between good performance in dry and wet in the summer, and good performance in winter conditions with ice and snow in the road. The compound designed for summer conditions can hardly perform equally well on snow and ice. Therefore, these tyres are a poor choice - they are neither good summer, nor winter tyres. Leading tyre manufacturers are cutting their production of these tyres.


Related articles:

  • Choosing the right tyres - Selecting tyres for your car can greatly influence your safety and driving experience. There are lots of factors you should take into account before you buy.
  • Why winter tyres? - The number of traffic accidents is 6 times larger in winter than in summer. In order to protect yourself and your family, you must have winter tyres.
  • Light Truck and a tire used on light trucks - Light truck tires are exposed to more severe usage conditions and they have to carry heavier loads.