by Angela V Looking for new tires for your vehicle? Buying tires can be a confusing process, but with the help of a good mechanic and some research, you can get the best tires for your vehicle. Below we have put together a few tips that can help you when making your purchase.
Special thanks to Hankook Tire Canada for making the process easy for us when selecting our new tires this last spring.
How to Buy The Right Tires for your Vehicle
Cheaper is not always best: Look for the best overall value – the cheapest generally isn’t the best value, and neither is the most expensive. Don’t try to save a little money on your tires.
Always buy a full, matching set of tires: Replacing all four tires at once is the best way to go when changing your vehicle’s tires. You will maintain them better as they are designed to work best as a set.
Check your vehicle’s manual and tire code: Each vehicle has different recommendations about the size and type of tires that work best for that vehicle. If you don’t have a manual check with your mechanic as they may be able to make a recommendation as well.
Tires also have codes marked on the sidewalls with details regarding the tire’s place and date of manufacture, the maximum inflation pressure, maximum load rating, materials, treadwear, traction and temperature grades. Your mechanic can help you decipher the meaning of all the numbers.
Choose the right tire for the season: You will have to choose between summer, all-season or winter tires. Do some research and figure out what you need the most depending on your location and how you will be driving.
Know when you have to get new tires: Get your tires regularly inspected for excessive tread wear or cracks. Your mechanic will be able to recommend a tire change, especially if your tires are ten years old or older.
We recently got a set of new tires, and I had to go through the process of figuring out which size and type of tires were the best for our Rav4. I checked our vehicle’s manual and got help from our mechanic. We ended up getting a set of Hankook 4-Season tires, and we’ve had them for a few months now. I love that they are ideal for all surfaces and so far they have been perfect for the summer. For us picking 4- season tires made the most sense since they provide excellent driving performance under all weather conditions.
Have you changed your tires recently? Do you have any tips to add? Comment below with your tips!
Disclosure: This is a partnered post with Hankook Tire. However, all opinions and views on this post are 100% my own.
10 Comments on “How to Buy The Right Tires for your Vehicle”
Great tips! I let me husband deal with our tires. His dad was a mechanic at a tire shop for many years so he knows what he’s doing where as I only know how to add air and read the size of a tire.
very informative, and great reminders for some of us!
I have all-season and winter tires. All-season tires definitely aren’t any good when there’s snow and ice on the roads – which happens a lot here. Though in Germany you had to have winter tires on your car if the weather called for them for insurance purposes.
I learned the tire codes mean something important. I never really thought about manufacturing date before.
knowing when you need new tires. I always relied on my husband but since he passed away it is just me
It’s also a good idea to rotate your tires on occasion as well, my hubby rotates ours when he does the oil change!
Getting new tires is so important. I’m not very knowledgeable on getting the right tires, so thanks for sharing.
My dad learned the importance of tires when he got his flat tire a few weeks back.
I must admit that I take the easy way out, I take my car and just ask me what they have for winter or all season tires to fit my car. I also have my tires checked twice a year when I go in to have them exchanged come fall or if spring’s arrived. 🙂
These are great tips. I never usually think of them as I leave the tire buying to the hubby.