Car Tyres – A Driving Essential
Car Tyres
Your vehicle needs tyres to cushion the wheels, provide grip and improve handling. They also act as a braking surface. All sorts of vehicles, including cars, motorcycles, buses, trucks, aircraft and even baby pushchairs need tyres to make them more effective on the road.
Choosing the right tyre for your vehicle can be tricky but there are a few things to keep in mind so that you can buy the right ones and keep your vehicle in tip-top condition. Firstly, understand your vehicle and the type of roads it will be driven on. Then choose a tyre that is suited to the weather conditions and terrain in your area.
Modern tyres are a complex mix of different natural and synthetic rubbers combined with other ingredients to give them the performance they need for each road surface, climate and type of driver. Using 3D simulation software, engineers can work out the exact compound of the rubber that will best suit the performance required by your vehicle.
The rubber used in tyres can be divided into three main categories: natural rubber, synthetic rubber and composite materials. The physical and chemical properties of these rubber polymers determine the tire’s overall performance – rolling resistance, wear and traction.
Most of the automobiles today come with all-season tyres that have an extra layer of rubber for better grip and traction in different weather conditions. These can also help to reduce fuel consumption by reducing the amount of heat absorbed when the tires are on the road.
Car Tyres – A Driving Essential
The most common and the most commonly used type of tyre for cars and SUVs are summer tyres that offer excellent grip on wet pavements and in dry conditions. These tyres use a special mixture of silica that can help to increase the tyre’s traction on wet roads.
Similarly, winter tyres are suitable for winter and have a thicker layer of silica in the treads that will give good traction on snowy roads. They will also have a more substantial tread pattern with raised areas that are called lugs.
Finally, we have all-terrain tyres that are specifically designed to be better for off-road driving. These tyres have an extra layer of rubber in the tread that provides excellent traction on wet, frozen and dry surfaces and will also sturdily stand up to strong winds.
A tyre’s casing is composed of many layers, each made of strings that are covered in rubber-coated fabric. Often, these strings are made of polyester but nylon and rayon can also be found.
These strings, referred to as plies, help the tyre to stay in its shape and resist tread wear. The plies are joined together to form a tyre’s casing and are reinforced by rubber-coated steel wires, which are known as belts.
The tyre’s sidewalls, or mudguards, are another crucial part of the tyre and they are usually reinforced with an additional layer of rubber-coated fabric. This is important because the tyre’s sidewalls are often subject to heavy damage from rocks and other debris on the road.