Best Tire Brands

While all tires come in specific sizes, tire makers often group their offerings into several broad classes of vehicles. If you’re just getting started looking for tires, it can be helpful to know where your vehicle falls in these categories.

Passenger vehicles Passenger vehicles are usually cars or minivans that travel on paved roads at roughly the posted speed limits. Tires for passenger vehicles are designed to be affordable, comfortable and durable.

Light trucks and SUVs Heavier vehicles, like pickup trucks and SUVs, often benefit from different tire characteristics because they’re more likely to do some light off-roading, carry more weight and tow a trailer.

Off-road vehicles Dedicated off-road vehicles can utilize specialty tires made to withstand additional abuse and get traction on a variety of surfaces. While some off-road tires can be used on the street, not all can.

Sports cars and high-end vehicles Tires for sports cars and luxury vehicles often focus on performance and handling, sometimes at the cost of practicality and durability. However, these trade-offs can be worth it.

In most cases, it’s wise to stick with whatever size tire came on your vehicle from the factory. Your exact tire size will depend on the model, year and brand of your vehicle, but the easiest way to tell is often by checking the sidewall of your existing tires.

Before choosing a set of tires, consider how much you drive, the type of vehicle you have and the standard weather conditions in your area. For example, if your area doesn't get much snow, all-season tires are a great option. However, if you do live farther north, it might be a better idea to invest in a set of winter tires as well.

Several types of tires are available, each designed for a specific type of vehicle or driving. While these styles aren’t always completely clear and distinct, they’re a convenient way to filter out tires that don’t fit your needs.

• Touring: Touring tires focus on fuel efficiency and ride quality while stepping down a notch in handling and performance. A touring tire is less expensive than performance tires and is generally more suitable for daily driving.
  • All-season: These are the most common type of tires in the U.S. All-season tires perform well in most weather conditions and temperatures but fall behind actual winter tires in snow or ice. Because of their popularity, all-season tires are often marketed under a number of different categories.
  • All-weather: All-weather tires are similar to all-season tires in most conditions, but they also perform as well as many winter tires in snow and ice. This means that you can keep all-weather tires on your car year-round, unlike many winter tires. All-weather tires have the same three-peak mountain snowflake (3PMSF) certification that many winter tires do, which means they are often legal in places where winter tire use is compulsory, like parts of Canada or Northern Europe.
• Winter: Winter tires offer superior traction and handling in cold weather, including snow and ice. However, these tires wear out quickly if driven when temperatures are above 45 degrees. These tires are often purchased as a secondary set for vehicles that spend a lot of time driving in cold conditions.
• Performance: Performance tires are as close to racing tires as you can legally use on public roads. However, they don’t perform as well outside of warm, dry conditions. So, while they’re good for spirited driving or the occasional track day, they can be problematic in some common driving situations, like rain or snow.
• Track and competition: These tires generally aren’t legal for road use, but they provide optimal performance in ideal conditions. This category includes racing slicks, autocross tires and racetrack tires.
• Off-road: Tires for off-road use vary significantly. Some, like all-terrain tires, are designed for daily driving and light off-roading, while others, like mud-terrain or paddle tires, are better for more substantial off-road use.
• Specialty: Specialty tires can be used for a number of purposes. These tires include trailer tires, temporary spares and tires for motorcycles or other vehicles.

Some of these categories may overlap or include other distinctions, like run-flat capabilities. Run-flat tires are more expensive and provide a slightly rougher ride, but they are designed to resist the effects of deflation when punctured and enable your vehicle to continue at reduced speeds (under 55 mph) for limited distances (up to 10 miles). Many new cars do not have spare tires and instead use run-flat tires.

Think about the following factors as you compare models online to choose which features are best for you.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) created the Uniform Tire Quality Grade (UTQG) standards. These standards help you purchase tires based on their treadwear, traction and temperature capabilities. Most passenger car tires sold in the United States are legally required to be rated by these standards.

However, the government doesn’t actually test tires itself. Tire manufacturers assign these grades based on their own tests or those conducted by an independent testing company they have hired. Once a grade is given, the manufacturer must brand it on the tire's upper sidewall and print it on the tire’s label.

UTQG ratings usually look something like “300 BA,” where the number is the tire’s treadwear grade and the letters represent its traction and temperature grades:

• Treadwear grades: ​UTQG treadwear grades are based on actual road use, during which the test tire is used in a vehicle convoy along with standardized Course Monitoring Tires. Tire manufacturers then assign a treadwear grade based on the observed wear rates. A grade of 100 would indicate that the tire tread would last as long as the control tires, 200 would mean the tread lasts twice as long, 300 means three times as long and so on.
• Traction grades: UTQG traction grades are based on the tire's straight line wet coefficient of traction as the tire skids across the specified test surfaces. The UTQG traction test does not evaluate dry braking, dry cornering, wet cornering or high-speed hydroplaning resistance, though. From highest to lowest, the UTQG traction grades are AA, A, B and C.
• Temperature grades: The UTQG temperature grade indicates the extent to which a tire generates and/or dissipates heat. If a tire can’t dissipate heat or resist the destructive effects of heat buildup, it’s less capable of running at high speeds. A loaded tire's ability to operate at high speeds without failure is tested by running an inflated test tire against a large-diameter high-speed laboratory test wheel. UTQG temperature grades indicate the speeds at which a tire can safely operate. Tires are given a grade of either A (over 115 mph), B (100 to 115 mph) or C (85 to 100 mph).

Your choice of tire should not be based on price alone. However, for most people, price is a significant factor.

Tire prices vary by size, but it’s not wise to go with smaller tires to save money.

On average, all-season tires cost between $50 and $250 each, but tire prices depend on the car you drive, the tire’s brand and your tire retailer. This is why it pays to shop around and compare prices.

Tire quality doesn’t always go hand in hand with price, but shopping for the best tires you can afford is almost always worth it. Upgrading your tires can provide:

• Faster acceleration
• Increased fuel economy
• Better braking
• Superior bad-weather performance
• Less road noise

If your tires are wearing thin, think about your needs and wants and find a tire that can match your expectations. While your vehicle’s other systems contribute to how it drives, your tires are the only component that actually makes contact with the road. This means your tires influence the real-world performance of your engine, brakes, steering and more.

For more, read about how to prevent expensive car problems or learn when an extended auto warranty is worth it.