If you’re in the market for new tires, you may be wondering if wider tires are the right choice for you. Wider tires offer a range of benefits, from improved handling and traction to a more aggressive appearance. But if you’re not familiar with the world of tires, it can be hard to see exactly how they can directly benefit you.
That’s why we’ve put together this article on the advantages and benefits of wider tires. Are wider tires the answer if it’s important for you to have better performance, increased load capacity, or even a more stylish ride? Well here are all the benefits of wider tires.
Performance Benefits of Wider Tires
There are a number of practical ways in which wider tires can help increase the performance of your vehicle. Some of the benefits come at an increased cost and some will have negatives in other areas. However the main benefits are as follows.
Improved Traction
Traction refers to the amount of grip that a tire has on the road surface. It is the force that enables the tire to hold onto the road and prevent slippage or skidding.
Wider tires provide a larger surface area in contact with the road, which improves traction. This means that the car will have more grip and be able to accelerate, brake, and turn more effectively. This can be especially beneficial in wet or slippery conditions, where wider tires can help prevent skidding and loss of control.
This is one of the biggest benefits of wider tires as by improving the performance of your vehicle, it also improves the safety also by making it more responsive to your actions.
For drivers of large off-road vehicles, wider tires provide much better grip for off-roading than normal road tires ever could. The widest tires are also used to improve traction in the harshest environments for vehicles tacking deep mud and snow. This means the widest tires are found on the biggest vehicles allowing them to perform where most other vehicles wouldn’t stand a chance.
Better Handling
Handling refers to how easy and responsive a vehicle is to steering inputs. With wider tires allowing more rubber to be in contact on the road, wider tires offer better stability and handling.
Providing that the tires are good quality, they will help minimise understeer and will improve your vehicles cornering ability. This will make your car feel more agile and responsive. This can be especially beneficial in high-speed driving or on winding roads.
Safety should always be your number 1 priority. Wider tires alone should not distract you from how easily and quickly an accident can take place. Alway stick to the speed limit and not to drive at speeds unsafe for the conditions, especially on wet or icy roads.
Enhanced Appearance
We find that a lot of customers choose the cars that they drive a lot of the time based heavily on the appearance of the vehicle. This means that a good looking car is important to a wide number of people. We here at We Try Tires have a particular affinity to making sure our wheels look their best!
Having wider tires as well as lower profile tires can give a car a more aggressive and sporty look. They can fill out the wheel wells and make the car look more muscular and planted. For some car enthusiasts, the aesthetic appeal of wider tires is a key factor in their decision to upgrade.
Increased Load Capacity
Load capacity refers to the maximum amount of weight that a tire can safely support. It is an important factor to consider when selecting tires, as exceeding the load capacity of your tires can result in tire failure and will compromise safety.
Wider tires are often designed to support more weight than narrower ones. This can be important for larger vehicles or those used for hauling heavy loads. With wider tires, the car can carry more weight without putting excessive stress on the tires or compromising safety.
Improved Braking
Braking is perhaps the most important performance metric by which any tire should be judged. We always start our tire tests by taking the tire out for a test drive and testing it braking ability in a number of different conditions and speeds.
Wider tires can help improve braking performance by providing more grip and reducing stopping distances. When a driver applies the brakes, the weight of the car is transferred to the front wheels. Wider tires will be more effective at maintaining grip with the road and bringing the car to a controlled stop.
The extra width of wider tires will also help distribute the vehicles weight more evenly, reducing the risk of skidding or loss of control. This means that in general wider tires will make your vehicle safer than skinnier tires. Width however is not the only factor that determines how safe a tire is.
Greater Durability
A tires durability is a way by which a tire resistance to wear is measured. Tires are not all made equal and the durability of summer vs winter tires will vary greatly. It all depends on a tires size, rubber compound which the tire is made from and the manner in which the tire is driven on as to how long a tire will last.
Wider tires tend to have more rubber and a stronger construction, which can make them more durable and long-lasting. Depending on the kind of tire, they can also be more resistant to punctures or damage from debris on the road, however with a wider contact patch they are also more likely to fall victim to punctures and damage.
This means that as long as you don’t experience any unwanted punctures or damage during your ownership, wider tires may need to be replaced less frequently, which can save money in the long run.
Conclusion
We hope this has helped you understand the differences between standard and the benefits of wider tires, as well as the main benefits of fitting larger tires to your vehicle. Most of these will increase the performance and safety of your vehicle at little to no cost, however some may interfere with the comfort or ride of your vehicle.
In general however, we would always recommend budgeting a reasonable about of money for your tires as they are one of the most important components of your vehicle. Vehicles with serious amounts of performance will require wider tires as standard and this will be obvious from the wider wheels that come as standard on the vehicle.
If you have any questions, get in touch or leave a comment below and we will make sure to get back to you! Thanks for reading!