It does not matter whether you drive a petrol or a diesel car, chances are that it rolls on set of tyres. Also if in the near future, if we were to adopt hybrids or electric vehicles to save the environment, it would still require a set of tyres. So, unless we reinvent the wheel or develop flying cars, tyres would stay relevant in one form or another (another form being tweels - a combination of wheels are tyres, where tyres and rim is a single unit). In this article, we will try to answer some questions related to the tyres that you might have.

A high profile tyre with a low profile tyre
In case you are not familiar with Tyre size and how to read Tyre size, I would suggest you to read our other article first.

What are low profile and high profile tyres?

A profile of a tyre is basically the section height. A low profile tyre is basically that which has a shoulder that’s narrow in comparison to a high profile tyre. With the help of tyre specifications, you can find out the profile of your tyre and compare it to other tyres. Now, both tyres not only look different, they perform differently too. A high profile tyre (with the right amount of air pressure) can absorb more shocks and offer better ride quality to the passengers than a low profile tyre. So, the result is a marginally comfortable ride than a low profile tyre.Therefore, you find exceptionally high-profile tyres on SUVs that are meant to do off-roading. Another benefit is that with the high profile tyre you are unlikely to damage the rim of your car, in case you hit the kerb. You might ask, so is there a benefit of a low profile tyre? The answer is yes. When it comes to handling, a low profile tyre is likely to perform better. This is due to the reason that, when a car turns, the shoulder of the tyre flexes and since there is a narrow shoulder (it’s somewhat stiffer and resits the flex) and you get somewhat better handling.

Section height and Section width
How does section width of a tyre affects a car?

The section of the tyre refers to the width of the tyre. And it is crucial to the amount of power you can put to the ground without slipping. The wider the tyre, the better grip it offers since more rubber is in contact with the road and hence you can accelerate without worrying about tyre slippage. The grip also increases in proportion to the weight there is in the car since tractive force can be expressed as F = μt W (Where F= tractive force, μt = Coefficient of friction and W= weight). So, in a powerful car, you cannot go wrong with wider tyres if the wheel wells can accommodate them comfortably without any interference.

Is the compound of the tyre is of any significance?

As mentioned above, the coefficient of friction directly affects the grip. So, the tractive force that you can safely put to the ground without slipping is proportional to this friction too, in addition to the weight. So, having a compound that’s softer is better since it is likely to offer better grip and has a better coefficient of friction. However, it’s worth noting that we hear about such things in F1 and MotoGP. The compound information is not revealed in most tyres unless you go with high-performance tyres which sometimes make a mention of this.

How does the tread of the tyre affects the car?

Tyre compound and Tyre tread
There are many tread types available in the market, some have studs that are suited to provide grip on snow while others have a wide pattern tread which is more suited for off-roading. In case of F1 cars, a slick tyre may also be used which has no tread at all. The tread of the tyre is extremely crucial in case of road cars since they are not meant to go around a race track for a limited period and are supposed to perform in varying conditions. In addition, a road car is supposed to have an element of safety too. So, almost all road cars, at least in India, are fitted with what are known as “All-weather tyres”. These tyres have the right compound that work well in a variety of conditions i.e. hot weathers as well as winters without changing the friction level. A very critical job performed by the tyre tread is that they push the water aside and disperse it to provide grip even in the rainy season. They prevent the accumulation of water between tyre and road. And if the water is not removed it may result in the car losing its ability to steer as well as accelerate which is more commonly known as aquaplaning. So, a tyre with no tread is extremely dangerous to ply on especially in the rainy season. Here’s a post that I saw on Facebook which inspired me to write this article.

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