TireVan Blog

SUV and truck owners who enjoy some four-wheeling may still drive their vehicle on a daily basis to work, school, or around town; they should consider purchasing a quality set of all-terrain tires to meet both – safety and performance – needs.  All-terrain tires combine the added grip and open-tread style of a true off-road tire, while at the same time providing the necessary traction and road-handling capabilities to drive safely on paved streets.  Outfitting a truck or SUV with all-terrain tires provides the owner flexibility to take the vehicle anywhere at any time, so there isn’t an inconvenience of changing the tires or the added cost of owning two complete sets.

Just as all-season tires are a compromise between summer and winter tires, all-terrain tires are a compromise between off-road tires and street tires. Since these tires must provide acceptable performance on and off the highway, tread pattern tends to be a little tighter to generate surface contact for street driving, while still allowing enough open area to displace mud, snow, and dirt when used off-road. These tires do have lugs like their off-road counterparts, but the lugs are tightly-spaced and less aggressive than a true off-road tire.

All-terrain tires are very close in design to winter tires, with an open-tread design and the addition of sipes to move water, snow, and mud aside.  They tend to generate more road noise than a true street tire due to their open and deeper tread design.  They are typically made of softer rubber compounds than street tires, which means they will likely have a shorter tread life.  Unlike winter tires, all-terrain tires usually include lugs located along the sidewall for an additional grip in deep mud and snow conditions.  They are also ruggedly-built to withstand off-road abuse, with extra plies at the tread and sidewall reinforcement.  Since these tires typically have high sidewalls, cornering and maneuvering on the street will be soft.  The upside, though, is that high sidewalls allow for deeper bogging action off-road.  Almost all tire manufacturers such as Michelin, Bridgestone, Maxxis, and Dick Cepek etc. produce an all-terrain line of tires.

All-terrain tires are an excellent alternative for budget-minded vehicle owners who want to have the flexibility to go four-wheeling without changing tires.   They perform acceptably in both street driving and four-wheeling applications, If you are in the market for all-terrain tires and reside in the Washington DC and/or Philadelphia metro areas, then visit TireVan’s website or call us at 877.847.3826.

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Congratulations to our social media team at TireVan for winning Philadelphia Business Journal’s Social Media Stars Award for our 12 Days of Christmas Campaign!

Click here for the full Philadelphia Business Journal Article.

For more information check out our blog post on how to check tire tread depth

Goodyear Eagle F1 All Season Tire

Ever since their introduction in 1977, all-season tires have become a popular choice for car owners and manufacturers.  Ninety-eight percent of replacement tires sold in the United States today are all-season tires, and many new vehicles come equipped with all-season tires as standard equipment. All-season tires are designed to perform adequately in all four seasons, thus offering car owners the advantage and convenience of having only one set of tires.

All-season tires are a hybrid of tires that are used on dry, wet roads in summer conditions and wet, icy roads in winter conditions. They are designed first for hot weather traction and wear, and secondarily for cold weather conditions. All-season tires are distinguished by the M+S (mud + snow) emblem on the sidewall.  The only industry standard for a tire to earn this rating is that 25% of its tread footprint be open area which allows manufacturers a lot of latitude in design and performance. Consumers should consider the temperature, speed, and tread-wear ratings prior to purchasing their next set of all-season tires.

Bridgestone Potenza G019 Grid All Season Tire

In areas of temperate climate, all-season tires tend to perform adequately.  But they can be a compromise in extreme winter conditions. This is because the compounds used to manufacture all-season tires typically begin to harden at around 45 degrees Fahrenheit, making them less than ideal for heavy snow conditions.  When compared side-by-side on snow-covered and icy roads, winter tires outperformed their all-season counterparts for stopping distance, acceleration, grade-climbing, cornering, and maneuverability by as much as 20 percent in each test.  Not surprisingly, FWD and AWD vehicles handle much better on all-season tires than RWD vehicles because of their sophisticated handling schemes and weight distribution.

For many drivers, all-season tires are an adequate option. For a wide selection of all-season tires by brand, please visit http://www.tirevan.com/tires/tire-brands. As always,  if you have any questions about what tires are the right choice for you please leave your question on this page and we will respond promptly.

Has your vehicle been experiencing a pesky vibration at highway speeds? Has there been a continuous shimmy in your steering wheel? Have the local mechanics been unable to correct the problem even after multiple attempts at tire rebalancing?  If the answer to any of these questions is YES, then we have some good news. These issues CAN actually be corrected (in most cases) through Road Force Balancing! Let’s take a minute to explain some of the causes of vehicle vibration to give you a better understanding of  Road Force Balancing, how it works and who can benefit from it.

CAUSES OF VEHICLE VIBRATION

Vehicle vibrations can occur for a myriad of reasons. Some vibrations can be caused by normal vehicle operation (engine, transmission etc.) and others can be due to abnormal conditions in tires, wheels etc. The following factors can lead to vibration in a tire and rim assembly:

• Weight imbalance
• Bent rim (out of round)
• Out of round tire
• Force variation of the tire (caused by inconsistent sidewall stiffness)
• Suspension wear or failure
• Brake wear or failure
• Out of alignment
• Wheel bearing issues

Weight imbalance is most evident when a new tire is installed on a wheel. Since neither the tire nor the wheel are perfectly round, the chances of this new assembly having precise weight distribution about its radial and lateral center are virtually impossible. There are two types of tire imbalance – static or dynamic. Static imbalance causes a tire and wheel assembly to move up and down whereas a dynamic imbalance causes the assembly to wobble from side to side. Most tire balancing equipment in the marketplace today can diagnose such imbalance and correct weight imbalance issues through dynamic (also known as spin) balancing. However, out of round rim or tire issues and problems related to force variation of the tire can’t be diagnosed as easily by everyday tire balancing equipment.

ROAD FORCE BALANCING

To accurately diagnose and resolve vibration problems unrelated to weight imbalance, most high-end dealerships—and TireVan—use Hunter Engineering’s GSP9700 Vibration Control System and its exclusive Road Force Balancing Technology. The Road Force analyzer can “test drive” your tires before they ever hit the road. A load-roller exerts up to 1400 pounds of force against the rotating tire and wheel assembly, which enables the equipment to seek out inconsistencies in the stiffness of the tire while also measuring wheel and tire run-out. The roller measures the run-out of the assembly under load and automatically recommends the necessary corrections. The GSP9700 is also capable of diagnosing and recommending solutions for weight imbalance.

WHO CAN BENEFIT FROM ROAD FORCE BALANCING?

To be honest, all vehicle owners can benefit from road force balancing. It is always helpful to “test drive” the tires before the vehicle gets on the road. This enables the technician to proactively resolve potential tire/wheel vibration problems that a driver may encounter in the future. That said, we would like to emphasize that Road Force Balancing is especially beneficial for individuals who drive high-performance vehicles with low-profile tires (45- series and lower). This is simply because the less rubber  between the rim and the road, the more you tend to feel the subtle sidewall stiffness differences on ride quality. If the stiffness is within the correctable range, the GSP9700 helps the technician match the lowest spot on the wheel to the highest point of the tire. This optimal positioning of the tire on the wheel helps maximize ride quality by minimizing the effects of rim variation and tire force run out.

Balancing with road force technology is considered to be “best in class.” In fact, some tire manufacturers use this technology at their production facilities to test newly produced tires prior to shipping them to retailers. This is why TireVan recommends and offers Road Force Balancing as an option to all our customers.

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