Summer tyres

Choosing summer tyres

Speed, water, quiet and handling

Although the road surface is generally more forgiving for driving in the warm season, summer tyres carry just as many subtleties and important characteristics (often mutually exclusive) as winter ones. So choosing a summer tyre in the shops often leaves a motorist at a dead end, and there is one of two ways out: either take (as most people do) the priciest tyre you can afford, or start digging deeper and find the tyres that suit you best.

Which characteristics matter in a summer tyre?

The most important characteristics of summer tyres, the ones manufacturers design for and use to position a tyre on the market, are:

1. Price (depends on the manufacturer, the rubber compound, the tread pattern and the marketing position on the market).
2. Grip on the road surface (acceleration and braking) (depends on the rubber compound, the section width, the tread pattern and the structure of the tyre’s carcass).
3. Directional stability (depends on the section width, the tread pattern and the rubber compound).
4. Noise (depends on the tread pattern and the rubber compound).
5. Comfort (stiffness) (depends on the tyre’s sidewall height, the rubber compound and the structure of the carcass).
6. Handling (depends on the section width, the tread pattern and the rubber compound).
7. Wear resistance (depends on the tread pattern and the rubber compound).
8. Resistance to aquaplaning (depends on the section width, the tread pattern and the rubber compound).
9. Stability in corners on different road surfaces (depends on the tread pattern and the rubber compound).
10. Speed (depends on the tread pattern and the rubber compound).
11. Weight (depends on the section width and the materials used to make the tyre).

Sadly, tyre manufacturers have not yet found a way to make a tyre in which every one of these properties is as good as it can be for the buyer, so an objectively “best” tyre simply does not exist today. The reason is that some of these eleven criteria are, to some extent, mutually exclusive: improving one characteristic inevitably costs you another (one or several). And this is by no means only about price.

So, whatever summer tyre you buy may well be the best choice for you specifically, but it will certainly not be the best choice overall, whatever the price. So before you set about choosing summer tyres, think carefully about the conditions (and the proportions) you drove in last season, and try to judge honestly your own driving style and what your car is actually capable of. Either way, you will have to decide which criteria matter most to you when picking tyres, and no expert, seller or mate on your favourite car forum can do that for you.