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Wheels and Tires

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Wheels and Tires are some of the most important parts of your vehicle. A bad wheel or tire can lead to many different problems with your car. From alignments trouble to accidents cause by a blown out tire, there are many things that could go wrong if you’re Wheels and Tires are not in good shape.

When replacing Tires you want to do make sure you are replacing them at the very least two at a time. The reason you want to replace tires two at a time is because it will throw your vehicle’s alignment off if you do it one at a time.

Tires are a very complex and remarkable product. They have come a long way from their early counterparts. Because of this today’s tires hold up remarkably well, and perform better than ever.

The tread is the part of the tire which comes in contact with the road surface. The tread is a thick rubber, or rubber/composite compound formulated to provide an appropriate level of traction that does not wear away too quickly. The tread pattern is characterized by the geometrical shape of the grooves, lugs, voids and sipes.

Grooves run circumferentially around the tire, and are needed to channel away water. Lugs are that portion of the tread design that contacts the road surface. Voids are spaces between lugs that allow the lugs to flex.

Tread patterns feature non-symmetrical (or non-uniform) lug sizes circumferentially in order to minimize noise. Sipes are valleys cut across the tire, usually perpendicular to the grooves, which allow the water from the grooves to escape to the sides in an effort to prevent hydroplaning.

Tires are mounted to wheels that bolt to the hub. The beads of the tire are held on the wheel's rim largely by the internal tire force from the air pressure. Automotive wheels are typically made from pressed and welded steel, or a composite of lightweight metal alloys, such as aluminum or magnesium. These alloy wheels may be either cast or forged.

The rim of a wheel is the outer circular design of the metal on which the inside edge of the tire is mounted on vehicles. Rims can come in all kinds of different shapes, sizes, designs and colors.

Because the rim is where the tire resides on the wheel and the rim supports the tire shape, the dimensions of the rims are a factor in the handling characteristics of an automobile.

Overly wide rims in relation to the tire width for a particular car may result in more vibration and less comfortable ride because the sidewalls of the tire have insufficient curvature to flex properly over rough driving surfaces. Oversized rims will cause the tire to rub when turning. Narrow rims in relation to the tire width may cause poor handling as the tire may distort sideways under fast cornering.

A standard automotive steel wheel rim is made from a rectangular sheet metal. The metal plate is bent to produce a cylindrical sleeve with the two free edges of the sleeve welded together. The rim is then calibrated.