Guide To Upgrading Wheels and Tires (Popular Mechanics)
One of the easiest upgrades you can make to a car is swapping out its wheels and tires. Here’s what you should know before you go shoe shopping for your car.
The most important pieces of real estate on your car are those four small contact patches that grip the road: your tires. Those few square inches of rubber determine just about everything. Tires harness the engine's power, allow the brakes to do their job and determine how successfully a car will go around a corner regardless of whether they’re pulling into a parking stall or screaming into a high-speed sweeper.
Yes, tires carry an enormous burden. That thin doughnut of round and black is a complex assembly of cables, rubber and polymers, all molded into a highly engineered profile. It's then mounted onto a wheel and, of course, inflated with air to give it shape and definition. The manufacturers behind your vehicle, tires and wheels worked together to carefully engineer an optimum combination of grip, road feel, ride quality, noise control and tire wear.
In America, “bigger is better” has been the prevailing trend over the past couple decades.
