Performance Tyres
Performance car and van tyres are designed for sporty driving. There is no point in buying a hot hatch or performance vehicle without the tyres to match. Performance tyres are usually a lower profile and higher speed rating than your standard tyres. They feature a softer rubber compound which allows the tyre to grip the road better, giving the driver the confidence to enjoy the road and the car they are driving. There is nothing worse than driving a performance vehicle where you have no confidence that it will stick to the road!
To make sure that you get the right car tyres, check the speed rating that the manufacturer recommends. This information will be available in the vehicle’s handbook or on the manufacturer’s website. You will also find the speed rating on the tyre wall. The speed rating is the letter that follows the tyre size. Y and Z are the speed ratings fitted to most performance cars.
Bridgestone have said that it takes anything from ’18 months to 2 years to develop a new tyre’. So much technology goes into the design that even when a small change is made to the tyre design it can add an additional two weeks to the process! Bridgestone has a testing facility near Rome where every tyre is tested to destruction and one of the machines can spin the tyres over 300 MPH. Although the tyres that are spun at this speed can only last a few minutes.
The best test of performance tyres so far comes from Top Gear’s James May. Testing the top speed of a Bugatti Veyron which is claimed to be 253MPH. This production road car is faster than a formula one car! At its top speed the car tyres would only last fifteen minutes. Although when you’re covering the equivalent of a football pitch every second it is not difficult to see why!