A handy guide to choosing the right tyres for your ride

The first thing to do to know if your car needs replacement is to check for thread wear on the side of the tyre wall. If your thread is considerably down and reached the midpoint (thread level below 2/32''), you need to start considering how to replace them.

Another thing to consider when buying tyres is whether you want to replace the same tyres or you want to upgrade the set where choices lie on whether you want road feel when cornering or a softer, more dampened ride. Replacement is pretty self-explanatory. You see the numbers present on the tyre walls and get the same tyres. But upgrading has its own set of things to consider.

To understand the numbers present on the tyre walls (usually written such as 185/60R/15) where the first value (185) indicates the lateral width of the tyre, the mid value (60R) indicates the ratio of width to the side wall profile where larger the number, the taller the wall and the letter indicates the radial tyre design (R ratings have a 90 degree design), where most tyres available locally have the same rating and the last value (15) indicates the diameter of the wheel.

Once everything is set, it's quite straightforward to buy tyres in Bangladesh since our climate is on the warmer side, winter tyres stay out of the equation for the most part. Our choices lie between All-season tyres or summer tyres, where the latter provides more performance than all-season tyres in general. Although summer tyres provide a better performance, it usually is more expensive than all-season tyres but when on a budget all-season tyres do an adequate job in providing good ride and traction.

Another thing to keep in mind when it comes to getting tyres is the type of rubber that will be considered. Most cars, in general, come with all-season tyres, in general, provides adequate performance all year. Where the car can be driven on hot summer days, under wet conditions and when there is hail on the road. These tyres usually have more rubber (apart from touring tyres) to spare, so they also last longer than summer tyres on most cases.

All-season tyres also come cheaper when it comes to buying a set, and there are also two categories to choose from, namely high performance and Touring tyres. High performance all-season tyres are self-explanatory, where it aids the car to take steeper, faster corners and overall a more athletic feel to the car compared to regular all seasons. Touring all-season tyres on the other hand gives a smoother, dampened ride, where the coefficient of friction also tends to be lower where the car rolls easier but, although it gives some extra mileage, it usually draws over steering feel, where the handling gets a bit muffled.

Summer tyres, on the other hand, tend to be gripper compared to all seasons.  Higher performance cars in general come with summer tyres, where it can be said that they're mainly three season tyres as the walls tend to get hard when it gets excessively cold (Around 4 degrees Celsius). Although in Bangladesh it rarely gets extremely cold to the point where summer-tyre performance is hampered, so summer tyres are a worthy upgrade in Bangladesh and these tyres can be considered "All season" out here, as our climate is generally hot, even in December.

Summer tyres tend to deliver more performance, grip and a shorter braking distance.  Cars can confidently take aggressive corners and overall, it brings out the athleisure of a car and gives the driver more confidence when driving hard. Although summer tyres gives performance, it slightly hampers the mileage and is more expensive compared to all seasons, but people seeking for a better driving experience usually pay the price.

When it comes to winter tyres, they're mostly available used as almost no one buys them. Although the northern regions of our country get colder than usual on winter time so they only purpose it might serve is driving on that region, where unbearable winter in Bangladeshi standards does not last long

Tyre shops in Bangladesh tend to sell all kinds of tyres where there are also local brands such as Meghna, and mostly brands like Yokohama, Advan, Ceat, MRF, Continental just to name a few are mostly available where prices start from 6000 takas for regular all season to almost 100,000 takas for high performance summer tyres.

Options are endless and, tweaking the driving prowess of a car just start with the tyres; being the one of the most important elements on a car.