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High-performance tires were once found only on sporty vehicles such as Corvettes.Burning rubber can grow expensive
High-performance tires provide a quicker, crisper steering response, but they often wear out faster.
This Goodyear tire provides 20 percent more cushion between the tread and belt.
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What do a Hyundai Sonata and a Porsche have in common?
High-performance tires.
There's a surprising side effect to the horsepower race that's been taking place across the car industry. Responding to consumer demand for powerful, aggressive-looking vehicles, models ranging from station wagons to the Chrysler 300 are getting souped up to handle faster acceleration and higher speeds. To harness the extra power, the vehicles require tires that were once found only on sporty vehicles such as Corvettes and Porsches. The new tires are shorter and wider than most standard tires, and can be considerably more expensive. Cars with fashionably giant wheels also usually require tires like these.
High-performance tires provide a quicker, crisper steering response and a more tenacious grip on dry and wet surfaces than most common tires. But not only do they cost more, they also tend to wear out faster, and perform worse in snow. That means some car owners now have to face the hassle and expense of sticking snow tires back on their cars in the winter -- a chore that all but disappeared with the advent of all-season tires in recent decades.
The high-performance trend is catching many car buyers off-guard, particularly after years of growing accustomed to increasingly longer-lasting tires. Part of the problem is that many people don't pay much attention to the tires when buying a vehicle, so they don't realize their new car comes with high-performance tires.
Manufacturers such as Michelin and Bridgestone have a term for it: the "accidental performance customer."
When the rubber eventually wears out and needs to be replaced, it can be a double-whammy for the owner, says Eugene Petersen, an engineer at Consumer Reports' tire and automotive test center in East Haddam, Conn. "The first shock is how long it lasts. Next is cost." He says he has seen a stream of postings on the discussion boards at consumerreports.org about short-lived, high-priced tires. Roger Liebowitz, an advertising executive in Richmond, Va., encountered this when shopping for a used car last summer. The 2002 Infiniti i35 he was considering was in great condition except the tires needed to be replaced -- and it would cost nearly $800 to buy and install a complete set like the ones that came with the car. "It seemed kind of absurd to me for an $18,000 or $19,000 car to turn around and spend $200 a tire," says Liebowitz. "I'd expect that for a Corvette." In the end, he decided to buy a 2001 Infiniti i30, which came with tires that Liebowitz priced at about $100 each.
A spokesman for Infiniti says the tire designs and sizes for its vehicles are "optimized" for the specific car model. As a result, the tires may be a size "that's not common in the replacement market."
Performance tires, while still a relatively small portion of the overall tire market, are one of the fastest growing segments in the industry, according to the Rubber Manufacturers Association.
Last year, about 17 percent of original-equipment tires shipped were what many consider high-performance tires, up from 12 percent in 1999. Sales in the performance-tire segment are up about 14 percent for 2004 from the previous year at the Sears Automotive Group, a business of Sears Holding Corp.
All tires come with a one-letter rating -- such as H or S -- that indicates the maximum speed at which they are designed to function without risking a blowout or other failure. Typical high-speed ratings are H (capable of a maximum speed of 130 miles per hour), V (149 mph) and Z (above 149 mph). Most tires are rated S or T, for speeds up to 112 mph and 118 mph, respectively.
Speed ratings increase
A number of car models switched in recent years to higher-performance tires. In 1996 the Honda Civic EX sedan came equipped with S-rated tires; in 2001 it came with H-rated tires.
Other vehicles, which already had high-performance tires, are boosting their speed ratings. For instance, the 2002 Nissan Maxima came equipped with H-rated tires, whereas the 2003 and 2004 models have V-rated tires. Similarly, the 2005 Hyundai Sonata LX came with H-speed rated tires; the 2006 model comes with V-rated tires.
Tires can also vary within a specific model of car. For instance, the base Chrysler 300 comes with T-rated tires, but the fancier 300C -- the model people get if they want extras like leather seats, heated mirrors and a better stereo -- comes with high-performance tires that are more expensive to replace. A Chrysler spokesman says the auto maker is confident that buyers understand what they are purchasing.
Typical all-season tires cost anywhere from roughly $30 to $100 apiece and wear out after 45,000 to 50,000 miles. High-performance tires can cost from $60 to $145 or so and also wear out more quickly -- typically after about 30,000 miles. Ultrahigh-performance tires such as Z-rated ones (or the even more rare W and Y tires, which show up on sports cars like Ferraris) cost even more, usually upward of $120 each, and wear out at around 15,000 miles.
Safety issues
The fact that high-performance tires sometimes wear out more quickly can raise safety concerns. As a tread is worn away, in some circumstances a tire's grip on dry road surfaces may increase. However, worn tires have the opposite effect in inclement weather, where deep tread patterns are needed for wet braking and to gain traction in snow. Snow traction declined 15 percent for tires with treads worn down to half their normal depth in tests by Consumer Reports. Hydroplaning resistance was down by 8 percent, and wet braking was down by about 7 percent.
Also, while performance tires generally do well in dry and wet conditions (their wide footprint helps the rubber stick to the pavement) their design tends to have the opposite effect in winter conditions where narrower footprints and deep treads are preferred for maintaining traction in snow or icy conditions.
Drivers of cars with high-performance tires have options when looking for replacements if the tires wear out or if winter conditions require a switch. For one, all-season performance tires are available, though they generally won't perform as well in the snow as true winter tires.
Another option: Buying a version of the tire that has a lower speed rating. However, there is disagreement in the industry about whether that's a good idea.
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The Detroit News.
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