It’s usually best to buy a set of four tires and have them all match so your vehicle is in the best possible driving condition. Tires wear out and you’ll have to get new ones at some point. However, your Philadelphia auto repair shop understands that things don’t always work that way. You never know when you’ll get a nail in one tire, ruining just that one tire. You have to replace it, but not the other three. You’re certainly not going to buy four tires when you really only need one. What should you get for that one tire? Should you get the cheapest one you can find? Probably not.
It’s always best to get a tire that matches your other tires. Get a match that is as close as possible. Matching tires will have the same size, construction, and even tread pattern. There are a number of ways in which drivers will mismatch tires. They might get a tire of a different size, something made be a different manufacturer than the others, one with a different tread pattern, or one that is made for a different season, like summer or winter tires.
Every tire has a unique job and it has been designed to fulfill that job. They have a specific way of handling and they are meant to work together as a team on a vehicle to get the best performance for the buyer. If your tires are mismatched, however, the car might be unpredictable in the way it handles or even in the way it brakes. Plus, mismatched tires won’t wear evenly, so you’ll probably have to replace them all sooner than you thought.
While it’s best if you can replace all four of your tires at once to keep your car as safe and high-performance as possible, life just doesn’t work that way all of the time. If you’re just replacing one or two, get the same brand and model you already have on the vehicle to get the best from the new tires. If the tires you have aren’t around anymore, you’ll want to get tires in the same performance category that have the same speed, handing, and load ratings along with similar treads as what you already have.
Using tires that don’t match should only happen in an emergency situation, like if you have a flat and the spare isn’t the same as the rest of the vehicle’s tires. Switch the spare out for a tire that is a match as soon as you can.
If you aren’t sure what tire you have or what you need, contact the experts at Schafer’s Auto Center by calling (215) 755-1270. At our Philadelphia auto repair shop, we can easily examine your tire and let you know exactly what brand and model you need to get a perfect match. SAR is located at 1924 S Columbus Blvd Philadelphia, PA 19148 so you can stop by and show us your tires, so we can search out the right match for your vehicle.
