Tyres have come a long way since the 1960s. Back then, developments in the automotive industry were believed to be at their peak, with American Ford GTs on winning streaks at the Le Mans. Also, it was a time when motorcycles had only spoked wheels and tube tyres. Back then, most tyres were just two-ply. They weren’t all that strong. You had tubes that would get holes in them. In case of a repair scenario, you had to take the whole tyre apart, patch the tube, and put it back in. It was a pain.
But the steel-belted radial tyres came out, they got much fewer punctures because of the steel belt, and the radial tyres wore better and got better gas mileage. But then manufacturers came out with these low-profile tyres, which they put on high-end sports initially. With their low-profile tyres, they corner really well and hug the road. They’re usually super wide, so they have lots of traction for hard acceleration.
Regardless of these benefits, low profile tyres cause a lot of issues. Of course, they’re purpose-built and look great too. You’ll find plenty of cars fitted with low profile you will need these tyres and posh areas of Los Angeles, where supercars are a common sight. The problem here is that many enthusiasts got obsessed with just the looks and started putting them on regular cars.
In this post, we will talk about why you shouldn’t buy low-profile tyres for a normal car.
The Cons of Low Profile Tyres
Again, if you like going fast and cornering quickly with a car built for it, you will need these tyres for performance and safety. But they have their drawbacks. Many people who excitingly opted for these eventually give up and go back to normal tyres after getting a ton of flats and breaking many rims. Cars fitted with low profile tyres tend to ride rough because they don’t have a sidewall to absorb the shocks.
Furthermore, low profile tyres mean death to your wheels if you live in a big city or someplace where roads are plagued with potholes and bad roads. When you hit a big hole many times, because of the lack of real sidewall, the tyre will ram into the rim and break the rim, destroying the tyre and the rim. Apart from the cost of new tyres, sometimes rims can get super expensive too. Not to mention if you get into an accident due to this reason and break the chassis.
Another problem with low profile tyres is that they are super wide. The wider the tyre is, the more friction there is, and the faster it will wear out. Some of these tyres wear out in 15,000 – 20,000 miles when normal tyres might last 60,000 -70,000 miles. And let’s say your front-end alignment is a little bit off. With normal tyres, that might not be that big of a deal. But with low profile tyres, even the slightest misalignment will cause them to wear out faster and cost you more money.
To Summarize
Many people don’t understand that your tyres actually absorb a lot of the shock that you get when you’re driving down the road. The sidewall flexes and takes a lot of the bumps out, so you don’t feel it when riding in the car. These things are so small that there’s very little resistance to bumps.
But if you want to drive your Ferrari or Maserati like a pro, you’ll need these kinds of tyres. But for regular commute, while driving normal family cars, stick to normal tyres and let the race car drivers have low-profile tyres. You’ll be happier with regular tyres and a smooth ride.
