TIRE TIPS & ADVICE FOR CAR, SUV & VAN Welcome to the ultimate guide to tires!

Speed ratings are not just about speed. They correlate directly with ride comfort, treadwear, and cornering ability. Typically the higher the speed rating, the better the grip and stopping power, but the shorter the tread life. Ratings run from A at the lowest to Y at the highest, and the chart is not strictly alphabetical: H sits between U and V, a holdover from when H stood for high performance.

A tire’s sidewall is pretty much what it sounds like – the outer and inner “walls” on the sides of a tire, if facing a tire on its side. Every sidewall has its own unique information that is divided into four main sections:

Rotating your tires is not a gimmick. Tires wear at different rates depending on position, and moving them on schedule spreads that wear across all four instead of destroying two. BFGoodrich recommends rotating every 6,000 to 8,000 miles, or 10,000 to 12,000 kilometers, if your owner's manual does not specify a different interval. Rotate immediately at the first sign of irregular wear, even before that mileage.

Tires can lose up to 1 psi every month even with no puncture, so check all four plus the spare once a month or before any long trip. Buy a trusted gauge, check cold before driving or at least three hours after, insert the gauge onto the valve stem, and compare the reading to the psi on the sticker inside your driver's door or in your owner's manual. Never use the sidewall number as your target.

Your correct tire size is printed in two places: the sidewall of the tires on your vehicle now, and the OEM placard inside your driver's side door. That same placard gives you the correct cold inflation pressure. For an accurate pressure reading, check when the tires have not been driven for three hours, because friction creates heat and heat raises pressure, giving you a false high reading.