Tires are classified into several standard types based on the type of vehicle they serve. Since the manufacturing process, raw materials, and equipment vary according to the tire type it is common for tire factories to specialize in one or more tire types. In most markets factories that manufacture passenger and light truck radial tires are separate and distinct from those that make aircraft or OTR tires.
Passenger and light truck types
High Performance
High performance tires are designed for use at higher speeds. They feature a softer rubber compound for improved traction, especially on high speed cornering. The trade off of this softer rubber is lower tread life.
High performance street tires sometimes sacrifice wet weather handling by having shallower water channels to provide more actual rubber tread surface area for dry weather performance. The ability to provide a high level of performance on both wet and dry pavement varies widely among manufacturers, and even among tire models of the same manufacturer. This is an area of active research and development, as well as marketing.
Mud and Snow
Mud and Snow, or M+S, is a classification for winter tires designed to provide improved performance under winter conditions compared to tires made for use in summer. The tread compound is usually softer than that used in tires for summer conditions, thus providing better grip on ice and snow, but wears more quickly at higher temperatures. Tires may have well above average numbers of sipes in the tread pattern to grip the ice.
Dedicated winter tires will bear the "Mountain/Snowflake Pictograph" if designated as a winter/snow tire by the American Society for Testing & Materials. Winter tires will typically also carry the designation MS, M&S, or the words MUD AND SNOW (but see All-season tires, below).
Studded Tire
Some winter tires may be designed to accept the installation of metal studs for additional traction on icy roads. The studs also roughen the ice, thus providing better friction between the ice and the soft rubber in winter tires. Use of studs is regulated in most countries, and even prohibited in some locales due to the increased road wear caused by studs. Typically, studs are never used on heavier vehicles. Studded tires are used in the upper tier classes of ice racing.
Other winter tires rely on factors other than studding for traction on ice, e.g. highly porous or hydrophilic rubber that adheres to the wet film on the ice surface.
Some jurisdictions may from time to time require snow tires or traction aids (e.g. tire chains) on vehicles driven in certain areas during extreme conditions.
Mud tires are specialty tires with large, chunky tread patterns designed to bite into muddy surfaces. The large, open design also allows mud to clear quickly from between the lugs. Mud terrain tires also tend to be wider than other tires, to spread the weight of the vehicle over a greater area to prevent the vehicle from sinking too deeply into the mud. However in reasonable amounts of snow, snow tires should be thinner. Due to them having a thinner wheel base, the tire will have more pressure per square inch on the road, thus giving them greater traction. This does not compensate when the snow is too deep and the car can not move in the first place. In these circumstances a larger robust vehicle would be more adequate to get out of the snow drift.
All Season
The All Season tire classification is a compromise between one developed for use on dry and wet roads during summer and one developed for use under winter conditions. The type of rubber and the tread pattern best suited for use under summer conditions cannot, for technical reasons, give good performance on snow and ice. The all-season tire is a compromise, and is neither an excellent summer tire nor an excellent winter tire. They have, however, become almost ubiquitous as original and replacement equipment on automobiles marketed in the United States, due to their convenience and their adequate performance in most situations. All-Season tires are also marked for mud and snow the same as winter tires. Owing to the compromise with performance during summer, winter performance is usually poorer than a winter tire.
All-terrain
All-terrain tires are typically used on SUVs and light trucks. These tires often have stiffer sidewalls for greater resistance against puncture when traveling off-road, the tread pattern offers wider spacing than all-season tires to remove mud from the tread. Many tires in the all-terrain category are designed primarily for on-road use, particularly all-terrain tires that are originally sold with the vehicle.
Spare
Main article: spare tire
Some vehicles carry a spare tire, already mounted on a rim, to be used in the event of flat tire or blowout. Minispare tires are smaller than normal tires to save on trunk space, gas mileage, weight and cost. Minispares have a short life expectancy, and low speed rating.
Run-flat
Main article: run flat tire
Several innovative designs have been introduced that permit tires to run safely with no air for a limited range at a limited speed. These tires feature still load supporting sidewalls and often plastic load-bearing inserts.
Heavy duty truck
Heavy duty tires are also referred to as Truck/Bus tires. These are the tire sizes used on vehicles such as commercial freight trucks, dump trucks, and passenger busses. Truck tires are sub-categorized into specialties according to vehicle position such as steering, drive axle, and trailer. Each type is designed with the reinforcements, material compounds, and tread patterns that best optimize the tire performance.
Off-the-road (OTR)
The OTR tire classification includes tires for construction vehicles such as backhoes, graders, trenchers, and the like; as well as large mining trucks. These tires are built with a large number of reinforcing plies to withstand severe service conditions and high loads. OTR tires are used in rather low speed conditions.
Agricultural
The agricultural tire classification includes tires used on farm vehicles, typically tractors and specialty vehicles like harvesters. High flotation tires are used in swampy environments and feature large footprints at low inflation pressures.
Racing
NASCAR tires
Racing tires are highly specialized according to vehicle and race track conditions. This classification includes tires for top fuel dragsters, drift racers, Xtreme off road racing, oval track racers, jet-powered trucks, and monster trucks, as well as the large-market race tires for Formula One and NASCAR. Tires are specially engineered for specific race tracks according to surface conditions, cornering loads, and track temperature. Tires have also been specially engineered for drifting. Racing tires are often engineered to minimum weight targets, so tires for a 500 mile race may run only 300 miles before a tire change. Some tire makers invest heavily in race tire development as part of the company's marketing strategy and a means of advertising to attract customers with the same likes.
Industrial
The Industrial tire classification includes pneumatic and non-pneumatic tires for specialty industrial vehicles such as skid loaders and fork lift trucks.
Bicycle
A Cheng Shin brand bicycle tire in the style of a cruiser bicycle
This classification includes all forms of bicycle tires, including racing tires, mountain-bike tires, and snow tires.
Aircraft
Aircraft tires are designed to withstand heavy loads for short durations. The number of tires required for aircraft increases with the weight of the plane (because the weight of the airplane is distributed better). Aircraft tire tread patterns are designed to facilitate stability in high crosswind conditions, to channel water away to prevent hydroplaning, and for braking traction. Aircraft tires are usually inflated with nitrogen in order to minimize expansion and contraction from extreme changes in temperature experienced during flight. Dry nitrogen expands at the same rate as other dry atmospheric gases, but common compressed air sources may contain moisture, which increases the expansion rate with temperature. Aircraft tires generally operate at high pressures, up to 200 psi (13.8 bar) for airliners and even higher for business jets.
Aircraft tires also include heat fuses, designed to melt at a certain temperature. Tires often overheat if maximum braking is applied during a rejected takeoff or an emergency landing. The fuses provide a safer failure mode that prevents tire explosions by deflating in a controlled manner, thus minimizing damage to aircraft and objects in the surrounding environment.
The main purpose of requiring that an inert gas, such as nitrogen, be used instead of air, for inflation of tires on certain transport category airplanes is prompted by at least three cases in which the oxygen in air-filled tires combined with volatile gases given off by a severely overheated tire and exploded upon reaching autoignition temperature. The use of an inert gas for tire inflation will eliminate the possibility of a tire explosion.
Motorcycle
There are many different types of motorcycle tires:
Sport Touring - These tires are generally not used for high cornering loads, but for long straights, good for riding across the country.
Street - For sport bikes that are generally not going to be riding aggressively. Riders of this type usually want tires that are going to last a few more miles.
Sport Street - These tires are for aggressive street riders that spend most of their time carving corners on public roadways. These tires do not have a long life, but in turn have very good traction in high speed cornering.
Track or Slick - These tires are for track days or races. They have more of a triangular form, which in turn gives a larger contact patch while leaned over. These tires are not recommended for the street by manufactures, and are known to have a shorter life on the street. Due to the triangulation of the tire, there will be less contact patch in the center, causing the tire to develop a flat spot quicker when used to ride on straightaways for long periods of time.
Construction types
Bias
Mexican Bias Tire, branded as Uniroyal
Bias tire (or cross ply) construction utilizes body ply cords that extend diagonally from bead to bead, usually at angles in the range of 30 to 40 degrees, with successive plies laid at opposing angles forming a crisscross pattern to which the tread is applied. The design allows for the entire tire body to flex easily providing the main advantage of this construction, a smooth ride on rough surfaces. This cushioning characteristic makes for major disadvantages of a bias tires: increased rolling resistance and less control and traction at higher speeds.
Belted bias
A belted bias tire starts with two or more bias-plies to which stabilizer belts are bonded directly beneath the tread. This construction provides smoother ride that is similar to the bias tire, while lessening rolling resistance because the belts increase tread stiffness. However the plies and belts are at different angles, which lessens performance compared to radial tires.
Radial
Main article: Radial tire
Radial tire construction utilizes body ply cords extending from the beads and across the tread so that the cords are laid at approximately right angles to the centerline of the tread, and parallel to each other, as well as stiff stabilizer belts directly beneath the tread. The advantages of this construction include longer tread life, better steering control, and lower rolling resistance. A disadvantage of the radial tire is that it produces a harder ride at low speeds on rough roads.
Solid
Many tires used in industrial and commercial applications are non-pneumatic, and are manufactured from solid rubber and plastic compounds via molding operations. Solid tires include those used for lawn mowers, skateboards, golf carts, scooters, and many types of light industrial vehicles, carts, and trailers. One of the most common applications for solid tires is for material handling equipment (forklifts). Such tires are installed by means of a hydraulic press.
Semi-pneumatic
Tires that are hollow, but are not pressurized have also been designed for automotive use, such as the Tweel (a portmanteau of tire and wheel) which is an experimental tire design being developed at Michelin. The outer casing is rubber as in ordinary radial tires, but the interior has special compressible polyurethane springs to contribute to a comfortable ride. Besides offering run-flat capability, the tires are intended to combine the comfort offered by higher-profile tires (with tall sidewalls) with the resistance to cornering forces offered by low profile tires. They have not yet been delivered for broad market use.
.jpg)
