Best Tires, Tire Repair and Maintenance Near You

Start with the placard on the driver's door jamb rather than with whatever is on the car now, because a previous owner may have changed it. It gives the size, the load index and the speed rating the manufacturer specified. Matching it is the safe default. Wider or lower changes the ride, the speedometer reading and sometimes the clearance at full lock, so ask a store to explain what a different size actually changes.

All-seasons are a compromise, and in much of the country the compromise is fine. If you get real snow and ice for months, a dedicated winter set grips better than any all-season, and it costs less over time than it sounds because the two sets wear in turn. Summer tires give the most grip when it is warm and turn hard and skittish once the temperature drops toward freezing.

Ask, and look for yourself. A code pressed into the sidewall gives the week and the year the tire was built. Rubber ages sitting still, so a set that spent a couple of years on an indoor rack is usually fine, and one that sat outside in the sun is not. Any store worth your money will show you the code without making it awkward.

Three different things get called a warranty. A defect warranty covers a tire that was built wrong. A treadwear warranty promises a mileage figure and pays out prorated, which means you get credit, not a new tire, and you will need rotation records to claim it. Road hazard coverage is the one that pays for a nail or a pothole, and it is almost always sold separately.

Not always. Replacing a pair is fine on a front-wheel or rear-wheel drive car if the other two still have decent tread, and the new pair goes on the rear for stability, whichever end drives. All-wheel drive is stricter: many systems want all four within a tight tolerance of rolling circumference, and a mismatch chews up a differential. Check the manual before you buy two.