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Wednesday, January 29, 2025

By CarKhabri Team

Importance of Tyres in Improving Road Safety

Importance of Tyres in Improving Road Safety

Do you know? Car tyre health is a vital part of road safety. A tyre replacement is mostly ignored till it becomes necessary because of ignorance or the high cost involved. And when people do change old tyres, many opt for the cheaper version rather than the premium version. However, this is the wrong way of thinking. A world of difference will be experienced with the handling, braking, and overall comfort and safety of the occupants. This blog shares the role of tyres in enhancing road safety and what makes your investment in a tyre with higher silica content worthwhile.
 
 
Premium vs. Budget Tyres: A Material Difference: Unlike what a shady salesman would probably tell you, there is much more to the difference between a premium tyre and a budget tyre than the branding. Premium tyre manufacturers use more robust materials in making their tyre products. For instance, Apollo Apterra is a range of SUV tyres, it has used higher content of silica in the rubber compound. Silica tends to change the tyre chemistry to enhance various features such as wet grip, rolling resistance, and durability of the tyre.
 
Whereas, budget tyres will compromise on including these high performance materials to provide a lower price point in the market. This can further be supported in the sense that even the budget tyre makers lack technical knowhow of high-quality tyres creation, hence selling a product devoid of reinforcing materials and tread patterns for safety. If a budget tyre appears new and functional at first time, then there is some underlying impact on performance and even more critically on road safety.
 
 
Performance and Road Safety Benefits of Premium Tyres: The benefits of premium tyres, especially those with more silica, directly translate into real-life road safety advantages:
 
Fantastic Wet Grip: perhaps the single biggest advantage in getting a premium tyre fitted on your car or SUV tyres, in actual fact is the fantastic wet grip offered by these tyres. Tyre brands are using rubber compounds and tread patterns for gripping the road surface that usually to decrease the risk of aquaplaning. These tread patterns allow for more efficient water displacement, improve water drainage, and reduce aquaplaning, or hydroplaning. You can have better control and braking while driving on slippery surfaces. Budget tyres, due to the absence of this advanced design and material composition, tend to aquaplane easily, which in turn increases the distance of braking and chances of accidents.
 
 
Better Dry Grip and Handling: While wet weather is the primary application of high-quality tyres, they also enhance grip and handling on regular road surfaces. The technical advancements of the rubber compounds and tread patterns provide more contact points with the road, thus increasing cornering stability, traction, and acceleration. Improved handling is important for steering precision, and this, in turn, will enable you to make emergency maneuvers or traverse difficult road patches. The grip and handling that a budget tyre provides may be significantly different in such scenarios, and the vehicle may not feel as responsive or skid, leading to loss of control.
 
 
Shorter Braking Distances: Any tyre that offers the ability to stop quickly in an emergency situation is a good-quality tyre. And while the braking distance is mainly a matter of the speed and power from your braking components, premium tyres can make a real difference to stop power through their extra grip. Tyre makers often point out this as a feature and it isn't without reason. Testing for different tyre products has proven that premium products are much more capable of shortening the braking distance in comparison with budget types. And even a small difference in braking distance can become crucial for avoiding an accident. This advantage also becomes more valuable when you are driving in wet weather conditions where even a few feet of distance can mean the difference between safety and disaster.
 
 
Enhanced Durability and Longevity: Premium tyres will generally have a longer lifespan owing to the better quality of materials and construction techniques in use. So, even though the cost of purchasing a premium tyre is more than a budget tyre, the long-term cost benefit becomes more pronounced as you go the distance. Plus, premium tyres retain their performance characteristics for longer, opposed to budget tyres which may ride the same initially but start losing grip as soon as the top tread wears off. So, premium tyres will keep your car’s driving efficiency safe and effective for a longer period.
 
 
Improved Fuel Efficiency: Premium tyres also offer a highly sought after feature, that is lower rolling resistance. This means that your car’s engine needs less power to overcome the friction between the tyres and the road surface. So, the least rolling resistance for the tyre will eventually make a difference to your car or SUV's fuel consumption. In the long term, every small advantage adds up to benefit your wallet, cutting down on carbon emissions as well. Indirect environmental advantages contribute to the ultimate value proposition of premium tyres.
 
 
Better Ride Comfort: While not directly associated with road safety, better ride comfort can be indirectly related to better safety. High-quality tyres tend to provide a smoother and quieter ride, which could help in the reduction of driver fatigue and keep him more alert and responsive to address potential road hazards or emergency situations.
 
Most premium tyre brands employ advanced technologies in their designs. These can be such as noise cancellation technologies, self-sealing features, or even special tread patterns designed for a specific type of driving. The additional features provided by these add-ons enhance safety and performance features of the tyre, thereby making the driver safer.
 
 
Conclusion: Over the years, Apollo Tyres has been investing to provide tyres with high silica content and low rolling resistance to meet changing customer needs. It has a block-based design pattern. In this review, our Hyundai Creta features the Apollo Apterra Cross. This model offers superior on-road and off-road grip while giving better contact patch roundness for an evenly distributed vehicle weight, which enables better handling, smooth handling, and therefore also ensures safety to the driver as well as passengers.
However, it is worth noting that the performance attributes of a premium tyre may contribute to your safety on road but depend on various other factors like the type of driving, vehicle type, and road and weather conditions. Hence, the right selection will always be recommended if done after consulting an expert at a tyre shop near you.
 
 
 

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