For a car, the presence of tires seems to be somewhat low.
Tires have been working hard and diligently, but people turn a blind eye to them. In fact, people are also an important part of cars.
Do you know the tires of your car?
If you think of tires as people’s feet, you can understand that they bear and pay more than you think. If you want to understand them, you should know what the numbers on them mean.
Today, let’s understand what the numbers on the tires mean.
Section width
First, let’s look at the first set of numbers, namely 225/45R18.
The first number in front of the slash represents the section width of the tire, in millimeters. 225 means that the tire is 225 mm wide.
The larger the number, that is, the wider the tire is, the better the grip, stability and safety factor of the car.
We can imagine that if you take a dime and let it roll, is it very unstable? It will fall down when you blow. If you tie up ten coins and let it roll, the stability will be very good.
However, the larger the tire width is, the higher the fuel consumption will be, and the power of the car will also be affected. That is, although these ten coins are very stable, they will be more cumbersome when rolling and require more force.
The general width of a family car is between 200 and 250 mm. Some cars also slightly increase the tire width of the rear wheels in order to improve the grip and handling, while some sports cars can even achieve a tire width of more than 300 mm in order to better grip.
Flat ratio
Our second number, 45, represents the flat ratio of the tire.
The flat ratio is the ratio between the section height and section width of the tire. When the flat ratio is 45, it means that the thickness of the tire is 45% of the width.
The 225/45 tire thickness is 225 times 45%, 101.25 mm.
The greater the flat ratio, the thicker the tire wall. The more air is stored in the tire, and vice versa.
What impact will this flat ratio, that is, the thickness of the tire wall, have on the vehicle?
Everyone likes to refit, no doubt from thick tires to thin tires. It is generally believed that thin tires will be bumpy, but with very high appearance, thick tires will be more comfortable.
When the vehicle is driving, it will be affected by many factors. Therefore, the driving track of the vehicle is not the real direction of the tire, but it has a certain side deviation. The tire has a very important parameter called cornering stiffness, and there is a very important factor in the formula of cornering stiffness, which is the flat ratio.
The flat ratio can be understood as the thickness of the tire. The thinner the tires are, the better the side stiffness is. When the side stiffness is high, it is easier for the car to drive in the direction you want to go.
Therefore, the thin tires can improve the vehicle’s handling. Because the distance between the wheel hub and the ground is small, the driving feeling and steering feedback are very strong. Therefore, thin tires are often used in vehicles that pursue sports and handling.
Of course, this is not all advantages. High appearance value and high performance bring low durability.
If you use a thin tire, it is very easy to damage the entire tire on the fault road or when there are bumps or small pits. It is also very easy to have bulges, because it is fragile. Thin tires can also cause bumps. Because the tires are relatively hard, their ability to absorb road bumps and impacts will be weaker.
Therefore, in general, thin tires and thick tires have their own advantages.
If you want to buy a car that emphasizes driving pleasure, you can choose a thinner tire to improve the handling.
If you are a household user, you don’t need to control the car so fiercely. Choosing a thicker tire will be more comfortable and very reliable. You don’t have to repair your tires every day, or look at the unpaved road and be afraid of your wallet and time.