Here’s Everything You Need to Know About Performance Tires

Whether you’re driving a $30,000 Hyundai Veloster N, a $180,000 Porsche Taycan Turbo S, or a $3 million Bugatti Chiron, you’re riding on performance tires. Across the spectrum of sports-tuned automobiles, the most effective tire to put down power is the performance tire as it has greater adhesive properties. They’re also the most expensive.

But even delving into the world of performance tires has its nuances. To better inform your next tire purchase, The Drive’s crack informational team is here to walk you through the types of performance tires, how they work, and answer some of your other burning questions.

Ladies and gentlemen, let’s kick the tires and light the fires!

A performance tire is a type of tire with a blend of increased adhesive properties, accomplished through the chemical nature of the tire’s rubber compounds and its tread design, intended for performance vehicles. These specially crafted designs increase the tires’ responsiveness, handling, and traction.

There are, however, different grades of performance tires. While each manufacturer has its own name for the grades, they can be broken down into three distinct categories: Performance (good performance), Summer Performance (better performance), and R-Compound (best performance). Let’s break them down.

Performance tires are designed to be used in dry and damp conditions, not wet or snowy. Their treadwear balances the life of the tire and handling for longer-lasting performance but are not intended for repeated enthusiast abuse. 

Toyo’s Proxes series is a good example of a Performance-grade tire.

Summer performance tires are designed to be used strictly in dry conditions. Due to the tire’s tread design and compound formula, damp, wet, or snowy conditions would make for unsafe driving conditions. Summer performance tires trade longevity for performance and offer drivers further enhanced handling, responsiveness, and grip. However, they will need to be replaced sooner. 

Michelin’s Pilot Sport 4S series is a good example of a Summer Extreme Performance tire.

R-compound tires are a step under race-spec slick tires. These tires offer the most responsiveness and grip of any street-legal tire with a tread design that resembles semi-slick tires and a rubber compound formula that is far stickier than other performance tire types. These tires live for extreme performance and will wear out very quickly if used repeatedly.

Pirelli’s P Zero Trofeo R is a good example of an R-Compound tire.

As their name implies, all-season tires provide adequate handling and adhesion in both the dry, wet, and snow. They also have longer life spans than other specialty tires. Performance tires, as illustrated above, are designed to be extremely effective and grippy in dry conditions and trade longevity for responsiveness.  

Damage can occur to performance tires in all the same ways any other tire can be damaged, including road debris, punctures, and slashes. However, because of the performance tire’s trade-off between life and performance, heavy or daily use will lead to degeneration of the tire faster than other types of tires. 

Tire longevity will depend on which performance grade you select, with Performance offering around 50,000 miles, Summer Performance offering 30,000 miles, and R-Compounds offering about 15,000-20,000 miles. 

Another factor to consider is their use. The more you use and abuse your performance tires, the faster they’ll wear out.

Here at The Drive, we’ve come up with a handy-dandy tire health checklist that you can easily follow. Below is everything you’ll need to make sure your tires are safe to use. 

A lot can go wrong with a tire, so it’s important to constantly check that it’s up to snuff. Look for and be aware of these factors when examining the health of your tires: 

The U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) requires that all tires must list the month and year the tires were produced on the sidewall. On tires made in 2000 or newer, this can be found in the last four digits of the Tire Identification Number. 

Of those four digits, the first two convey the month, and the last two convey the year. For example, a tire that reads DOT U2LL LMLR 3209 means it was made in the 32nd week of 2009. Before 2000, three digits were used, with the first two digits translating to the month and the last digit marking the year.

This test is slightly old, but it gives you a better sense of what performance tires are and what they are meant to handle.

The Drive and its partners may earn a commission if you purchase a product through one of our links. Read more.