Are low profile tires just as safe?
Dear Tom and Ray:
When shopping for a new car, we favored the Mazda5, but my wife had one major concern: the low-profile tires. The dealer assured us they were absolutely safe and had standard tires beat. A month after purchasing this car, we caught a hidden pothole, which took out both right-side tires (sidewall bulges), rims, a front strut and a rear shock absorber. In 60 years of driving, having met many a pothole and losing only one tire to them, we've never experienced this degree of damage ($1,800) from a pothole. Are these low-profile tires as safe as standard tires? Or are we the guinea pigs testing these tires?
-- Rick
Ray: Are you sure it was just a pothole, Rick? From the amount of damage you did, it sounds like it may have been a canyon at a national park.
Tom: Or, it sounds like you were going very fast when you hit this pothole.
Ray: Or both. When you hit a large pothole at high speed, no matter what kind of tires you have, you're going to do some damage.
Tom: That said, low-profile tires are more susceptible to road hazards. "Low-profile" means the sidewalls are short. This makes the sidewalls firmer, and less likely to bend and deform on turns, which results in better handling.
Ray: But the downside is that there's less space between the road and your wheels. And if you hit a pothole, jump a curb or drive over your neighbor's granite lawn flamingo, you easily could find yourself in need of a new, $800 alloy wheel or two.
Tom: Plus, there are two other things we don't like about low-profile tires. First, they're noisier. And second, the ride is more punishing, because there's less sidewall rubber to absorb the bumps.
Ray: This is something to keep in mind when you're buying a new car. On some cars (like the Mazda5), you don't have a choice. Mazda obviously felt that the van needed the handling advantage of low-profile tires. But sometimes you do have a choice.
Tom: Dealers often will push optional "bigger wheels." But remember, bigger wheels almost always come with lower-profile tires. Why? Because if the wheels are bigger, the tires have to be smaller so the whole shebang can still fit in the wheel well.
Ray: So our advice, in general, is: Unless you own stock in alloy-wheel companies, stick with standard-size wheels and standard-profile tires when you have the option. Your wife was onto something, Rick.
(Car Talk is a nationally syndicated column by automotive experts (and brothers) Tom and Ray Magliozzi. Write to them at the Car Talk website.)
regardless if you have 30 or 60 side wall. Anything that makes you more alert of the road = better driver, but there is a point which you would not want to compromise for a DD. 45 on 17" would be my ideal balance for a DD.
