Thinking about upgrading to bigger tyres? This guide explains everything you need to know — from the safety and performance impact to the key benefits and downsides. Learn how tyre size affects comfort, handling, and fuel economy before making the switch.
When selecting tyres for your vehicle, the markings on the sidewall provide information about the ideal size of the tyre, its dimensions, and components like load and speed rating.
Sizing up your tyres is one way to balance particularly heavy loads and can also elevate the vehicle further away from the road surface to create greater ground clearance. While we will go into the benefits of larger tyres later in this article, the first question to ask is more practical: is it possible to fit bigger tyres to a vehicle, and what do you need to consider before doing so?
Consistency Across All Four Axles
One of the biggest things to consider when changing your car tyres is the importance of consistency at all four points around the vehicle.
While most drivers already know that the two front tyres and the two rear wheels need to match in terms of age and tread depth, to ensure a balanced response to handling and braking, if you are changing the size of the tyres this needs to be consistent around the entire vehicle.
The Impact of Tyre Size on Driving Behaviour
Many drivers change their tyres without considering the impact of this change on the vehicle itself.
However, different sized tyres alter the speed of the vehicle, its fuel consumption, and even smaller features like the TPMS and braking systems.
Bigger tyres are heavier, they respond to braking and steering differently, and they can slow the vehicle down. They have such a change on driving behaviour that in-built electronics and systems are no longer considered accurate; something that becomes more of an issue the longer you drive on them.
Is it Safe to Change Tyre Size?
Yes – as long as you ensure the consistency across all four axles and take steps to mitigate misinformation that you may get from the dashboard.
