Looking for new tires for your vehicle? Buying tires can be a confusing process, but with the help of a good mechanic and some research, you can get the best tires for your vehicle. Below we have put together a few tips that can help you when making your purchase.

Special thanks to Hankook Tire Canada for making the process easy for us when selecting our new tires this last spring.

How to Buy The Right Tires for your Vehicle

Cheaper is not always best:  Look for the best overall value – the cheapest generally isn’t the best value, and neither is the most expensive. Don’t try to save a little money on your tires.

Always buy a full, matching set of tires: Replacing all four tires at once is the best way to go when changing your vehicle’s tires. You will maintain them better as they are designed to work best as a set.

Check your vehicle’s manual and tire code: Each vehicle has different recommendations about the size and type of tires that work best for that vehicle. If you don’t have a manual check with your mechanic as they may be able to make a recommendation as well.

Tires also have codes marked on the sidewalls with details regarding the tire’s place and date of manufacture, the maximum inflation pressure, maximum load rating, materials, treadwear, traction and temperature grades. Your mechanic can help you decipher the meaning of all the numbers.

Choose the right tire for the season: You will have to choose between summer, all-season or winter tires. Do some research and figure out what you need the most depending on your location and how you will be driving.

Know when you have to get new tires: Get your tires regularly inspected for excessive tread wear or cracks. Your mechanic will be able to recommend a tire change, especially if your tires are ten years old or older.

We recently got a set of new tires, and I had to go through the process of figuring out which size and type of tires were the best for our Rav4. I checked our vehicle’s manual and got help from our mechanic. We ended up getting a set of Hankook 4-Season tires, and we’ve had them for a few months now. I love that they are ideal for all surfaces and so far they have been perfect for the summer. For us picking 4- season tires made the most sense since they provide excellent driving performance under all weather conditions.

Have you changed your tires recently? Do you have any tips to add? Comment below with your tips!

Disclosure: This is a partnered post with Hankook Tire. However, all opinions and views on this post are 100% my own.