What You Need to Know About UHP Tires

Ultra-high-performance tires can handle the extra horsepower of sports cars, but they’re pricier and don’t last as long as regular all-season tires.

Like the rest of the enhancements in those sporty models, UHP tires really can improve the performance of a vehicle. They enhance a car’s grip and cornering capability, and better dissipate heat—a tire’s worst enemy. But they also come with a trade-off: They tend to wear out faster than regular all-season tires usually found on family cars.

If you already own a car that’s designed to use UHP tires, you shouldn’t try to switch to lower-speed-rated tires when it comes time to buy replacements. Putting lower-performing tires on a high-performance car is like forcing a sprinter to run in clogs: You’ll definitely slow him down—and you might break one of his ankles.

So stick with UHP tires if your car is already equipped with them. But that doesn’t mean you need to replace them with the same brand and model. In fact, you might find longer-wearing or better-performing tires in our ratings, which can help guide you to the best UHP tires for your car.

The special features of UHP tires at a glance:

• Optimum grip in all driving situations;
  
• Precise steering behavior;
• Short braking distances in dry and wet conditions;
• Very high safety during braking;

Focusing on asymmetry in tread pattern design. This means that the outer shoulder of the tire is different from the inner shoulder. This has a particularly positive effect on handling and cornering;

Massive center bands on the tire ensure high stiffness in the tire, providing fine steering precision and responsive feedback to the driver.

You take “spirited” drives (while observing speed limits and all road laws of course) You don’t need a race track to appreciate the advantages of UHP tires. Through the corners of your favorite back road, and certainly on windy mountain roads, UHP tires will shine with consistent performance and feedback, compared to lesser alternatives.

You participate in or want to participate in driving events like autocross & HPDE

In an autocross or track environment, UHP tires are just about mandatory, even at the beginner/novice level. In these driving contexts tires are subject to repeat, ongoing stresses that are too much for standard tires. Serious sidewall and tread damage, as well as hazardously variable traction (grip), there through one corner and not the next, can occur inside one session with non-performance tires.

Modern UHP tires like the Continental ExtremeContact Sport and Michelin Pilot Sport 4 S are specifically engineered to withstand these stresses and deliver sustained performance. Dual purpose, road, and track performance tires have reached a new high point with the current generation.

If You’re someone who appreciates vehicle handling, dynamics, and feel

UHP tires bring out whatever “goods” your vehicle chassis has to offer and deliver the greatest amount of road and chassis feedback. If you enjoy being engaged with your car and the road, then UHP tires will add to that sense of connectivity/involvement.

We finance UHP tires with no credit needed! We also stock more UHP tires in our tire rack than any other discount tire dealer!