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# Tire Basics

SUV Tire Buying Guide

How to Choose the Right Tires for Your SUV

Fast facts

Key Factors When Choosing Tires for Your SUV

  • Is your SUV (sport utility vehicle) electric, hybrid or a traditional combustion engine? How powerful is your SUV? And how large and heavy is it? This will determine what tires it needs.
  • Will you drive your SUV on-road or off-road? Does your vehicle have four-wheel drive? This will also determine the type of tires you need.
  • If you’re not sure, find out whether your SUV is off-road capable or what the differences are in four-wheel drive.

If you're looking for new SUV tires, there are a number of things to consider to ensure the safety and quality of your new tires – as well as a smooth and enjoyable drive. As there’s a huge variety of sport utility vehicle models available, it’s important to select the right tires to suit your specific SUV. This article will explore the things you need to consider before buying tires and why your specific category of SUV requires certain specifications.

A family is loading their car, ready for holidays.

How to choose the right SUV tires

At Continental, we’ll help you find the perfect tire to suit your SUV. Some key things you’ll want your tires to be capable of – depending on the road surface – are the following:

How to choose on-road tires:

  • Reliable braking performance in all weather conditions;
  • High level of protection against aquaplaning;
  • Excellent grip and braking performance;
  • Substantial road noise reduction for a smooth ride when on-road driving;
  • High mileage

How to choose off-road tires

  • Good level of robustness, so they can withstand the shock of rocks and other off-road hazards;
  • Long-lasting quality, so your tire tread can maintain optimum grip to get you further on your off-road adventures;
  • Ability to drive safely on a variety of different surfaces including tarmac roads;
  • Enhanced snow and wet traction for better driving safety. Most off-road tires have m+s or 3pms to distinguish this.

The right tires for every type of SUV in every driving situation

Depending on where you live and the type of SUV you have, the conditions will place different demands on your tires. Below are some situations you might relate to, and suggestions for Continental tires

The best SUV tires for winter conditions

If you live in an area where the winters are especially demanding, you may need 4WD (four-wheel drive) to tackle snow, ice, mud, and steep inclines. If you can relate to this, you likely need winter tires that have an aggressive tread pattern for grip on loose terrain – particularly wet snow and mud.

If your living and driving conditions reflect or are similar to this, here are some Continental winter tires to consider for your SUV:

CrossContact™ Winter: especially designed for SUV and off-road vehicles, it offers excellent traction and braking performance on snow and wet roads and with its robust sidewalls, you will be able to avoid the shock of rocks and other off-road hazards.

Pdocut picture ContiCrossContact-Winter

4x4WinterContact: also especially engineered for SUVs and off-road vehicles, this versatile tire offers excellent resistance to aquaplaning and also provides great traction and braking performance.

4x4 WinterContact

The best SUV tires for city living and weekend adventures

If you drive your crossover on tarmac roads but often switch to irregular terrains for weekends away on country gravel roads, you will benefit from an all-terrain tire with an interlocking tread design. It provides the durability to conquer dirt, gravel, and grass, but also offers a quieter, comfortable ride on paved roads.

Here are some Continental summer and all-season tires to consider for your crossover or SUV:

  • CrossContact™ RX: designed for crossovers and SUVs, this tire offers significant road noise reduction for a smooth and quiet ride every day, best of all, it has enhanced wet traction for better driving safety – especially for those longer trips away.
  • ContiCrossContact™ LX 2: engineered for SUVs and crossovers, this tire provides outstanding traction for light off-road use and it also has great handling properties and excellent wet braking.

Performance SUV Tires

Performance SUVs combine the speed and acceleration of a sports car with the robustness of an off-road vehicle.

Fast, heavy vehicles place the highest demands on tires. To exploit performance SUVs full potential and ensure safety at the same time, suitable high-performance tires are required.

Electric or hybrid SUV tires

An electric or hybrid SUV has lower emissions, maintenance costs, and engine noise. However, there is almost an additional 30% increase in the weight of electric cars due to the battery they require. This weight places a lot of strain on the tires of electric vehicles.

In addition, the instant torque of electric vehicles provides immediate acceleration, which puts much more stress on the tires.

We’ve adapted our products to fit the specific needs of alternatively powered vehicles

SUV infographic

Do all SUVs have four-wheel drive?

The short answer is: no. Mainly off-road SUVs have four-wheel drive (4WD). Others, however, do not. This goes especially for small, compact or so-called crossover SUVs, which combine the best of both worlds: escaping the city and managing daily business such as driving to work or parking in tight city spaces.

Learn about the differences between SUV, 4WD and AWD

Can I take my SUV off-road?

Most SUVs can handle light off-road driving, but their real capability depends on several factors, including drivetrain, ground clearance and, most importantly, the tires fitted. Many modern SUVs and crossovers are designed primarily for on-road use, meaning they can cope with gravel roads, grass or mild dirt tracks, but are not suitable for demanding off-road terrain.

If your SUV is equipped with four-wheel drive (4WD or AWD), it will generally offer better traction and stability on loose or uneven surfaces. However, even vehicles with four-wheel drive require appropriate off-road or all-terrain tires to perform safely and effectively outside paved roads.

Before taking your SUV off-road, consider:

  • The type of terrain you plan to drive on (mud, sand, rocks or snow)
  • Whether your vehicle is designed for off-road use or mainly urban driving
  • Tire features such as reinforced sidewalls, tread depth and grip on loose surfaces

Find out more about off-road driving

FAQ

In general, you can use CUV (Compact Utility Vehicle) tires on an SUV. Both CUVs and SUVs are usually heavier than passenger cars and therefore require tires with a higher load capacity and durability.

CUV and SUV tires are often interchangeable, as they are designed for the specific requirements of these vehicle types. However, make sure that the tires match the needs of your SUV, especially the specific weight or performance requirements and the intended use.

This is probably not a good idea. In general, it is not recommended to mount passenger car tires on an off-road vehicle. Smaller CUVs or SUVs might be compatible with passenger car tires, but larger SUVs and vehicles designed for heavy loads usually require a stronger tire construction and higher load capacity.

If you plan to go off-road, you will also need all-terrain tires designed for off-road use.

You may already know that the legal limit for tread depth on regular road tires is 1.6 mm. However, keep in mind that safe driving in wet and snowy weather conditions is affected by the tread depth, pattern design and rubber compound of the tread of your tires. On wet or snow-covered roads, braking performance will progressively decline with lower tread depths. On wet roads, there is an additional increased risk of aquaplaning with fading tread depths.

The legal limit for tread depth also applies to small to medium SUVs or crossovers.

 

Therefore, check your tires regularly.

If you own an SUV with 4X4 capabilities, the limitations for tread depth are different. Some off-road tires may begin with 20 mm of tread depth, but once they get worn down, the tire will stop working effectively and will be unsafe. As you can imagine, once the shoulders and tread of an off-road tire get worn down, it will have far less traction on tough terrains like mud, grass, and snow.

Whether your SUV has 4X4 capabilities or not, you will know when it’s time to replace your tires by its tread wear indicators (TWI). Sometimes known as wear bars, they are evenly spaced throughout the grooves of the tire tread. If they are level with the tread, the tire must be replaced as soon as possible

On the sidewall of your tires, amongst other figures, you will see a single letter. This letter refers to your tire’s speed rating index, or in other words, how fast it can be driven. Each letter ranging from A-Z denotes the maximum speed a tire can sustain under its recommended load capacity.

For off-road SUVs, there’s an exception. These tires will often have a lower speed index rating compared to on-road tires because they often carry a lot more weight. In fact, you could expect most Continental tires for off-road usages to have a “Q” to “S” rating, which is about 160-180km/h (around 99-112 mph), while tires suited for on-road usage have at least a “T” rating, which is about 190 km/h (around 118 mph). Although they have a lower speed index, they often have a higher load index to carry the additional weight of 4X4 vehicles. And of course, while your tire can perform at this speed, you should never exceed legal speed limits.

While most off-road SUVs lack in speed when compared to sedans, SUV tires are typically equipped with have a much higher load index. The load index is the maximum capacity a tire can carry. And as you might have guessed, the higher the load index number, the greater the tire's load-carrying capacity. This is especially important when you need to tow a trailer. It is also vital to note that the load index rating represents the load-carrying capacity of tires inflated to their maximum tire pressure; this means the load-carrying capacity will go down as the tire pressure is reduced.

If you have a small-medium SUV that is purely used for on-road purposes, the same rule applies. You can also find the full details about your minimum tire load index in your vehicle’s manufacturer’s manual. If you’re ever in doubt, visit your local tire specialist.

 

The right tire pressure ensures optimal traction and grip on any terrain and gives you more mileage for your fuel. If you're unsure what the pressure of your SUV tires should be, refer to your vehicle's manual.

Here’s how to check your SUV's tire pressure.

On-road or highway tires, including those for crossover SUVs, should be replaced at least every ten years – including the spare. This upper age limit applies if they have been properly looked after with routine checks, have no damage and the tread meets the minimum depth requirements. We suggest replacing off-road SUV tires at least every five years if they're used frequently in off-road conditions, or to have them checked every year once they reach the five-year mark. Off-road SUV tires don’t last as long as regular vehicle tires, because the tread gets worn down much faster with the weight of the vehicle and the tough terrain it crosses. Learn more about replacing your SUV tires.

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