Often, when discussing the right choice of car tyres, people are often advised to consider their personal driving style. Yet, for those not in the know, it can be hard to determine what your driving style.
With this in mind, it helps to look at the various factors that help determine your individual style. This, in turn, can help you determine what kind of tyres you need to support how you drive.
What is my driving style?
When people refer to driving style, we are referring to a person’s general method of driving. For the sake of your car’s requirements, it is not important to go into too much detail, but rather answer some key questions, such as:
- Do you like to drive fast?
- Do you like to be assertive, such as confidently overtaking cars, as well as other manoeuvers?
- Do you like to test your car’s capabilities, often driving at the higher end of the speed limit?
- Are you confident when it comes to the likes of corners and turns, or do you bring the car to a much slower speed to be safe?
Of course, there are situations where this changes. Most drivers will generally agree they are more careful in winter (often choosing winter tyres with extra safety parameters as a result). Similarly, people may differ around the globe, with different driving styles in different countries. On this note, you too may also adapt your style when abroad, or in new locations.
Aggressive and dynamic
When people refer to an aggressive or dynamic style, it is often in reference to someone who likes to drive at higher speeds and is more confident in their driving ability. Such a driver, for instance, has no problem moving up a gear when the road is less busy to make use of the available space, while other drivers might simply stay at a more moderate, medium speed.
Confident drivers, are those who drive at high speed, can be said to have a dynamic driving style.
In other ways, this could also be seen as a sporting style. Such drivers like to make the most of their cars, confidently taking them to their limits. Because of this, a premium tyre is often recommended, as this is the most resistant to wear and is able to operate at the higher speeds, as well as more complex maneuvers, such drivers undertake.
Calm and relaxed
On the other hand, you may have a more calm and relaxed style. Contrary to a dynamic style, this focuses on driving at lower speeds and not being aggressive with your car’s maneuvering.
This is important, as it often results in less wear and tear on the car’s tyres, for instance. In this cases a medium class tyre would be more than enough, as a premium class tyre would not provide any extra benefits significant enough to make their extra costs worthwhile.
If you live in the city, your driving style will often be more relaxed, as you can’t drive at higher speeds or engage in dynamic manoeuvers.
Likewise, if you mostly drive within the city, you could also fall into this category. This is because cities tend to have traffic and, combined with short distances, there is less opportunity to reach higher speeds, or attempt complex maneuvers.
Driving style to improve fuel economy
Similar to a relaxed approach, there are also some ways to adapt your driving style for better milage. This is very much similar to a relaxed approach, but it takes into account some more fuel efficient driving factors.
If this is important to you, there are some very specific things you can do to achieve the best driving style for fuel economy. If you fall into this category, you are likely already doing these things.
For instance, do any of the following apply to you?
- Try to stick to an optimum speed of 55 mph, even when you can go faster on a motorway?
- Consciously brake less aggressively, preferring to naturally slowing down, to conserve fuel?
- Undertake carpooling and other methods to reduce the amount of driving itself?
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For some people, their driving style is designed to conserve as much fuel as possible.
If you do any number of these things, then this category likely includes you. When people adopt a driving style for better mileage - whether it’s to avoid driving styles that harm the environment, or simply looking to save money - the right tyres make a big difference.
When it comes to tyres, models with a low rolling resistance are likely a priority. This ensures less fuel is wasted. Generally, an economic tyre or medium class product can provide this feature, as the premium tyres often focus on aggressive driving and handling, which is not something fuel-conscious drivers opt to do.
Understanding your style
As you can see, there are plenty of different ways people can drive their car, but they roughly fall into a small number of different categories. While, naturally, we’ve focused on how this impacts your tyre choice, your general method of driving can influence a great deal of other things too.
Since there are driving styles that can affect performance, people with a dynamic or sporting approach often choose cars that can handle this. This, in turn, results in higher wear of the suspension system and various other parts. Likewise, relaxed drivers may feel more comfortable in a compact city car, where high performance is not a strong issue.