Tires are one of the most essential parts that you have on your vehicle. While I am looking for new tires for my car, I cannot help to wonder what the difference between all these tires and most importantly, what tires should I use on my 2003 Ford Taurus is? Here is what I found through my research.
Most drivers prefer all-season tires; this way they do not have to change their tires multiple times every year depending on the season. Also, with the all-season tread pattern, you will have traction in all types of weather instead of just one kind of season. That makes complete sense when you think about it, but is it the best choice to make for your vehicle? Let’s look further into this and see what we can find.
Have you ever looked into the advantages of spending more on your brake pads? Don’t worry, I have and what I found is here in my article.
When should I replace the tires on my 2003 Ford Taurus?
In the case you are checking your tire depth with a depth gauge, your tires should be replaced if the tread is lower than 4/32″. When the tread is smaller than this, it decreases the handling ability of the tires in all weather conditions.
I know tires can be pricey when you are looking at a replacement set. Tires
are also the part of the car that keeps you from sliding into the median on the busy highway. So when you say it like that, it reminds you how valuable those tires are in their mission of keeping you safe.
Now in the case that your tire is not only worn, but the tire braids are showing. This is a clear indication that your tires need to be replaced at least the one that is damaged. Also if that worn spot isn’t across the entire tire but only on one side.
Then you need to check your alignment while you have the vehicle in the shop. Did you know that your tires affect not only your fuel mileage but the brain control of your car as well?
I would say the easiest way to say it is the tires are the part of your vehicle that puts everything to the pavement. How important is 1000 horsepower in your car if you cannot put that power to the ground?
How important are new brakes if your tires have no tread and skid often? Remember your tires work hand in hand with your vehicle to give you a fantastic ride.
Winter is coming, and we need to be ready for it, make sure your vehicle is prepared by checking out my article 6 Simple Ways to Stay Safe on Snow Covered Roads. You will be glad you did!
Are different tires better than others for my 2003 Ford Taurus?
This is one question I had to ask myself when trying to pick new tires for our family vehicle. You want to have a quiet ride, so you look for a tire that has quiet road noise. But then you also wish to have excellent traction as well in dry and wet weather conditions.
Then you don’t want to burn through a lot of tires over one year; of course, this part depends on how much driving you do. So I started looking, and there are a lot of tire choices out there, but I mainly summed all the options up to a few categories. We have all season, performance, and winter.
Yes, there are racing slicks as well as another category, but I was looking for tires for a Chrysler Town and Country, so it does not need slicks on it. Haha, that goes the same for the performance tires, and the winter tires will not help year-round due to the spikes on them.
Yes, there are winter tires that do not have spikes, but to be honest, the best winter tires I have ever owned were Blizzaks.
I used those tires on the truck I owned in Canada, and they never lost traction even in a whiteout blizzard. If tires can withstand a Canadian blizzard you know, they are excellent quality! So the tires I looked for were all-season tires, with a low road-noise rating, and a high traction rating in dry and wet weather conditions.
I am going to replace all four tires at once, so they all have the same wear pattern, and it is risky to replace just two at once. If you do replace only two tires at once make sure
you put the two brand new tires on the rear tires. This was when you go to make a turn with your vehicle you do not fishtail due to the low tread pattern of the old tires. Here are the tires that I bought from Amazon for our Ford Taurus.
Tire Rack has researched this study and has shown that the deeper tread pattern from the new tires make maintaining control of the vehicle more manageable for the driver if the new tires are installed on the rear of the car, by doing this you are increasing the resistance of your car hydroplaning in wet weather conditions.
So make sure you go through the list when picking out your new tires and see which ones are best for you and your vehicle.
As I said, I didn’t know which tires to go with when I was picking new tires out until I went to Tire Rack and their tire rating and store helped me make the best decision for my family and our vehicle.
Here is a link to Tire Rack I highly recommend using their research tool to help you research what tires are best for you. But through my research, I found these tires from Amazon to match our needs on our Ford Taurus.
You will be surprised by this one here’s my article on 12 Crucial Maintenance Things to Check on your Vehicle.
Why should I use specific tires for my 2003 Ford Taurus?
Well besides the fact that your tire offset and tread pattern are particular when it comes to finding a tire for the 2003 Ford Taurus. You need to decide what you desire of your tire for your vehicle. You are not going to put a tire that is good for a Ford Mustang on your Ford Taurus.
The vehicles do not do the same thing unless you have the SHO model Ford
Taurus; in that case, you might want to look at performance tires. When I say why should you use a specific tire for your Ford Taurus I meant the specifics you look for of your tire. If you are looking for a quiet ride because you and your family enjoy doing road trips together, then you would be looking for a calm road noise with your tire.
That is the specific requirement that you are looking for in your tire. I know you understand how annoying the tire rumble can become after you pass one hundred miles with children in the backseat, it makes my skin tingle just thinking about it. In the case that you do have the SHO model Ford Taurus.
Then you would be looking for a performance model tire. These tires have a different tread pattern from an all-season tire, and the materials that make up the tire itself are different as well. With performance tires, the tire manufacturers use a compound that gets hotter quicker.
When your tire is warm, it will grip the road better because it becomes “sticky” per se, that is why you always have seen at the drag race track that cars will do a burnout before the race or Indy cars turn back and forth while getting ready for the lap to start.
Where should I replace the tires on my 2004 Ford Taurus?
There are a couple of options with where should you replace the tires for your 2003 Ford Taurus. There is the option of taking your tires to an auto shop that does tire installations like Wal Mart, Tread Quarters, National Tire, etc.
Then there is the option of doing the tire installation yourself with a manual tire changer that you can purchase through Harbor Freight and Amazon. Here is the Manual Tire Changer on Amazon.
Now the price of the tire installation is going to cost $10 per tire at Walmart and $86 for all four tires at Pep Boys, which is one of the more pricier shops I have seen.
The manual tire changer runs roughly $40 but do not let this option fool you, and it will make up for the cost in sweat and energy that you have to use to change your tire out. I mean why do you think tire shops use a pneumatic (powered by air pressure through an air compressor) tire changing machine?
They use that type of machine because changing tires is a tough job, but you can get it down to a science, so it’s not too bad. So the option is up to you of where you want to go to change your tires, but remember you still need the tires aligned and balanced to have your fuel efficiency as proficient as possible.
I hope you enjoyed my article and it helped you with your problem. Check out my next piece and subscribe to my Youtube channel!
