The touring tires, as per their names, are made for long routes tours on different terrains and conditions. This tire category has the purpose of delivering durable rides in versatile conditions. Back when tires sold for their seasons, like summer tires or winter tires, the introduction of touring tires broadened the driver’s tire choices.
Now, drivers have a variety of options to pick tires from: all-season touring tires, summer touring tires, all-season performance tires, and many more. The customer has knowledge and preferences, which they consider before buying tires, unlike old times, when OEM tires were the only tire car drivers known to.
With time, the increasing demand for personalized performance tires, the tire manufacturers have further broadened the categories. Now, there are sub-sub-categories in touring.
The choice of choosing between bias ply or radial tire has come as far as having options like grand touring or highway touring tires. With time, this will keep getting deeper as technology evolves and advancement comes.
Comparison chart between categories
| Standard Touring Tire | Grand Touring Tires | Highway Touring Tires | Summer Touring Tires | |
| Comfort | 9 | 9.5 | 8.5 | 9 |
| Durability | 9 | 8 | 9.5 | 8 |
| Responsive | 8 | 8.5 | 8.5 | 9 |
| Fuel efficiency | 9 | 8.5 | 8 | 8.5 |
| Strong Built | 8.5 | 8.5 | 9.5 | 8.5 |
You probably think there are only touring tires and performance tires when it comes to tire choices. However, there are multiple tire options in these broad categories as well. Even though they are part of the touring tire franchise, there is a difference in performance, and if you clear out your preferences to the tire specialist, they might recommend a specific touring tire category.
Standard Touring Tire
The standard touring tires are the most common ones, some drivers think this is the only touring tires. These tires are so impactful when it comes to durability and long-term tire life. Drivers with the need for comfort, fuel efficiency, and long tread life move toward this category of touring tires.
Read about the best tires available in the standard touring tires category: https://www.tiredepth.com/best-tires/best-touring-tires-to-buy/
Grand Touring Tires
This category of touring tires is a little less durable than standard ones. The reason is that they are more toward comfort and ride in different conditions. If you buy all-season touring and all-season grand touring tires, the grand touring tire will perform far better in snow and difficult conditions. With that, the prices are also higher for this tire. The comfort and quality ride are uncompeteable; this category of touring tire is best for luxurious rides.
Read about the best grand touring tire: https://www.tiredepth.com/best-tires/best-grand-touring-tires/
Highway Touring Tires
This is the category for drivers looking for long-route rides, which is why it’s called highway tires. With long-route smooth drive, these tires are strong in build and much more capable of carrying heavy weights compared to other touring tires. Tires in this category might have lower comfort, but they are equally durable and comfortable at the same time.
Find out the Best tires in the Touring Highway category: https://www.tiredepth.com/best-tires/highway-touring-tires/
Summer Touring Tires
Almost every touring tire is all-season, which makes the summer touring tires a little different than others. The summer touring tires are much more capable of driving at a faster pace and have more responsive rides, which other touring tires lack. Just like any summer tires, the touring summer tires also have shorter tread life and are not driveable in snow terrains.
Read about the best summer touring tires available in 2024: https://www.tiredepth.com/best-tires/best-summer-touring-tires/
Touring vs. grand touring tire
Touring and grand touring tires are somewhat similar in performance,.the purpose of both these tires is to make drivers feel comfortable when driving in different conditions. The grand touring category is like an upgraded version of the touring tire, it is more versatile, more comfortable, better performance, with higher price ranges.
The touring tire is also greater in other things, for achieving better performance in grand touring tires, manufacturers have to compromise with tread life. So standard touring tires have better tread life and also greater fuel economy.
Touring vs. Highway Tires
The highway touring tires are designed for highway-style driving. Mostly they are in sizes of light trucks and SUVs. the differentiating point between standard touring and highway touring tires is that highway tires can carry far more weight than any touring tires.
Drivers of minivans and light trucks go for this category. Similarly, by achieving higher weight limits, manufacturers compromised the speed limits, comfort, and stability. Even though this category of tires is more expensive and durable, they are not as comfortable as other touring tires.
Advantages of Touring Tires
Comfortable and luxurious rides
Touring tires are best known for their comfortable and quiet rides. This is the USP of touring tires and drivers buy these tires just for this cause. Most luxurious car brands like Mercedez and Audi have these tires installed to maximize the luxurious ride of these cars.
Durable Treadwear
With comfort, touring tires are also the best when it comes to tread life. These tires can run for more than 7-8 years of regular drive. Some standard touring tires now come with a treadwear warranty of 90k-100k miles. This is the reason why regular everyday drivers prefer the touring tires category over performance tires.
Low rolling resistance
Compared to off-road and all-terrain tires, touring tires have great fuel efficiency. The difference of 2-3 MPGs can be seen when switching from all-terrain to touring tires.
Disadvantages of touring tires
Low response on handling
The touring tires compared to performance have low response on handling. So when it comes to performance, just like the name performance tires are more beneficial. The performance of brake, speed, handling, and acceleration all went down with the touring tires.
Low-speed ratings
Usually, max-performance or high-performance tires have a speed rating of Y(186mph), and touring tires have a speed rating ranging from V-W (149 to 168mph). That is why you see performance tires with sports-oriented sedans and crossovers.
Prone to damaged
Compared to off-road rugged tires, touring tires have a weaker build and are easier to get damaged in contact with extreme conditions. Punctures and flats are common with touring tires even on city streets.
Touring Tires In Different Conditions
Warm Weather and Dry conditions
Warm weather is favorable for touring tires, due to the tire construction and the build of these tires. Although performance tires also achieve greater results in warm weather, for longer routes highway touring tires deliver much stable and smoother rides.
Performance in rain and slippery conditions
Usually touring tires have multiple grooves and sipes that stabilize in wet conditions. Compared to performance tires, touring tires are more capable of handling rain and delivering safe and reliable rides in slippery conditions.
Winter and Snow terrains
Standard all-season touring tires deliver fair results in light snow conditions and are not recommended in difficult winter terrains. However, the grand touring tires, are more capable of handling snow terrains, especially ones that come with 3PMSF certificates.
Mud and off-roads
Almost all touring tires struggle in mud and off-terrain situations, except a few highway touring tires. Mud terrain requires strong built with deeper tread wear, and if the touring tire has these things, comfort, and fuel efficiency will be disturbed. This is why the tires that handle extreme conditions, are so poor in comfort and have bad fuel economy.
FAQs
Are touring tires expensive?
Touring tires are the least expensive one: performance and all-terrain tires are far more expensive than touring. However it depends on the tire brand and quality, you may find a low-quality performance tire cheaper than a high-quality touring tire.
What is the difference between a touring tire and a regular tire?
There is no such thing as regular tires, especially in 2024. Every tire is now made under these categories, and there are not many categories out there. As the tire category is not mentioned on tire sidewalls, it is hard to identify the tire category.
Do touring tires last longer?
Generally, touring tires have higher tread durability compared to any other category. So, yes touring tires last longer and are much more durable than any other tires.
What type of tire gives the smoothest ride?
Any touring tire will provide a far more comfortable and smother ride than the best performance tire. Because this is what touring tires are made for. So if you are after a smoother ride, the touring tire should be your number one choice.
What is the difference between touring tires and all-season
Touring tire is the name of a category however all-season tire is the condition at which tires can be driven. Touring tires and all-season tires can be in one tire, however touring and performance tires can not be with each other.