Tires in Costa Rica – considerations and popular brands

Tires for SUVs and Trucks in Costa Rica

In this article we don’t make you read all the way through to get to the good stuff. Most used cars don’t have very good tires.

Unless you buy from me, because we always seem to get new tires and then for one reason or another decide to sell the car!

It isn’t unusual for a used car dealer to put new tires on a car they offer for sale, this will be factored into their profit margin, but quite often they buy the cheapest possible tires that won’t wear very well. Many cars have “good” tires, they will pass inspection and are in decent condition, but also will probably need replacing sooner rather than later. And finally, quite often SUVs in San Jose have good highway tires, but our clients live mostly in rural and coastal areas and want something more suitable for that type of terrain.

So tires are something we commonly look at and explain to people what they need to know, read further if you would like to know more too!

HT Tire Tread

All season tires vs. Summer tiresIn Costa Rica it doesn’t snow (historically), so we don’t see studded snow tires. Chains can be useful for some people, but not the general population. Sometimes you might find an all season tires, particularly if they are already on a newer car and were the original factory tires.

But in general, a good quality summer tire will do very well on the roads here, it is more important to consider the tread type you need.

Highway Tires (HT)Highway tires are for urban and highway use. Depending on the quality and the manufacturer, the tires can be specially shaped for better performance on curves, have special tread markings to reduce noise, can be more or less flexible for better grip and have design features that improve fuel economy.

The design of the HT tire features smooth grooves that run along the tire face, they are channels that remove water from the roadway and allow the tread to maintain better contact with the road surface. The shoulder of the tire is the “corner” that transitions the from the tread face to the sidewall. The shoulder can have design features that enhance performance or reduce noise, for example.

All Terrain (AT) Tread

A good AT tread tire will perform well for highway driving, but also offers a rough tread design that eliminates the smooth grooves featured on the tire face of an HT tire. This doesn’t mean it doesn’t channel water from the roadway, but it does reduce it. However, you also gain traction in slippery places like grass, sand, or gravel roads. Also, mossy rocks or water puddles or on river crossings are situations where the improved traction is necessary even when using the 4×4 capability of an offroad vehicle.

A general rule of thumb is that an AT tire is designed for 80% highway use and 20% offroad use. There can be more and less aggressive treads on these tires, and some will lose quite a bit of fuel economy compared to HT tires, at the same time they have a design that will withstand the types of blows received in rural areas from rocks and other road hazards.

Mud Tires (MT) Tread

These are even more aggressive than the AT tires, with much deeper tread and more spaces between the knobs in order to fling mud off the tire and improve traction on each pass of the wheel.

The only problem with the mud tire is that then they are not designed for highway use, if you are driving the vehicle strictly on gravel or dirt roads and rarely use paved roads, then it could be a good option.

A beach buggy or working farm truck would be good examples of this usage case. When these types of tires are used on paved roads daily, they can break apart in as little as 3 months, even if they are premium tires.

Information on the Sidewall

Tire Size – this is the most important possibly, there are two places to get this figure. You can look on the tires you are replacing, and this is the main information sales people use to gauge if they have anything in stock. If you are not replacing tires you bought yourself, then it would also be advisable to check on the vehicle door frame, the driver’s side door normally has a plaque showing the original size.

Sometimes manufacturers use odd tire sizes to pass fuel economy tests, and there different measurements than tires you actually find on the market in Costa Rica. There are tire conversion charts that will give you equivalent sizes, as long as the circumference is within 3 to 5% of the original size you are good to go with a little wider or higher tire, without being concerned about increasing wear and tear on the drive train or steering linkages. Or smaller of course.

 

Tire Size – this is the most important possibly, there are two places to get this figure. You can look on the tires you are replacing, and this is the main information sales people use to gauge if they have anything in stock. If you are not replacing tires you bought yourself, then it would also be advisable to check on the vehicle door frame, the driver’s side door normally has a plaque showing the original size.

Sometimes manufacturers use odd tire sizes to pass fuel economy tests, and there different measurements than tires you actually find on the market in Costa Rica. There are tire conversion charts that will give you equivalent sizes, as long as the circumference is within 3 to 5% of the original size you are good to go with a little wider or higher tire, without being concerned about increasing wear and tear on the drive train or steering linkages. Or smaller of course.

 

These images show tire size and ratings

Getting a slightly larger and more rugged tire is a good way to improve the off-road performance of an SUV or truck, without spending a lot of additional money.

The tires size is expressed something like 265/65R17. In this case, you have 265mm of tread width measured across the face of the tire. The second number tells you that the height of the tire is 65% of the tread width. And the R17 designates the rim size – 17 inches.

The above size is for a light duty pickup truck, it offers a good width for highway driving and off-road use, as well as a good amount of tire height, for cushioning bumps from obstacles on and offroad.

SUVs that are more urban in nature can have bigger rims, but actual less clearance in the wheel wheels, you will see that the tires are lower profile, maybe the height is 40 or 45% of the tread width. This is somewhat a disadvantage, very low profile tires do not work well on gravel roads and rough terrain.

DOT Ratings and Age of the Tire

Different countries have different standards and registration systems for tires and vehicle safety in general. In North and Central America most tires carry the DOT registration numbers. You will see the manufacturer name – DOT – model number — serial number with date of manufacture. One key piece of information is the manufacturer date which is always 4 digits in a circle, with or without the serial number. It is expressed as two digits for the week and 2 digits for the year, in this example 4523 means the 45th week of 2023. So the tire was manufactured in late November of that year.

Tires that are in storage last about 10 years, when they are stored properly. 6 years is a maximum life span even if used sparingly, but once they are on the vehicle.

In general it isn’t bad to purchase from a larger distributor that will have moved their inventory frequently. And at the same time you can check the date and ask for a newer tire if they happened to give you one from the back stock room.

Other Country Markings – you may see CCC on tires made in China, and EU or E on European market tires (tyres).

Load and Speed Ratings

The load and speed rating is another key piece of information shown on the tire sidewall. The number is the load rating, charts will show in kilograms or pounds the absolute maximum weight each tire can bear. This would include the weight of the vehicle plus any passengers or cargo.

The letter is the speed rating, which will be shown in miles per hour or kilometers per hour in the chart.

While the owner’s manual may specify the recommended rating, really the driving conditions will be the best guideline. In Costa Rica the load rating could me more important, since speed limits are not more than 90 or 100 kilometers per hour even on the best roads.

While more is better, keep in mind that the price, durability and fuel efficiency will all be affected by these ratings. Getting a tire that bears a lot of weight, for example, might sound good – but if you don’t really need it then you may lose out on better fuel economy for capacity you don’t really need.

What Brands People Like

With tires, the brand isn’t so important as far as popularity. You don’t need the same thing everyone else has to maximize ease of maintenance or consider resale value. At the same time, popular brands generally have a good ratio of price to quality, they are popular for a reason.

Interestingly, there is a Firestone factory in Costa Rica, the tires aren’t necessarily less expensive. But you can buy local in this case, and Firestone and Bridgestone tires are recognized as good quality.

There are a lot of Chinese tires on the market and the quality and price varies greatly. There are some Chinese tire brands that offer 5 year warranties and are competitive in value. There are others that are inexpensive and categorized as unsafe in online reviews and forums.

But buying a known brand doesn’t always guarantee good service or that the quality is the same as before. Sometimes the distributor is more important than the specific brand, many places offer free rotation and balancing every 5000 kilometers for example.

Prices for Tires in Costa Rica

As with other vehicle parts, you will often choose between paying more for higher quality and getting cheaper tires that won’t last as long.

We recently priced tires for one of our cars, and these were the types of options we found.

Bridgestone Potenza S001 MO
Made in Costa Rica, 102Y , $240 per tire, 2 year warranty

Maxtrek Maximus
Chinese, 102Y, $150 per tire, 2 year warranty

Maxxis vs5
Indonesian, 102Y, $190 per tire, 5 year warranty

Falken FK520
Japanese, 102Y, $195 per tire, 5 year warranty

There are a lot of Chinese tires on the market and the quality and price varies greatly. There are some Chinese tire brands that offer 5 year warranties and are competitive in value. There are others that are inexpensive and categorized as unsafe in online reviews and forums.

But buying a known brand doesn’t always guarantee good service or that the quality is the same as before. 

Sometimes the distributor is more important than the specific brand, many places offer free rotation and balancing every 5000 kilometers, for example.

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