If you're in the process of shopping for new tires for your vehicle, you likely feel a bit overwhelmed with all of the options that you have to pick from. There are three types of tires—summer, winter, and all-season—and while each category name can give you a general idea about what they will do, there are many differences between them all. Here is what you need to know about the three main tire categories.

Summer Tires

The main benefit of summer tires is that they are going to excel in two main categories that the other tires do not, which are handling and dry braking. You'll find that summer tires are going to perform the best during dry road conditions, giving you the best performance at stopping your vehicle. That said, summer tires are also very good in wet braking conditions as well. They don't perform as well as they do in dry conditions, but, of the three categories, they are the best at wet braking.

Summer tires take a dip in performance when it comes to things such as the overall ride comfort and the rolling resistance of the tire. They also perform the worst when it comes to traction in the snow.

Winter Tires 

Winter tires perform in the opposite of the way that summer tires do since they have deeper treads that are better for handling traction in snow. In fact, you'll find that winter tires perform the best in snowy road conditions. Winter tires are also going to have the best overall ride comfort.

When it comes to rolling resistance, winter tires are on par with all-season tires and they create the same level of noise as summer tires. Winter tires are also going to have the worst performance when it comes to handling, dry braking, and wet braking. 

All-Season Tires

Your all-season tires are going to perform in the middle of the pack when it comes to most categories, making it a great compromise for people that don't want to change their tires with the seasons. They fall somewhere between summer and winter tires in the categories of handling, dry braking, wet braking, ride comfort, and snow traction. 

The one category where all-season tires tend to perform a bit better than the others is the ride noise category, with them slightly outperforming the other two tires in that category. All-season tires are also on par with winter tires for rolling resistance, making them top in their class in that category as well.

Reach out to a tire dealer for more information on these three tire categories.