Don’t use sports tyres on cars, warns Royal Oman Police

Residents in Oman have been warned not to fit their cars with sports tyres, which are often found on professional racing cars and are commonly used by higher-end automobile manufacturers.

However, despite residents in Oman displaying a fondness for upgrading their cars with these tyres, the ROP is attempting to dissuade them from doing so, because their wider rims mean they take longer to stop, thereby leading to sometimes fatal accidents, especially if the drivers mis-judge the distance required to come to a complete halt on wet roads.

"The sport tyres, which have a small tread depth, need a greater brake distance while driving on the wet roads as compared to normal tires," said the ROP in a statement online. "Where the sport tyres need a distance of 31.6 metres to reduce speed from 80 km/hr to 20 km/hr, normal tyres only needed a 26 metre long stretch.

The announcement comes in the wake of tests conducted by the German Quality Control Agency, which conducted tests on the above. While tests on wet roads favoured regular tyres, cars equipped with sports tyres took a slightly shorter amount of time to stop on dry roads, requiring 32.5 metres come to a complete halt while driving at 100 km/hr, as opposed to regular wheels, which needed a distance of 36.2 metres.

"However, sport tyres should be used only in race tracks," added the ROP. "In everyday life, sports tyres do not meet the requirements of everyday use, because of theability to drive on wet and muddy roads, and the unreasonable consumption of fuel."