High performance Tires High performance tires are designed for use at higher speeds, and more often, a more "sporty" driving style. They feature a softer rubber compound for improved traction, especially on high speed cornering. The trade off of this softer rubber is shorter tread life. High performance street tires sometimes sacrifice wet weather handling by having shallower water channels to provide more actual rubber tread surface area for dry weather performance.[citation needed] The ability to provide a high level of performance on both wet and dry pavement varies widely among manufacturers, and even among tire models of the same manufacturer. This is an area of active research and development, as well as marketing. Mud and Snow, (or M+S, or M & S), is a designation applied rather arbitrarily by manufacturers for all-season and winter tires designed to provide improved performance under low temperature conditions, compared to summer tires. The tread compound is usually softer than that used in tires for summer conditions, thus providing better grip on ice and snow, but wears more quickly at higher temperatures. Tires may have well above average numbers of sipes in the tread pattern to grip the ice. There are no traction performance requirements which such a tire has to meet; M & S relates to the percentage of tread void area. Â Mud Tires Mud tires are specialty tires with large, chunky tread patterns designed to bite into muddy surfaces. The large, open design also allows mud to clear quickly from between the lugs. Mud terrain tires also tend to be wider than other tires, to spread the weight of the vehicle over a greater area to prevent the vehicle from sinking too deeply into the mud. However in reasonable amounts of mud and snow, tires should be thinner. Being thinner, the tire will have more pressure on the road surface, thus allowing the tires to penetrate the snow layer and grip harder snow or road surface beneath. This does not compensate when the snow is too deep for such penetration, where the vehicle will sink into the snow and plough the snow in front and eventually pack it beneath it until the wheels no longer have traction. In this case, wider tires are preferred, as they have a larger contact patch and are better able to 'float' on top of the mud or snow. Â All season Tires The All Season tire classification is a compromise between one developed for use on dry and wet roads during summer and one developed for use under winter conditions. The type of rubber and the tread pattern best suited for use under summer conditions cannot, for technical reasons, give good performance on snow and ice. The all-season tire is a compromise, and is neither an excellent summer tire nor an excellent winter tire. They have, however, become ubiquitous as original and replacement equipment on automobiles marketed in the United States, due to their convenience and their adequate performance in most situations. Even so, in other parts of the world, like Germany, it is common to have a designated tire set for winter and summer. All-Season tires are also marked for mud and snow the same as winter tires but rarely with a snowflake. Owing to the compromise with performance during summer, winter performance is usually poorer than a winter tire. Â All-terrain Tires All-terrain tires are typically used on SUVs and light trucks. These tires often have stiffer sidewalls for greater resistance against puncture when traveling off-road, the tread pattern offers wider spacing than all-season tires to remove mud from the tread. Many tires in the all-terrain category are designed primarily for on-road use, particularly all-terrain tires that are originally sold with the vehicle. Â Spare Some vehicles carry a spare tire, already mounted on a wheel, to be used in the event of flat tire or blowout. Minispare, or "space-saver spare" tires are smaller than normal tires to save on trunk/boot space, gas mileage, weight, and cost. Minispares have a short life expectancy and a low speed rating, often below 60 miles per hour (97 km/h). Â Run Flat Tyres A run-flat tire is a pneumatic vehicle tire that is designed to resist the effects of deflation when punctured, and to enable the vehicle to continue to be driven at reduced speeds (up to 55 mph (90 km/h)), and for limited distances of up to 100 mi (160 km), or even 200 mi (320 km) depending on the type of tire Â