Don’t Let Your Tires’ Performance Drop with the Temperature; Good Reasons for Winter Tires July 27 th, 2010

Snow Tires Winter tires and snow tires are built with a singular focus, to perform in severe winter weather – including low-to-freezing temperatures, snow, ice and slush; while all-season tires are built with a much broader focus. the braking and handling of all-season tires doesn’t match that of dedicated winter tires

Snow Tires cont. Tire manufacturers can optimize a tires’ performance for specific weather conditions and temperatures, so winter and snow tires are built with different compounds, and specially designed features, so they perform better during winter months.

Flexibility It starts with the actual rubber compound used to make the tire. For winter tires that compound is softer so it maintains its flexibility when the temperature drops (all- season tires lose elasticity as temperatures decrease). Why is flexibility important? It gives the tire more grip on the road and that improves acceleration and braking.

Siping On winter tires the tread pattern is also significantly different. Winter and snow tires feature a significant amount of siping more than their all-season counterparts, plus they are much deeper on winter tires. – Siping is the process of cutting thin slits, or grooves, on the tread

Siping cont. It pushes water away from the tread and the second is more traction because of all the biting edges. One way to make sure that the winter tire you’re interested gets the best traction and performance in severe weather conditions is to make sure it’s branded with a pictograph of a peaked mountain with a snow flake The symbol means that the snow tire meets the high standards of winter performance set forth by the organization.

A couple things to note about winter tires… Almost all winter tires should be installed in sets of four only There are studded snow tires, tires that can have metal studs installed in them for added traction; however, in many states this type of winter tire is illegal because, as they cut through ice and snow they also significantly damage the road The best time to install winter tires is when the temperature gets below 50 degrees and stays below 50 degrees on a consistent basis Lastly, winter tires are only put into production once a year

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