With the holidays looming, the first snows aren’t far off. WINTER IS COMING. Are you ready?
Do you really need Snow Tires For Winter?
Well, that depends on your answer to our next question: Do you live somewhere that it snows? If yes, then snow tires are a much better idea than you might think.
Unfortunately, most people are fooled by the name “All-Season” tires – the fact is that All-Season tires are a compromise, at best.
All Season Tires don’t offer the same wet grip as a summer/intermediate wet performance tire.
So how about snow? All-Season Tires offer LIMITED GRIP in snow, but don’t match the grip performance of an actual Snow Tire.
SOME limited grip does not mean “good grip”. Seriously, we mean LIMITED. If you want to have control of your car when it’s icy or snowy out, you NEED a proper set of snow tires, whether or not your car is equipped with AWD.
Being named what they are, it sounds like an “All Season” would be the best choice for all four seasons, right? But you’d be wrong. And then you have “Summer” tires. It’s to be expected that a summer tire, when the weather is warm and dry, would have the best grip right? But the word “Summer” tire sounds like it’d only be good in the summer, just one of the four seasons, right? Wrong. Whoever named this category of tire probably wasn’t trying to deceive everyone – but in contrast to the popular belief that “All Season Tires Must be best for Fall, Winter AND Spring”, this is not the case at all.
You see, in order for an All-Season tire to be usable in the winter, it needs to have a tread pattern cut that’ll grab in snowy, slushy conditions of the winter but also provide acceptable traction when it’s not snowy out – this comes at the expense of grip in WET (not snowy, WET) conditions and simply “acceptable” grip the rest of the time. So now we can see the all-season tire for what it is: A Compromise, to allow the average driver to use the same set of tires throughout the year.
Understand that for the tire to do “acceptably” in all four seasons, it’s “mobility” in snow, which is not the same as “good grip in snow” at all. If you live in a place where it does
n’t snow (like all of SoCal below 4000ft+-), then for sure, a summer tire will have the advantage in grip on the road every time.
In a situation where you need to make an emergency stop in snow or ice, your all-season tires could mean that you’re stopping when you hit the Mansfield bars of the tractor trailer that just cut you off – but if you’ve got proper snow tires, you have much more grip available to stop – and save yourself from a crash.
Why are winter tires better in snow & ice?
There are several reasons for this. First has to do with the material the tires are made of – the chemistry of the rubber is different than that of a summer or performance tire. Ever notice how F1 racers have to heat up their tires to ensure they’re grippy? Well, your snow tires have been formulated in such a way that they deliver grip even in the cold. Then you have the actual physical performance of the snow tire – the deep grooves and specially cut tread cut through snow and the multiple ridges and grooves in the tread face of a snow tire allow it to grab even on slippery surfaces – these little ridges are called sipes, and help direct water/ice out of the tread.
These unique characteristics give Snow Tires an edge over All-Season tires in the snow.
So, do you need winter wheels and snow tires? If you live somewhere that it snows often, but dries out in the summer, a set of separate Summer Tires and Winter Wheels with Snow Tires will help you get the most performance out of your car, regardless of what season it happens to be.
Click Below to See our Winter Wheel Options!
Interested in getting a set of Winter Wheels or Snow tires for your car? Talk to the Mod Experts – call us at 714-582-3330 today to order yours, before you find yourself snowbound! For a limited time we’re offering FREE SHIPPING -or- Free Mounting & Balancing for full sets of select 18in Winter Wheels.
We’re also throwing in a discount on select VMR Wheels Styles so a full set of winter wheels is more affordable than ever. Order your winter wheels + tires today! 714-582-3330
Story by Nicholas Gregson
Wrong Tires For The Season? All-Season Tires Vs Summer Tires