Do You Need Winter Tires?

When you live in an area of the country with temperatures that dip below 32 degrees for several weeks, you need winter tires. Here are several reasons why.

If you have regular/all-weather tires on your car, shouldn’t these tires be good enough for your winter driving? In most parts of the country, where winter only lasts a few weeks with short bouts of snow, you’d be right. On the other hand, if you live in areas where snow lasts for several months, snow tires or winter tires provide benefits you don’t get from all-weather tires.

Here are seven benefits to driving on winter tires in freezing temperatures.

Winter tires stay soft when it’s freezing outside

The tread of your tires needs to remain pliable and soft to provide adequate traction for driving. All-season and summer tires aren’t made to do this in freezing temps. When these tires get too cold, they get hard and can create a dangerous situation with a serious lack of friction. Winter tires are made of special rubber compounds that enable them to provide desired levels of friction on cold surfaces, including ice.

Stopping distance matters

The lack of friction provided by all-season and summer tires can become problematic in the winter. Your brakes are only one aspect of the stopping distance enjoyed while out on the road. Another is the traction provided by the tread on your tires. Winter tires can stop up to 30-40% shorter than all-season tires when you’re driving around in freezing temperatures. The lack of friction caused by summer and all-season tires can extend the stopping distance, making it extremely difficult to keep your vehicle under control.

Good contact with the surface matters

You need winter tires when the winter weather arrives and when it begins to disappear. You’ll want to keep winter tires on your car, truck, or SUV as the winter snow and ice begin to melt away. These specially-made tires are capable of moving water away from the tread efficiently to provide good traction and better handling through the slush and grime that’s left as winter melts away. When water doesn’t move away from the tire, your vehicle is prone to hydroplaning.

Winter tires should be narrower than other tires

When you want to reduce the potential of hydroplaning during winter months, the winter tires chosen should be smaller than those used during other times of the year. If your vehicle has 215-mm wide summer or all-season tires, you should put winter tires on your car that are 205 mm or 195 mm. This narrower track increases the pressure on the surface and helps the tires cut through the ice, snow, and slush, which minimizes hydroplaning during winter months.

AWD isn’t for stopping, but winter tires are

The AWD system of your truck or SUV helps you accelerate through corners and control your vehicle on trails, but it’s not made to help with stopping. While you can accelerate better than RWD and FWD vehicles, braking is similar in all types of vehicles. The stopping power of your vehicle is determined by the tires and brakes, not the number of wheels driving the vehicle. Winter tires help you stop better on snow, ice, and in the rain. This makes them better when you’re facing several weeks of freezing temperatures.

Winter tires give you a better chance against black ice

You need to drive using winter tires when snow and ice are present and will stick around for a few months. Black ice is one of the most dangerous things you can encounter on the road, but if you have a good set of winter tires, you have a chance. These tires can help maintain grip if you keep a light grip on the wheel, look where you need to go and allow the vehicle to decelerate slowly. Using gentle control inputs, you’ll maintain traction.

Modern winter tires are better than ever

Modern winter tires have shallower treads than those made many years ago. These treads have tightly spaced grooves that can move water away from the tire and handle driving on snow and ice better than tires with deep, aggressive treads. This means you’ll have a constant grip on the road and won’t lose stability during your winter driving. Stability was a concern with older-style winter tires with large, deep, aggressive treads that worked through the deep snow.

If you see the temperature plummet and know it’s going to stay there for several weeks, you need a set of winter tires to help get you through the coldest season of the year.