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All season tires vs. Snow tires

December 13, 2011 Leave a comment Go to comments
A Nokian Hakkapeliitta R winter tire.

Image via Wikipedia

The name “All season Tires” needs to be understood better.

All season tires are a great product by almost any manufacturer, but they were developed mostly for rainy conditions, when the road is damp, or dry road conditions, during cold, or hot days. But when all season tires are used in the snow, it’s a completely different story. Snow tires have specially designed treads, for grabbing the snow, and moving or throwing it away from the tire itself, as the wheel rotates, or makes a turn. The tread on all season tires are only meant to do this with water. So the all season tire will not move the snow away, or out as effectively, since snow will not flow like water. Also, snow tires, and all season tires are made up of different compounds, for the different conditions. Snow tires are made from a softer compound or material which allows them to maintain flexibility in the cold, which helps them to grab the surface better, and have better traction.

So if you decide to install snow tires for the winter, install them on all four wheels, and not just the front (front wheel drive vehicles) it may cause inaccurate steering, because the front wheels are grabbing better than the rear, and the same goes for the rear(rear wheel drive ). If you do not install snow tires for the winter you can better traction by making sure your tires are not over inflated. Proper tire inflation is important for the handling of your vehicle, and the overall wear of the tire, for any type of tire, any time of year.

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