As winter draws in, we will be faced with periods of lower temperatures and as tyre safety is my business, it's a good time to draw attention to the fact that most cars are fitted with 'summer' tyres. In general, they are not designed to cope as well, once the temperature gauge starts to fall. Within the tyre industry, the threshold temperature commonly used is 7 degrees centigrade where a summer tyre's effectiveness begins to drop on cold road surfaces. Quite simply, they will not grip or help you stop anywhere near as well on a cold wet road and will become very challenging with ice and snow.
To get the best performance and safety all year round, the recommendation is to fit winter tyres once the temperatures start to drop and particularly for anyone living in areas of the country where severe winter conditions are regularly experienced.
For most people, it has not been a practical or cost effective option to swap tyres over twice a year. It is however possible to use 'all season' tyres all year round as an alternative to fitting summer tyres. These have always been considered a compromise, neither as good as a summer tyre in the summer or a winter tyre in the winter but if only one type of tyre is fitted all year round, they may actually perform better across a whole year with the mix of weather conditions and temperatures experienced.
Recently, manufacturers have switched the emphasis from designing winter tyres that can be used all year round to a more summer biased tyre that has significantly better winter and cold performance. These latest all season offerings are now a serious consideration to give improved all year round performance from a single set of tyres.
Always consult your tyre dealer if you are considering making a change but all season tyres are now a serious option for safer all year round motoring.
