Hey Plainfield drivers, let’s talk about winter tires. We’re not talking about all season tires here, but dedicated winter tires.
Modern winter tires do a terrific job for drivers in a wide range of Illinois winter conditions. First of all, below 45 degrees Fahrenheit, regular tires become hard and inflexible. That means they don’t provide the road grip drivers need. Even if you don’t live somewhere in Illinois with a lot of snow but it still gets below 45 degrees F in the winter, it is easy to understand that you will be safer with winter tires.
In addition, they are specifically designed to more effectively move snow and water. That’s the key to traction on ice, packed snow and wet roads. They use a micro-pore compound that allows the tire to bite into ice and snow. They also use wider grooves that run around the circumference of the tread to expel snow from the tire better. The lugs and grooves on winter tires have a special shape that throws the packed snow out of the tread as the tire turns. The tread is then open when it comes back in contact with the road and can provide good traction for drivers.
Winter tires also have a lot of sipes. Sipes are thin slits in the tread. The edges of the sipes grab ice and packed snow to provide tons of traction for drivers and to expel water and slush out of the tread. Winter tires have a rounder casing to cut into the snow’s surface.
The treads on regular summer tires can actually get packed with snow instead and become very slick. Winter tires offer 25% to 50% more traction for people in cold weather than all-season tires. And when it comes to stopping power, all-season tires take 42% longer to stop than winter tires. Sometimes that’s the difference between getting home safely or spending the night in a snow bank.
Winter tires provide so much more traction for drivers than all-season or summer tires, that there’s a huge difference between the traction at the front and rear ends of the vehicle if you only put winter tires on the drive wheels.
For example: if you take a corner on an icy road and the vehicle rear end starts to slide out, essentially the rear is trying to pass the front because it’s going faster. If you have high traction winter tires only on the front, they are going to be much more effective at transferring cornering grip and stopping power to the front wheels. This will actually cause the rear end to whip out even more.
That’s why tire manufactures instruct Illinois dealers that they must install winter tires on the rear wheels as well whenever they put winter tires on the front end of any vehicle. It’s a major safety concern. At Douglas Automotive Repair, we strongly recommend that winter tires be installed on all four wheels on rear wheel drive vehicles as well. The front tires do most of the steering and braking work – it only makes sense that drivers provide the front end with the best traction possible.
Many modern cars have traction control and anti-lock brakes so drivers may not think it is necessary to have winter tires. But you need traction to accelerate, steer and stop. The tires provide the traction so that the traction control and anti-lock brakes have something to work with.
Look for tires at Douglas Automotive Repair with the symbol of a mountain with a snowflake in it. This means the tire complies with the severe snow standard.
So when the temperatures drop below 45 degrees F, wise drivers will make sure they have a set of four winter tires for maximum performance in snow, packed snow, ice, wet and dry Illinois roads. Your friendly and knowledgeable Douglas Automotive Repair tire professional can help you find the right winter tire for your vehicle and driving needs.
Give us a call today!
#automotive #carrepair #mechanic #localshop #snowdriving
This entry was posted in Tires, Winter and tagged Snow Tires, tires, Winter Driving on .
Share This:
