Winter brings icy roads, so braking ability becomes top concern for drivers. Here are our top 3 reasons to upgrade to winter tires this season:
1. They’re designed specifically for the cold
Winter tires are designed to stay flexible in cold temperatures (7 C or lower), so they can spread out and maintain better traction. They also have special tread patterns designed to push water to the side, allowing tires to keep better contact with the road.
All-season tire tread pattern offers limited bite and/or traction on snow or ice-covered surfaces. These weather conditions increase your braking distance sharply, making it difficult to keep control of your vehicle when stopping or making turns.
For those of you who are doing more intense winter driving you can opt for metal studs to further increase grip.
2. They’re designed for traction
Winter tires are designed to keep you on the road. Tiny grooves on the tread pattern known as ‘sipes’ to move water away from the front of the tire, this helps them remain in constant contact with the road for added safety.
Sipes on the tire tread improve traction on snow and ice, while also preventing your vehicle from hydroplaning on wet road conditions. Research shows that in icy conditions, winter tires cut braking distances by up to two car lengths (or nine metres) compared to all-season tires. Which at times can be live saving.
If you are considering purchasing winter tires for the icy season, look for a Three-Peaked Mountain Snowflake (“Alpine”) symbol on the sidewall of the tire. This stamp means that the tires meet Transport Canada’s requirements for snow traction performance and are designed for use in severe conditions
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3. Maximize AWD Performance
Today’s latest models have more fast-acting, precise and sophisticated all-wheel drive systems than ever before–and regardless of what you drive, your ride’s AWD system reacts with millisecond precision to low-traction situations to keep you and your family safe.
So, to maximize the system’s performance, change over during the cold season to a set of winter rubber. The only way to increase the amount of physical traction between a vehicle and the road’s surface is through the tires. Proper tires for the season gives your AWD system plenty more grip to work with, allowing it to do its job with maximum effectiveness.