Winter Tyres – the myths and truths and the number 7

Tuesday, 18 October 2011 14:08

It is a myth that all Winter Tyres are good in the winter or that all tyres are the same in the winter as they are in the summer.

They are not. The same rule applies that Premium Branded tyres outperform Budget Tyres and we will come to what makes a Winter Tyre different from a standard tyre.

Cars are so much more advanced with today’s technology. We travel at much faster speeds and the cars are much heavier so we need tyres to advance and compliment the technology, which they have done but unless we actually make use of this research and design our cars are only as good as the boots they’re fitted with.

7 is the magic number here – 7 degrees Celsius and all temperatures sub of this are conditions at which Winter Tyres, or Cold Weather Tyres, come in to play for cold, damp or wet road surfaces. The flexibility in the rubber remains even at these low temperatures. Compare this to a standard tyre which feels hard and therefore will have reduced levels of grip on the road surface; longer stopping distances and less traction. This is the difference in safety and ultimately even being able to drive that powerful rear wheel drive car that you love so much throughout the entire winter period.

There are 3 technological components to a Winter Tyre

1. Tread Compound – Winter Tyres remain flexible and grippy due to a higher proportion of natural rubber.

2. Tread Pattern – wider grooves allow snow to sit in the gaps – snow sticks to snow best, think how you roll a snow ball. This provides extra traction.

3. Sipes – higher number of sipes create multiple biting edges to interlock with the wintery surfaces which improve braking distances and help acceleration.

Stopping distances are up to 11 metres better with Winter Tyres fitted to your car at speeds of just 20mph on icy roads! On a wet road at 62mph the stopping distance is 4.8 metres better!

What about the cost I hear you ask? Well all the time you are running Winter Tyres (October to March) your Summer Tyres can be resting and therefore will not be wearing out, and then you can swap again when the cold weather comes to an end! If you do happen to ding your car because you cannot stop in time, then the cost will obviously be significantly higher than the purchase price of a set of tyres.

There’s every good reason why you should be going to your local tyre fitters to get booted up and prepared for the cold weather before they run out! by Rebecca Jackson

Worth Checking - Motoring news - Road Tests

Comments (1)

|2011-10-19 07:55:20 Rory - Winter Tyres Well worth it

For once an accurate article on winter tyres and the clear benifits of using them, last year my wife's car was the only one which had them and where i live there is a hill to get onto the main road my car didnt get out so we had to use my wife's clio ! i got my tyres early this year due to the problems of not being able to get any last year from the company which got me alloy wheels from as well [***]****://****performancealloys****/Winter-Tyres.aspx[/***] as my current wheels are 18" i got new 16" wheels and winter tyres for the same price as the 18" tyres only. In short i would recommend them to anyone a great investment...
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