A market missed through ignorance?

Winter tyres and the UK market are a standing joke. Nobody buys winter tyres in the UK. At least that is the perception. However, when we talk to people in the tyre trade, be they retailers, wholesalers or manufacturers they all understand that winter tyres are not just about driving on snow or ice for the three days a year when our roads are clogged with the white stuff. They are largely aware that winter tyres are about dealing with temperature conditions that adversely affect the performance of summer tyres. That below seven degrees Celcius the winter tyre starts to outperform the summer tyre in terms of safety. Yet, the general response on winter tyres is that nobody wants them in the UK.

Why might that be? Could it be that three days of snow on the roads each year doesn’t warrant the expenditure? Could it be that the tyres are being marketed in completely the wrong way? Could it simply be that people, in general, hate spending money on their car? Could it possibly be that the tyre retailers simply don’t like having to work to sell product? Think how difficult many find it to sell pairs of shock absorbers, or indeed anything but the basic tyres and exhausts.

So, why do we need winter tyres in the first place? In layman’s terms a summer tyre is manufactured with the function of keeping the tyre in contact with the road surface in both wet and dry conditions. It’s compound has a designed in level of adhesion. Its chemical make up creates an interaction between the tyre and the roadway. However, the compound utilises an oil in the mixing process that allows the various components in the compound to blend and mix and work together as one. This polymeric oil can, and does migrate in time leading to the deterioration of the tyre. In practice it migrates inwards in cold climates towards the lining of the tyre. Thus degrading the tyre tread, hardening it and making it less effective in its interaction with the road surface. The point at which it does this is around seven to eight degrees Celcius. So, the efficiency of summer tyres in the wet or dry in winter is diminished. Even without snow and ice, a winter tyre becomes a safer option in colder weather.