Get a Grip with Winter Tyres warns Retailer

A leading US tyre retailer is advising motorists that cars fitted with summer or all-season tyres may not be adequately prepared for safe winter driving. The Tire Rack, drawing on the results of recently conducted evaluations, claims that even those tyres marketed as being suitable for all seasons offered markedly inferior handling in icy conditions compared with vehicles fitted with winter tyres.

The tests were held at the Tire Rack’s winter tyre testing facility at South Bend, Indiana, and showed that rear-wheel drive passenger vehicles had 40 per cent greater traction on ice when fitted with winter tyres, while four-wheel drive vehicles fitted with winter tyres had 28 per cent more traction on ice than those running on their OE tyres.

Tire Rack vice president Matt Edmonds claims that “all season tyres are a compromise”, adding that they are “intended to provide acceptable traction and performance traits under the widest variety of possible conditions”. He voiced his concern that many drivers falsely believe these tyres provide sufficient traction for winter conditions when the Tire Rack’s own tests showed otherwise.

The company indicated that European studies confirm their findings, referring to tests that revealed a 47 per cent traction improvement on snow-covered roads for vehicles shod with winter tyres. sg