Winter’s approach necessitates a wise choice of tyre – ATS Euromaster

Forecasters are confident of a white Christmas this year, and with cold weather headed our way ATS Euromaster warns that fleet managers must make a considered choice for their tyres to keep their car and van drivers safe while keeping costs low.

“Having the right tyre for whatever road conditions you face is essential if you wish to protect your drivers and those around them on the roads,” comments Peter Fairlie, group sales director at ATS Euromaster. “With such a range of tyres suitable for winter operation now available on the market, it is essential to consult experts to make the informed choice for your fleet.”

For ATS Euromaster this huge range of suitable tyres includes, curiously, a tyre sold as a summer tyre. But this is a summer tyre with a difference. As the service network points out, the Michelin CrossClimate is the “only summer tyre in the world certified for use in cold weather” and therefore “particularly well suited to fleets in the UK, where unexpected weather changes and occasional snowfall can cause havoc for company drivers.”

Did somebody say havoc? Department for Transport figures show that three of the top ten contributory factors towards road accidents that involved a police callout included loss of control (13 per cent), slippery road surfaces due to weather (eight per cent) and travelling too fast for the conditions (seven per cent). In total, these factors contributed towards 33,073 accidents in 2014.

ATS Euromaster says the Michelin CrossClimate can “prove highly cost-effective” for car and car-derived van fleets that encounter intermittently inclement weather, as not only does the tyre provide quality performance in cold weather, it can be retained year-round for outstanding warm weather performance too. Furthermore, CrossClimate tyres can be fitted one axle at a time, as wear dictates, so there’s no need to change all four tyres on a vehicle at once – although ATS Euromaster recommends changing all four to ensure the best performance.

For fleets that regularly face adverse conditions such as heavy snow, or expect to face prolonged cold temperatures, ATS Euromaster recommends using dedicated winter tyres. This winter the network has 70,000 cold weather tyres in sizes from 13 to 20-inches in stock, along with the CrossClimate in 23 sizes from 15 to 17-inches, a range that covers approximately 70 per cent of cars and car-derived vans sold in Europe. ATS Euromaster will offer additional CrossClimate sizes when they launch in 2016 – these are expected to include further sizes in the 15 to 17-inch spectrum, plus the first sizes at 14 and 18-inches.