Why Fit Winter Tyres?

If you are thinking about fitting Winter Tyres to your vehicle, here are a few reasons why doing this can help you make driving in the snow and ice a little bit more bareable!

You may think that, because of where you live, that fitting Winter Tyres is a bit of a pointless excercise

Wrong.

The common misconception about Winter Tyres is that they can only be used during times of heavy snow or ice, when in fact they can be used during all types of poor weather (heavy rain, mud and slush) to help give you greater traction and better control.

The rubber compound of a Winter Tyre is designed specifically to work in temperatures under 7 degrees C, where a more tradional summer tyre would fail due the tyre compund actually 'freezing' meaning that its flexability is severely reduced thus making it almost useless in poor weather conditions.

Many people keep 2 sets of wheels and tyres, 1 set with 'normal' tyres for the spring/summer months and a second set with Winter Tyres on (these are normally steel wheels, as you wouldn't salt and grit from the roads to corrode your nice wheels!). Some even keep there Winter Tyres on all year through (as long as your climate does not mean the temperature goes above the 7 degrees c) as the tyres are designed to also run all year round, however running them on roads in high heat make them less effective than a standard tyre and would increase road noise.

Safety

If where you live suffers from prolonged snow and ice conditions, fitting Winter Tyres will allow you to maintain a better grip in situations where a normal tyre may slide. Although Winter Tyres are relatively expensive compared to normal tyres, most people now have excesses on their car insurance, and it is more than probable that the cost of the tyres is less than this excess, so should you lose control, the tyres will help you regain control quickly and without much trouble.