What’s the importance of winter tyres?

by Rik Fit Rikfit Autocentre

Tyres are manufactured according to the seasons. That’s because seasons can have a major impact on the performance of your tyres. If the tyres are fitted according to the seasons, you can get the best out of them. It’s not just the brakes, but tyres are equally responsible for effective braking on the roads. They help you manoeuvre your car properly on the roads. Apart from this, you get proper acceleration only when the tyres work well on the roads.

Moreover, if you’re driving in the summer season, you need tyres that can bear the hot and dry roads of the summer season. Similarly, if you’re living in an area where blizzards are quite common and the roads are covered with white sheets of snow for the most part of the year, then you need to have winter Firestone tyres Birmingham for your vehicle. However, this is where people baulk at the idea. They feel maintaining two different sets of tyres isn’t feasible. Well, it’s true to a certain extent that you’ll need to shell out a few more bucks to store these tyres. But let’s not forget that safety comes first.

If you think of saving money and keep only one set of tyres throughout the year, even though you require two sets, you’d be making a monumental mistake here. That’s because safety is priceless. We’ll specifically talk about winter tyres here. This blog will help you decide when can you use winter tyres and what makes them so special.

Do we really need winter tyres?

Yes, you do need winter tyres if your climatic conditions and your area of residence demands so. Ideally, winter tyres are recommended when the temperature goes below 7°C. That’s when the rubber of your tyres becomes stiff and you experience less grip on the roads. If you continue using any set of tyres at this point in time, you might see that tyres become slippery on the roads. That’s why you need winter tyres at this juncture.

In fact, many parts of Europe have made it mandatory for car drivers to have these tyres on their vehicle. This is done to avoid any untoward incident on the roads.

How do winter tyres stand apart?

· Winter tyres have more natural rubber in them. This makes them flexible. When tyres are flexible, they give you more contact patch on the road.

· Softer tyres improve the grip on the roads. This in turn improves the braking performance on the roads.

· Winter tyres have unique tread patterns. The tread has numerous slits on the tyres. These are called sipes. They bite into the snow and don’t let the tyres slip on the roads.

· Winter tyres are specifically designed to avert the risk of aquaplaning.

· The grooves of these car tyres Birmingham are quite deep.

Can we use all-season tyres in place of winter tyres?

All-weather tyres do give a good grip on the roads, but you still cannot substitute them for winter tyres. That’s because all-season tyres work the best in moderate temperatures.

What precautions one should take before switching to winter tyres?

· Check the tread depth before fitting these tyres. The legal limit for the depth is 1.6mm. However, in the case of winter tyres, this limit is further increased to 3mm.

· Tyre pressure is extremely important before fitting any kind of tyres. Check it yourself or take your vehicle to some mechanic for the same.

· Check the list of things that you need to keep to combat the snow on the roads. This includes snow chains, studded tyres and more such things.