It’s that time of year again. The time when North American shopping malls incessantly play holiday music, and when Starbucks introduces a new coffee cup design (and everyone gets mad about it).
It’s also that time of year that you start to get bombarded with advertisements about winter tires. But you don’t need those, right? Your all-seasons are pretty much the same thing.
Wrong.
All-season tires are made with thicker rubber, giving you more tread life, but less traction when temperatures drop below 7°C (45°F). Alternatively, winter tires are designed with the season’s elements in mind, they stay soft in cold temperatures for better traction in harsh winter conditions (such as cold weather, ice, snow, slush, etc.). Even the aggressive tread has winter in mind: it’s designed to reduce snow build up. In fact, winter tires can offer up to 50% more traction, stop 30% shorter in icy conditions, and accelerate 25% faster than all-seasons.
In fact, winter tires were found to have made winter driving significantly safer, that the Canadian province of Quebec implemented a law in 2008 that all registered passenger vehicles must be equipped with a full set of 4 winter tires from December 15th to April 15th.
Let’s face it: it might be a pain to change over your tires, but it’s worth it.
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