The benefits of using winter tires

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When winter is here, you can be sure that the best bet you have when installing tires is winter tires. During this season the temperatures may be extremely low and if the tires on your car are the all season or summer tires then all this could simply mean that driving on the road is a risk. Winter tires are specially designed with the larger percentage being silica and natural rubber ensuring that it does not become too hard when the temperatures drop. If your car is already installed with ABS, you will still need winter tires because ABS is solely meant to allow you control steering if you are in an emergency stituation but will not help stop the car any faster if you are in a low grip situation.

 When you are using these tires; you also save money because most cars normally have expensive tires and big alloys but winter tires are often cheaper as they are smaller in size. One should also note that even though you may have the best tires installed it is important to avoid roads that are heavily covered in ice or snow. There are instances where you may find you have to use such roads and one can have tire chains installed or use winter tires that have metal studs to ensure a firm grip on the snow.  These will help you gain traction when stopping or accelerating or even taking corners.

Winter tires can either be two snow tires or four snow tires. The two snow tires are placed in a vehicle’s axle hence extra traction is realized and they are common in the rear tires. However, most manufacturers today take the four snow tires as the best option. Reason being, they give full advantage of all wheel drive features, together with those of anti-lock breaking. Sometimes you may find automakers placing heavy objects in the trunk of the vehicle in cases of rear-drive. This weight helps force the tires down to be in contact with the surface of the road.

There are a few notable disadvantages of the winter tires and it is good for drivers to be aware of the same. Tire chains and the metal studs do wear roads very quickly and their use is regulated in most countries. The winter tires wear out faster since they are made of rubber alloys and if the pattern of the tread is enlarged, they give a rougher and noisy ride. Most streamlined tread however, will result in smoother rides. Due to advance in technology, these tires are becoming quieter as time goes by. Sometimes it becomes almost unpredictable in handling the differences brought about by both rear and front tires in terms of traction, radius and tread patterns. This is common with the two snow tires. However, to avoid this problem, one can always use the four matching tires. The climatic changes do rule when one should use which tires and therefore there should not be any problem when to install either of the tires.