(Last Updated On: November 11, 2022)

Changing your car tires to winter ones is very important to do before the first frost, because summer rubber loses its properties at low temperatures and becomes too stiff. Moreover, its tread doesn’t cope with its task when driving in snow and ice. Let’s figure out how to choose winter tires and which rubber features are there to consider when buying new wheels.

How to Choose Proper Winter Tires For a Car?

We should start with the fact that winter tires are much softer than summer ones because they contain more rubber. At low temperatures, tires become even softer and more elastic, which improves grip on the road surface. In addition, winter tires are equipped with a more recessed tread that prevents skidding on ice. Thus, you will avoid emergency situations and yor car will not appear among crashed cars for sale during winter trips.

When choosing winter tires, we advise you to follow the next rules:

• You need to change tires in advance, even before the onset of cold weather. At the same time, you shouldn’t resort to experiments with putting winter tires on only a few wheels and leaving the rest with the summer or all-season ones. This is quite dangerous, because summer and winter tires on the same vehicle aren’t compatible.
• Take into consideration weather conditions. If the temperature drops below 45 °F, or 7 °C, summer tires start to lose their properties and behave poorly under sharp braking, even if you are on a dry track.
• Studded tires should be installed if you are going to drive in the winter off-road. When driving on asphalt, such tires have worse grip on the surface. In addition, studded rubber isn’t suitable for driving at a speed of more than 80 mph, or 130 km/h.
• Don’t put all-season tires on the car. Despite the large number of fans of universal wheels, they are equally bad for both summer and winter trips. Such rubber wears out quickly and doesn’t provide the necessary stability for the car on the road. The only advantage of this option is cost savings.
• Experts always advise installing tires of the size recommended by the car manufacturer. However, it’s worth noting that tires with a high profile suit better for winter driving, especially if there are many obstacles on the road, such as snowdrifts.
• Don’t exceed the permissible speed. Its maximum parameter is usually indicated on the tire itself in the form of an index of letters. However, driving fast in winter is dangerous in any case. If there is such a need, you can buy winter tires for high speeds, but they will cost more.

If you are a motorist without much experience, it’s better to contact a service center, where specialists will help you choose winter tires with optimal characteristics and install them.

What Type of Protector Is Best for Winter Tires?

The tread pattern plays an important role when driving on different types of road surfaces. If you plan to drive mainly in the city, where the roads are cleared of snow and ice, it’s better to choose tires with an asymmetric pattern. It provides good directional stability on winter tracks and doesn’t skid.

If you have to drive on compacted snow, then it’s better to stop your choice on large and heavy relief protectors. If the snow smoothly turns into slush, a non-directional tread will handle it better.

Remember that it doesn’t matter what type of tread you choose, driving in bad weather conditions should be as careful as possible.

What to Know About the Noise Made by Tires?

The characteristic noise when driving on winter tires occurs as a result of various factors. Foremost, it’s the low-quality rubber of the tires themselves and the poor road surface. However, there are types of winter tires that cause minimal noise and discomfort to the driver and passengers while driving.

When choosing tires, you should pay attention to the markings. The noise level is indicated by Latin letters (grip quality) and numbers (sound level in dB). Special drawings are also used to make it clearer. One wave image means that the tires are quiet, two—the average noise level, and three—the noise will be significant.

In order for tires to make less noise, manufacturers resort to various tricks. For instance, special bridges are installed on some tires that connect separate parts of the tread. At the same time, the rubber remains soft and wears out more slowly. In other cases, silicone and other inclusions are added to the rubber, which not only reduces the noise level but also improves road grip.

Five Mistakes When Buying Winter Tires

We have gathered a few problems that drivers face most often during preparing their vehicles’ wheels for snow and ice:

• Wrong choice of rubber. Low-quality (economy-class) rubber can wear out quickly when traveling in bad weather conditions and skid heavily on ice crust. 
• Incorrect installation. The tread pattern can be either non-directional and symmetrical, or non-symmetrical and directional. Therefore, if the tire is installed incorrectly, water will be pushed out from under the wheels in the wrong direction, which will influence the control of the car. 
• Incorrectly inflated tires. Tire pressure that is too high impairs traction, while pressure that is too low leads to poor handling. By the way, fuel consumption also increases in such cases. 
• Incorrectly selected tire size. Tires must meet the standards that were set by the manufacturer. If the wheels are too big or too small, this can also negatively affect the car’s handling.
• Choosing a studded tire for driving on asphalt tracks. Studs are needed for traction on an icy surface, while on asphalt they create noise and accelerate the destruction of tires.

Avoid these widespread mistakes, and your winter driving will be safe and comfortable.

Summing Up

Any driver should approach the selection of winter tires with caution and heed the manufacturer’s recommendations. Along with that, if a vehicle owner has any doubts or isn’t experienced enough to make the proper choice, it’s always better to visit specialists who will help with any question or request and can install winter tires.