To buy, or not to buy, snow tires: The age-old question

Whether to buy snow tires (or winter tires) is one of those age-old questions. Many people would never consider braving our Canadian winter roads without them, while others don’t see the need for them when they have all-season tires. So, should you buy them or not? Here is some food for thought.

Tires have to meet a performance criterion in order to be labeled a snow/winter tire. In cold temperatures the rubber in all season tires harden which in turn reduces their grip on icy road conditions.

On the other hand, the rubber in snow tires softens in low temperatures allowing them to grip snowy and icy roads better. Snow tires also have a unique tread. The treads are wider and larger on snow tires than the treads on all-season tires.

The main benefit of this difference is the wider and larger tread on snow tires are designed to divert moisture away from the tires main point of contact allowing for better control. The larger tread not only grips the road better but it actually works to kick the snow out behind the tires as they rotate, thus reducing snow build-up.

Studies have also shown that snow tires can decrease stopping distance on snowy and icy roads by up to 37 per cent — a great benefit for winter driving.

We encourage all of our customers to consider purchasing a good quality set of snow tires — and because of that we provide on site storage to save customers the aggravation of lugging them around in spring and fall and storage over the off season.