During the winter season, you will need winter tires. Winter tires are tires that are officially approved for winter use. This means that they are built to overcome the challenges that the winter brings. They will provide you with grip and control even in the harshest weather conditions and they will be able to push both snow and slush to the side so that the tire can remain in contact with the street surface. The rubber compound used is on that will remain soft and agile during low temperatures and will not get hard as all-season tires used during the wintertime will.
All-season tires use a completely different rubber compound, so that they provide the best performance during the summer temperatures. They will however become hard at temperatures below 7 degrees Celsius and should for this reason not be used during the winter season. They will not be able to provide the grip and traction as they are hard and will not be able to adapt to the surface and their tread is not designed to handle snow and ice, so they can’t provide the safety that you need while driving during the winter. Winter tires have a different tread pattern, so they can handle ice, snow and slush and provide sufficient grip on these surfaces.
During the winter you have, depending on where you live, up to three different tire options. If studded tires are allowed you will have 2 dedicated winter tire options, the non-studded and the studded tires. These tires are to be used only during the winter season and should be paired with all-season tires, where you change tires the tires between seasons. The winter tires are already performing better when the temperature hit freezing temperatures. You should therefore change already when the temperature starts approaching freezing to ensure that you have proper tires mounted on your vehicle before the first snow falls.
Between studded and non-studded tires, the studded have better grip on ice, while on snow they are equally good. You might not be able to use the studded in all the countries, so you will need to check this. If you plan to travel between different states or provinces, you will need to keep this in mind and check if the tires you have are allowed. Restrictions only apply for studded tires, so if you have non-studded tires or all-weather tires, then you have tires that would
For areas that don’t have too much of winters, but you still want to have the safety of winter tires, the all-weather tires might be your best option. They act as winter tires during the winter season and all-season tires during the warm seasons, so you can forget about the weather forecast as you are always ready to drive. So you will always be safe regardless if winter arrives suddenly or you have nice dry summer roads, this adds both convenience and safety.
For more information regarding winter tires, visit: https://www.nokiantires.com/
