Winter Car Tyres Tested
After the snow and ice we had in the United Kingdom last year, we keep hearing about how we should all get winter car tyres like drivers do in many other European countries. Certainly, winter tyres offer much better performance in wet, cold weather conditions. Specifically, they perform dramatically better in temperatures below seven degrees celsius.
The difficulty in the UK is that our winter temperatures have a tendency of hovering around that seven degree mark. So for us, the question is how does the average winter tyre compare at warmer temperatures. Autocar tested a set of winter tyres and compared them to a set of premium tyres in wet conditions at ten degrees celsius. They tested stopping distances from 70mph, and cornering performance.
Although they were faster in the corners, and beat the premium tyres’ laptime by over 5 seconds, the winter tyres took 7.1m longer to stop. That’s a significant difference. The reason is that the specialist tread and the compound the winter tyres are made from remains more flexible in warmer temperatures and increases stopping distances.
Of course, if temperatures plummet this winter like they did last year, there is no doubt that winter car tyres will keep drivers safer on the roads. You just need to make sure you don’t have them fitted too soon, or leave them on too late as you won’t be able to stop quite so quickly when it’s warmer.