All Weather Tyres/Summer Tyres/Winter Tyres. Confused?
It would be easy to become confused by the different names the tyre companies give to tyres aimed at different seasons, as they aren’t always what they first appear. In this post we’ll try to clarify what tyres you need and when.
Here in the UK, most car tyres that are currently fitted, that you will no doubt have been using throughout the year, will actually be what tyre manufacturers call ‘summer tyres’. While it might seem odd to describe something that we use as all season tyres, or all weather tyres, as just designed for summer, it is worth remembering that these tyres are often developed and manufactured on the continent where it is standard procedure to change your tyres to winter tyres once the temperature drops.
As we don’t usually experience the extremes of temperature that other parts of Northern Europe do, these summer tyres can be sufficient all year round. However, when temperatures drop below 7°C, winter tyres do offer better performance and grip. They are much more likely to get you to and from work safely with their better grip and traction control in colder weather.
Most van tyres will also be summer tyres, although with commercial vehicles, the main benefit of changing to winter tyres would be to keep you going in the winter months no matter what the weather.
So if winter tyres are for winter, and summer tyres are for all year round…where do all weather tyres, also known as all season tyres, fit in? All season tyres are a compromise between winter tyres and summer tyres. This compromise means they don’t perform quite as well as either summer or winter tyres in certain conditions. They are a sort of hybrid tyre which is available on the continent. In some countries, drivers are allowed to keep them on their vehicles all year round instead of having to change to winter tyres.
What does this mean for the UK driver? Well, they’re not recommended over here, so they aren’t readily available. You are much better off keeping your summer tyres, and considering changing to cold weather tyres when appropriate. The only ‘extra’ that two sets of tyres should cost you is for the storage of the tyres and the cost of the tyre fitting. As the tyre wear will be split between the winter and summer tyres you will need to change the tyres less often. With this in mind you could have the best of both worlds. No need to worry about ‘all season tyres’ at all.