#wintertyres

The summer season is approaching and if you have been driving around with winter tyres you will soon need to change to summer tyres. There is a big difference between summer and winter tyres as they have a different rubber compound and completely different tread pattern. This is why they have different behavior and shouldn't be used outside their intended season for use. It is more dangerous to use summer tyres during winter conditions than it is using winter tyres during summer conditions, so make sure that you try to extend the use of your winter tyres to avoid driving with the summer tyres during the times that you have snow.

The rubber compound used in winter tyres is aimed for use at low temperature and thus has additives that will keep the rubber soft even at very low temperatures. The rubber compound used in summer tyres on the other hand doesn’t have the same additives and will therefore become hard at low temperatures. They will however not get too soft during very hot summer days. When you use winter tyres during summer conditions the tyres might get a bit too soft, which increases the grip and therefore the wear. However, you have sufficient grip, so you are not in danger from not having bad grip. While if you drive with summer tyres in winter conditions, you might end up with almost no grip with hard summer tyres on snow or ice.

You also have the tread pattern that is different, as the summer tyres mainly have to deal with dry tarmac or wet roads. The winter tyres on the other hand have to deal with snow, ice and slush. They will need to create grip on very slippery surfaces, while still being able to handle occasional rainy wet roads at temperatures close to zero. This puts a lot of more stress on the tread and you will need an excellent combination of the correct rubber compound and tread pattern to manage the winter conditions.

When you purchase new tyres you will need to make sure that you get premium tyres of high quality that can handle the changing temperatures and you will need to make sure that you change tyres on time to ensure that you can benefit of the features of each tyre to handle the challenges that you will face during the different season.

If you would opt for cheaper tyres you are already putting yourself at a disadvantage. They will not exhibit the same performance or properties as the better tyres. You will have a worse safety performance and with cheaper tyres the rolling resistance, which will cause them to wear out faster. It will also cause the vehicle to consume more fuel as you drive. So, you have both increased tyre wear and fuel consumption working against you with cheaper tyres and this also make them a worse environmental choice as you will dispose of the tyres sooner and have higher CO2 emissions. So quality tires really pay off!