You can try a number of ways to stay safe on the road, and one important thing is to have the right types of tires installed on your vehicle. Most people do not realize that tires can be of different types. You can have a good idea simply by paying a visit to a tire shop. However, in most cases, you will have to choose between all-season and winter tires. Here are some pros and cons of both to help you make a right decision.
All-Season Tires Advantages
All season tires are suited for most of the seasons, and here are few of the many advantages of these tires:
- They combine the benefits of both the summer and winter tires
- They come equipped with a longer tread as they are made for virtually all the seasons
- They provide a better and effortless ride when compared to snow tires.
- These are built with focus as performance
- All season tires are affordable for drivers who do not have to drive in extreme climate conditions
Disadvantages
While all-season tires work on most of the seasons like spring, summer and fall, they are not very good fit for winters. Here are the reasons why –
- These tires do not provide sturdiness during winter months
- These tires are quick to lose pressure and grip if the temperatures drop too low and roads are filled with hail, sleet and snow.
- The all-season tires are not giving much traction or resistance and while you may think they are more durable and dynamic than other seasonal tires, the less traction makes it unsuitable for certain roads and climates.
Winter tires
Winter tires are specialty tires and you can guess from the name itself that they give special support during the winter season.
Advantages
These tires have deeper grooves so that the snow can be routed and most part of the tires are in contact with the road during bad weather. Winter tires are made of rubber compounds and provide a superb grip in situations where all-seasons tire does not provide much support or stability.
Like an all-while drive, winter tires help you with more stability and mobility even when you are travelling in freezing cold weather or areas covered with heavy snow. The difference of these tires with all-wheel drive is that winter tires provide full support for your car to steer and stop not only in snow but also in extremely cold weather.
Winter tires have superior grip and can provide good support whenever you want, instead of using the grip of all the tires for acceleration. It does not matter which wheel(s) of your car gets the power, your car will be able to deal with the condition well.
Disadvantages
Winter tires also have some disadvantages like –
- While these tires are great on road conditions with snow because of the grip, the car speed will be slow compared to the speed with other tires. This also restricts the amount of acceleration that can be given especially while travelling on normal roads where you would want to drive faster.
- The wear and tear are more due to the soft rubber material which is constantly exposed to tough road conditions. This leads to reduced life of these tires compared to all-season tires.
- Winter tires tend to damage the roads because of the studded snow tires. This causes the roads to deteriorate over time.
- Some states have a legislation affirming limit the time-period for which these tires can be permitted to be used in the vehicles. This means winter tires cannot be used beyond a certain window of time.
So, consider these pros and cons and then select the tires suitable for your unique circumstances.