So the next time someone insists on spending more on an all wheel drive car and they dont live in some perpetually snow. Allseason tires are built to handle a variety of road conditions dry roads, wet roads, and in many cases, light snow. Are allweather tires any better than allseason tires. Allseason tire technology offers great yearround performance for drivers who live in moderate climates and do not frequently encounter extreme cold, ice, and snow in the winter months. Just be sure to put a full set of winter tires on your car. If you have to drive in snowy conditions, winter snow tires outperform most allseason and allterrain tires with better stopping and starting ability. When judging all season tires, consumer reports looks at several key performance factors, placing more emphasis on safetyrelated aspects, including braking, hydroplaning resistance, and handling. These tires are visually distinguished with the threepeak mountain snowflake 3pmsf symbol, denoting the ability for severe snow service, on the sidewall. The best set all season tires will help you handle any slick surface.
A movement is afoot in the allterrain tire category. The all weather tire is an all season tire that grew up, went to university, studied traction, and then aced the transport canada snow test. Allweather tires are canadas year round tire, while 3season tires formerly called allseason tires are perfect for spring, summer and fall. For serious winter driving, you guessed it, winter tires are the way to go. They have a more aggressive tread pattern and are made from a softer rubber compound. Sure, the assurance is not a replacement for a proper winter tire, but as far as allseason tires go, it is excellent. Heres a summary for each tire type to better point out their primary differences.
It is essentially a winter tire that can be left on the. Theres a big misconception between the terms all season, and snow or winter for your tires. The one that does best of all is the all wheel drive kuga with winter tires, which makes it all the way up the ski slope. While all season tires offer a good compromise if you really need to run just one set of tires all year round, dedicated winter tires will do a far better job of making sure your next wintery. If you wonder whether your allseason tires perform just as well in snow as snow tires, we have the answer. The summer tire s 157foot stop is the shortest, the snow tires come up 2nd at 181 feet and the all season tires lag further behind in a flurry of abs activity on the way to a distance of 215 feet. Harsh winter conditions with lots of snow, ice, and freezing water on the road. When equipped with winter tires, the frontdriver obliterates the all wheel drive kuga thats still stuck on summer tires. Snowrated allterrain tires are becoming the new norm.
Most winter tires the new term for snow tires outperform allseason tires in snow, rain and even on ice. They better equip your car to take on heavy downpours, puddles, or a thin sheet of snow or ice. According to handouts from the colorado department of transportation, you drastically reduce your stopping time on snow at 60 mph from 800 plus feet with summer tires, to 668 feet with allseason tires, to the shortest distance of 310 feet with snow tires. We slid two identical cars with different tires through snow and slush challenges to find out. The snow zone on the outer side of the tires provides the driver with ample traction in light snow, something that cant be said for most touring all season tires.