TimCC23

While researching the need for winter tires, I determined that there is a lot of opinion and anecdotal evidence floating around without many facts and apples-to-apples comparisons on the attributes of summer, winter, and all-season tires. Being the geeky science nerd that I am, I decided to look at sources that tested and compared these products in a controlled and systematic fashion. Below are the conclusions that I have reached after researching tires mainly on Consumer Reports and Tirerack.com. The results below are based on FACTS and actual comparisons and numbers—not opinions that are not backed up by objective data. Plenty of the latter can be found all over the Internet.

1. Summer tires – offer the best dry and wet grip when temperatures are above approximately 45 degrees Fahrenheit. Performance falls off below this temperature. They do not offer adequate traction on snow or ice.

2. All-season tires – the best all-season tires can offer good dry and wet grip (I know, not as good as summer tires) while still offering adequate performance on snow and ice. Compared to summer tires, there is less of a performance fall-off in colder temperatures and tread life is often longer.

3. Winter tires – offer the best grip on snow and ice (duh…). Even though their rubber compound is made to withstand the colder temperatures, dry and wet performance is not as good as all-season tires.


The findings that surprised me the most were the dry and wet performance of winter tires. This could be an issue in climates with cold temperatures where there is not much snow and ice on the roads. Even though these tires are made for these temperatures, they might still not perform well on roads clear of packed snow and ice. My only question is what temperature Consumer Reports completed their dry and wet winter tire performance tests. If it was a warmer temperature, it might explain the poor results. If it was a colder temperature, however, I would be concerned about running winter tires unless the roads were usually covered in snow and ice.

Any thoughts on this? Please don’t just reply with your personal opinion. Any objective evidence on winter tire performance on cold, but clear roads would be appreciated.

Where I live in Ohio, the temperatures dip down around zero in the winter at times, but usually the streets are cleared very quickly of snow and ice. Most of my winter driving is on relatively clear roads. Based on the above research, I have decided to just stick with all-seasons and not get winter tires. Having AWD helps with traction when the roads are covered in snow anyways. I just have to be careful with stopping distances.

Neal@tirerack

iTrader: (2)

Some good info there. We also have a brief rundown of performance classes on our site here Performance Categories

TimCC23

Thanks for that link, Neal. Do you have any information about winter tire performance in cold temperatures, but roads clear of snow and ice? The Consumer Reports ratings make them look pretty bad in clear conditions.

SwissCheeseHead

iTrader: (6)

I don't see a lot of "facts" posted here. Just more of the same stuff anyone else has said, myself included.

TimCC23

Well, what I did post was the fact-based conclusions from reviewing a number of objective tire comparisons. All of this was based on actual numbers such as g-force and stopping distances when tires were compared under the same conditions or the Consumer Reports rating system. I don’t think it would be prudent to post all of the data reviewed here (it’s also not mine to repost from a subscription publication). I just have been frustrated reading a bunch of opinions online such as “My all-season tire X gives just as good traction as summer tire Y that I used to have on my car.” I put low value in these subjective statements. This was my interpretation of the data that I found. I think it is important to separate what we know objectively from what is opinion or passed along by word-of-mouth.

Varjo

I would be interested in seeing your source saying that winter tires have issues in dry + cold compared to all seasons. I have always been under the impression that a winter performance tire (like Blizzaks) was the best tire for dry performance once temps drop below freezing.

Neal@tirerack

iTrader: (2)

They will handle much softer than an all season on clear roads due to their soft compound. However, that's the trade you make to have excellent snow/ice traction. Some winter tires handle softer than others, but driven responsibly you won't have any issues.