SEASONAL TIRES
Own winter, spring, summer or fall. Or own them all. Find out why some tires are built to handle certain seasons and some are not. Some tires are created with a unique tread for specific weather conditions, while others are built to handle year-round conditions. Some excel in winter, some rain and some off-road. There are positives and negatives for each tire, so be sure you understand them.
- All-Season : The most popular tire on the road, built to handle “everyday” driving conditions. Its tread provides balanced dry and wet performance levels, as well as acceptable snow traction in regions with light winter weather. All-Season tires are a practical solution designed for year round usage with typically a longer tread life.
- Winter/Snow : These tires are specifically designed to offer optimal levels of traction on ice, snow, and slush in addition to wet and dry road surfaces in severe cold weather conditions. Severe cold weather conditions are defined to occur when ambient temperatures are consistently below freezing and/or there is substantial winter precipitation. Winter tires are not intended for year round usage. All winter tires exhibit the Mountain Snowflake marking indicating suitability for winter application.
- Summer : These tires are primarily designed for high-performance vehicles and provide optimized dry and wet performance levels in a temperate environment. Summer tires are designed for year round usage but should not be used during the winter season where temperatures are colder and approach freezing consistently as their performance would be less than optimal.
- All-Terrain : These are off-road tires designed to give you superior grip in mud, dirt and rocks. (Especially BFGoodrich tires.) They can be driven on the road, but offer a louder ride noise than most other tires, along with less treadwear due to their unique tread design.
High performance sports cars need high performance tires. If your car is high-performance, doesn’t it make sense to have tires that are just as high-performance? The main benefits of performance tires are higher speed capability, improved handling and maximum dry road grip*. (The negatives are lower tread life and higher costs.) But you need to know that all performance tires aren’t the same, which is why many high performance car owners own multiple sets of tires. (They often switch to all-season or winter tires in the fall and winter for improved winter grip.)
- Passenger Car / Minivan Tires : Some tire manufacturers call tires rated S or T “performance” tires, but they’re performance in look only. Not feel or grip. Although they offer solid handling and comfort, they aren’t designed to enhance handling, which is what most performance drivers want.
- Performance Touring Tires : Tires rated H and V are typically considered “performance touring.” Some manufacturers state that their performance touring tires can be used in all seasons.
- Ultra-High Performance Sport Tires : Tires rated W, Y and Z, with an aspect ratio of less than 55. Typically designed for larger wheels (16” and above), these tires are made to enhance the handling of the vehicle.
- * Exceeding the lawful speed limit is neither recommended nor endorsed.
There may come a time when you replace two new tires instead of four. If you decide to go that route, be sure that your new tires are the same size and tire type as your current tires, and that your dealer always installs the new tires on the rear axle of your vehicle.
- New tires will provide better wet grip than your half-worn tires.
- When new tires are installed on the rear, it helps reduce the potential for your vehicle to fishtail or hydroplane in wet conditions.
- Are my current tires the best tires for my vehicle?
- What are the best tires that match my driving habits and my price?
- Can you give me a pricing tier of my tire type with three choices?
- What is the mileage warranty (if any) of my new tires?
- Is the tire manufacturer highly reputable?
Read this and more at First Choice Wheels and Tires
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