Cars are usually sold equipped with so-called summer tires. However, any car enthusiast who cares about road safety gets a replacement set of winter tires closer to winter. Why are they needed and how do they differ from summer ones?
The fact is that summer tires are simply not designed for use in low temperatures. The braking distance of a car on tires unsuitable for winter driving sometimes increases several times, on slippery roads the wheels slip, the car does not obey the steering wheel. Winter tires (marked with the letter W on the sidewall of the wheel) have a completely different tread pattern than summer tires. It is specially adapted for driving in the cold. This tire has many sipes (small zigzag grooves) in the tread. Thanks to such sipes, the best grip of the wheels on the snow-covered road surface is provided. In addition, winter tires have a completely different composition, thanks to which they are not afraid of even severe frosts. Summer tires are tougher and show poorer grip at sub-zero temperatures. Winter tires are initially softer, in the cold it remains elastic. According to the tread pattern, all winter tires are divided into European and Scandinavian, each of them is designed to ride on different surfaces. European rubber has a diagonal tread pattern with many branched channels. Scandinavian tires have a more sparse type of pattern, they have more rhombuses and rectangles, often such rubber is studded. On tires with a European type of pattern, it is better to drive on relatively clean and not snowy roads. The Scandinavian tread is needed for those who mostly move on snow and icy roads in severe frosts. There is also a category of all-season tires, they combine the characteristics of winter and summer tires. But experts do not recommend giving them preference. Such rubber does not provide adequate safety either in summer or in winter. It is good to ride it except in those regions where winter temperatures are on average zero.
