Winter is well and truly here and with it come the ice and snow that many of us have trouble driving in. It seems at the moment that everyone is telling us we need to ‘prepare’ our car for winter by swapping our normal tyres for special winter tyres. But what exactly are winter tyres and how do they differ from standard tyres?

Well it seems winter tyres differ a great deal from standard, summer tyres. The weather differs greatly, there is slush, ice, frost and wet roads, the temperature also drops and winter tyres are adapt at dealing with these conditions. Standard tyres harden at low temperatures meaning that the actual tyre compound loses its flexibility and its grip, winter tyres do not do this. This means that they give you better grip and allow you to stop in a shorter distance. These two aspects increase your safety on the road in the winter conditions. These winter tyres are designed to work at their best at temperatures less than 7 degrees centigrade.

Winter tyres are made from different compounds to summer tyres, they contain more natural rubber which allows them to stay flexible in lower temperatures. They also allow cars to come to a stand still on snow covered roads, at 30miles per hour cars can stop after 35 meters whereas standard tyres would require a breaking distance of 43 meters.

It is not just snow, ice and temperature that can affect the performance of tyres, damp roads can drastically affect the performance of tyres and as such it is important for drivers to change their driving styles, reducing their speed and as such reducing the risk of having an accident.

While it can be easy to deny the need to change tyres during the winter months, there is no denying the affect that temperature and the weather have on tyres.

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