As we leave the house to get in our cars and drive to work, we all note the cold. Some of us give the car an extra minute or two to warm the engine, the serious among us wait a full five minutes before departing, and the truly blessed (or smart) simply open the garage door and go.
One thing that’s certain is that our all-season tires were not meant for cold like this. Sure, “all season” carries with it an implied promise of working in, I don’t know, “all seasons,” but a few minutes of Googling will confirm that for the colder months you have two types of tires to choose from, and neither are “all season.”
Simply put, tires are made of rubber compounds, a stretchy, bouncy elastic material that responds just like your skin to colder temperatures: it gets hard, tight and prone to cracking. To ensure that you maintain proper grip and avoid the risk of rupture, get thee a set of:
Winter Tires
Winter tires feature tighter tread patterns that are particularly effective against ice and cold temperatures. Since these are most of what North Carolina has to deal with in the winter, this is probably what you need. They don’t harden up when it’s freezing and give you plenty of grip to get where you need to go.
OR
Snow Tires
Snow tires feature wider, deeper tread patterns that are great for chewing through snow. An excellent tail of driving a 2012 Boxster S in snowy conditions shows that Porsches can get through inclement weather as well as other cars; it’s a matter of knowledge and equipment. Snow tires don’t do so well against ice or rain, so they’re probably not a Raleigh specialty. If you’re heading for the Appalachian Mountains or the hills of Virginia anytime soon, however, you might want to outfit yourself with a set of these.
Both winter and snow tires become effective when the temperatures turn cold (the threshold varies by manufacturer). Once the temperature rises above that line, winter and snow tires begin to wear faster because of the structural nature of their composition. Therefore they extend the life of your all-season tires by giving them a breather for the colder, and help protect your car, your passengers, and other drivers on the road.
Happy driving!
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