All Season vs. Winter Tires: What’s the Difference?

Considering that parts of the country have already seen some snow, I think it’s safe to say that winter is here. With that in mind, you may be contemplating winter tires. We’ve talked about winter tires before, but if you have all season tires on your vehicle, you might be wondering if they’re really necessary. As with many tire related things, the answer is “it depends.” Every driver is different, and everybody’s driving needs are different, so it’s all about figuring out what works for you. However, in order to do that accurately, you should know a little more about both winter and all season tires, and what makes them different.

All Season Tires

All Season tires, as the name suggests, are designed to be driven year round. Because of this, it’s not really designed to handle the extremes of any season. The tread pattern is designed to provide traction in a variety of conditions, mainly dry and wet. As a result, it’s not really suited for harsh winter weather. It also has a standard compound, which will harden slightly in colder temperatures, although unlike summer tires, it can still endure them (provided they’re not on the extreme end).

Basically all season tires could be considered your “middle of the road” tires. They can handle all seasons, just not the extremes you might be able to get from designated summer or winter tires.

Winter Tires

Winter tires, as you can guess from the name, are designed specifically for winter, especially harsher winters. The tread pattern is designed specifically to provide maximum traction on ice, snow and slush. The tread depth is usually deeper, as well, to reduce snow buildup, and the grooves are designed to channel not only water but snow and slush away from the footprint. Even the compound is designed for extreme winter conditions, usually by adding silica or other compounds that let it remain flexible even in extreme cold. That flexibility is essential for traction, however it’s a disadvantage in warmer temperatures, where they can actually be too flexible. This is why they’re only used during the winter, where they’ll wear at a normal rate.

How to Choose

It helps to think of the tires as shoes. All Season tires are sneakers, you can wear them all year, but there are some situations where you probably wouldn’t want to. Winter tires are snow boots, you can wear them all winter but you wouldn’t want them on the rest of the year.

So how does this help you determine what tires you need? Think about it, your tires are the car’s contact point with the ground, like your feet when you’re walking. So if you think about the weather you typically encounter and then think what shoes you could reasonably wear, you could get a pretty good idea of what would work for you.

For example: If your winters are usually pretty light, with some snow and lower temperatures, you could probably wear sneakers all year. Well, it’s the same for your car, so all season tires would work just fine. There may be some days where it’s not ideal, but more often than not it’s just fine. If, however, you get heavy snow and ice and temperatures regularly below 0, you would probably want something more heavy duty on your feet, like snow boots. Again, the same goes for your car, so winter tires would be the safer bet.