Treating Your Winter Tires as All Season Tires

We have already covered why using your summer tires in winter conditions is a bad idea, now let’s take a look at how it goes in reverse. Is using your winter tires all year round a good idea?

The answer once more is: No, it is not a good idea.

Here is why you should consider purchasing all season tires for summer weather.

Tire Design

Winter tires are molded from a flexible tire compound into a detailed tread design, with a high-density siping pattern. This compound must keep the tire pliable in freezing and below freezing temperatures, while the detailed tread is needed to ensure the tire’s grip on the road surface.

Now, applying winter tires in warmer temperatures has its drawbacks. Firstly, the rubber materials become softer in the summer heat. When the rubber compound is already flexible to begin with, it loses its traction. The detailed tread design puts additional pressure on the tread area to create the same traction it provides in winter, which can lead to a number of issues.

Tread Life

The flexible compound and the detailed tread pattern will wear out faster in the summer!

The compound becomes softer in warmer temperatures, which accelerates the tread wear. The tread design’s added pressure creates unnecessary friction between the tire and the road surface. This friction causes tread flexing, increasing the tread wear rate and generating uneven wear patterns along the tread area. The faster wearing tread significantly shortens the tread life and the model’s usability.

Controllability

The tire compound and tread design are also responsible for the loss of control over the vehicle.

The flexible compound softens too much in warmer temperatures, resulting in the tire losing its grip on the road surface. Tires need precise and constant surface contact to maintain the vehicle’s controllability throughout its performance. By dampening the road-to-tire ratio with the over-softened compound, the tire loses some of its steering responsiveness and driving stability. This can be critical during the tire’s high speed performance, as the driver losing control over the vehicle can lead to accidents.

Braking Distance

Leading off the vehicle’s controllability, we need to take a look at its braking ability.

Tires create friction between their footprint and the road surface to make the vehicle stop. The stronger the braking friction, the shorter the braking distance will be. However, an issue arises when the tire compound softens too much. The softer compound flexes when it comes into contact with the road surface, only creating a dampened braking friction. Furthermore, miniscule rubber pieces can fall off the tire, which will increase the tread wear rate and decrease the tire’s braking ability.

Fuel Efficiency

Good overall traction eases the driving pressure off the tire and minimizes its rolling resistance, which in turn lowers the vehicle’s fuel intake. However, when the softened compound and over-detailed tread pattern contact the road surface in warmer temperatures, it takes a lot of effort to create traction.

As a result, the rolling resistance affecting the tire during its performance is greater. The extra pressure of the higher rolling resistance increases the tire’s fuel intake, as it needs more energy to keep the tires in motion. The vehicle’s heightened fuel consumption levels enlarge the gas bill as well.