Tires Winter
Freezing temperatures, snow, and ice all impact your vehicles' tires significantly during the winter season. Knowing how your tires are affected by winter weather conditions and winter driving and the precautionary measures and adjustments you need to make can be the difference between life and death when traveling the roads amidst flying snow, traction-inhibiting ice, and visibility-reducing fog and frozen drizzle.
First of all, it is best to have all-season tires on your vehicle, tires that are versatile and can maintain traction in a variety of weather conditions. Most vehicles these days are sold with these types of tires on them now, however it is important that you know what type of tires are on your vehicle and what their positives and negatives are. You can generally find this information in vehicle user manuals, on the internet, or by talking to personnel at the dealership where you bought your vehicle or the shop that services your vehicle.
Additionally, tire pressure is critical to be aware of during the fall and early winter months when the temperature begins to drop and fluctuate greatly. It's important to realize that the physical tires do not carry the weight of the vehicle, but rather the air pressure inside the tires does. For every ten degree Fahrenheit change in outdoor air temperature, a tire's inflation pressure goes down one psi for colder temperature and up one psi for warmer temperatures. Properly inflated tires are essential for optimal tire performance and treadwear. When tire pressure is too low, too much of the tire's surface touches the ground resulting in increased treadwear and an increased chance of an overheating tire and tread separation, the recipe for a terrible accident at highway speed. In order to assure your safety, it's important to check the pressure of your vehicles' tires regularly, especially during months where temperatures begin to rise and fall and fluctuate more than a few degrees.
Lastly, tires can only do so much to keep you safe on the road. In the winter, you need to adjust your driving to accomodate for snow and ice and not just expect all-season or winter tires to automatically adjust to all types of road conditions keep your car safely on the road. Drivers must also adjust their driving by slowing down and increasing their stopping distance when winter driving conditions are present.
In summary, tires must be properly inflated to perform optimately in the winter. In addition, when snow and ice accumulates on the roadway, tires struggle to maintain the traction they do when the roads are clear making it very important that drivers adjust their driving according to weather conditions.
