Castanet

GordonH wrote:My winter mountain pass driving is done (if I need to go to the coast or east during winter, I will fly & rent a vehicle).
Once my current summer & winter tires need to be replaced, I will be buying All Weather tires they have the mountain snowflake. They will be more then enough for driving up & down the valley in the winter.

GordonH wrote:^^^ no large truck here, its small vehicle.

Here's link to tires I'd be looking at:
https://www.kaltire.com/en/tires/wrg3/1 ... th&start=2

no more need to switch from summers to winters back to summers etc... etc each year.

Catsumi wrote:I bought the Federal Himalaya snow/mud/wet tires. They EXCEED the ratings applied to tire testing. Highly recommend.

I Purchased in USA but think they can be shipped to Canada. Maybe they are selling them now in B.C. and not just in Ont. and Quebec.

I drive a passenger vehicle, perfectly maintained, and drive to road conditions.

Interestingly enough, a President of a tire mfg firm also drives year around on winter; .assumably he has deep pockets and drives a heck of a lot more than I do now. What do these people know that we don't in general about good tires?

I drive less than 5000 kms annually and my biggest concern on the roads is being on lookout for the know-it-alls that blow through stop signs, red lights and speed as if they were shot out of a cannon.


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Dizzy1 wrote:Its simple physics. The number one thing that keeps your vehicle on the road is traction, and the number one component of that is your tires. Dedicated winter tires are made using a softer rubber compound, the temperature increase, that rubber becomes softer and softer - the softer it becomes, the less traction you have - period! You can convince yourself that you'll be OK because you feel your driving habits will be OK for a loss of traction, but one day, when you're least expecting it - that extra 10 feet or more of braking distance you lost can end up being tragic.

Catsumi wrote:Go to Wheels.ca and John Mahler's articles re winter tires used in summer. He says that we have been oversold on the idea that winter tires deteriorate in hot conditions very quickly as over the past few years the technology and the compounds used in manufacturing tires has improved significantly. The most important thing is tire pressure which should be checked regularly, driving to road conditions, and not challenging winter tires in hot conditions by driving fast, slamming on brakes, cornerning hard, etc.

The road tests for stopping distances were performed at 60 MPH which would be outrageous speeding in the small town driving I do now.

Globe and Mail, Nov. 15, 2016. RAynald Marchand, General Manager of Canada Safety Council admits to driving annually to Florida from Ottawa and back, using snow tires to drive around Florida (15,000 kms). Reports No problems.

I now drive 3000 kms annually, drive like a sane person and have a 55 year pristine driving record so must be doing something right.

Tire companies will of course do their best to scare you into buying more tires even if, such as in my case, the winters will be fine year round.

johnny24 wrote:
It is simple physics, but the softer it becomes, the more traction you have.

johnny24 wrote:It is simple physics, but the softer it becomes, the more traction you have.

TylerM4 wrote:Beat me to it. Softer rubber = more traction. Rubber get's HARDER when temps drop. Winter tires have softer rubber and use compounds less impacted by temp changes to help provide better traction. Sipping and tread design also comes into play.

Dizzy1 wrote:[When tires warm up, the rubber begins to deteriorate, when the rubber deteriorates, the rubber turns into oil, the oil creates a film, the film causes you to loose traction. Add to that, softer rubber bends/buckles more than hard rubber while cornering, braking and accelerating which leads to more body roll and lean and could upset the balance of the car.

Granted, there are some scenarios where a softer rubber in hot temperatures are advantageous, such as launching a car like in a drag race, the softer rubber will give you greater initial grip to bite into the road, but once the tires warm up, you've lost that advantage.