If you have a car you are probably familiar with the pain of changing your summer and winter tires. Even if you take it to a Pro shop (like ours!) you might not be sure what you need done and why. So to make you a Tire Pro yourself, here are a list of four of the common myths and misunderstood elements of tire changes:
1. Only put your snow tires on when it starts to snow
Even if there is no snow on the ground, it doesn’t mean that you don’t need your snow tires on. While they might be called snow tires, they actually are helpful for maintaining grip and stopping distance in all cold wet conditions, including icy roads. There is risk of snow and ice formation and you car will take longer to stop when the temperature drops below 7 Degrees Celsius.
2. Only change the tires that look bald
When changing your tires, all four tires should be changed at the same time. Even if your summer and winter tires have the same dimensions, they have a very different tread pattern. Mixing and matching is very rarely recommended by the vehicle or tire manufacturer as the tires will wear at different rates, leading to potentially disastrous handling, transmission and differential issues down the road.
3. All seasons are the best tire for all seasons
Much like an all-in-one hair care product, an all season tire will get you through most situations, but when it comes to snow and ice, the tread patterns and composition of winter tires are designed specially for stopping and grip in cold conditions and will provide better performance at those times of year.
4. Rotating tires means mixing their location at random
Part of the goal when changing tires is to keep wear on the tread pattern even, which will maximize the life of the tire. Certain tires have tread patterns which are known as directional (also called unidirectional) and this means that direction of rotation must remain the same. When these types of tires are rotated, they can only be switched from front to back on the same side of the vehicle. You will know that you have directional tires if there is a symbol of an arrow on them. The other type of tread pattern is nondirectional (also called asymmetric) and these tires can be be swapped between sides of the vehicle with no change to tire performance. Although it is still recommended to rotate nondirectional (asymmetric) tires front to back, because tires can cause noise and vibrations if they are rotating in the opposite direction than they are used to.