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It’s not quite common knowledge yet but some people are starting to understand that tires – because they are made of rubber – have a certain operating range within which the rubber adheres to the road surface. Go above that and the rubber becomes greasy and is prone to tearing, go below it and it reaches its ‘glass point’ and gets hard and slippery.

For this reason your average ‘all-season’ tire gets slippery on a dry cold day below about 40 degrees and your average performance tire gets slippery below about 55 degrees until you warm them up. It of course varies from tire to tire but something on the TireRack website got me thinking – apparently once you expose tires to extreme cold permanent damage can occur!

Like the motorsports tires this Extreme Performance street tire has evolved from, the ADVAN Neova AD07 radial’s construction and compounds have been tuned to maximize the tire’s traction and performance within a specific range of ambient temperatures. Therefore, unlike less highly-tuned tires, Yokohama’s care instructions specify that due to its compound characteristics, ADVAN Neova tires must be used and stored at temperatures above -10 degrees Celsius (14 degrees Fahrenheit) to maintain its performance and avoid tire damage.

For the past ten years I’ve been trying to convince people that all wheel drives cars and SUVs need winter tires more than two wheel cars (due to the added mass the tires need to bring to a stop, and in the case of SUVs inherently inferior braking and handling and tires with hard rubber designed to take the punishment of off roading).

if a picture is worth a thousand words this video from Automobile is worth many times that.

Sure it’s spring again, but now you’ll be safer come next year…

When your tires were new, they had 10 to 11/32 of an inch of rubber on them.

To pass state safety inspection you are required only to have 2/32s. That’s only 18-20% of what you started with.

Here’s the thing – testing shows that you’d have to have a deathwish to drive with less than 4/32” (just over a third of the original) in the rain or 6/32” (just over half original depth) in the snow.

Most mechanics still follow the state minimum but given that tires are typically cheaper than insurance deductibles as the wet and slippery weather approaches I hope you’ll consider replacing yours a bit too soon rather that a bit too late.

Some people think driving with your lights on in the daytime looks silly, but when you dig a little deeper driving with them off seems downright stupid.

Every study I’ve seen lists a double digit percent reduction in accidents for cars equipped with daytime running lights, while this page from a British website lists 3-5%.

Lights on at all times isn’t about seeing, it’s about being seen, especially in low contrast times (e.g. dusk, bleak winter days) or during sunset when drivers are overcome by glare as they head west.

It only takes a moment to turn ‘em on and there are other benefits too: people are quicker to get out of your way as you come up behind them in the fast lane and the laser guns police use are literally blinded by the light.

I’ve been driving with mine on since the mid 90s, when I found out a rental car company saw a 2000 percent drop in insurance claims after wiring their cars so the lights were on when the car was in drive. (No that’s not a typo).

Given my experience with the H rated M2s and the positive user reviews I was expecting more from these V rated M3s. They are very good tires but there are a few traits I haven’t seen anyone mention so you might want to take them into account…

First the rolling resistance is much higher than the M2s – even with the pressures bumped up to max load levels fuel economy is down by 2-3 mpg. The car needs more throttle to keep rolling and feels sluggish as a result, losing more speed on uphills etc unless you remodulate the throttle (I find myself delaying upshifts and reaching for downshifts more often now).

Second even at equivalent pressures the ride is appreciably firmer, no doubt due to the V speed rating – too bad they were not available in the H rating suggested by BMW in this (-1) size.

Lastly they don’t have the precision and stability I remember in the M2s. Aside from these being at 10-11/32s vs. the M2s being down to 3-4/32”, the way the center blocks are arranged seems a factor…

I liked the M2s so much I drove ‘em year round but these I’ll change over come spring…

test car: ‘03 BMW 325i sport – 16” OEM Ci wheels

other tires sampled on this car: Continental ContiWinterContact TS810

That’s what you’ll get if you read this piece by Andrew Frankel comparing SUVs vs. wagons on 4car.

Here’s an excerpt:

The traditional car classes are collapsing and spaces between them are being filled with an ever increasing array of crossover product. We have [minivans] that don’t carry any more people than hatchbacks and [wagons] that are useless at carrying loads. We have supercars that are never driven fast and convertibles that are at their best with the roof up. It’s hardly a wonder we have no problem accepting as normal the concept of an off-roader that can’t be used off-road.

Can be found in this interview Slate.com’s shopping guru did with me a few years back.

(Note that the tires I suggested then have since been surpassed… aside from that the ‘best’ tire varies based on the car, driver, conditions, etc.)

When Dunlop set out to turn its ‘three season’ Sport 3000 into it’s ‘all-season’ Sport 5000, it added sipes (good for winter traction but bad for wear under hard cornering) and changed the hardness of the rubber (ditto).

(Little known fact: to be called an all season, tires don’t have to demonstrate competence in winter conditions but rather have less than 75% of their tread area be rubber. If you’re concerned with winter traction, click here).

We recently evaluated the IS250 with optional all wheel drive and were surprised at how much the system detracted from the overall driving experience; we expected the acceleration to be slower but what really suffered was ride quality.

While looking over the specs for the new 3 series’ xDrive all wheel drive option, we noticed the following disadvantages beyond the expected increase in weight:

– the turning circle is 2 feet larger – the front suspension is made of steel rather than aluminum – the transmission itself is heavier

Given that all wheel drive only helps when your foot is on the gas (e.g. when climbing hills or when accelerating from a stoplight) and hinders braking and turning, we strongly suggest you consider spending your money on tires optimized for inclement weather (which help you get going AND avoid an accident) instead of all-wheel drive.

(One exception – if the choice is between front wheel drive and an optional all wheel drive we’re tempted: better weight distribution, less torque steer and sometimes even a more advanced rear suspension are the benefits. In these cases we’d get the tires AND all wheel drive).

Remember the Easy Spirit commercial with the ladies in heels playing basketball?

We get the same sense of absurdity when we think about the tires that most Americans are on as they head into another winter. Ever notice how the first cars in the ditch are SUVs and AWD cars followed by the occasional FWD car? Here’s why:

Ironically, many light trucks and SUVs come on tires that are ill suited in the snow. Their rubber compounds must be hard to withstand the weight of your average SUV when loaded and not fall to shreds at the first sign of rough pavement. In addition, SUV tires are wide for better traction in sand and mud and to give them that butch look mom’s prefer. Unfortunately this is the opposite of what you want for ice and snow traction; narrower is better. When you combine this with the fact that most SUVs have lots of torque and are rear wheel drive without traction control until 4 wheel drive is engaged, it’s easy to understand why they become so unweildy in the winter and are eager to exit the roadweay backwards.

An increasing number of cars – especially sport sedans- come from the factory on ‘3-season’ tires. Such tires are designed under the assumption that the car will not be driven in the snow or even at temperatures below about 40 degrees F (below that temperature the rubber becomes hard and slippery). In the case of a car that’s available with front wheel drive as standard and all wheel drive as an option, testing shows that the all wheel drive increases the chances that the tail will side out and reduces cornering and braking grip. (Click here for proof).

The so-called ‘all-season’ tires on most cars are not designed to be driven through deep snow or ice (in fact in most cases they’re particularly bad on ice). To be called an all season, a tire simply must exceed a 25:75 ratio of channels:blocks. Arranging these blocks for long wear, hydroplaning resistance or low noise reduces traction in the snow, and using a rubber that last upwards of 30,000 miles severly reduces grip on ice. (Click here for more on the shortcomings of ‘all-seasons’ during the winter season).

Regardless of what you drive, if you encounter snow or ice we suggest a tire with the ‘mountain with snowflake’ symbol signifying the tire has been tested in winter conditions and meets certain minimum standards. (And in fact testing as shown that you’re best chance for avoiding an accident is to drive a rear wheel drive car with traction and stability control and these ‘mountain on snowflake’ tires).

Don’t see yourself changing from summer to winter tires? Don’t sweat it – unless you take your car to the track or regularly drive your cars til the tires cry out for mercy, an H or V rated ‘European winter’ tire will be suitable for use throughout the year. (The BMW CCA’s technical advisor also advocates this). Such tires give up less than 10% in the dry to other tires but gain you about 30% in the winter – a worthwhile tradeoff in our eyes. In fact there has been a recent trend towards so called ‘dual season’ winter tires or ‘performance’ winter tires that offer as more grip in the dry than an all season. We’ve been runnning these year round on a half dozen cars and the drivers can’t tell there’s anything different about the cars until it turns snowy or icy.

So as we see it there are 4 basic categories of tires:

no M&S logo on the tire means it’s unsafe below 40 degrees

a M&S logo means it might be capable in light snow but not on ice

a mountain on snowflake symbol with an H or V rating can be used year round if you encounter heavier snowfall or icy conditions

a mountain on snowflake symbol with a Q or S rating – particularly Multicells such as most Bridgestone Bizzaks or a tire with a name ending in ‘Ice’ – should be used in the winter only; they wear quicky and grip poorly on dry or warm days.

Feel free to contact us for a list of suggested tires based on your specific car, budget, driving style, and road/weather conditions.

NOTE: Just because your car passes safety inspection doesn’t mean its ready for winter. In fact most mechanics don’t suggest replacing tires until they’ve reached the legal minimum – 1/3rd what is required by safety and tire experts. Click here for more information.