Re: Winter Tyres
Originally Posted by
Longdogs
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I only asked because I have always wondered why we don't use tyres like that here - all year. Even brand new tyres here always seem a bit too smooth to me. I'm sure they were chunkier years ago.
As I understand it with summer /winter tyres it isn’t just a case of chunkier tyres giving grip ..obviously big knobbly tyres afford more grip off-road but that’s exactly that ... off-road .
On road ( tarmac ) then actually a smooth tyre affords more grip hence racing tyres ( sliks ) have no trad pattern ( and then you are into tyre temperatures etc and it starts becoming rather technical ) but basic rule of thumb to keep it simple is all being equal on road that a bald tyre will give more grip than a chunky off road tyre and the opposite obviously if driving on snow hence the chunkier winter tyre option but to run them all year round is something a ‘true’ winter tyre couldn’t do as ( and we start to now go into tyre technicalities and wear rates : compounds) true winter tyres are made to warm up quicker ( this is done by both a softer compound and the grooves , cuts rubbing together as you drive making heat , the larger tread pattern giving both grip to the snow and allowing clearance through the larger grooves hence the tyres we call all year round normal tyres have smaller tread grooves as we want ‘as much rubber as possible ( a slick tyre) in contact ... but we get rain and indeed only one in 20 in the uk actually change to winter tyres so our ‘summer sliks ‘ have tread patterns to take this into account .
To run a true winter tyre all year long wouldn’t be possible as the tyre wants to run hot and relys upon the water/snow to cool it ... the grip to attack the snow etc , run a winter tyre on a warm dry day and it wouldn’t last long at all and indeed the grip level would be far inferior to the summer tyre you had replaced
https://youtu.be/SQTunQ4j_bQ