In a country where you can experience four seasons in the space of an hour, let alone a day, the all-season tyre is the best choice you can make for your safety.
All-season tyres deliver the best blend of performance in all weather and road conditions: damp, wet, torrential, dry, icy or full-on snow. This is probably the reason that all-season is the fastest-growing sector in the replacement tyre industry.
The vast majority of cars come out of the factory on what we now call ‘summer’ tyres which steer, grip and stop as the manufacturer intended down to +7C.
Don’t panic – summer tyres don’t stop working as soon as it gets colder, they just don’t perform as well. All-season tyres typically keep all of their advertised benefits at temperatures as low as -10C and as high as a British summer is ever likely to get.
How do they do this? The tread compound of an all-season tyre has a higher silica content. This keeps the compound pliant at lower temperatures, maintaining strong grip. But because the compound is harder than a winter tyre it can cope with warmer conditions without rapid wear.
The tread design of an all-season tyre typically has similar features to a winter tyre with chunkier tread blocks and sipes to get a better grip on snow, slush, ice and wet surfaces.
All-season tyres feature the same three-peak mountain and snowflake symbol (3PMSF) found on the sidewalls of winter tyres. This means you can use them in countries like Germany, Italy and Switzerland which all demand winter tyres are fitted in the colder months. So, if winter sports in mainland Europe is your thing you can pop your skis on the roof rack and head for the slopes with impunity.
For everyday driving back here in the New Forest in the wide variety of conditions we face, an all-season tyre is an excellent, and very safe choice.
The best news is all-season tyres don’t have to be expensive. In many cases an all-season is only a little more expensive than a summer tyre in the same size and typically cheaper than a full winter tyre. And if you have ever considered keeping two sets of wheels and tyres to suit the seasons – the cost savings of all seasons are huge.
Why fit anything else?
Here at New Forest Tyres we stock a huge range all-season tyres. Click here for an instant quote and filter for Features/All Season. For in-person service or for advice before you buy tyres, email us on sales@newforesttyres.com or call 01590 718583.
