Winter Tires

[ms123]

leetle question:

are winter tires better than all-season ones, or is it just a tire company's marketing hit, giving tire manufacturers and tire stores ~100% more business???

[JAYMEZ]

Yes IMO they are better than all seasons

[syeve]

all season tires and winter tires are all together different. I believe the biggest difference is the compund of the tire. Winters are softers tires that dont freeze like all seasons ( I believe they actually use a higher ratio of rubber when making them) so they stay soft in the cold. Another difference is tread pattern, blockier tread helps grab the snow and ice better that "water channels" used in all seasona nd summer tires. Dont quote me on this, but these are the differences I remember.

[B17a]

All-seasons IMO are shitty, neither good for winter nor good for summer. They're for the low maintenance person who can't be bothered changing tires/rims.

[redline]

Summer/ Performance tires = Great for Summer and car not moving in the winter

Winter tires = Best thing you can do for winter traction and not meant for warm weather driving.

All Season = Not great at anything and not really bad at anything either (although this could be debated!)

[syeve]

I had some avid H4's a while ago, and for the price and all season rating, I though they were pretty good, granted they were no SO3's, but they stood up pretty well. Basically you cant beat summer tire in the summer/winter tire in the winter combination.