Are Winter Tyres Really Worth It?

Winter’s a time of year that throws up lots of different road conditions, none of which are particularly friendly to cars or drivers: ice, snow, rain, salt, early nights and low, blinding sunlight. There are, of course, some ways of staving off the worst effects of winter on cars, and the one we arguably hear the most about are winter tyres.

There are clear benefits to investing in a second set of rubber designed to come into its best when temperatures plummet, but are winter tyres really worth the significant expenditure given that they’ll spend much of the year sitting around gathering dust? Here’s what we reckon.

How do winter tyres work?

Winter brings with it wet and icy roads that standard road tyres are simply not designed to effectively deal with. Tyres are manufactured to operate at certain optimum temperatures, with the temperature affecting the stiffness of the rubber compound and giving it the flex needed to maximise friction between the rubber and the road surface.

Winter tyres are made up of a softer compound than standard tyres by using much more natural rubber within their construction. This means that – as temperatures dive to below seven degrees centigrade – the rubber stays malleable rather than becoming rigid, keeping good contact with the road surface and therefore creating much-needed friction. Braking distances are decreased and general grip is increased compared to standard tyres.

Winter tyres also feature more grooves and crevices within the tread design than summer boots. Due to the sheer amount of water and even snow covering the roads during winter, standard tyres can often have a tough time wicking water from the tyre contact areas which leads to the coefficient of the friction of the tyre suddenly decreasing, making the car quickly uncontrollable. This is amplified further when snow is involved, with the clogging of the grooves effectively resulting in slick tyres and putting you and your car in a world of hurt.

Known as ‘sipes’, the rubber channels moulded into a winter tyre’s construction are much more efficient at displacing the large amounts of water and snow that you drive over. The centripetal force induced by the spinning of the wheel allows the grooves and sipes to channel fluid away from the contact area of the tyre. Sipes can also be used as simple teeth to grapple snow much more effectively than a normal summer tyre, biting into even the most-compacted snow covering the road.

Why can’t I use winter tyres all year?

Unfortunately, the rubber compounds used in winter tyres are designed only to work at low temperatures. Winter tyres do not work anywhere near their optimum performance when used in spring or summer conditions, as the rubber becomes far too soft and heats up due to the increased friction with the tarmac they’re driving over. As they soften, the sidewalls begin to lose stiffness, making handling less responsive.

If you live somewhere where wintry conditions aren’t a hugely regular concern, you could always look into a set of all-weather tyres. Not only will these tyres work in the spring and summer due to only a slight softening of the compound, but the added sipes will also see your car deal much better with the odd flurry of snow and heavy rain throughout the winter months.

Do winter tyres work in all winter weather?

On their own, winter tyres can only do so much in the way of keeping your car driving as it should in crappy conditions. The modified rubber isn’t going to pile-drive you through the heaviest of Scandinavian snow storms or completely eradicate all forms of slippage over large expanses of black ice. In countries where ‘winter’ means multiple feet of snow, much more extreme measures need to be looked into in addition to winter tyres, like chain covers for your wheels to bite into the heavily-compacted snow and slush or even spiked tyres.

Can I put winter tyres on any car?

In this day and age, you can buy winter tyres for virtually any size of wheel on the market; we've even heard of a Lamborghini Aventador owner who decided to daily drive his raging bull throughout a Swiss winter, so slapped on some 335/30 ZR20 winter shoes! Due to this mass production, we no longer have to venture into the world of 4x4s to get to work when the going gets tough and can make a good stab at getting even the smallest of city cars through a blizzard to our place of work.

Are winter tyres worth it?

So should you get winter tyres? Well, as mentioned above, it can come down to the winter conditions that you are used to in whatever country you live in. Here in the UK, for instance, where serious winter weather is reasonably uncommon away from higher ground, many people can and do get by on regular summer rubber, but we definitely think winter tyres are nonetheless a wise investment for those frosty days. On the other hand, in some places, like Germany and northern Italy, winter tyres are a legal requirement during the colder months. 

Whether you fork out for a full set of winter tyres should come down to the weather you plan to be driving in and your relative budget. Although the vast majority of us seem to just take our chances with standard tyre treads and compounds all year round, the added benefits especially in safety may sway you one day towards buying a set. Also, not only will they reduce wear on your standard tyres (saving them for summer hooning), they will also allow you to drive even the most-extreme of dailies, knowing that you won’t end up spinning into your neighbour’s garden while reversing out of the driveway.