Does my car need tires before Winter?

It's that time of year again where it is starting to get cold. This can only mean 1 thing, Winter Is Coming. You don't want to be the person in the ditch because you did not get new tires on your car. You can check them your self using a penny. If you put Lincoln's head upside down in the tread and you can see his whole head it is time to get tires. There are a few decisions you need to make when it comes to buying new tires.

Most everyone buys an all season tire because of its year round performance. This is kind of untrue. Most all season tire rubber is formulated to work above 45*f. This is where Winter tires come in. Winter tires work well when the temperature drops below 45*f and they wear fast when the temperature gets above 45*. This is one of the reasons owning 2 sets of tires years ago was popular. One set for the winter and one set for the summer.

We live in a world that likes to solve problems. This is why there is a new type of tire called an All Weather Tire. All Weather tires are a blend of a Snow Tire and an All Season Tire. They grip like a snow tire in the snow but don't wear out fast like a snow tire does in the summer. Tire manufactures like Michelin, Hankook, and Nokian have put a lot of research into these new tires. Currently their offerings are 3 peak mountain sever service rated. This means they are rated for snow.

Now the question is "Does my car need tires before winter?" Your car probably does unless you have a set of snow tires. Check out our other tire blog posts here.

This is a Michelin Cross Climate 2 all weather tire on a Subaru Crosstrek