In the Fall of 2008, Old man winter hit most of Canada hard, earlier than usual. This meant that many areas had as much as a foot of snow on the ground before December and certainly made for a white Christmas. It also made for nightmares on the road, as driver’s scrambled to equip their cars with the appropriate winter tres. So far this year, we’ve been lucky to have a very mild Fall which means that many driver’s have not yet made proper preparations for the onset of winter. Looking around the streets, many cars are not yet wearing their snow boots which means they are still piled in the garage. I must admit that ours are still nice and cozy in their protective storage bags, waiting for me to actually install them on the cars.
Many other drivers however are still clinging to that old belief that all season tires are good enough for winter in Canada. They argue that in a major city like Toronto, we might only get snow a few times a year and then the roads are plowed. That argument is flawed in several ways. First off, I seem to recall that many Toronto streets were unplowed for 2 or 3 days following a few of the larger storms last year due to the huge amount of snow that fell. You’re half worn all seasons aren’t going to get you far through that heavy, deep stuff. Perhaps more important is the fact that the rubber compounds in in all season tires are designed to allow grip until the temperature drops to about 7 degrees C. Below that, the tires aren’t providing adequate grip for safe driving.
Adequate grip. Let’s put that into more of a real world scenario. Imagine you are travelling down a fairly busy local road at the posted speed limit. It is 2 degrees C and the road is dry. Up ahead, you see a child run out into the road and you cautiously apply the brakes to come to a quick but controlled stop. Because your all season tires don’t provide as much grip as you are used to, that quick, controlled stop instantly becomes a panic stop when you realize the car isn’t stopping, it is sliding. Suddenly you are in a life and death situation because you chose not to install winter tires.
Continental Tire has created this excellent video to graphically show how the proper tires can make your winter driving safer. The video was produced for the American market, so the temperatures are spoken about in Fahrenheit, but you’ll get the idea.
Often I’ve had customers ask what I thought about snow tires and the expense of buying them. I usually equate proper winter tires to paying for insurance. They are indeed a form of insurance, except that you hope you will never use your car insurance but you will benefit from the piece of mind your winter tires offer every time you drive. People often argue that the $1,000 or so is an unrealistic amount to spend on snow tires. These are usually the folks who don’t have a clue how expensive the sport tires and alloy wheels on their modern sporty sedan actually cost to replace. One manufacturer I worked with launched a new sports coupe a few years ago. When a customer’s wheels were stolen, we were astonished to find that the replacement cost of 4 wheels and tires was $12,000. On a $48,000 car! The most common incident that winter tires prevent is the accidental hitting of a curb. Using that sports coupe as an example, the best case scenario is that the right front wheel and tire are damaged. Replacement cost: $3,000. A snow tire package for that vehicle including steel wheels was just $1,200 and would have likely prevented this type of incident.
How much is that $1,200 compared to the life of that child we spoke about earlier?
Using proper winter tires is just plain old common sense.
About Gary Grant
