For anyone who has driven in England, especially in the northern reaches of the country, the need for winter and summer tyres for seasonal swaps is well-known. However, one needn’t travel through the furthest, far-flung stretches of Scotland to find cold weather.
In fact, according to one source,
“The picturesque market town of Newport in the county of Shropshire holds the record for having the lowest ever temperature in England. In January 1982 the temperature in Newport reached an all-time low of -26 °C, way beyond the average low of 0 °C for January.”
This is just a few hours southwest of Sheffield, for example, and not a place one might think of in terms of Arctic temperatures!
And for those who have driven through England in winter, the benefits and necessity for having reliable winter tyres is well-known, also. So, a fair question might be, if these tyres are so great in cold, wet, and wintry weather, why not simply keep them on all year round?
Why Sticking with Seasonal Swaps to Summer Tyres is a Good Idea
Winters tyres are good for wet road conditions as well as frigid temperatures. The tread rubber compounds of winter tyres are designed to make them flexible, allowing the tyre to grip the road better, unlike typical summer versions which tend to harden.
However, it is for this very reason that keeping winter tyres on your vehicle during the warmer months is not the best approach.
As a major tyre manufacturer points out,
“If you use winter tyres in summer, another thing to know is that you’ll end up paying more for fuel. On warm surfaces, the rolling resistance of a winter tyre is substantially higher than a summer or all-season tyre. That’s because the softer rubber compound changes shape more.”
And an article from a few years ago related this cautionary bit about using older, winter tyres in summer,
“A recent summer tyre test from Finnish automotive magazine Tekniikan Maailma shows that when a worn non-studded tyre is used to brake from a speed of 80 kilometers per hour (about 50 miles per hour), the car will still be going 40 km/h (25 mph) by the time a new summer tyre would have stopped. Braking grip on dry asphalt is also clearly poorer than with summer tyres.
The test also reveals that controlled driving on wet asphalt is nearly impossible with worn winter tyres, since sliding starts without warning and restoring control of the vehicle is challenging.”
Why Skipping Those Seasonal Swaps Doesn’t Save Money
Of course, it is quite understandable that one might want to save some money by forgoing the tradition of having a seasonal swap of tyres every six months or so. And keeping those grippy winter tyres through the summer may seem to make sense.
However, it turns out that this can actually cost a car owner more in the long run.
This is underscored by another major tyre maker that noted on their website that, unfortunately, using snow tyres year round isn’t recommended. In the long run, it will cost more money than changing them out and could compromise your vehicle’s performance on the road.
That same pliable tread rubber that adds traction in the winter season will wear down quickly in warm temperatures. Those summer tyres are built to withstand warm temperatures, which provides them with long wear life.
Not so for winter tyres.
And one more though when it comes to saving money: because of the softer and “stickier” rubber compound, your winter tyres have a much higher grip, but also more rolling resistance. A tyre’s rolling resistance is the energy that is lost when the tyre is rolling. The main cause of loss of energy is the constant deformation of the tyre.
Consequently, the level of wear on winter tyres is high at warm times of the year and the rolling resistance of your winter tyres is 15 percent higher than that of summer tires.
All of this taken together simply means that it is always safer and more cost-effective to stick with the routine of smart drivers and have a timely seasonal swap of your tyres.
Expert Tyres – For Professional Seasonal Tyre Swaps Right Where You Are
When it’s time for either winter and summer tyres for seasonal swaps, it’s good to know that you don’t have to drive to the garage or tyre shop. Instead, you can have Expert Tyres come to you at your convenience.
And, along with regular seasonal tyre swaps, we offer mobile tyre puncture repair service as well as our convenient mobile new tyre installation. Because we are a mobile tyre service, we’re able to meet you where you are – whether that’s at your home or your place of work.
At Expert Tyres, we service your tyres at your convenience.
Expert Tyres serves the surrounding Sheffield region including Chesterfield and Rotherham areas. You can have all your tyre services carried out by our mobile Expert Tyre specialists and we regularly check our prices against our competitors.