I recently did a stint in the hospital. All is good, but while there, I heard a lot of staff members freaking out about the snow storm. They were panicking and asking questions like – How will I get home?! Why didn’t the hospital tell us?! Why didn’t the governor do something to clear the roads?! The amount of time people spent on the road getting to or from work was staggering. On and on, the questions and complaints resounded. This may sound harsh, but in reality, the root of the problem lies in many people’s failure to make the proper choice when it comes to the type of tires installed on their vehicles.
Disease and storms are pretty indiscriminate. If either one enters your life, it’s bad. It’s extra bad if everyone fails to comply. All of a sudden, it doesn’t matter if you have snow tires because there are probably more people on the roads who don’t. The result… a lot of people slipping and sliding their ways home.
All-season tires are nothing more than a compromise. In our opinion, they are a mediocre highway tire and weak snow tire. They are especially horrible when it comes to weather like we recently had where snow was mixing with sleet or ice pellets or a misty rain and temperatures were around 28 to 33 degrees. When you drive on this type of surface, the person in front of you squeezes the moisture up to the top of the snow. The packed snow is closer to ice than snow and now it has water on top. Throw in a quick drop of temperature by a degree or two and wham! The only hope for any traction is a tire with fine sipes (thin cuts in the tread block) coupled with a soft winter rubber compound, aka a SNOW TIRE. As temperatures go down, these features give better traction and performance.
If the snow squeaks when you walk on it (approximately 20°) you can almost get away with an all-season tire… almost….
If you have to drive in this type of weather, make sure you have snow tires. I feel so strongly about this that all my family and company cars have snows. We can switch out your summer or all-season tires when winter comes and it will extend the life on all your tires. Otherwise, the best way to handle any bad winter weather conditions is to stay home or get off the road. That way you don’t have to worry about getting hurt or hurting someone because you slid into someone’s vehicle or they slid into yours. Who wants to deal with insurance companies, deductibles… and all the other hassles?
We all know Marge has a few opinions on this as well. So, before the next winter storm rolls around, bring your vehicle into the shop and have us install decent snow tires for you. We can help you select the best tires for your vehicle and budget.