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All Season Tires Face Winter Tires on Snowy and Wet Roads, Summer Tires in the Wet

We are already halfway through November, and there are still people who have not decided what tires they should fit to their vehicles this winter. While predicting snow is the job of a meteorologist, we can confidently say that temperatures are bound to get lower in the upcoming months in the Northern Hemisphere.
All Season tires versus Winter tires comparison test 7 photos
Photo: Screenshot from YouTube video by Tyre Reviews
All Season tires versus Winter tires comparison testAll Season tires versus Winter tires comparison testAll Season tires versus Winter tires comparison testAll Season tires versus Winter tires comparison testAll Season tires versus Winter tires comparison testAll Season tires versus Winter tires comparison test
In case this is the first article you read about tires, you should know that it is recommended to have winter tires during the cold season and summer tires during the warmer seasons, as each kind is optimized for the corresponding part of the year.

There are also all-season or all-weather tires (the latter is used more in the U.S.), and those tires are most suitable for people who live in climates where winters are not as harsh as in Nordic countries.

If you live in a place where it never snows, and winter just means having to wear long pants instead of shorts when going outside, you may never need to buy winter tires as long as you do not move or if the weather does not dramatically change.

If you live in a place where you cannot leave your house in November wearing flip-flops or just a T-shirt because it is too cold outside, you might need winter tires, but you might also opt for all-season tires.

The difference between dedicated winter tires and all-season tires is most felt on the snow and ice, when the latter are no match for the former. There are also several kinds of all-season tires.

They are not the same, as Jonathan Benson of Tyre Reviews demonstrates in this video, where he takes a Tesla Model 3 in the snow, and then drives the same kind of vehicle on dry and on wet roads with the same kind of tire to demonstrate the difference between all these types.

What should be clear to everyone is that summer tires will work best on dry or wet roads when the weather outside does not involve snow, ice, or temperatures lower than 7 degrees C (44 F). Winter tires are best suited when temperatures drop below the mentioned point or if snow and/or ice is on the rolling surface.

All-season or all-weather tires are a compromise because they allow driving both in the summer and in winter with a bit of performance reduction in both scenarios due to the design of the tire, as well as the materials used to make it suitable for all the weather conditions that are found in a year.

With that explanation out of the way, it is time to see the difference for yourself in the video below.

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About the author: Sebastian Toma
Sebastian Toma profile photo

Sebastian's love for cars began at a young age. Little did he know that a career would emerge from this passion (and that it would not, sadly, involve being a professional racecar driver). In over fourteen years, he got behind the wheel of several hundred vehicles and in the offices of the most important car publications in his homeland.
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