Between ice, snow, and slush, and sometimes the glaring sun in your eyes, winter driving can be challenging. In some areas of the country, we haven't even seen the worst of it! Thankfully, slipping and sliding in these conditions doesn’t have to be a guaranteed part of winter driving. A few simple tricks could help improve your tires' grip and ability to perform in rough winter weather.
You can help a front-engine, rear-wheel vehicle gain traction in slippery (even muddy) conditions by adding weight to the back of the vehicle. By doing so, you're adding weight on the axle that provides power. "If there's weight on the axle and tires which spin," writes The News Wheel, "the car can grip better."
In a car, this means loading up the trunk. In a truck, this means loading up the bed. You can use sandbags, boxes of kitty litter, or even bags of dirt. On the plus side, sand and dirt can be used in your yard come spring, and kitty litter can be used to absorb oil spills in the garage! Talk about multi-purpose materials.
You won’t need to worry so much about maneuvering your vehicle through thick snow if someone else has already cleared a path for you. When you’re navigating streets that have already been driven on, stay in the tracks of other vehicles. Keep in mind that tightly packed snow can still be slippery, so adjust your speed to the conditions at hand (and check out other great winter driving tips from Bridgestone Winter Driving School Director Mark Cox).
These socks aren't like the ones Grandma knits for you each winter! These socks are actually for your vehicle. Tire socks, also called snow socks, are similar to snow chains in that they go directly around the tire and help enhance grip in winter conditions. However, tire socks are made entirely out of fabric, hence their name. The fibers are arranged in such a way that the snow and ice stick to them as you drive, making your tires "grippier" than they might be otherwise.
Installation is straightforward but does require a bit of elbow grease.
Like tire socks, snow chains help drivers maintain control in slippery conditions by providing increased traction. Make sure to buy the proper size to fit your specific tires and vehicle, and read the installation instructions thoroughly.
On rear-wheel drive vehicles, snow chains will go on the back tires. On front-wheel drive vehicles, they'll go on the front tires, and on four-wheel or all-wheel drive vehicles, they'll go on all four tires. Practice installing the chains at home, before you desperately need them! This will make it easier and less stressful to install them when it really matters. If you already have snow tires, tire chains might be unnecessary depending on your climate. Speaking of snow tires...
"For most snowbelt drivers," writes Consumer Reports, "dedicated winter tires are more practical and versatile for the wide variety of wintry conditions.
" If it's the right move to make for your climate and vehicle, investing in winter tires is one of the best moves you can make for your vehicle and your safety. Winter tires are designed to maintain their performance not only in icy, snowy, or slushy conditions but also in cold, dry weather. Winter tires will help you get a solid grip on the road for confident driving!
Prepare yourself—and your vehicle—for the rest of the winter. While these tips may help tremendously, there's no substitute for good winter tires when you live in an area that experiences rough weather. Get an instant quote for winter tires online or visit your local Firestone Complete Auto Care to learn more today. Winter won’t work around your schedule, but we certainly will. Our tire shops are open late and on the weekends, so when you need us, we’re there!
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"There are clues, dead giveaways that tell you where the most icy and dangerous spots are on the road," says Foust.
Correctly reading the terrain is key to avoiding a skid or worse—an accident. So our experts agree it's crucial to study the road surface and choose a path that avoids potentially hazardous spots. Foust says, "If you drive into the shadow of a mountain, or even a stand of tall trees, recognize that there could be some ice or slippery condition hiding in the shade." So it's important to slow down when you see these clues, even if the rest of the road is bone dry. SRT's Heuschele says he recently noticed an icy condition on his drive home that was causing accidents and completely avoidable. He says, "It was very cold, about 10 degrees, and the tracks everyone was driving in had turned to glare ice." He continues, "All you had to do was move the car over two feet to the right or left and you had great traction. But nobody was doing it." Sometimes the smartest route isn't the one the rest of the motorists are taking. Debogorski says the most dangerous conditions can be right around freezing.
"Maybe there's still ice on the ground but it's melting," he says. "When the sun comes out and makes the ice wet, you're in trouble unless you have very good tires."
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"I spent 8 years at the Bridgestone winter driving school and I credit that early snow experience as a secret to my on-track success in the first half of my career," says Foust. "The things that you learn driving on ice and snow translate to virtually every driving environment." Foust says a car has just three main jobs: it accelerates, it corners and it brakes. And in order to maximize the performance of each function, you generally need to do them one at a time. First, brake in a straight line. And in a turn, stay off both pedals and wait until you begin to straighten the wheel before you feed in any throttle again. That's because combining too many of these functions on a slippery surface will use up all the available traction.
He says, "Having the discipline to separate controls allows people to really maximize the performance of the car, even if it's the very limited performance available on ice." Debogorski adds that in winter conditions drivers should never try to change the car's direction in a hurry. "Every time you do something too quickly, you put yourself in a position to lose control," he explains.
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The long list of helpful products and supplies you could bring along with you when travelling in remote, snowy climes would include items like an emergency kit, tow strap, and even an air compressor. But the most crucial item, the one that topped the list of all three of our advisors, included some form of extra warm clothing. And that's because your survival could depend upon simply staying warm if stranded in freezing weather. Debogorski suggests carrying long underwear along. It's a solution that maximizes protection against the cold and minimizes the space required to bring it.
He says, "A lot of people see us on the show and they say, 'Hey you're jumping out of your truck and you don't seem to be dressed very well.' Well, I've got some pretty good underwear on and some really good socks on, too." Debogorski also packs (and wears) two winter balaclavas. "The good ones bunch up around your neck and will go right down your coat. And they have a drawstring that shrinks the size of the opening around your face." Heuschele always carries a winter coat in the back seat of his car during the winter, as well as gloves, boots and a blanket in the trunk.
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We know that a vehicle's electronic stability control system (ESC) uses a steering angle sensor, a yaw sensor and a lateral G sensor in addition to the ABS wheel speed sensors. The system takes the information from these sensors and decides how and when it should intervene.
"Stability control is a path maintenance system," says Heuschele. "It tries to maintain the path it thinks the driver wants to take." So he encourages drivers to be more mindful with the vehicle controls. If the vehicle starts to slide, he cautions, don't immediately counter steer in the opposite direction at full steering lock. Extreme and abrupt maneuvers like that will make the system think you want to turn the vehicle in the opposite direction. The result? It will take ESC longer to make the right corrections. He says the best course of action is to tone down your steering wheel inputs and straighten the wheel. The intervention from the system will be much more subtle. And the same goes for traction control. Be smooth with the throttle application. "If you fight the system, if you plant your right foot on the floor, it's going to shut you down really hard." And that means it will take longer to make forward progress.
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Many new cars, trucks and SUVs have a "snow" mode.
In the old days, these modes simply meant that the transmission started in third gear to limit wheelspin. But now, engineers include specific "snow" or low-grip tuning for the throttle mapping, all-wheel drive system, traction control system, ABS system, stability control system and more. So Heuschele suggests owners of vehicles with "snow" modes in their transmissions or all-wheel-drive systems to always use them. "We change the tuning based on these modes. By selecting 'snow,' you're giving the vehicle a little heads-up primer as to what's going on." He adds, "So for instance, on the Grand Cherokee SRT8, we run more torque to the front wheels in 'snow' mode. So now it doesn't have the time delay of seeing slip to the rear wheels and then having to send more up front to try and balance things out." Using the vehicle's "snow" mode simply makes the driving experience more seamless because the systems know you are on a low-grip surface and can likely figure out a correction more quickly.
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All our experts agree that adding a set of winter tires to a vehicle is the single biggest traction and improvement you can make to a car. Heuschele says, "It's like driving on a dry road with race tires—it's a whole extra level of traction." He advises that while all-wheel-drive systems increase grip while accelerating, they don't really help you turn or stop any better. A set of winter tires will provide increased grip in all these instances. "Even on ice, winter tires provide the ABS, Traction Control and ESC systems with more friction to work with," says Heuschele. "You have just that much more headroom and capability." Foust agrees and says that all-season tires simply don't work as well as winter tires in snowy conditions. He says, "All-season tires are kind of like no-season tires—they aren't really good in the summer or in the winter." And these tires have specific design elements to help them perform better in winter conditions.
The tread compound provides a sponge-like grip on the road and the tread design often has many biting edges to grip the road. Winter tires offer have a narrow tread profile, which concentrates vehicle weight on a smaller footprint, for increased traction. "If you find yourself in the snow every year, for the price of your insurance deductible you can buy winter tires," says Foust. "They make a big difference—It's genuinely a huge advantage." And of course combining all-wheel drive with winter tires is perhaps the ultimate winter package. However, Debogorski cautions, the soft winter tire compounds wear quickly as the weather warms and you encounter drier pavement. "Be sure to install your summer tires in a timely manner," he advises.
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Many states don't require passenger vehicles to use chains for winter driving. And generally, our experts agree that winter tires outperform chains on most surfaces.
But in some states, where the majority of the residents live in a dry hot climate, you might need to carry chains into the mountains—even if you have mud and snow rated truck tires or even proper winter tires. "Most people wait until the last possible minute to chain up," says Debogorski. "I get it, they're inconvenient. But if you see people stuck or spinning their tires, put on your chains." He admits that even he was resistant to putting them on in his younger days. He says, "They'd tell us to chain up and I wouldn't. I made it up the mountain because the guys using the chains would chew up the snow and give me the traction, not because I was the better driver." He advises winter drivers to use a designated safe area, like an official vehicle chain-up area to install your chains. But be sure to practice putting them on in your driveway once or twice—so the process will be smooth and easy in the field. Foust cautions against cheap chains that don't cover the whole tread in an "X" or "Z" pattern.
"If the chains are the type that only go across the tread linearly, they have a tendency to skate sideways across the road," says Foust. "I've seen cars literally track on ice sideways at a near dead stop because they were skating on the chains."
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We all do it. Drivers of all experience levels often avoid refueling until the fuel gauge reaches "E" or the low fuel light glows. And in densely populated areas with fuel stations every few miles, that's just fine. But in the mountains during the winter months, stretching a tank of fuel is not a risk worth taking. A bad accident can snarl traffic for hours in a remote and treacherous section of road. "I've been stuck on Highway 70 for 11 hours before," says Foust. "So you want to make sure you're not pushing empty when you're about to head into the mountains." Heuschele suggests always refueling a vehicle when it gets to half a tank. He says, "You can idle a car all night on a half a tank of gas and keep yourself warm—and almost a whole day on a full tank.
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The three times when you're driving at the limit of a vehicle's capability, according to Foust, are in racing, in an emergency avoidance maneuver, and when you are driving on a low-grip surface like snow and ice. So learning how to control a vehicle when it steps past the limits of adhesion is key. Of course in newer cars, the stability control system will attempt to correct a skid. But in the slickest conditions it can't do all the work. When the front tires break traction and begin to slide first, it's called understeer. Faust says this the most common type of skid, caused by entering a corner too quickly and at the same time, turning the tires too sharply. "First you need to put load back onto the front tires," says Foust. So he suggests slowly releasing pressure on the throttle, straightening the steering wheel and waiting (very briefly) for the tires regain traction. Then be sure to look where you want to end up and point the front tires in that direction.
"When you're sliding toward the guardrail or ditch, it feels like it could take forever to regain traction," he cautions. "It takes a long time to master that correction because it's very counterintuitive."
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"If the car is in borderline mechanical condition, it's always going to give you trouble at the temperature extremes," says Heuschele. A battery, for example, could be cranking well all summer and then start to slow as the cold weather sets in. So, Heuschele suggests, don't wait until it dies—just put a new one in. And Debogorski agrees, "If you have an old battery and it's fifteen below, your car may not start." And all three of our advisors suggest keeping windows clean. "I usually replace my wiper blades every year, and it's right before winter," says Heuschele. Additionally, some of our advisors like using products such as Rainex on their windows and windshield because it helps keep the snow and road grime from building up.
Many drivers will forget to clean and remove snow from their headlights and taillights. But cleaning these lamps are more important now than ever. "LED headlights and taillights don't generate the heat of old-school lights," Heuschele says. "So if you're driving a car with LEDs, you must stop periodically and get out and clean them."
Colin Dilley, VP of Technology at Prestone, recommends you check your cooling system before driving in cold weather. Inspect your antifreeze/coolant to make sure it is free of debris and contaminants. If you notice an issue, flush and fill your system with a mixture of 50% concentrated antifreeze and 50% distilled water. If your reservoir is low, top off with with a product like Prestone 50/50 Prediluted Antifreeze/Coolant. Next, using a Prestone antifreeze tester, you can check the concentration and ratio of your antifreeze.
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Many motorists don't realize that a trucker driving a loaded semi truck needs an incredibly long distance to stop safely in winter conditions.
So when a car abruptly cuts in front of an 18-wheeler and slams on their brakes—that truck may not be able to slow down to avoid an accident. "They don't realize that a truck has 50 tons or more behind them and can't stop on a dime, especially when it's slippery," says Debogorski. So trucks often provide themselves a healthy cushion. "That truck is giving himself a lot of room," says Debogorski. "And by cutting in front of him, you took up that space he was saving." A better move? Merge behind that 18-wheeler at a safe distance.
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Cars are not isolation chambers. The vehicle's systems are constantly delivering feedback to the driver. But if the car isn't providing a clear enough picture of what's happening on the road, you can find out more with a test. Heuschele has a smart, simple and effective move to immediately know how much traction is available. "If nobody's close behind you, I give the brake pedal a little squeeze.
If the car pulls a decent little decel (slow-down), which you'd expect, you're probably fine." He continues, "But if the ABS kicks in, I know I'm dealing with a low grip situation. I do little tests like that in the winter to see what I have to work with." In winter conditions, he says, the car is butting right up against the limits of adhesions all the time so it's very important to know exactly how much grip you have and how to manage it.
Ben Stewart
Ben is a lifelong enthusiast of anything with wheels. He has been contributing to Popular Mechanics for nearly 20 years and lives in Venice with an eclectic collection of vintage pickup trucks, muscle cars, and motorcycles scattered in various garages around SoCal.
Both the supporters of wide tires and their opponents who advocate narrow tires are wrong.
Tires should be set to the width specified by the manufacturer for your vehicle.
Sometimes it gives the owner some freedom of choice in a small range of acceptable dimensions. For example, Lada Vesta can be fitted with 185/65R15 or 195/55R16 tires. It is in this range that one can argue.
According to his first impression it came out like this:
— When evaluating the handling of the narrow tire 175/65 R14 from the first minutes of acquaintance, it captivates with a clear, stable behavior of the car on a snowy road. In this shoe, the “eleventh” is very tolerant of ruts and other flaws in winter coverage, almost does not tire the driver with yaw even at high (120-130 km / h) speed. It is impossible not to note the good ability of the tire to swallow small bumps, which are so abundant on the winter road. It seems that practice from the first minutes of acquaintance confirms the original theory about the superiority of a narrow tire in winter conditions. Yes, and our extreme exercises on the winding track of the training ground seem to echo it - at least in terms of handling.
After all, the best passing time and well-predictable sliding control.
But, having “changed shoes” for the car, Sergey felt the car subtly:
Great test of winter tires: “Behind the wheel” choice!
- However, traditional traction measurements make it difficult to jump to conclusions, although at first the more powerful (185 / 65R14) tire does not make the right impression. It is not only stiffer and more vibration-loaded on small bumps. This tire reacts more actively to the friability of the coating, “floating up” on the snow where the narrow one went without problems. Hence the nervousness in the behavior of the car and the constant struggle with yaw, even in a small rut. At the same time, it is noticeable on a normal road: as soon as the car hits smooth and even areas, the wide tread clings better, and it doesn’t matter what is rolled snow or ice under the wheels. And it turns out that with all the insidiousness of tires in loose snow, the VAZ-2111 drives through sections of bends, rolled to a mirror shine, much more stably.
Opinions about wide tires are gradually changing. Almost imperceptibly, she gains better results in acceleration and braking. It is felt that the ideally “ironed” areas for measurements are to her liking. The situation is similar on ice. No matter how the driver tries to use all the advantages of a narrow tire, a wide one is at least a little, but better! In addition, this tire is preferable on asphalt. It's no secret - many winter tires in such conditions sin with cottony, smeared responses. And increasing the width helps to deal with such shortcomings. So not everything is as simple and straightforward as expected.
New fines: out of season tires - right!
Three years ago, a test tire group compared the performance of Nokian Hakkapeliitta R2 non-studded winter tires in two dimensions, 205/55 R16 and 225/45 R17, on a Golf. Their conclusions:
R16 or R17 wheels: what will the savings in inches mean?
On R16 tires, the steering wheel is a little more informative, you have to turn it at smaller angles, so the Golf is easier and more precise in sliding. The main advantages of wider summer tires:
We brake with wide tires - the result will surprise you
The biggest disadvantages of wide wheels are an increased tendency to aquaplaning and “nervous” behavior on asphalt ruts (the car has to be kept from shying in different directions) and increased wear in the shoulder area of the tread due to the fact that the outer and inner sides pass in a turn a different path (the outer one runs a long distance).
To reconcile wide and narrow tires, I propose the following formula. In winter, priority is given to narrow, and in summer, wide wheels. But in any case, the tire parameters must be kept within the manufacturer's requirements! Otherwise, safety will be dealt a blow, and our reasoning about which wheels are better will lose its meaning.
Photo: "Behind the wheel" and depositphotos
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Driving Zen
Introduction
Tire marking
Protector device types
Tread patterns
Studded or friction
Conclusion
When it comes to choosing a set of tires for the next winter season, the eyes begin to diverge from the abundance of options. In the article, we will try to sort winter tires according to the types of tread and the purpose of each, so that you can answer the question for yourself: which tread is best for winter tires.
To understand which tread pattern is best for winter tires, what climate its compound is more suitable for and what roads it can be driven on, it is not necessary to be a professional in the field of “reading” rubber, just looking at its tread determines its past and future . All information is always contained on the tire itself, and you just need to figure out what this or that marking means.
Take any tire and look at its sidewall. From the numbers literally ripples in the eyes, but we do not need everything. We find a similar group: 185/60 R15 84H XL M + S.
There is nothing complicated here - each marking is responsible for its own indicator. Let's analyze this puzzle:
The first digit "185" is the width of the winter tire profile;
The second digit "60" is the height of the profile to the width in%. This figure is responsible for the size of the tire: the larger this figure with the same width, the larger the product.
"R" - a tire with a radial cord. Others are quite rare.
"15" - the inner diameter of the seat on the tire. Equal to the outer diameter of the disc.
"84" - index of maximum wheel load (500 kg). The decoding of other numbers (70-111) can be found in a special table.
"H" - the index of the maximum allowable speed (210 km / h), at which the tire will work well for several hours. See the table for the values of other markers (L-Z).
"XL" - reinforced rubber with an additional margin of safety.
"M + S" - a sign that indicates that the tire is designed to travel in mud and snow. It is put either on winter tires or on all-weather tires.
"RunFlat" is placed only on those tires that use the puncture protection technology of the same name.
And a snowflake icon against a mountain peak. It refers to a type of tire that is specially adapted for low temperatures and “snowy” driving conditions. It is definitely not worth using it in the summer and driving all year round.
Knowing the dimensions of rubber is important in order to understand what conditions it should be applied to. A low profile threatens the integrity of the disc if you fail to run into a curb or tramway, so it is wiser to take a higher profile and sacrifice external aesthetics. Wider tires move better in loose snow and don't dig into it. They also hold more stable on dry pavement than narrower representatives, where the contact patch is much smaller. However, the narrower the tires, the faster excess water and slush is removed from them, which means that a narrow tread is more convenient for driving on a wet track. Here the choice depends purely on driving conditions.
There are two main types of tread design - the so-called "European" type of tires and "Scandinavian". Each meets its own operating conditions, each has its own advantages and limitations. They should not be confused at all.
The "Scandinavian" tread is designed for driving on snowy areas, where "bare" asphalt is quite rare. The blocks on the working surface are very large and located at a distance from each other, the drainage grooves between them are wide and very deep, there are a lot of hook lamellas. Many tires have steel teeth, but more about them below. Such tires row snow better, which allows the wheels to get out of the snowdrifts; their lamellae and studding cling to slippery winter surfaces, such as icy or packed snow.
"European" is a "softer" version of the winter design, specially adapted for a snowless winter with frequent thaws and slush. These models are closest to good all-season tires. The blocks here are more closely spaced, and the grooves, respectively, are narrower and smaller than on the "Scandinavian version". This design better removes and absorbs water, and also makes closer contact with a flat asphalt surface in those areas of the country that do not know snowfalls and ice.
It is impossible to say unequivocally which one is better, because each is designed for its own conditions. In "Scandinavian" tires, you can confidently drive across the territory of most regions of Russia: high blocks and coupling lamellas will successfully cling to the snow substrate (snow and slush), self-clean and keep the car on slippery areas. However, “shoeing” such tires in the Southern Administrative District is a big risk, since on asphalt “Scandinavian” tires, and even with spikes, will behave unpredictably and slide on wet roads due to the smaller contact patch. Accordingly, a car in “European” tires should not go to the northern regions of Russia - a solid working surface without frequent gripping edges and wide grooves will not cope with mud and snow.
Winter tires also differ in the variety of tread design. It does not have such a strong effect on the behavior of the car, but you should not take it into account at all.
There are three design options for winter tires:
Directional symmetrical tread pattern. Here, the blocks and grooves are arranged in a V-shape, which gives them a certain direction of movement. This pattern increases traction.
Non-directional symmetrical - the most common option for budget models, in which the grooves and blocks are located in the most optimal way, equally suitable for many coatings.
The asymmetric combines both directional and non-directional options to make the wheel better able to handle different climatic challenges. On different sides, blocks and lamellas are located in different variations: as a rule, on the outside, the elements of the pattern sit more tightly in order to quickly drain water and stay on the pavement, and on the inside, they are more discharged to cling to a frozen or snowy surface.
The latest tread pattern helps the wheel to better cope with the effects of snow, rain or frost. In terms of grip, asymmetric tires are definitely preferable, but their cost, even from one manufacturer, is much higher than for other varieties. Those who are accustomed to a calm, careful ride can get by with a cheaper pattern.
According to the presence or absence of studs, Scandinavian tires are also divided into two more categories: studded or friction ("Velcro").
On the surface of studded tires, steel (rarely ceramic) teeth are scattered according to a certain pattern, which “bite” into the road surface and successfully hold the car on a snowy or icy track. Accordingly, they do not feel well on the asphalt surface - due to studding, the density of contact with the surface of the highway is much worse and driving on asphalt roads not covered with snow is not very safe due to the long braking distance and poor handling. As an additional disadvantage, due to the constant work of the steel “thorn” with the roadway, the noise level in the cabin increases and even vibration appears. For the authorities, studded tires are a particular headache, because the iron studding wears out the asphalt much faster. In many European countries with mild winters and an operational snow removal system, studs are completely illegal.
Friction (Velcro tires) are devoid of metal. Their contact with the highway occurs due to other tread elements - sharp edges of checkers and lamellae. Of course, friction tires are not a substitute for spikes on ice and snow, and a Velcro car will go through snowy areas much worse and skid more often in snowdrifts. However, the friction kit is what you need to move on urban asphalt, with which they are “friends” much stronger than tires with teeth. In addition, they work much quieter and do not break the road surface as much.
Here, as well as with a tread device - it all depends only on the operating conditions. For those who drive more on snowy rural roads, it is better not to neglect studded tires. Residents of big cities will like the friction kit for the winter.
It is impossible to say for sure which tread is best for winter tires. To choose from the two main types, you need to proceed from which region you live in. "Europeans" are good in the temperate continental climate, which is typical for our country for the Southern Federal District, but not to the north - it is simply dangerous to ride them there.
