No one likes to get stuck in the snow (or the ditch) during the winter.
Tires marked "M + S" (Mud and Snow), or "all season" tires that do not have the peaked mountain with snowflake symbol, may provide safe performance in most weather conditions, but are not designed for snow and ice-covered roads.
Transport Canada recommends four winter tires should be used on rear wheel, front wheel or four wheel drive vehicles. If you only have two, one end of your vehicle won't react and perform the same as the other in the dry, wet, slush and snow conditions.
To assist you in controlling your vehicle in winter conditions, always install your winter tires in sets of four only.
As a tire wears, traction is reduced. Tires that are worn close to the tread wear indicators should not be used on snow-covered roads. At temperatures below 7°C, standard tires begin to lose elasticity, resulting in reduced traction.
Winter tires retain their elasticity to grip at much lower tempertures. Wide, high-erformance tires, other than those specifically designed as winter tires, are not suitable for use on snow-covered roads.
Inflation is also very important because the only connection between your car and the road are the tires - and the contact patches are no bigger than the size of your hand!
No matter what type of tread you have, the grooves in the tires can only push out so much water before they fill. In those instances when they can't push out all the water, a scary driving condition called hydroplaning can occur. That's when a layer of water forms between the tire and the road surface, causing the tires to lose contact with the road.
The best way to avoid hydroplaning is to have suf-ficient tread, the correct tire pressure and to slow your car as you approach large puddles so tire grooves have more time to do their work.
When should winter tires be installed? Subscribe to the seven degree rule, which is simply once the temperatures hit seven degrees Celsius it's time to install snow tires.
At this temperature your all-season or summer tires don't have the ability to grip, and braking is much more difficult. In colder temperatures the com-pounds that all-season tires are made of start to harden up.
If you rely on your verhicle no matter what the winter weather brings, have your tires checked now and budget for those snow tires. Don't wait until the last minute (when everyone is in panic mode and all shops are so busy you can't get an appointment) or you can't find your size because the suppliers have run short.
TJ and Shirley Brown are the owners of South Delta Motors.
