Are you aware that summer tires are strictly forbidden during the winter season?
With plummeting temperatures and snow-blanketed roads, it’s imperative to equip your vehicle with tires specifically designed for winter conditions.
Using summer tires on these treacherous surfaces is not only rare advice but dangerous too. If you’ve ever wondered about the relying on summer tires in winter, prepare to delve into the topic further.
In this discourse, we’ll delve into the discussion of summer tires, shedding light on their characteristics and the adverse effects they gave in winter conditions.
Whether you’re a seasoned driver or simply curious about tire performance, this reading promises to offer valuable insights. So, without further gap, let’s embark on a comprehensive exploration of summer tires and start to discuss;
What happens if you use summer tires in the winter?
What are summer tires?
Summer tires are designed to be used in the summer season. These tires are made of a special rubber compound that provides better flexibility, smoothness, and well-handling performance while driving. These are the tires that allow driving on heated, dry, and wet roads where the temperature is higher than 7 degrees Celsius.
Can we use summer tires in the winter season?
Use of summer tires in the cold season is not prohibited but it is also not recommended. The tire making between both tires is different. Summer tires are preferable to use higher than 7 degrees Celsius while winter tires are allowed to use above 7 degrees Celsius.
Various reasons are listed that will change your mind about using summer tires in winter but we cannot discuss all. Summer tires lack the thread marking, depth, traction, and rubber compound as compared to winter tires. That’s how these summer tires will not perform well in the winter season.
Why I should not use summer tires in winter?
In the winter season, roads are slippery because of low temperatures covered with ice and snow and demand a good tire to travel. In that regard, summer tires are not worth it because they are not made in a way to drop the temperature.
Summer tires come with low rolling resistance and produce almost no noise. Moreover, these tires have low rolling resistance, traction, and grip because of the thin thread pattern. Summer tires come along a shorter braking performance that didn’t work efficiently on snow-covered roads.
Major drawbacks of using summer tires in the winter season
Besides small things, the use of summer tires in the winter season will put you in danger. Suppose, the tire is blown up on the highway or stops working at midnight during the winter season and no one is there to help you.
Then, you think about the time when you choose to not replace the tires of your vehicle timely. There are a few major drawbacks that you will get by the use of summer tires in the winter season.
- Loss of Traction and grip
Remember that the summer tires are made with low rolling resistance and are designed to reduce the noise level and improve efficiency. These tires can perform bad accretion and result in long brake distances in snow.
In the winter season, the rubber compound of summer tires gets stiffened and results in loose traction. You can also get a loose grip while driving which results in an increased amount of accidents.
- Blown out the tire
The thread pattern of summer tires does not have deep cuts, which means that these tires do not provide a strong grip and get stiffened. This reducing traction results in a strong danger. Moreover, the tire may lose its elasticity and get cracked tire. The tire can also get chipped and lead to unsafe driving.
How to identify summer tires?
The use of summer tires is recommended only in the warm season. These tires are designed to be used when the temperature is higher than 7 degrees Celsius. The rubber compound of summer tires is softer than others and also has a larger thread block design.
If you don’t know about the identification way of summer tires then look on the sidewall. You can see “SSR” and “ZP” letters on the sidewall of the tire. These letters indicate that the tire is run flat, which means a summer tire.
Moreover, it allows you to drive even after a puncture. These tires also have a thread pattern but are not too deep because it is designed in a way that is optimal for a warm weather summer season. These also have fewer grooves and sticky but shallower thread than other tires.
Frequently Asked Questions
Following are some questions that are mostly asked about the use of summer tires in the winter season;
- Can I drive in a negative temperature by using these summer tires?
These tires are designed to be used in the summer season and are not recommended for use in harsh dry and drop-freezing temperatures. The uses of thread patterns are not allowed to generate better traction, strong grip, and smooth braking on ice or snow-covered roads.
- What happens to the tire in the cold season?
The temperature in the winter season is too cold and makes the low-material rubber compound freeze. It means that the tire loses its flexibility when the temperature is freezing. Moreover, these tires also lose traction in the winter season leading to improper handling, and cornering which results in damaging or cracking the tire and an excessive range of accidents.
- Will summer tires crack in the winter season?
Most probably yes, summer tires crack in the winter season. These will lose their flexibility and elasticity and go flat because of drop-down temperature and not matched quality.
As a result, the tires can crack. If you want to see and check, then look at the thread area or the side wall of the tire. If you see any damage or crack then replace the tire immediately.
The Bottom Line
That’s all about this reading. I hope you enjoyed this reading and are happy to find this content interesting. In the above discussion, we have tried our best to convey all the details about the drawbacks of using the wrong tires in the winter season.
Recommended tires are preferable to use according to the season. In winter, you are recommended to use winter tires only. So, don’t look around and purchase a desirable tire for your vehicle and make your driving safe.