You will brake quicker and avoid slippage
The belief that one should wait with the change of summer tyres to winter tyres until the first snowfall is a dangerous myth. Tyres will do a better job braking on a wet road at 80 km/h even at +10ºC than summer tyres – in such conditions the braking distance of the car on winter tyres will be 3 meters shorter. What's more – when the car on winter tyres already came to a halt, the can on summer tyres was still going at the speed of 32 km/h. Summer tyre performance deteriorates as the temperature decreases – change to winter tyres when the temperature regularly drops below + 7ºC in the morning!
The softer and more elastic tread compound used in winter tyres works better at +7/+10ºC temperature. This is particularly important in wet conditions, when a summer tyre with a hard tread does not provide proper grip. The braking distance is considerably longer – this also applies to all 4x4 SUVs!
It's time to change your tyres – but remember to use only professional workshops! When removing tyres from the rim, it's easy to damage the tyre bead or their inner layers – when using old tools or ignoring the requirements of tyre manufacturers. The list of tyre services that have undergone the TÜV SÜD audit and received the Certification of Tyre Services of the Polish Tyre Industry Association can be found at certyfikatoponiarski.pl/en/.
Homologated tyres (with a three peak mountain snowflake symbol), i.e. winter tyres and good all-season tyres – can also significantly reduce the likelihood of slippage. They have numerous interlocking sipes and grooves – a larger number of sipes enables better grip in the conditions of autumn rain and snow. Winter tyres have long time ago ceased being just tyres for snow – modern winter tyres mean safety when it’s only starting to get cold, ie. when the temperature starts to drop below 7-10ºC in the mornings.
Driving on summer tyres in winter is completely unjustified from the point of view of not only safety, but also economics. Using summer tyres in autumn and winter conditions is a risk to health of the driver and other road users, but also a complete waste of their hard-earned money – it causes acceleration of the wear of the tyre tread and makes it unusable in the warmer months of the year. Summer tyres should be stored in the winter season.
– When driving on wet and slippery roads, it is important to be careful, adjust the speed to the road conditions, but also choose the right tyres – without these principles we cannot speak about safe journey. Modern winter tyres from renowned manufacturers ensure safety in a wide range of weather conditions, which is why we change to winter or all-season tyres with winter homologation as soon as the morning temperature regularly drops below +7°C. Let's use workshops that as a result of the TÜV SÜD audit received the PTIA Certification of Tyre Services – there we can be sure of the quality of service, the use of appropriate equipment, skills of service technicians and the fact that someone checked it all for us – states Piotr Sarnecki, Polish Tyre Industry Association (PTIA) director.
Source: Polish Tyre Industry Association