As the weather gets cooler and you start looking at coats, don’t forget to dress your car for winter, too! All weather tires aren’t made for heavy snow and sleet. They have shallow treads that hold ice, making it hard for them to grip the road. If you live somewhere with regular snow, you need tires with deeper tread patterns specially designed to keep snow from building up between them. The differences go past style, though. The silica-based rubber compounds used in winter tires stays flexible in colder temperatures when all-weather tires are too hard for peak efficiency.
The type of tire to buy depends on where you do most of your driving. If you live in the country or you do a lot of off-roading, try the BFGoodrich All-Terrain A/T KO2. The KO2 is solidly built with a tread that extends up the sidewalls to improve traction in deep snow. City drivers might prefer the Bridgestone Blizzak WS80. This is Bridgestone’s update to the WS70 with firmer treads for better handling on dry frozen pavement. It still has the WS70s “winter footprint” to keep pressure distributed evenly across the tread and a Tube MultiCell Compound to throw water and ice before they clog the grooves.
Warm weather can wear down your winter tires, so wait for the right moment to switch. The best guideline is to change your tires when the average temperature drops below 40 degrees Fahrenheit. Stop by GM Outlet Parts to check out your options!
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