All-weather tires are tires developed for handling both warm weather conditions, when driving on wet and dry roads as well as winter conditions, when you drive on icy and snowy roads. This is not an easy task to develop a tire that can be that versatile and still provide sufficient safety in these challenging conditions. Tires depend on the rubber compound, which provide the tires with the correct softness to provide the best grip. They also rely on the tread pattern, which will provide both durability, stability and grip on different surfaces.
Not all all-weather tires are approved for winter use and they need to be approved if you plan to use them during the winter that contain snow and cold temperatures. You will know if they are approved if they have the alpine symbol indicating a mountain top with a snowflake inside it. This indicates that they have passed the required performance tests. The M+S marking on the tires isn’t sufficient enough for winter use.
If you do invest in premium all-weather tires, then you can use them all-year round regardless of weather conditions. It is however advisable to use dedicated winter/snow tires if you have several months of winter weather. The performance is better with dedicated winter tires and a longer winter warrants the change to dedicated tires. They do require that you change from your all-season tires in time before the snow arrives. Driving with all-season tires in winter conditions isn’t safe and should be avoided. In this case you are much better off with all-weather tires.
The all-weather tire is actually a hybrid between an all-season tire and a winter tire. This make them well equipped to handle both snow and ice during the winter and dry and wet roads during the rest of the year. Compared to all-season tires, all-weather tires have much better traction, especially on cold winter roads, so they can be used all-year round.
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