Winter tires Versus All-Season Tires - Which is right for you?

Are All-Season tires good enough for winter?

The answer depends on where you live and what kind of driving you do. In general, are you having to drive in cold & snow? If you are, then you want winter tires. All-seasons are made of a hard compound that doesn't perform well on ice and snow.

Winter tires are very soft and make a huge difference in your control, and your ability to stay safely on the road. We all know that snow tires are designed to reduce your stopping distance, which greatly reduces winter accidents.

Do I really need Snow tires?

• All seasons - If the temperature outside rarely drops below freezing, and you face little snow, which is often slushy when it comes anyway you can look at the all seasons marked by "M+S", meaning Mud & Snow. In particular you should look at your tire for good amounts of siping, which are the little groves on each pad on the tire.
• Winter Tires - If the temperature drops below 5 F (-15 C), you will want the specially designed rubber compounds of snow tires which stay soft in these cold temperatures. You'll also be seeing enough snow & ice that you'll know you got your moneys worth out of your winter tires.

Tackling Tire Terminology
October 01, 2009

Tires are the only part of the car that keeps in contact with road, so what they do is vitally important. As with anything technical they have a fully loaded dictionary of lingo and terminology that can seem bizarre to the uninitiated. But knowing what some of the terms refer to is useful, particularly when buying new tires.

Here’s a handy guide to some of the most often used terms and what they mean.

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How much tread should I have on my tires?
October 02, 2007

The law for minimum tread depth on your passenger car tires is 2/32", which happens to be the distance on american pennies from the top of Lincoln's head to the edge of the coin. So place Lincoln upside down, and put the penny in a groove in your tire. If even a small amount of his head is covered by the tread, your tires are fine, according to the law.

That's the law in most states. Personally, I'll drive with tread that low in summer, as I live in an area where we get almost no rain for 3 months straight. The rest of the year, I want more tread. If you hit a lot of water on the highway with only 2/32" tread, you could be in for some hydroplaning, and the scare of your life. Definitely not worth the risk! And don't take the car out in the snow when you're near minimum.

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Run Flat Indicators - Can they save you money?
September 04, 2007

A tire pressure monitoring system (AKA run flat indicators) tell you when your tires' pressure is too low. Now that it's after September 1st, 2007, all light motor vehicals sold in the US have to have some kind of Tire Pressure Monitor (TPM).

The Run Flat indicators only warn you when you're running at 25% - 30% below the minimum PSI. At this point Fuel efficiency is certainly a factor, but so is your safety! Your load capacity is reduced with lower pressure, so if your running near full load on your vehical, you can't rely on your TPM!

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Pitching machine tires
September 27, 2006

I don't normally talk about tires for anything but vehicals that people ride, but as a guy that works in a tire shop, I get asked a lot of strange questions. Here's one I just got:

What are the best replacement tires for pitching machines, and where can I buy them?

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