All-Season Tires – Obvious Savings, Bigger Risk

Today, few drivers are abandoning summer and winter tires in favor of all-season tires. According to experts, this is a good trend, since this type of tire does not provide adequate safety either in winter or in summer.

If in the early 90s the vast majority of Polish drivers bought all-season tires, today sellers are slowly withdrawing them from the offer. The reason is simple - it is becoming increasingly difficult to find a buyer for all-season tires in car dealerships and tire shops.

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They don't clean the snow

Tadeusz Jazwa, owner of a vulcanization plant in Rzeszow, points out that only a few percent of his customers buy all-season tires. He himself does not recommend such a purchase, because, according to him, such tires are neither safe nor cheap.

“When I had problems with dry braking a few years ago and almost provoked a collision, I finally said goodbye to them,” says the vulcanizer.

All-season tires combine the features of summer and winter tires. Most manufacturers use a summer tread and an all-purpose rubber compound with slightly higher levels of silicone and silicone, which are used in the production of winter tires. Unfortunately, the effects are far from what we expected.

“In summer, the driver is subjected to longer braking, and in winter, the thinly cut tread does not blow snow off the tire,” explains Ulcer.

It's not at all cheaper

Drivers who decide to buy all-season tires are looking for an opportunity to save money. Piotr Wozs from the SZiK car shop in Rzeszow says this is a mistake. Yes, after setting up multi-coupons, you do not need to buy a second set of tires. But they are driven all the time, and summer and winter tires are used only a few months a year. Therefore, reusable subscriptions wear out much faster.

“If we calculate the costs, they will be the same, and the safety issue speaks in favor of seasonal tires,” sums up Petr Vons.

Tomasz Kuchar, leading Polish driver, owner of the Safe Driving Academy:

- It's obvious to me. Each driver must have two sets of tires - winter and summer. Tires made for a particular season are made from a compound that provides good traction in certain conditions. All-season tires never guarantee the driver the same level of safety as seasonal tires. I also warn against driving in winter on summer tires. Remember that their rubber quickly becomes wood-hard at low temperatures. This increases the stopping distance. Numerous tests show that at 50 km/h the difference in favor of winter tires is approximately 25 meters. How important this is, even in a crowded city, I think no one needs to explain.

Price examples for popular tires in size 205/55/16

Winter / Summer / All year round

Dunlop: 390-560 PLN / 300-350 PLN / 360-380 PLN

Pirelli: PLN 410-650 / PLN 320-490 / PLN 320

Good year: PLN 390-540 / PLN 300-366 / PLN 380-430

Governorate Bartosz

Photo by the Bartosz governorate