All-season tires lose out to seasonal tires - find out why
All season tires do not perform as well as summer or winter tires in their respective seasons. It also wears out faster. But if you don't drive much, you might want to consider getting one.
All-season tires, commonly known as all-season tires, combine the characteristics of summer and winter tires. They are built in such a way that they work well both in summer and winter. However, it should be remembered that, like any compromise solution, this is also not perfect. It is impossible to produce a tire that will perform well in both summer and winter.
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Compromise between summer and winter tires
The rubber compound of a winter tire must be flexible to provide traction at low temperatures, and the tread must be covered with a dense network of sipes to facilitate movement on snow. In turn, a summer tire should drain water well and perform optimally on dry surfaces on hot days. All-season tires have fewer sipes and are made from a harder compound, which reduces their winter performance. On the other hand, these lamellas are unsuitable in summer, and the compromise mixture is poorly suited for operation at high temperatures. This impairs grip and accelerates wear. All-season tires wick water well.
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Damian Nawrocki from the Oponeo.pl online store emphasizes that all-season tires will always be weaker than winter or summer tires in the respective seasons.
“All-season tires work best at plus ten degrees Celsius and on wet surfaces, but not in deep puddles,” adds Navrotsky.
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Interesting tire test results - comparison of all-season tires with summer and winter tires
Tire tests confirm that all-season tires are weaker than summer tires in late spring to early autumn conditions and winter tires in late autumn to early spring conditions. If we compare summer and all-season tires in winter, of course, all-season tires will be better. A similar situation would be in the summer - then all-weather tires would be better than winter ones.
For example, a 2010 test of all-season tires by the German Auto Club Europa and GTU showed that these tires are much better suited for small cars, and cars with wider tires should be equipped with seasonal tires. During the test, the properties of tires 185/65 R15H were checked.
AutoBild also researched ten sets of all-season tires this year. The Germans took a closer look at the popular 175/65/14 size tires. Their behavior was tested on a snow-covered surface, in rain and on a dry road, at an air temperature of 35 degrees Celsius. The results were compared with the behavior of winter and summer tires.
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In winter conditions, all-season tires of the lesser-known Euro-Tyfoon brand performed well. They performed well in winter conditions, when they were the only ones in the test to beat the weakest winter tires in three of the four competitions. Interestingly, a Ford Fiesta equipped with such tires needed 40 m more to stop from a speed of 16,4 km / h in the snow, while the same car on weak winter tires needed 10 cm more. By comparison, with the Herse tires the car stopped in just 26,3m. In the same conditions with seasonal summer tires, the car stopped in only 33,3m. The all-season Bridgestone tires were surprisingly weak in the snow test. Only Herse tires and all summer models turned out to be worse in winter conditions.
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Interesting conclusions can be drawn from the comparison of braking distances. On rainy ground at 100 km/h, the Ford Fiesta with all-season Bridgestone tires stopped after 56 m. On weak summer roads, 10 cm more was required, and this was the second test result. Herse tires recorded a result of as much as 69,9 m! On the wet ring road and in the steering test, the summer tires proved to be unbeatable, with the Herse and Euro-Tyfoon tires performing worst. It is not difficult to predict that summer tires also performed best on dry pavement. For example, during a steering test on a winding section of the road, a car equipped with such tires behaved stably at an average speed of 102,6 km/h. For comparison, the penultimate place in such conditions was taken by winter tires, and the last all-season - by Star Performer.
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On a dry surface from 100 km / h, the car stops the fastest on summer tires. His braking distance was 39,6 m. With a result of 48,6 m, winter tires were the last. 42,3 m is the result of the Vredestein brand, which is the best multi-season bag in the test. Worse, but still better than the winter tyres, were the Kleber all-season tyres, with a score of 46,9 m. Details of the results of the individual tires in this test are at the bottom of the article.
All-weather tires for those who drive little
Radoslav Jaskolski, a safe driving instructor at the Skoda driving school, argues that buying all-season tires is not a way to save money. According to him, when buying two sets of tires - summer and winter - we pay twice. But we use these tires alternately, changing them every six months. And we drive non-stop on all-season tires.
“That's why four winter and four summer tires wear out in the same amount of time as eight all-season tires,” says Yaskolsky.
The authors of tire tests, in turn, believe that only drivers of small cars with low-power engines should think about buying all-season tires. People who do not drive much, mainly in the city, on roads that are regularly cleared of snow.
“These are tires for quiet drivers. Aggressive drivers should buy seasonal tires, Navrotsky said.
Driving school instructor warns that in extreme situations, all-weather tires can easily fail.
– Safety speaks in favor of buying two sets of tires. Tires are the only part of the car that touches the ground. They have a decisive influence on handling and stopping distance, says Yaskulsky.
Roman Baran, rally driver and Polish mountain racing champion, agrees.
“What is done for many tasks will never be completely suitable for everything,” he emphasizes.
AutoBild test results
Recommended Tires: Goodyear Vector 4Seasons and Sava Adapto.
Recommended Tires: Hankook Optimo 4S H730, Kumho Alone 4 All Weather, Vredestein Quatrac Lite.
Satisfactory tires: Bridgestone A001 Weather Control, Kleber Quadraxer, Star Performer Winter AS.
Tire not recommended: Euro typhoon all season.
Defective tire: Harrow 4season.
Governorate Bartosz
photo by Bartosz Guberna
In preparing the text, we used tire tests published on oponeo.pl.
Check the prices for winter and summer tires on the sites regiomoto.pl and motointegrator.pl.
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