Well, it is winter again, and with winter in Colorado comes snow. Amazing, beautiful, slippery snow. So great for skiing, of course, but skiing is not what you want to do on the highway! We need traction, and as much as we can get.So, let's look at engineering traction into winter tires.
Traction Performance
Have you ever thought about the engineering that goes into the tires we put on our vehicles? I just switched tires - from one kind of performance tire to an entirely different kind. The first are "summer" tires (shown on the right in this image) have pretty amazing traction on dry pavement, especially when said pavement is hot. Hard to break these things loose, so driving with them is a ton of fun. Snow, on the other hand, renders these things almost traction-less.
The "winter" tires (shown on the left) are amazing in an entirely different story. The same car that can't go up a snow covered hill with the summer tires, challenges even my 4x4 truck when the winter tires are installed. Truly amazing when engineering traction into the tread.
Putting the new tires on is a bit like a photographic negative. The new tires are not so exciting on dry pavement (a little spongy), but wow, in the snow they are impressive!
Engineering Traction Into Safety
The old school methods were chains or studs (still used frequently, and honestly still the best winter traction). But, they damage the roads, and (chains) are a pain to put on and take off. To me, the amazing story is here, with engineering traction into these "studless" snow tires.
Of course, it is the hundreds of sipes (narrow slices) in the tread that everyone points to as the winter traction specialty. But is it really just that? After studying a bit about engineering traction into tires, I see a bunch more that goes into the design of winter tire treads.
If it was just so easy as sipes, then everyone would do it, and there would not be that much of a difference between the tire brands. But there is a difference, a big difference, and it comes in part from the tread shape, and in part from the things you don't see - like the rubber compounds.
(You can say similar things about features of the summer tires that give the awesome street traction. It is engineering traction into the tires for an entirely different purpose. And I am glad they do.)
If You Are In The Market
Check out a few of the leading brands and do a little of your own investigation. These Nokian's are considered one of the best winter tires because of their proven engineering traction on snow and ice - call it winter performance tires. The complete story, and the real reasons are not so obvious.
From my research, a couple of winter tires that seem to be at the top are: Nokian Hakkapeliitta R2 (most images on this page), and the Bridgestone Blizzak WS80 (right) which look entirely different, but also perform well (according to the ratings).
For me, these Nokian tires did super well - almost as well as my 4x4 with nearly worn-out tires. I was really impressed. Yet, just like the worn 4x4 tires, the traction of these Nokian tires did degrade with tread wear. Their last winter was not so stellar as I wanted, but that is certainly to be expected.
So, how about these winter tires in the summer? Oh, they are awful. They have good traction (not great at the extremes), but they tend to be spongy and lack performance feedback. (Probably due to the sipes.) They are also noisy.
Chalk one up for the focus of engineering traction from the tire industry to optimize their products for specific purposes. Yeah, it is a little hassle to change them each Spring and Fall, but absolutely worth it for the performance gains. And, perhaps most of all, for the added safety when driving in the snow.
Personally, I love a good drift and purposefully slide around sometimes. My sons appreciate that, but well . . . . Gotta keep my wife and family safe when the roads are slippery!
Writing here is just for the fun of it. We are not tire experts or even tire engineers, but we find a fascination in all sorts of engineering. In this case, tires live a tough life, and we demand (and expect) so much from them. I have such respect for the engineers that design these amazing hunks of rubber. The very rubber we put our lives on every day. Thank you.
Side by side comparison. Winter Performance Tire (Left), and Summer Performance Tire (Right).