September is the beginning of the end for the summer. Temperatures gradually decrease, the days get shorter and shorter, schools are back and people in general are back from their summer holidays.
This is also the time to start thinking about what tyre option is best for the season. When it comes to choosing, the debate is generally between Winter and All-Season tyres.
Instead of picking one option over the other, we want to give you an overview of the differences between the two types of tyres as described by popular car blogs and websites.
winter tyres are not only useful when its snowy and icy out, they’re also useful, in deed almost indispensable, when the weather turns merely chilly. For most tyres, the ones we call slightly incorrectly ‘Summer’ tyres, their peak operating temperature is above 7-deg celsius ambient. Now, while we’re hardly northern Canada, there are an awful lot of weeks when the air temperature here in Ireland drops below 7-degrees and stays there.
Verdict: There is a simpler solution however, and it’s the development of all-season tyres, which has come on in leaps and bounds in the past few years.
All-season tyres represent a middle ground between summer and winter products. As such, while they are not as effective in the winter (compared to tyres designed purely for this season), they are better than winter products in the summer – but, of course, they are not as good as summer products.
Verdict: Ultimately, when it comes to choosing all season or winter tyre products, the main benefit of all-season products is to save money by using one set of tyres, rather than 2.
There is always a trade-off in performance between winter tyres and summer tyres in the different seasons with regard to tyre handling, braking & traction in dry, wet and snow conditions. This means the all weather tyres are unlikely to be as good as the best specialist tyre in the respective seasons but can be expected to work better on wintry roads than a summer tyre, and better on a summer road than a winter tyre.
Verdict: All-season tyres are easy to drive thanks to stable cornering and strong traction in both wet and dry conditions. On wet roads, the specially designed blocks ensure smooth water evacuation, reducing the risk of hydroplaning.
Modern all-season tyres are competent generalists that offer good functionality within a very broad temperature range. They are often provided by vehicle manufacturers as original equipment and also quite popular on the replacement market.
Verdict: The compromise may seem less attractive to performance-focused drivers, but many motorists find the convenience and practicality of all-season tyres quite seductive.
When it comes to All-Season tyres, it’s difficult to beat Zeetex ZT4000 4S and their uni-directional tread design with wider grooves ensuring quicker water evacuation and helps in overcoming aquaplaning. Also their larger & curved tread blocks on outer shoulder ensures better cornering.