Do I Really Need Winter Tires in Canada?

Yes. Thanks for reading!

Okay no no, there’s more to it than that, but that is the final answer. If you’re a driver in Canada then you know how bad the roads get over winter, you know how hard it is to get grip in the snow, and regardless, you probably came to this article looking for an excuse not to buy winter tires. Well tough luck, instead we’ll methodically explain all the reasons you really do need winter tires.

Safety

It doesn’t matter how great a driver you are if you can’t get any grip on the pavement. Winter tires are specifically designed to combat snow and ice and they are more effective than regular or all-season tires.

That’s not to say with winter tires you can drive around like a madman, you still need to drive carefully, but you can at least drive carefully on snow tires. It’s the difference between stopping before you slide into the fence, and sliding right through the fence.

How They Work

Sometimes the science can be convincing. Winter tires are designed to combat Winter conditions in a few key ways. 1 is the materials used to create them, basically they’re made of materials with a lower freezing point than regular tires.

Now tires aren’t a liquid so they don’t “freeze” per say, but they do start to get more stiff and rigid as you bring temperatures down which means the tires have less bounce, and less grip. This starts to happen at around 7°C on regular tires. You may note it gets significantly colder than that on an average Ontario winter.

Thanks to the chemical balance of winter tires that stiffness doesn’t kick in until around -40°C, a much more reasonable amount. Winter Tires are also designed with thicker treads that allow for more grip in thick snow.

These same changes also make them not equipped at all for summer but that’s why they’re called winter tires isn’t it.

Money

Yes Winter tires will initially set you back, and if you opt for a set of tires instead of a full set of rims there will be added costs every year (which is why you should buy winter rims).

However, consider the costs after initial purchase. Getting into an accident or collision is already pretty pricey, but insurance companies will charge you even more if they consider the accident preventable by a set of winter tires. You don’t want to give them the opportunity to make that case.

Conclusion: Yes

Yes we said it before but it bears repeating: do you need winter tires? Yes. When it comes down to it, the safety of yourself and of everyone else on the road is worth more than what they’ll cost you, and you’ll feel much more comfortable once you’ve got them.

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