Why You Shouldn't Run Winter Tires All Year - With Proof! 

that's why you just run no tires. then save your winter tires for winter, smh

Here in Finland most people drive studded winter tyres during the months that there's snow and have regular tyres to put on in the spring. Very few drivers use all-season tyres for the whole year. It's pretty clear to people here in northern Europe that winter months require a very specific sort of tyres to handle safely...

I enjoy your videos. You don't make ridiculous assumptions or draw conclusions without the data to back them up. You also explain your methods and possible concerns people might have. As an adult who is going back to school (finals this week!! AHHH!!) to study engineering, your videos are always refreshing and not full of facepalm material like so many other RU-vidrs who claim to be sciencing all the things. Thanks, and keep them coming. :)

Tire Rack did the same on ice test years ago. Great to have a test on the oposite temperatures. Eye opening. Thank you, love this channel.

Another item is that the winter tires have less tread meeting the road - but instead has lots of places for the snow to go and provides that grip on snow. And of course Studs extend stopping (and acceleration) on dry surfaces, kind of like wearing metal cleats on a linoleum floor. I used to run studs all the time, however there isn't enough snow/ice all year around anymore and was noticing how much the wheels spin. My "new" car has all the fancy ABS/ESP features and now I have "studless" tires and haven't looked back. Plus - the winter tire tread wears very fast when it gets warm out..and cornering is squishyier. And it works the other way too.... Years ago I waited too late to swap and tried getting to work on a cold snowy morning. My 3-season summer tires were so hard that I lost control at low speed and hit a curb. I also feel that Directional snow tires make a huge difference when it comes to cornering - having owned both over the years on the same car - I recommend paying the premium.

If you like excessive wear, less grip and squealing tyres in corners by all means use winter tyres in the summer.

Hey Jason, I hope you read this. Have you considered testing winter tyres in the heat of summer (something like 35°C and above)? Some manufacturers warn that the tyres might start to marble at temperatures above 30°C, under heavy braking (causing little rubber pellets to form beneath the tyre, making the wheel roll on top of them, significantly reducing grip). I've been trying to find examples of that happening on the internet, but I wasn't able to find any convincing data to support it. It would make for a very interesting video topic, I believe.

I just ran winter tires for whole summer and no problems with stopping. They are a bit nosier but that's about it. Not much thread lost. Now, when it is raining, it is good to be a bit extra careful, but still it is stable.

When on dry road surface, I've noticed a threshold when breaking hard with winter tires where there is a sudden loss of traction/grip. This abrupt threshold isn't so apparent with my summer tires (even in the winter when they are rock hard). My theory for this is that under this threshold (normal conditions), the soft compound with sipes will deform slightly and keep a broad contact patch on the flat portion of tread between the sipes. When at this threshold and above (supra normal conditions, i.e. hard accel/decel), the tread deforms so far that the siping causes extra ridges to form creating a "rougher" surface. This is after all what the sipes are there to do, create ridges for more snow to get caught in/push against and provide better water evacuation. This is good on snow which conforms to the rough tread shape. However when on pavement, with these edges protruding farther than the flat contact patches between the sipes, this raises the flat contact patch and causes the tire to ride on the skinny edges. This decreases the total surface area in contact with the road surface. Less contact between rubber and road means less grip, which means more slippage. I bet that if you took the same compound that my winter tires are made of (michelin x-ice xi3's), and took away the sipes, then they would stop in a shorter distance on dry pavement than the original (siped) version. And quite possibly better than my summer tires if tread pattern was the same and only the compound was different. Though this compound would have pretty poor tread life during the summer.

You should send your video to the Government of Quebec! Since they put a law that requires winter tires from December 15 to April 15 some people decided to run on winter tires all year long. So they end up running on almost flat tires the next winter!

At some point you should do a test where you could try this experiment at a higher temperature in july or something

I live in Michigan, on my 06 Crown Vic Interceptor I run General Altimax Arctics in winter and General Gmax AS03 in summer, both the same size. The difference is amazing. The winters are very surefooted in snow and slush but are very squirmy when pushed just a little. When I change wheels from winter to summer it feels like a different car, handles MUCH better and feels much more surefooted on the highway especially at speeds over 70.

I think that the following things occur when you use winter tyres in the summer - After exposure to high summer temperatures the compound of the winter tyres actually cooks itself and it becomes very hard so you have less grip and even if you consider re-using the tyres in the winter they won't have the same grip, because they are already "cooked".

If i may add some input: the road surface in the winter is soft and therefore i think the movement of the tyre treads helps to have a larger contact surface since it moves and shifts with the road surface (snow, whatever). On summer tyres in the snow, the tyre is rigid and therefore when the snow shifts under the wheels it will have more slip. In the summer winter tyres will try to shift with the road but the road being rigid will result in more slip - so in conclusion i think rigid road surface will get best randament with a rigid tyre and soft road surface will get it with soft tyres (i may be terribly wrong here :P ). I think there is a phenomenon there that would be cool if someone would do something like a wheel high speed camera (300-400 FPS) during this test. Also it would be cool if you do this test in warm rainy conditions - i think that the winter tyres will fail terribly there - then again maybe the rigidity of the summer tyres may result in more slip - if you find the time and resources i'd love that video. Trial and error :). Anyway, cool video! Also sorry for my awful english (or engrish) :P P.S. i'd also love to see "time wear" on any type of tyres; like brand new summer tyres vs 10 year old practically new summer tyres of the same model and make. THANK YOU FOR YOUR AWESOME VIDEOS!!!

I ride a motorcycle with knobbies, and you can feel how each knob flexes a little when turning hard, allowing the tyre to effectively slip a little. This probably happens with winter tyres as well, as you describe

It's not only about handling and braking - fuel consumption go up drastically using winter tyres.

it is not a big deal but on mobile your end card overlays your correcting annotation information on the error you made on naming tyre you made a point about. This was also something I wondered. Thanks for investigating.

back when I had a cheap econo car, I needed to get tires but couldn't afford good ones. so I went to my local used tire place and got 4 practically new winter tires for $120 installed. wierd part is, how did the shop end up with these tires in South Florida? the tires were loud and did well in the summer rain.

Whats with all the freedom units, I thought you were an engineer!

Ran winters during the summer because I couldn't afford summers at the time. I noticed in the rain, they stuck like glue, but were squealing and spinning like crazy when it was dry

Something you didn't touch on here is that the rolling resistance of snow tyres is higher leading to increased fuel consumption.

What wears winter tires more: Higher temps? or dry roads? I'm guessing that colder temps protect the softer tires because they are harder in winter = less wear. I also think that snow on roads causes less wear than dry roads. What Im wondering is if dry roads in winter are much of a concern for wear of snow tires? or is temperature the main concern?

i ran studded winter tires all summer one year. zero tread wear reported, i even did 3 burnouts at the gas station.

Hi! Could you do a video explaining how the old Porsche 911 air-cooled engines worked, how the newer water-cooled engines work and the pros and cons of each??

We are lucky in the north of NZ. It never gets bad enough that we need winter tyres. I like the freedom units thing, sounds patriotic. How can you speak so well, yet keep driving?

It would be very interesting if you could take the tire tread pattern out of the equation, so a winter compound vs a summer compound with the exact same tread pattern so we can see how much of a difference the compound aswell as the tread pattern make. But i guess that will be very hard to achieve/get.

Great video! I was wondering if increasing the winter tire pressure will have a better impact on the test. What do you think?

I didn't put winter tires on my BRZ, but I had to clear my drive way... I had to go around the block and build up speed so I could get up my driveway haha. Going up the hill I was at a 30 degree angle because of the slopes off centre on the road... It was pathetic.

The test should be All season v Summer tire on a wet road. Winter tires are not made to be good on wet or summer roads. Winter tires are also prematurely worn if you use them in the summer and easier to puncture.

how about running a test with summer tires, slick tires, and every tire with mild rain and heavy rain

Time to make a video about summer tires during the winter and intermediate tires year-round.

You also missed another variable that I thought you were about to hit on when talking about the flex in the tread blocks-the actual size of the contact patch! More open tread means there is less actual surface area, less of the winter tire is actually in contact with the road vs an all-season. What I wonder now is how an all-terrain tire would fare, as the open tread block design would likely create a contact patch more similar to the winter tire, with a compound similar to the all-season.

I would love to see you do the same test, but in winter on the snow, see what kind of improvement you get with the winter tires. I personally think your wasting your money for winter tires. If you use a decent all season, and know how drive, you should not have a problem. I have never in my entire life used a winter tire, and have never had accident in the snow, as result of lost grip. In fact I have never had a accident in the snow at all.

Pretty simple, not made to run hot so they will turn to snot and wear down in summer. Just like a wet tire ran in the dry. Everything involved in a car is about compromises. You only gain in one area by losing something somewhere else.

It's not the softer compound that destroys the grip in the summer. It's the thread pattern and the siping. Drag tires have a soft compound but almost no thread and no siping.

Let's talk small sample size and general design and material differences on this test

Now I have even more reason to despise people who drive on snow tires in the summer. Get that all the time here, and it's so annoying. Snow tires are really loud on asphalt.

Would be nice to see how the performance of real winter-tires on a hot summer day would be. I mean soft winter-tires designed for those -20 °C days on a 35°C day.

Would be great with a video about 15, 16 or 17 inch winter tires.

All season tires are proven to work in all conditions and perform equally as effective as dedicated winter tires and summer tires. The only reason why you should run winter tires is when driving in slower conditions such as city driving and want a more comfortable ride. If you want pure performance for all conditions all season are the way to go. Real hybrid tires are all weather tires.

Fitting, I just changed my dad's tyres last night.

hey man i love your channel its very cool,but (This is just an idea) why you dnot talk about motorcycles? for example the type of engines, exhausts, brakes, suspensions, etc. I think it's an interesting topic and so more public coverage. But as I said it's just an idea. Keep it up!

I´m from Austria and I use winter tires in summer only in case the profile is too low to legally use them another winter.

I've done some testing just now on Michelin PA4s and while the braking isn't great, the outright grip at 7c vs my MPSS is night and day in favour of the PA4. I can accelerate like it is 35 Celsius on a dry day on MPSS

Now what about all-seasons vs summer tires using the S2000? Also, would have been interested to see a skidpad test. But then again, using a modern memebarge "SUV" it would just roll. Maybe you can test that with the S2000

Goes to show you why specialized tires and things like brakes ect are designed for a specific purpose. Unless those design envelopes are met you're worse off then standard equipment.

It's spring and I'm still running winter tires. I'm desperately trying to save up for all season tires.

Will winter tires have more traction/better grip off the line then summer tires If you were to race your car on a warm day? your videos rock btw!

I drove on winter tires on summer with no issues around 7000 km in a trip . what about that ? :D - using the last mm of tread pattern & Saving the cash

I wonder if the winter tires might also be heavier than the all seasons. Rotating mass is a real bugger.

can you talk a little more about your point of brakes not being limiting factor but tyres? In the past, I've faded pads after a few laps in my car where my braking has been so bad that I kept squeezing and squeezing to prevent going off track. eventually locking the wheels just before I've gone on to the grass. I felt clearly the pedal had reduced braking where it very wooden then snap into locked wheels.

Hmmm. Even above 10c in the wet/damp my nokians hakkas had way more cornering/side grip than my all season toyos. Same wet on and off ramps nokians stuck to, all seasons had to be taken at least 20kph slower or i could start to feel em give.

Now for all season tyre vs race tyre? Given the fact that a race tyre uses a softer compound.

This video educationally enlightened me

Even in racing overheating tires are much worse than cold ones.

I'm certain that 99% of your audience knew this already. I remember back when I made my drivers licence they even explained to us why winter tires are bad in summer conditions.

unrelated question but hopefully you can answer. is it "okay" to throw your car into neutral and rev it. more specifically when the car is in drive and moving then put into neutral, reved higher, dropped back down to a lower rpm then put back into drive while moving. (this is an automatic) thank you!!

How can the yokohamas at 124.13ft equal 3.11 seconds and the 126.76ft equal the same 3.11second ? And the Bridgestone 127.72ft equal 3.10 seconds . Should there be an equation after these numbers to give a clearer understanding ?

my buddy was lazy and didn't swap his winters for a few months. killed brand new tires after 5k miles.

I wanna see winter tires in rain vs summer tires

I had wondered this! Good video!

The only proof here is what Bridgestone already says about Blizzak tires, don't run them in summer. Try the Yokohamas against a set of Nokian, Goodyear, or Micheline all season-winter (snowflake stamped) tires and the results will be much different.

I run winter tyres all year and never had a problem.

I have some really old winter tires, they are solid as rock, prolly harder than my summer's. They still have a lot of tread on them, so I was thinking should I just use them for the summer, as my current summer tires are in a pretty bad shape and I bough new winters anyway.

What about over heating ? Can winter tires dissipate the heat of regular highway driving or are they in danger of blow-outs in the heat of summer ? (California summer or Alaska summer?)

Performance reasons... Hell no, use the tool designed for the job. You live in an area where you can hit -40 you better have a winter In a lot of places it is law. That being said. I was never able to hydroplane my cheap winter tires and the all seasons had me scared for my life. The winters could of saved my life and I wouldnt even know it because they preformed so much better in warm very wet conditions. Now for cost reasons. I drive the hell out of my cars and I ran a Goodyear Nordic cheap Canadian Tire rubber for 2 full years and they were still usable for next winter. Someone hit my car so i got rid of it all... But that being said you can spend 400 bucks on a set of winters and leave em on 3-4 years. The amount you just saved on changeovers can buy a new set.

So who else expected winter tires to be soft and grippy in warm weather?

Very interesting information, I like it

Can you please do this for dry winter conditions too? Between All Season & Winter?

those winter tires wouldnt pass in finland at all they looked weird because say ud use real winter tires with metallic spikes in the compound id say ud get more grip then summer tires.

Can someone answer as to why saying shifting from anything higher than 4th gear to neutral and then braking is a bad idea?

Would you please look into Toyo Celcius CUV tires? Toyo claimed these are world's first (and probably only) variable condition tire (and not all season tire). Since its not a popular brand in the USA, its very difficult fine true review. My Murano came with Toyo branded tires as stock, so I am curious. Thanks in advance

Winter Tires = Drag slicks in summer , Yes

Thank you for clairifying that for me

I have studded winter tires and no way anyone would use those in summer. Its even illegal here

Aren't the slick tires made out of softer, stickier compound too? Part where you mentioned that material is getting torn off and destroyed because it is a lot softer, why does same thing happen with slicks? The ones i saw looked like they were 10 years old after just few laps, it looked like rubber was melting.

I'm curious about "all weather tires" which have the winter rating but are usable year-round. (I'm not talking about "all season tires")

nah, the test is flawed ... you would need to have the exact same tires, only made out of different compound. you see they differ in patter now, and its not helping the test to be authentic. however the outcome is actually true to life, the winter tires are suxor in summer.

I dont know why im watching this video. Ive never seen snow in my life.

Why do summer tires have to be so damn expensive, I live in So Fla and have no need for all season radials, but the summer tires are just for high performance cars, I have an economy car.

If you still have that thermal camera I think it would be interesting to see the difference in operating temperature between the winter tires and the all seasons under normal driving conditions. Also curious as to how the winter tires would behave in heavy rain. All those sipes (probably spelled wrong) would have to allow that water to absorb some of that heat

even though winters up here in Alaska can be longer then summer i have separate winter and summer tires on separate wheels for all my cars, well worth the investment unfortunately i see many people still driving with winter tires, studded or sipped in summer , some drivers are either just too lazy or cheap to change over in summer and usually have to end up getting new tires or driving on crappy wheels by winter in glad the police fine people for running studs in summer

In Canadian cities where it's cold and people do not have room for two sets of tires, people use winter tires all year round.

Even F1 teams dont really use ultra soft tires on hot tracks as the tires overheat and the tires dont last very long.

I ran old snow tires at an autocross once by the end of the runs i was sliding all over couldnt hardly keep it from spinning out. I got the showmanship award but they yelled at me for drifting too much lol It was hot that day too

I like how you approach a problem, do proper experiments, and show us not only the results but also all the data. Much better than speculation or hearsay which seems to be rampant among car enthusiasts.

Winter tires being bad in the summer is common knowledge nowadays, I've heard theories of the material gelling over under high heat braking. However I'd like to see a test using 3/5/7/10 year old winter tires, because people are being told by "tire experts" to basically throw away their winter tires after 3-5 years as the compound has hardened up and are basically useless as winter tires. However seeing as how people only use them for a few months of the year, they could very well still have 90% of their tread left by that point. So by listening to them, you would need to buy a new set of winter tires that often to appease them, because according to those same experts you can't use them in summer either. However, taking into account the natural drying and hardening they've gone through year after year sitting in storage in the off-season, I'd be curious to find out how their performance is affected, in summer, at let's say 10 years old - which is my current case, driving a car in winter, fall, spring and yes summer, with hardened up 10 year old winter tires with 90% of their tread left, unwilling to throw seemingly "perfectly good tires" in the trash.

I have a 2009 Land Rover and run winters all year long because optimum summer performance is not a huge priority for my rainy day car. I find that even really worn winter tires grip better in the snow than brand new all seasons. Winters are my all seasons now.

You can run winter tires year-round your MPG will reduce with winter tires. Sumoto Ice edge are very good on traction all year. The grip of the winter tire holds traction and does not lose traction in the summer. My car stops shorter in distance with the Sumoto Ice Edge in the summer than the Good year Eagles in the summer.

Is winter really ever going to end

I run winters all year not a problem , not too concerned about the loss of grip in the heat but I guess I would be if I couldnt stop in time and hit a tree LOL

just a long speech..............................show some proper examples??????????????????????????????????????????????

The siping is key with braking tests, the block movement resulting in few clean surfaces on the road are a huge limiting factor. If you'd tested lateral grip you'd have found the results closer which highlights compound is less of an issue (until overheated) If you fancy talking tyres more, I'll make sure I'm visiting Carthrottle next time you're in the UK!

Do a winter tire vs summer tire on off-road. The winter is better in mud and sand.

Another thing when comparing winter tires vs. summer/all-season tires is sidewall rigidity. Winter tires have less rigid sidewalls, and if you use them on a high-gripping surface, ie. asphalt in the summer, the tire will behave quite badly when you're cornering or doing other sudden movements. The sidewall will kind of "bend" quite a bit and you'll lose a lot of grip. This could be tested on a skid pad, trying out for the max v that the tires can handle before you start losing grip.

how did you remember all of that and say it all while driving, skill right there😂

Interesting results. Another thing to think about may be the tread pattern. The all-season tires probably have a bit more rubber in contact with the road than the winter tyres. I wonder if you'd have similar differences in performance on wet roads or not.

Finnish engineers have a lock on cold weather compound formulation. I would recommend that you do the same testing on Hakkapeliitta manufactured tires.

Can you do a video on cable shift vs direct shift in a manual trans?

As someone who had a complaint about the last tire test, this I feel is a great and very informative comparison. I didn't take that close of a look at the tread patterns, but I wonder if one of the other reasons the all-seasons do better is because of greater surface area. Snow tires are designed to allow snow to pack in (one of the best way to get grip on snow is to use snow) so I figure that would inherently lower surface area.