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What's the difference between summer and winter tyres?
The major difference between summer and winter tyres is the tread. A winter tyre (figures 2 & 3) has various notches in the tread blocks that we refer to as lamellas. When in contact with the road surface these transform into a kind of “saw teeth”, increasing the grip on snow and ice. That considerably reduces the braking distance on snow and ice. In addition, road adherence and cornering characteristics on snow and ice are much better.
A summer tyre tread (figure 4) does not have lamellas and is characterised by wide longitudinal grooves and compact shoulder blocks. These longitudinal grooves ensure that water is carried off quickly while the shoulder blocks ensure proper cornering characteristics.
The rubber mixtures also differ for summer tyres and winter tyres. The rubber composition of summer tyres performs best at temperatures higher than 7 degrees Celsius. At lower temperatures the flexibility and elasticity of the rubber decreases, reducing the tyre performance. The rubber mixtures of winter tyres contain special raw materials that keep the tyres flexible and elastic at low temperatures. So not only on snow and ice, as people generally think, but also at temperatures below 7 degrees Celsius winter tyres outperform summer tyres.
Tyres with a code “M+S”, “M&S” or “MS” on the sidewall are specially designed for optimum performance on Mud + Snow. This code is required under the law for a tyre to qualify as winter tyre.
Figure 3 Figure 4
It is permitted to use winter tyres with a lower speed code than the maximum vehicle speed. When using winter tyres with a lower speed code than the maximum vehicle speed, some countries prescribe that a sticker must be placed on the dashboard to remind the driver of the maximum speed for the tyres in question. However, the tyre manufacturer is no longer accountable at speeds higher than indicated by the code. The regulations regarding winter tyres may differ per country.
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