Winter Tires vs. All-Season Tires

Having a well-maintainted set of tires is vital to your safety on any road. It's your car's main contact with the street, and driving with old or the wrong wrong type of tires can cause serious damage to your car and even injuries to you and your passengers. Even though Dublin has relatively mild winters, sometimes storms and ice happen, along with changes in tire pressure in winter. Which is a better fit for your vehicle: winter tires vs. all-season tires? Compare their pros and cons, learn about winter tire storage, and more with the Five Star Lincoln service center. 

Winter Tires vs. All-Season: Pros and Cons of Winter Tires

Let's take a look at the advantages and disadvantages of investing in winter tires: 

Advantages

• Unique Rubber Compound: Winter tires aren't just designed for slippery Warner Robins streets. They're also made with a specialized rubber compound that can handle extended periods in sub-freezing temperatures. All-season tires don't use the same kind of rubber. Extended cold can case them to become brittle which makes them less stable. 

• Specially-Designed Tread: The grooves in the treads of winter tires are designed to really grip roads and not get caked in snow and ice. All-season tires have a tread that's designed to handle a variety of road conditions that aren't extreme.

• Biting Edge Design: Winter tires have a biting edge design that digs into deep snow and ice to allow your vehicle to easily drive in winter conditions.

Disadvantages

• Wear: If temperatures climb back up and the roads are dry, driving with winter tires can cause significant wear on the tires, meaning a decreased lifespan. This will likely be a common issue in middle Georgia since our winter temperatures rarely drop below freezing.

• Winter Tire Storage: While you can drive on a winter tire during the summer, it's not recommended so you'll have to have a second set of summer tires to swap to when the weather gets warmer. That means you'll also need winter tire storage. 

Winter Tire Storage Information & Tips

The primary reason for Macon drivers to invest in winter tires is if they spend a lot of time in snowy regions. If that's your situation you'll definitely want to make sure you have adequate winter tire storage. Choose a clean and temperature-controled storage space. Clean your winter tires before stashing them for the season. Once they're stored, you'll want to stack the tires and rotate them occasionally.

Tire Pressure in Winter

Whether you choose winter tires or all-season tires, they have one major cold-weather trait in common: your tire pressure will almost always drop as the cold temperatures causes air to become less dense in your tires. We recommend you add the correct tire pressure to your tires when they're still cold as you don't want to have low tire pressure when you're driving. It's especially important to check your tire pressure at least once a month in winter, and to fill your tires to the recommended tire pressure if your tire pressure monitoring alert turns on.

Check Your Tire Pressure In the Winter With Five Star Lincoln

If you have questions about tire pressure in winter or winter tires, contact the Five Star Lincoln service center. We can help you decide if winter tires are a worthwhile investment for you. If it's time for winter tires or new all-season tires, check our parts specials to save money. Or even if it's just time for a tire rotation, schedule an appointment with us.