Winter Tires vs. All-Season Tires

In a Knoxville winter, the streets grow thick with ice and snow piles pop up at every curve. Winter tires greatly improve your safety and performance on streets as wintry as Indiana’s in February. They’re also much more durable in the elements. Take a moment to compare winter tires vs. all-season tires with Lenoir City Chrysler Dodge Jeep Ram, and also, explore our winter tire storage tips and learn about the behavior of tire pressure in winter. Then, contact our team to discuss your options.

What Are the Advantages of Winter Tires?

Winter tires keep you safer on winter roads, improve your handling, and take less of a beating in freezing temperatures. They may not be necessary if you live in Texas, but if you live in Oak Ridge, we highly recommend them. Let’s take a closer look at winter tires vs. all-season tires:

• Winter tires include biting edges. These sharper edges smoothly slice through snow build-ups and ice dams.
• Winter tires also feature more complex and deeper tread grooves, which increase their grip on slippery surfaces. Not only does this make you safer on ice, but it also provides you with smoother, more responsive handling, making your vehicle more enjoyable to drive.
• All-season tires are known to rapidly deteriorate in freezing temperatures. In order to get the most of their lifespan, it’s best to take them off in winter, switching them out with winter tires. Winter tires feature unique rubber compounds that can handle brutal temperatures.

A Few Tips for Winter Tire Storage

On dry roads, all-season tires perform better than winter tires. They’re less noisy, and they get better fuel economy, so we recommend swapping your winter tires out for all-season in the spring. Since tire pressure in winter tends towards rapid deflation due to molecular shrinkage in cold weather, make sure you air your all-season tires up before installing them, as they’re likely running low. With that in mind, let’s take a look at a few tips to consider for proper winter tire storage:

• Grime corrodes tire tread, so make sure to clean your tires before letting them sit in a dark Athens garage for 4-5 months.
• Check on your tires now and then. It’s possible they’ve gotten grimy, and you don’t want the grim to slowly corrode your tires!
• If tires lay in one position for too long, it can create wear, so move them to different positions, so they don’t develop rubber welts or buckles.

Buy and Install Winter Tires Near Athens

You’ve compared winter tires vs. all-season tires, reviewed our winter tire storage tips, and learned about tire pressure in winter. If you’re ready to take the leap and maximize your winter safety and performance, call Lenoir City Chrysler Dodge Jeep Ram at (865) 326-6880. But first! Check out our service tips for helpful reads on everyday car care, including our primer on recommended car maintenance schedules!