From all the snow and freezing rain we had this winter, it’s hard to believe that we are supposed to be in a “warm and mild” climate here on the West Coast of British Columbia.
We have been facing increasing levels of icy roads and unstable driving conditions that appear to be out of the norm these days. All across the country, Canadians are making the switch to winter tires and retiring their all-season tires for the winter months. But on the West Coast, most of us rely on the all-season tires that came with the cars, hoping they will be sufficient because it only snows a few times a year here in the western part of Canada.
As we got dumped by a significant amount of snow and freezing rain, the tire shops got bombarded with people trying to buy and install winter tires.
But even so, most people stick to the all-season tires – which provide all-year convenience but suffer from a lot of compromises – because they believe that the snowy conditions won’t return next year.
It’s an uphill battle to convince B.C. drivers to invest time, money, and resources to buy and manage a full set of winter tires for various reasons, so what can we do?
Well, the great news is that there is a solution to this issue; instead of buying snow or winter tires we can buy a set of “all-weather” tires that can do double duty.
What is the difference between all-weather tires and all-season tires, you ask … and the answer seems hard to believe. All-weather tires are tires that can be driven all year but have an added benefit of having a built-in winter-ready tread and compound that will allow the driver to use them as full-fledged winter tires as well. These tires display a severe service snowflake symbol on its side which proves that they’ve been tested and approved for winter use.
Nokian, sold and distributed through Kal Tire retailers, is the maker that designed, developed and perfected these performance tires and therefore are the pioneers of this whole concept.
A few other manufacturers offer something close to the Nokian versions (Toyo, for example).
I recently had an opportunity to test out a set of Nokian WR G3 SUV tires, which are designed specifically for SUVs and crossovers. Fortunately we had a dump of snow all over Vancouver this winter and I did a back to back comparison with both regular all-season tires and dedicated winter tires. We used the Nokian in a brand new Toyota 4Runner and Audi SQ5, and drove through many different sections of the city and onto mountain roads.
The Nokians performed as quiet, smooth, and good handling tires when the road was dry and snow-free, and yet provided winter performance similar to dedicated snow tires when driven in both fresh snow and packed ice.
The new symmetric and directional tread pattern of the Nokian WR G3 SUV tires and the heavy siping design as well as the all-weather silica compound tailored for SUVs provided a surefooted ride and handling. Nokian’s innovations such as the Snow Claws take grip on snow and ice to a much higher level than traditional all season tires, and at the same time the so-called “groove lifts” bring stability on normal, dry roads.
The all-weather tire’s rubber compound has an advanced design that is softer than all-season tires; this ensures that no cracking will take place when temperatures dip below 7 C. Normal all-season tires, on the other hand, have fewer treads and sipe patterns, and are designed for temperatures above 7 C.
Nokian is the world’s foremost tire manufacturer of extreme winter conditions, and they are the experts in fine-tuning these tires at locations such as at the European high-speed test tracks in Papenburg, Germany and Idiada, Spain. Nokian performs rigorous snow and ice handling tests at its Ivalo Testing Center in the extreme conditions of Finnish Lapland.
So if you are worried about driving all-season tires in winter and yet really cannot justify the time or the money to buy an additional set of dedicated winter tires, all-weather tires provide a surprising solution. Nokian makes both WR G3 series for passenger cars as well as in WR G3 SUV version designed more specifically for heavier, larger SUVs.
All you have to do is slap on a set of these tires and never worry again about driving through a variety of conditions in summer or winter. Yes, sometimes you really do get surprising extra benefits with no strings attached.
editor@automotivepress.com
