When Keith Peterson moved from Orlando, Florida to Madison, Wisconsin, he brought along his recently purchased car. That was in September, and everything was fine.
Then came the first snowfall of the year. Being from Florida, Peterson didn’t have a lot of experience driving in wintry conditions, but he never expected to feel so utterly out of control.
“I slid through intersections, and I fishtailed whenever I hit even the smallest patch of snow,” he says. “No other driver seemed to be having the difficulties I was. Afterward, my friends nicknamed my car “The Silver Sled of Death.”
He says a friend recommended that during the next mild day, he should take his car into Smart Motors and let their service department help him with his issue. He did. And he learned quite a bit.
Jim Ward, service manager at Smart Motors, pointed out that Peterson was driving on high-performance tires, which are great for warm weather conditions like in Florida or even Wisconsin from May through October.
“We see cases like this several times at the beginning of every winter,” says Ward. “Tires can look brand new, so people don’t know what is making them slip-sliding the season away.”
Peterson told Ward that he was expecting to move 20 miles south of Madison soon but still work in the city. With this in mind, Ward recommended Peterson go with designated snow tires.
“When people need to commute to and from work from a rural area, I almost always say they should go with snow tires,” says Ward. “They can swap out with their regular tire in early November or so. And having two sets of tires puts less wear and tear on both pairs, so you can have them for quite a long while.”
Ward says Peterson’s other option would have been to basically ditch the high-performance tires and go with all-season radials.
“All-season tires are what I recommend to most drivers,” says Ward. “They’re great for people with short commutes and little reason to veer far from the beaten path,” Ward says all-season tires are also very convenient, as they don’t need to be swapped out with any other set of tires seasonally.
“Given that, a driver can simply leave all-season tires on a vehicle year-round, which may cause some issues down the road if the driver isn’t conscious of the wear that occurs annually,” says Ward.
Ward says most drivers don’t think about their tires until they have to swerve or brake suddenly, or they have a flat—often with serious consequences. According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, about nine percent of vehicle crashes are tire-related and could be prevented with proper tire maintenance.
“It is so important to check your tires every month for wear,” says Ward. “If the tire tread is worn down to 5/32 of an inch, your vehicle is just not going to cut it on snowy roads.”
Drivers can gauge tread depth at their leisure with a quarter. If you put George Washington’s head into one of your tire’s big grooves and the top of his head is flush with the tread, you have about 4/32 inch of tread left. This means you still have some grip remaining for rainy or snowy conditions, but this is also the time when you should start thinking about new tires. If you can see space above Washington’s head, you need to replace your tires as soon as possible.
AAA and the Automobile Club of Southern California’s Automotive Research Center tested new all-season tires and all-season tires worn to 4/32” in wet conditions. Compared to new ones, the worn tires increased stopping distances an average of 87 feet for a passenger car and 86 feet for a light truck – longer than a semi-trailer truck.
“That’s a lot of feet to be sliding pretty much out of control,” says Ward. “And the Farmers’ Almanac is predicting an above-average snowfall for greater Dane County this year, so now is definitely the time to make sure you have the proper tires on your vehicle with enough quality tread to see you through the winter.”
Smart Motors was founded in 1908 by O.D. Smart and is one of the nation’s oldest automotive dealerships, is the midwest’s largest hybrid dealer and Wisconsin’s #1 volume Toyota dealer. Located at 5901 Odana Road, Smart Motors is Wisconsin’s only two-time President’s Cabinet Award recipient from Toyota Motor Sales for superior customer service & sales volume. For more information visit www.smarttoyota.com
Image by fancycrave1 from Pixabay
Connect with us
