Mark Richardson's Volkswagen Golf Alltrack with Hankook Kinergy XP tires on it.Mark Richardson/The Globe and Mail
Most drivers only think about tire performance during winter – to make sure they won’t slip on ice and can stop in time. But regardless of the season, tires serve as the sole contact between a vehicle and the road. Everything about your vehicle’s performance and safety – everything – is dependent on good tires.
First things first: Make sure your tires are inflated to the proper pressure. The correct amount is usually shown on a sticker on the inside of the driver’s door jamb. This is a cold tire pressure, measured when your vehicle has been parked for a while. Driving heats and expands the air inside the tires, so if they need to be checked when warm – after a half-hour on the highway, for example – add about four pounds per square inch to the recommended cold pressure.
Always use a pressure gauge you can trust (keep a $10 gauge handy in the glove box) and don’t rely on your car’s computer readout, which is often more of an indication than a precise figure. Recheck the pressure once the tires are cool again.
A sticker on the inside of the door jamb shows the correct tire pressure.Mark Richardson/The Globe and Mail
The wear bars inside the tread of tires show when there is no tread life left and the tires must be replaced.Mark Richardson/The Globe and Mail
While inspecting your tires, check the tread depth to make sure it’s safe and legal. In Canada, the legal minimum tread depth for most passenger vehicles is at least 1.5 millimetres deep. Small rubber bars of that depth inside the tread will show when the legal limit is reached. If you’re not sure, the Canadian Automobile Association suggests placing a quarter edge-first into the tread with the caribou’s nose facing down. If you can see the nose, the tread is too shallow.
Tire experts recommend, however, that tires be replaced when they’re worn down to three or four millimetres of depth, because it’s these deep channels between the tread that dissipate water from a wet road. Without these gaps in the rubber, there’s nowhere for that water to go and it will form a barrier between the rubber and the asphalt, causing your tire to slide, or “hydroplane,” on that film of water. Winter tires need deeper treads of at least four millimetres to better dissipate snow and ice.
It’s not recommended to use winter tires during warmer months, because their softer rubber will wear much more quickly in the heat and they won’t provide the same level of grip of warmer-season tires. Their chunky treads will also be noisier against the road and feel rougher on smooth asphalt.
Similarly, while it’s safe to use performance tires on non-performance vehicles, it’s a waste of money if you never require the specialized traction of the more expensive rubber.
“On your commute or on the soccer run, you’re not going to experience much difference between a summer tire and an all-season tire,” says Aaron Neumann, head of the Technical Center for Nexen America tires. “But if you’re a spirited driver, if you’re in a performance car, you will experience a difference. And if you need to make an emergency stop on the highway, your summer tire in a wet or dry condition is going to be anywhere from 5- to 20-per-cent better than an all-season tire.”
For most drivers in Canada, the best choice is to use a good-quality all-season tire until temperatures drop, then switch to winter tires until spring. The only additional cost comes from buying two sets within the first year, as well as the potential costs of swapping over the tires twice a year and storing the unused set during the off-season. Kal Tire, for example, charges $50 to $70 to swap your tires and another $90 to $130 to store them for up to nine months. This twice-a-year swap and storage will come in at around $300 to $400 dollars annually – and that’s if they’re on rims. You’re best to buy an additional set of steel rims for the winter tires (roughly $500 for four); if you don’t, that will likely add $200 each time for the tires to be mounted and balanced.
Or do what I do: buy the extra rims, store the off-season tires in your garage or with a friend and change the wheels yourself in your driveway or on the street. It takes about an hour using a jack and a torque wrench. Rotate your tires properly to even out the wear – all-wheel-drive vehicles require a different rotation pattern than front- or rear-wheel drive vehicles. Manufacturers recommend rotating tires every 8,000 kilometres, or every oil change, to ensure they wear evenly. This is an easy add-on when your car is already on a mechanic’s hoist but not so straightforward at home.
Manufacturers recommend seasonal tires should be swapped out for winter tires when the thermometer consistently drops below 7C. Winter tires thrive at temperatures below this, and this is the point where summer performance tires harden and lose their grip. All-season tires still maintain flexibility at temperatures around freezing, and all-weather tires at temperatures even colder, but all-season tread patterns are not designed to cut through snow and ice.
“That 7 degrees Celsius is a very good rule of thumb for summer tires,” says Neumann. “All-season tires will be fine (for flexibility) down to zero degrees Fahrenheit (-18C), but they will not deliver the amount of winter traction of a proper winter tire.”
I’ve been driving with Hankook Kinergy XP tires on my Volkswagen Golf Alltrack, supplied for testing by Hankook, and they’ve proven themselves both quiet and grippy in all non-winter weather.
“The tire features a new all-season performance compound engineered to improve wet grip and handling,” Hye Kim, Hankook Canada’s marketing manager, said in an e-mail, “while design elements such as 3D sipes, increased sipe density and beveled shoulder grooves help enhance traction across varying road conditions, including light snow.”
The Hankook Kinergy XP “incorporates new silica and performance resin materials designed to maintain flexibility in colder conditions, which can help support tread wear and snow performance,” Kim said. “The tire also includes tread features intended to improve traction in light snow conditions.”
My own experience using the tires well into last December showed them to remain capable on southern Ontario’s cold roads and in light snow. However, when severe weather hit, I drove my Toyota RAV4 equipped with Michelin X-Ice tires, and subsequently swapped the Hankooks on the Volkswagen for winter-rated Bridgestone Blizzaks.
I also own a Honda Civic, fitted with Nokian WR G4 all-weather tires, and they’re also capable in snow but nerve-wracking in a winter storm. They’re quiet and comfortable on summer roads, but they’ve worn more quickly than the Hankooks, needing replacement after just four years and 55,000 kilometres of year-round driving.
Now is not the time to think about winter, though. We have at least four months of quiet driving on smooth asphalt and dusty gravel ahead of us. Just make sure your tires are prepared for it.