One of the best parts about owning a Subaru is cruising through fresh snow on a set of good snow tires. As the seasons change though, its important to switch out your winter tires for a set of tires designed for warmer weather. We’ll highlight the three types of tires used in warmer weather, and when its time to switch over.
Summer Tires
Summer tires are designed to offer better speed and traction in dry conditions. They are typically more responsive and offer better braking in the summer. Summer tires utilize different rubber compounds than other tire types, and are usually wider than other tires for increased grip on dry surfaces. They also usually have a more shallow tread depth, and don’t work as well when the road is wet. These tires are ideal for a sports car, but we usually don’t mount them on our customer’s Subarus.
All Season Tires
All season tires offer a happy medium between heavier duty winter tires and summer tires. They were and still largely remain the standard tire used today, until all weather/all conditions tires were introduced. All season tires offer a smooth tread that makes them ideal as spring, summer and fall tires. For many places that don’t get heavy snowfall, these tires are also the most practical choice as they offer enough grip for slippery driving conditions, are more inexpensive than snow tires and last for quite a long time. Traditionally, for the majority of our customers here at Soobie Surgeons, the all season tire is what our customers use throughout the warmer months.
All Weather/All Conditions Tire
All weather tires (also called all conditions tires) are relatively new here in the United States. They were originally introduced in Europe, where the strict winter tire regulations prompted manufacturers to produce a tire that could be used season round, but also offered superior winter performance over the all season tires so customers wouldn’t need another set of tires. Although all weather tires have a slightly shorter lifespan than all season tires due to their tread pattern, all weather tires are an excellent new addition to the tires available to consumers in the United States.
We like all weather tires for our customers because most drivers don’t need a dedicated set of winter tires, or an additional set of rims for the winter. All seasons combine the tread patterns of winter tires with those of all seasons, thus offering a comparable alternative. We have begun to favor these heavily in the shop, and we now put them on most of our customers cars unless they already have a set of winter tires.
When is it time to change out seasonal tires?
We’ll identify what to look for on worn tires in another post, but we want to highlight when its time to change your tires here. Generally, it is best to use winter or all weather tires when it starts snowing regularly. For us here in the upper Midwest, that usually means using winter or all weather tires from mid November through the end of March. The rest of the year, we recommend using all weather or all seasons tires on our cars.
For those with all weather tires, there isn’t a need to change out your tires, only rotate them every four oil changes. For everyone else though, April means its time to change to your summer treads.