What's the difference between "winter" and "summer" tyres?

Yes, the special design is the design/width/depth/position and design of the treads in the tire, that allow them to contain more ice and snow (or mud) before losing their stability, and also lets the tire get rid of the built up debris quickly via designing of the channels. In general, winter (or mud and snow) tires perform better in lower temperatures because the rubber is a bit softer, which allows the tire to grip any non-leveled terrain (such as ice buildup) better. Because they are softer and grip better, using them in the summer when the roads are at the optimal condition will cause them to wear down much quicker. So for the longest lifespan of your winter tires, only use them for winter and spring and maybe late fall, and switch to summer tires for the summer.

Regarding your comment about having an accident where the tires played a part – certainly it could be a factor. But if you live in a zone where it’s Winter now, there are many more factors that are much more likely to have contributed to the accident than the build of your tires.

Winter tires have a thicker tread. They can also have studs which allow you to grip in the snow and ice.

thanks. The accident was caused mainly because of slow reflexes on my part (I mean reeeeeeally slow). But I was just wondering whether the tyres may have been already too soft or something. It was winter, but it was a fairly warm day and I’d been driving at top speed for a couple of hours (which I assume warmed them up). When I did hit the brakes, the car didn’t react the way I expected it to. Of course, none of that would have happened if I’d hit the brakes a second earlier.

All these misspellings are quite tyresome.

That’s funny, even though Canadians use mostly British spellings, we generally prefer tire over tyre.

Tyre is a city in Lebanon. I’ve never seen tire spelled that way, British spelling or otherwise.

We even have a pre-Walmart general store store called Canadian Tire (started selling tires and doing auto care, expanding into selling auto parts and tools, then outdoor gear, then a general selling store). It’s been around so long that one of its long standing promotional items, Canadian Tire Money, is highly valued by many.

The British spelling is “tyre”. “tire” is a verb that means you get tired :P

Yes, I know most people here are Americans, but I’m sure that if you were on a British site you would not bother to add the U in words such as “honour, flavour, colour, neighbourhood, armour”. Or the second L in “cancelled, travelled, repelled” or of course to spell the rubber thing in your wheels as “tyre”.

That’s how I learnt (not learned) the word is spelt (not spelled). :P

Anyway, thanks for the actual answers though.

it should be that winter tyre is made in such a way that it has more friction when tyres are on the road cause of the slippery road due to froze or snow. summer tyre has lesser grip if test under the same road condition because you wont have trouble with snow. You wouldnt want that excess grip cause it makes the car less efficient to run

I dunno cold weather has effect on the tyre’s toughness and make it more brritle .