What you need to know about winter tires

You have your winter tires, carefully stored in your garage. In your mind, you are ready for winter. Well, it may be a good idea to check out a few things before hitting the first snow storm.

Firstly, we must know when we need to have our winter tires on our vehicle. In Quebec, it’s rather simple: winter tires need to be on your vehicle by December 15^th. Even if the law did not make winter tires mandatory, it would still be unsafe to face winter with anything else.

Tests have proven that as soon as the weather drops below 7 degrees, all-season tires become basically useless. The rubber hardens and the tire begins to bounce around. In other words, the quality of your tires suffers greatly, which means your vehicle is not able to keep you safe.

If you already have winter tires, that’s great. However, the next step is to make sure your winter tires are in good condition. How do you tell if your tires are still usable? Simply by checking tire thread depth which should be, by law, no less than 2/32”. However, you want to start the season with a thread depth of 6/32”. Anything less and you will probably have to change your tires at some point during the season.

How to tell if your tires are too worn?

If you look at your grooves carefully, you will notice small rubber strips at the bottom of these grooves. These strips are used as guides; if your wear reaches them, it’s time to replace your tires. You can also use a quarter to check tire thread depth.

Even simpler, your dealer offers a small gadget used to measure wear. For a few dollars, it’s the easiest way of finding out your thread depth.

With quality winter tires that are not worn, winter will be vastly easier!

Thanks to Mini Ottawa for their help with this article.