When the mornings are dark and the temperature gets lower, you may wonder if it’s time to switch over to winter tires. However, don’t head to Porsche Stevens Creek to switch over to winter tires straight away. There are some things you should know before deciding if you need to make the change.
Should You Head to Your Porsche Dealership for Winter Tires?
In Santa Clara, the temperature rarely gets below 45°F. It may only get that low on a handful of days out of the year. This means summer and all-season tires won’t harden up and lose traction during the winter months. Santa Clara also has no snow during the average year, and you aren’t likely to see any icy roads, either. This means you really have no use for winter tires unless you’ll be traveling out-of-state or to the mountains regularly: somewhere where it’s very cold and snowy.
What Do Winter Tires Do?
They Stay Supple in the Cold
Tires labeled as summer or all-season tires can handle some cold weather, but they’re just not made to deal with temperatures that are constantly lower than 45°F. The rubber in them hardens up and can’t grip the road as effectively as it usually can. Winter tires contain more natural rubber, so they stay supple even when the weather is cold. But if the temps aren’t below 45, they don’t perform as well as all-season tires because their composition is designed for cold.
They Deal With Ice and Snow
Winter tires have more sipes than summer ones. Sipes are tiny grooves in the tread that cling onto the surface below, and the more of these grooves you have, then the more traction there is. You need more sipes on slippery roads, so having tires with more sipes is a good idea in areas where it gets icy in winter. These sipes also help keep snow off of most of the tire’s surface area, so these winter tires are also necessary in places where it snows a lot.
Are Regular Tires Safe to Use During Winter?
Regular all-season tires are perfectly safe to use during a typical Santa Clara winter. Visit the dealer to make sure you have enough tread depth ahead of the rainiest period early in the yea, however, as making sure your tires have enough tread to properly cling to wet roads helps keep you a little safer.
If you’ll be traveling out of state and need winter tires, or if you need your tread checked, come see us at Porsche Stevens Creek. If winter tires aren’t necessary for you, then feel free to stop by for routine maintenance on your current tires to keep them in great shape all year round.
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