Characteristics of Ice and Snow Tires: Make Vehicles Safer on Icy and Snowy Roads

Ⅰ. The necessity of ice and snow tires

The heavy snow has tested the traffic in the city and also tested our vehicles. Changing your car to special winter tires can ensure driving safety to a large extent. The braking distance on icy and snowy roads is several times that on dry roads. Therefore, the use of snow and ice tires can obtain better braking performance on winter roads; ensure safer handling performance on winter roads; and obtain stronger traction on snowy roads.

The main functions of tires are to transmit driving force, change the direction of travel, cushion vibration, and carry weight. The safety performance of a tire depends to a large extent on its grip and stability. With the decrease of temperature in winter and the increase of rain and snow, road icing frequently occurs. Ordinary summer tires do not have the grip and stability of ice and snow tires.

On icy and snowy roads, ordinary tires will have less grip. Especially on a relatively slippery ice surface, the adhesion coefficient of the tire will become very small, and the most dangerous situation such as slipping is most likely to occur. In this case, the role of tires cannot be played normally, and accidents are prone to improper operation, so it is necessary to replace snow and ice tires in time.

Ⅱ. Features of ice and snow tires:

1. The groove of the main pattern is deeper and wider.

Compared with general summer tires, winter tires have a very different tire pattern and tread rubber. This is to improve the grip performance on icy and snowy roads. In order to ensure that the tire pattern can catch the snow, the grooves of the pattern of snow and ice tires are wider and deeper than summer tires. In order to improve the grip on the icy and snowy roads, the tread rubber requires softness.

2. The surface of ice and snow tires is softer

The soft tire surface can make the tire have a better grip performance and a larger coefficient of friction in the ice and snow. Compared with summer tires or all-season tires, snow tires have a larger contact area with the ground. Special technical treatment allows winter tire rubber to remain soft at low temperatures, maintaining better grip performance and coefficient of friction with the ground. And more and more tyre manufacturers pay attention to the materials.

3. The tread pattern is arranged in blocks, combined vertically and horizontally

The patterns of the snow tires are arranged in blocks. When the vehicle is driving on snow or muddy ground, the pattern is deeply embedded in the snow or mud, and the vehicle generates driving force thereby. Therefore, the block pattern has the best driving force and braking performance among the four pattern types. There are also small patterns on the block pattern, allowing the tires to better bite the accumulation and grab the ice surface.

4. Shoulder with stronger lateral and lateral support

The design of the shoulders of the snow tires makes it have stronger lateral and lateral support, reducing the possibility of sideslip on snowy roads.