Is your vehicle ready for winter?

A winter blog series by your friends at Autodome

In every part of Canada, from coast to coast, we all share the wonderland that is the great Canadian winter. So, we are well versed in ensuring that our coats, gloves and boots are ready, but what about our vehicles? It is so very important that we all do our part to be the safest drivers on the road. Getting your vehicle ready to take on the winter is more than half the battle when it comes to safe driving.

Autodome will be making regular posts about best practices for having your vehicle prepared and ready to tackle anything that the Canadian Mother Nature can throw at us. In this post we will be discussing Winter Tires – don’t tread lightly, dig in and control your path.

Here are a few questions to ask yourself. Your answers will determine your preparedness to battle the roads this winter with the aid of your trusty tires.

Do you have Winter Tires? If you do, GREAT! Are they on your vehicle yet? Do not wait until the last minute to suit up. We hear it all the time. Oh, I wait until it starts snowing… What! How does that help you when you’re caught off guard and you have compromised your vehicles overall safety and performance? Look, we all need to admit that our winter driving skills deplete to the point of non existence by the time our winter rolls around. Therefore, do yourself and all of us a favour and prepare your vehicle to compensate for our collective learning curve. You’ll be glad you did.

Do your all season tires have adequate tread depth to ensure safe passage through the slippery winter roads? This is a crucial element for maintaining control of your vehicle during winter driving conditions. Think of winter tires the same way you look at winter boots. You wouldn’t walk around with sandals on throughout the winter would you? No, so why would you drive with the wrong tires on? It’s the same thing. Being prepared is being safe. And being safe is being smart.

All season tires vs. winter tires: All season tires are much better than summer or warm weather tires. They offer special tread options that are designed to take on rain, slush, snow, mud, muck and dry roads. All season tires are a great option for people who don’t have space to store a set of winter tires and possibly rims. There are plenty of storage options to choose from and often the place that you purchase your tires will inform you of these options. When you compare the two types, you really start to see the difference. Literally, the tread patters are vastly different. Winter Tires are specially designed for cold weather driving conditions. Their tread depth is designed to grip and provide stability and extra traction and they are designed to combat freezing, snow, rain, ice, sleet, slush, mud and muck. At the end of the day, if you can afford winter tires, they are superior to all season tires. They will definitely enhance your control and help your vehicle perform optimally.

If you would like any more information on Winter Tires, please give us a call or send us an email. Here is a link to our contact page on autodome.ca and remember, being safe is being smart.