Does an off-roader need winter tyres?

The biggest misconception, disproving which, like the traffic regulations, has been written in blood, is the belief that a four-wheel-drive car is far safer in winter than a front- or rear-wheel-drive one.

In fact, owners (especially new ones) of cars with a 4x4 wheel layout need to firmly remember these axioms:

• A four-wheel-drive car only accelerates faster than a two-wheel-drive one; they brake (other things being equal) exactly the same!
• Cars with increased ground clearance are far less stable on a slippery road surface, above all because of worse aerodynamics and increased side-wind sensitivity.
• Any off-roader is built and intended for use off-road, not for black ice!
• The heavier a car is, the more inertia it has. Whatever your wheel layout and whatever tyres you have fitted, on a slippery road a 2.5-tonne SUV’s braking distance will be longer than that of, say, a 1.5-tonne saloon on the very same tyre.

The one advantage of a four-wheel-drive car in winter is easier progress through uncleared, loose snow; in every other typical winter condition, the driver of an off-roader should be twice as careful as they would be behind the wheel of an ordinary two-wheel-drive saloon.

Given the above, winter tyres matter far more for an off-roader than for any other car, because in winter off-roaders are a higher-risk group.

It should be said that the outward similarity between an off-road summer tyre’s tread and a winter tread often misleads off-roader owners into thinking their car is in fact fitted with an all-season tyre, suitable for year-round use. In reality, such summer tyres become completely hard as the temperature drops below zero and slide no better than completely bald slicks.