How much does the choice of tread pattern matter?
Even from a single maker you will find several different models of winter tyre in one size, and for some of them the number runs into double figures. What sets these winter tyres apart from one another? First and foremost, of course, the tread pattern. And it is far from certain that any model of tyre a seller offers you is suitable for use in your region and fits your own particular conditions.
Let us say this straight away: an ideal tyre that suits you completely most likely simply does not exist in nature, so whichever winter tyre you choose will be a compromise to some degree. So making an informed choice matters, but it matters far more to understand the particular features of the tyre you have chosen, and to pick a suitable driving style for different conditions accordingly. Because safety is, above all, full control of the situation on the road and the driver’s best possible understanding of how the car will react to this or that action of theirs. It is the tyre, more than anything else, that determines a car’s braking distance: that is worth remembering.
How does the tread affect a winter tyre’s characteristics?
The whole point is that tyres perform somewhat different functions on different road surfaces. For example, when driving on packed or not-so-packed snow, it matters that the wheels “bite” as deeply as possible into the snow, avoiding unnecessary wheelspin and delivering maximum braking efficiency. When driving on a road where a “slush” of snow and de-icing chemicals has formed, chemicals that road-clearing services pour (or spread) over streets and roads, what matters far more are parameters similar to summer aquaplaning, meaning clearing slush and snow and, correspondingly, resistance to skidding. And for comfortable driving on dry but frozen tarmac, the most important factor is maximum grip on the road surface.
Clearly these properties are, to some extent, mutually exclusive, and it is impossible to achieve the maximum of all of them in one tread pattern, so tyre makers, when developing each new model, lean (specialise) a certain way or another. Which, of course, they then make full use of in their advertising campaigns, eagerly showing off the new tyre’s advantages while modestly staying quiet about the price paid for those advantages, meaning exactly which other, no less necessary, tyre properties were sacrificed for them.
Experienced motorists can already tell, just from the look of the tread pattern, what conditions it is best suited to. And since manufacturers’ descriptions are often very vague and hard to make sense of, you have to rely on your own eyes and logic. Here are the main things to look out for: