How to choose winter tyres?

Note: this site has published fuller information on how to choose winter tyres (read it).

First of all you need to decide on the type of tyre and tread pattern. If you live in a big city and hardly ever head off-road in winter, you most likely need to choose from proven winter tyres with a classic tread or an asymmetric tread pattern. Such tyres will provide the minimum necessary level of safety and off-road ability, while keeping “summer” comfort and lasting a reasonably long time (3-4 seasons).

If your winter roads are mostly uncleared snow and ice, you definitely need a Nordic tread and/or studs.

If, on the other hand, frost below 5 degrees is a rarity where you live and you often drive on cleared roads, your choice is “European winter”: a tyre that lets you choose a comfortable speed and, in most cases, will not be heard inside the car.

Choosing the model and the manufacturer of a tyre, though, is in truth an extremely subjective choice: go ahead and pick what you like and what you can afford. If you want to read tyre tests as well, go ahead, just be careful to work out exactly what was tested and what practical use that particular test is to you specifically. Undoubtedly, in most cases pricier winter tyres will perform better, but believe me, over 90% of drivers simply cannot feel the difference in these characteristics, because they avoid pushing their car to its limits in winter, which, incidentally, is quite right.

Overall, choosing winter tyres matters, but in truth what matters far more is the driver’s full understanding of exactly how their own car and the tyres fitted to its wheels react to anything they (the driver) do behind the wheel. You can get into trouble on any tyre, even the most famous and the most expensive, just as you can drive through 5 winters without a single problem on a so-called “budget” tyre. What matters is that the car’s behaviour is never a surprise, and that depends on far more than just the tyres.