what is better, All Season or Studless Winter Tire for winter driving in Texas.?

Question

what is better, All Season or Studless Winter Tire for winter driving in Texas? What are the advantages of both? It rains often and we get ice sometimes.

Answer 1

Use all seasons. There are some good chaep chains for ice. Studs are a waste of money.

Answer 2

All season tires are great if you live in Galveston or Miami or Los Angeles. After that go to the studless winter tire, Blizzak, etc. These tires are designed as a year around tire to be installed in the late fall/early winter. They work fantastic on ice and very well in snow up to about 6-8"deep and of course really good in rain. The first half of the tread is a soft compound to bite aggressively in severe weather conditions and as it wears down it gets to the base compound for use through the summer/fall, then you buy another set. Try a set and you will NEVER go back to all season tires.!!

Answer 3

All season are really best down here. Yeah you get rain but ice is a seldom thing and not worth getting special tires for. Winter tires are more for snow, which we don't get a lot of. The only thing that is going to give you an advantage on ice are studded tires, which are illegal in every part of Texas so far as I know.

Answer 4

Good all season for Texas, You do not get snow enough for the extra cost of winter tires, For ice nothing helps much except waiting for it to melt.

Answer 5

Tire rack recently "road tested" several tires on an ice rink and there several that had more traction than a studded tire! I was amazed by that.

Pick an all season tire that has the snowflake on the side of it and it will perform well in all conditions.

To see the tirerack test results click on the link below..

Answer 6

An all-season tire is adequate for mild winter conditions, particularly when the tire is new, but snow tires deliver a level of safety that all-season tires can't when the roads get slippery. The best indicator for the vehicle owner is past experience. Plus, if you plan to keep the vehicle more than three years, the purchase of snow tires makes sense, as they replace a future set of all-season tires you will have to buy anyway.

Three principal characteristics distinguish a winter tire from an all-season tire. The winter tire is made of a softer, spongier rubber that grips better in colder weather, the grooves in the tire are deeper, and its large blocky treads bite into snow more aggressively.

A winter tire offers significant safety advantages over an all-season tire. Braking on ice is better. In comparison tests, the best winter tires stopped between 30 and 60 feet shorter than all-season tires from 50km/h. Performance is enhanced in deep snow and slush. You’re less likely to get stuck in a parking spot or to be unable to start on a steep hill. The advantages become greater as tires wear and the all-season model starts to perform like the proverbial banana peel.

Even if your car has traction control or an ABS braking system, those features won't improve traction on snow and ice. Experts say only snow tires will actually improve grip on snow and ice. And although all-wheel-drive or front-wheel-drive is an advantage, you'll still improve safety by swapping your summer or all-season tires for winter tires.

Winter tires on most vehicles belong on all four wheels. Though you might be tempted to buy just two winter tires for your drive axle, every expert we found says this isn’t a great idea. That’s because mixing winter and all-season tires can lead to poor handling balance. Putting two winter tires on a front-wheel drive vehicle creates an unstable, unbalanced vehicle. Manufacturers say that this strategy can be dangerous in skid situations, as the front wheels get different traction than the rear wheels. All experts say four winter tires are your best bet, and even inexpensive winter tires will do better in ice and snow than all-season tires. Although two winter tires can be installed on the rear wheels of two-wheel drive pickup trucks, but it is preferable to mount them on all four wheels.

Plus-sizing is popular for summer tires; plus-sizing means choosing a larger wheel size and corresponding tire than originally specified for your vehicle. For example, if your car specifies a wheel size of 16-inches, increasing wheel size by one inch would result in a 17-inch wheel, or 'Plus One' for your vehicle. The tire you buy will then need to have a shorter sidewall and wider tread to accommodate the same load and tire diameter.

Although many drivers are doing this for cosmetic reasons -- a larger wheel and narrower tire has a sportier look -- reviews say plus-sizing is a bad idea for winter tires. That's because wider tires must carve a wider path through snow; that means more resistance and drag. Instead, experts recommend using a narrow winter tire. Narrower tires can more easily cut a path through snow and slush. You can also "minus size" your original tire size by selecting a narrower tread and smaller wheel size. This can also save you some money, since narrower tires and smaller wheels are usually cheaper than wider tires with larger wheels.

Narrower tires are better when it comes to driving in ice and snow. Although wider tires with corresponding larger wheels are a popular look these days, reviews say narrower tires are best for cutting a path through snow and slush. It's best to go with the tire size specified for your vehicle, or even switch to a compatible narrower tire with a smaller wheel.