Putting tires to the snow test

Ten-degree temperatures, 40-mph wind gusts, and horizontal snow can only mean we are testing tires for snow traction at Jay Peak, Vt. Luckily, we had only one night of this harsh weather during our recent test session.

Temperatures hovered in the teens mostly, and the snow was superb for testing at Jay Peak Ski Resort, where we evaluated tires on a snow-covered parking lot in January. Snowy conditions finally prevailed at our test track in early February, allowing us to continue testing our large program of 72 models of winter, all-season (T speed rated), and performance all-season (H and V speed rated) tires on our home turf. (Learn about speed ratings and tire types.)

Results of winter and all-season tires tested on our Toyota Camrys were very revealing in several ways. If you need snow traction, going with a winter tire or any one of those we tested is a good choice.

Check our tire buying advice and Ratings.

In our acceleration test, we measured the distance-to-speed from 5 to 20 mph. The shorter the distance, the more traction the tire has. On average, winter tires need about 63.5 feet in contrast to the 85.6 feet required by all-season tires to get just to 20 mph. From a driver's perspective, winter tires make for relatively easy travel; just step on the gas and feel the tires claw and hook-up on the packed snow. All-season tires tend to require a softer touch of the throttle to move without spinning away.

Our observations were that winter tires feel a lot more secure in a turn and when braking. We also saw considerable differences among winter and all-season tires. The range between best and worst winter tires was about 15 feet and among all-season tires more than 62 feet. These differences reflect how competitive winter tires are as a group, delivering similar performance in that test. It also shows that all-season tire performance varies widely when it comes to delivering snow traction—reinforcing the need to check test ratings before buying.

We are currently working on ride evaluations and plan to start ice braking tests in March. Stay tuned!          

—Gene Petersen