Once they used to mount chains on drive axle tires of the car in case of transit on snowy roads. Then in the 60s came the specific snow tires which were increasingly evolving and specializing, even changing the wording into winter covers.
Finally, in 2000 a solution was adopted capable of guaranteeing adequate performance both in the winter period than in that summer, the so-called four seasons or All-Season Tires, which no longer require the consumer to replace tires in season changes also provided for by law.
Winter tires / all seasons / chains, which is the most suitable?
Three products, therefore, to face the winter in an optimal way; but what is the recommended solution, the one that provides greater safety margins?
To clarify the selection criteria we have compared the three types in the extreme winter condition more typical, namely the snowy background, making use of the experimentation center of Continental in Swiss Alps and related detection equipment.
Winter / all-season tires / chains, acceleration, braking and snow handling tests
The tests involved the three basic criteria referred to the safety aspect: acceleration, braking and handling on snow. The test compared the winter tires with those “four Seasons”, with the “Summer” chains and finally with the car’s original summer tires: Continental WinterContact TS 860 Winter, Continental AllSeasonContact four seasons And Continental ContiPremiumContact 5 summer.
All test tires are in size 205/55 R16 with load index 91 and speed code V (H for winter), with single-ply carcass in polyester and double steel belt surmounted by a polyamide band.
The car is there Citroën C3 1.2 turbo petrol 110 HP with automatic gearbox, a car in the most popular segment in our country.
Snow handling winter tire test
On the snow-covered circuit of 1,505 meters, the winter WinterContact TS 860 it immediately appears precise and directional, it follows the trajectory correctly without hints of understeer and in release it tends to close with the rear end just enough that helps to always give the right direction. It is fast and gives a great sense of security.
Adherence and transverse hold are excellent, confirmed by the minimum commitment of the ESP; braking is excellent, with the ABS intervening only in extreme situations.
All seasons tire test handling on snow
In dry ride the best time in 1’43 ”6 with ESP deactivated. The four seasons AllSeasonContact it yields something in transverse grip, when entering a bend it tends to understeer which makes the rear axle more reactive when recalling steering; has a good braking and equally good traction, while the anti-slip is activated easily in the decisive acceleration with the wheels still steered.
The safety limits, however, are still high, while the lap time is over a second higher (1’44 ”9).
Tire handling test on snow with chains
With the chains the situation becomes more complicated, as the transverse grip is particularly reduced, with the front end tending to a decisive understeer until the chain link firmly grabs the snow, and then turns into a sudden and uncontrollable oversteer of sliding not opposed by the summer cover mounted on the rear, which leads to the risk of spin if you do not intervene promptly with counter-steering.
There braking is unbalanced with the rear it slips, and acceleration continually stresses traction control even with the wheels almost aligned.
The safety margins are reduced and force a march to reduced speed to avoid the risks. The best lap time (2’11 “) it is more than half a minute longer than that of both the winter and the four seasons. Little history for the summer ContiPremiumContact 5: not really made for snow, since undriveable and dangerous, and we do not dwell on saying more: the lap time of 2’31 “2 speaks for itself!
Winter tire test / all seasons braking on snow
The stopping space is calculated from 50 to 0 km / h on flat snow covered surface with ABS.
The WinterContact TS 860 confirms its excellent winter skills by stopping the Citroën C3 in 25.4 meters; the result of theAllSeasonContact: 26 meters net.
Tire test braking on snow with chains
With the chains, on the other hand, the car stops in 38.9 meters, making the ABS work all the time because of the continuos micro-locks of the wheel and the need for the chain to dig the snow before becoming effective, so much so that the residual speed, referring to the point where the winter stops, is well 23.6 km / h, which is a very high value.
Without comment the summer, inadequate for use on snow: it takes almost 64 meters to stop the car and maintains an incredible residual speed of 31.1 km / h.
Winter tire test / all seasons acceleration on snow
The criticalities ofacceleration they always show up on the most difficult terrains. The space in meters used to accelerate is measured from 0 to 20 km / h with traction control on flat snowy bottom.
Excluding a priori the result ofsummer, reconfirmed for the umpteenth time by its very nature not suitable for use on snow (27.7 meters of acceleration, which counts as a loss of efficiency of almost 70%), the difference between the winter and the four seasons is also small: 7.58 against 7.73 meters to the advantage of Winter, once again proving the limited performance gap between the two types of tires.
Tire acceleration test on snow with chains
With chains, on the other hand, the acceleration space increases by almost the 40% compared to winter, demanding well 12.01 meters to reach the speed of 20 km / h.
Here too the fact that the chain must work in order to be effective digging in the snow: an effect that cars equipped with traction control today minimize, preventing an immediate grip on the low-grip surface.
When should chains be used?
From the analysis of the tables and the results of the tests, one thing is immediately clear: that on the snow the use of a tire with M + S characteristics is mandatory, that is, a winter or a good four seasons. On the snow with the summer you don’t go anywhereindeed, we put ourselves in a situation of danger.
Chains are an emergency solution if you do not want to mount the M + S covers: they serve to get out of the way critical situation, but they need a manual intervention – not always easy – for assembly which almost always takes place in conditions of environmental criticality; require a lot of driving careful and prudent, they must be driven at low speed to avoid problems, they are very noisy and inadequate in the case of mountain roads where there are tunnels at times open.
How to recognize winter and all seasons tires?
The tires, either winter that four Seasons, bear the written M + S (mud and snow) on the side integrated by the pictogram of the three-pointed mountain with Snowflake (TPMF: three point mountain flag) and are marked with the lowercase letter “e” followed by a number, which indicates the road approval for circulation in Europe.
How to recognize approved snow chains?
Likewise, the chains must bear the wording of “e” approval stamped on a shirt to be allowed for road traffic.
You have to pay attention because they are on the market similar or alternative products advertised as ideal solutions for winter driving not authorized by the Code.
In terms of cost, the most effective product is always the most expensive: so the investment for four winter tires to be replaced then in the summer season is certainly higher than that of four all seasons that can be used throughout the year, and definitely higher than that of a pair of chains to be mounted on the summer tires supplied. But the result pays off the higher outlay: the more you spend, the less you spend!
Watch the chain vs winter tire comparison test at the end of this video.
You might be interested in (indeed I recommend):
👉 Winter vs summer tires, snow and ice tests
👉 Car snow socks. What are they, what are they for
👉 Tips on how to prepare your car for the cold of winter
👉 ALL ABOUT TIRES
👉 HOW TO DRIVE IN THE SNOW
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