By Steve Mertl, MSN Autos
Experts say traction and stability control systems are no substitute for good winter rubber
Every year around this time, a lot of Canadian drivers develop amnesia about the fact they live in a northern country. Snow comes as a surprise and they race to tire stores to get their winter tires put on or to buy new ones. Just why this annual act of collective denial persists is better left to psychologists but it afflicts even people who know better.
"I put my hand up for that one. I always wait to do that," says John Neufeld, senior vehicle safety compliance engineer at Transport Canada's road-safety directorate. "The first snow fall and you get trapped in the rush of everybody putting on snow tires."
Procrastinators may think they have a fresh reason not to bother: The electronic nannies now standard equipment on a lot of recent-model vehicles. Anti-lock brakes, traction- and stability-control systems combine to give drivers a safety net that may rescue them from crash-worthy mistakes. Can't they also reduce the need for winter tires, at least for those in fairly well-cleared urban areas who don't plan to drive in deep snow?
In a word, no. Neufeld says it comes down to the tired but true cliché that all that stands between you and doom is a few square centimetres of tire connecting your car to the road. Each tire's contact patch fits on a letter-sized sheet of paper.
"They provide all the tractive forces for vehicles to corner, to stop and to accelerate," he says. "So anything we can do to improve that condition helps the vehicle control and the use of safety systems such as traction control."
Traction and stability systems use sensors at the wheels and elsewhere to tell a computer system if the vehicle is getting out of shape. It then uses the car's ABS and throttle to coax it back in line, often without the driver noticing.
"What is important even with those systems is really the traction on the ground," says Norm Latremouille, Michelin North America's Montreal-based winter category manager. "These systems will respond to the feeling of the tire on the ground. If the tire doesn't track, the system won't work."
Literally. Latremouille has heard tales of ill-shod cars left catatonic in the snow when their traction-control systems refused to turn a wheel. (Many cars have an off button to allow for wheelspin).
Transport Canada hasn't tested the effect of such systems on winter driving. Neufeld says he sees them complimenting winter tires, which tests show can improve traction 10 to 40 per cent from using summer or all-season rubber. Michelin's own tests with electronic systems and all-wheel drive show a "huge" difference when winter tires are added, says Latremouille.
"Since winter tires improve those forces in snow conditions, they're going to help traction control and electronic stability control work better," says Neufeld.
Modern winter tires do two things: specialized tread patterns bite through snow and slush, while the softer rubber compound stays pliable in low temperatures for better traction at low temperatures on icy roads. Summer and all-season tires start to lose their grip at around 7C and are pretty much hockey pucks in real freezing temperatures.
Canadian tire firms shipped almost 10 million winter tires last year for passenger vehicles and light trucks, a record eclipsing even the surge of 2008, when Quebec's law mandating winter tires from December 15 to March 15 took effect. It created a nationwide shortage and even led parked cars being stripped of tires.
A good set of winter tires should last at least three seasons, says Neufeld. Michelin now offers is second-generation X-Ice tire with a 60,000-kilometre tread-life warranty, an industry first, says Latremouille - at least five seasons of normal winter driving.
The Canadian Rubber Association has a list of winter-use only tires on its web site, along with other tips on winter driving. Likewise, Michelin's Winter Driving Academy site is worth a look.
Most Canadians drive on all-season tires the rest of the year, hoping for some protection if winter catches them by surprise. They switch as late as possible in spring and fall, thanks partly to years of warnings that softer winter rubber will burn up on warm, dry pavement.
But Latremouille says modern winter tires are durable enough they can be put on in mid-October and removed as late as April, in case of a spring blizzard.
"Winter tires, they're not made of butter," he says. "Nobody has to panic."
