If you have been living in the United Kingdom over the past few months, you cannot fail to have noticed that the weather has been extremely changeable. It has not been an unusual occurrence to see torrential rain, hailstones, and bright blue skies and sunshine all within an hour. This poses a challenge for your car tyres as they need to be able to cope with all that the British weather can throw at them.
May started off unusually cold, filled with rain and hail, but then quickly switched to lovely hot weather. Sadly the sunshine didn't last for long, as it was quickly replaced with lots of muggy rain. While July is traditionally peak season for summer tyres, with the amount of rain we are currently seeing, it is worthwhile having something a little more substantial fitted to your vehicle. According to Bridgestone, in these extreme situations you need an extreme tyre; your average run of the mill tyre will not cope as well.
Bridgestone recommend using their A001 Weather Control premium all-weather tyre. It delivers superior performance in a variety of driving conditions. Whatever tyre you choose, you want something that can stick to hot, dry roads without compromising on their ability to handle the kinds of extremely wet roads we are seeing at the moment. All weather tyres are designed for this very purpose - they can be left on your car all year round rather than changing from summer tyres to winter tyres and back again.
With these kinds of tyres, the tread pattern and siping is crucial. The siping will allow the tyre to maintain grip on cold, icy, wet or even snowy roads whether you are trying to stop in a hurry, or just turn a corner. The tread pattern and shape of the blocks needs to have been designed to evacuate water quickly and easily to minimise the risk of aquaplaning. The tyre compound still needs to be sticky enough in hot temperatures that it grips the road. It is a difficult combination to get right, so it is well worth talking to a car tyre specialist to discuss the best all weather tyres for your car.
While it is usually recommended to use winter tyres over the colder months, and a summer tyre over the warmer months, if you are looking to buy tyres in the current climate, it would make more sense to choose all weather tyres. An added benefit is that as long as they still have tread left (and they should), they will still be suitable this winter, although as wintry as this summer has been so far, maybe winter will be warm!
