Winter Tire Advantage
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Canadians have more winter tire choices than most drivers around the world. With vast Canadian landscape, winter driving means different things in the snowy Maritimes, cold urban roads of Quebec and Ontario, frigid and windy prairies, and BC’s warmer Lower Mainland and unpredictable mountain roads. That’s why Canadians are offered a wide range of tire products for winter driving.
Key Winter Tire Performance
Stopping and traction are all that matters when it comes to safe winter driving. Dedicated winter tires (often mistakenly referred to as “snow tires”) are manufactured with more flexible rubber compounds for superior traction even at extremely cold temperatures. Coupled with sophisticated tread designs, winter tires allow for greater control and braking capability on cold, dry, snow-covered, icy, or slushy roads, and are the right choice for the Canadian winter.
According to study from Traffic Injury Research Foundation (TIRF; www.tirf.ca):
- at temperatures just below freezing, stopping distances for vehicles with winter tires are as much as 30% shorter than for vehicles with all-season tires (marked M+S/Mud and Snow tires), and
- winter tires deliver better traction on an ice or snow-covered road surface at -30°C vs. all-season tires at 4°C.
The Canadian tire industry and the Tire and Rubber Association of Canada led the creation of the ASTM F-1805 test method and the development of the Three-Peak Mountain Snowflake (3PMS) symbol. Since 1999, the test and the symbol are used throughout the world to identify tires designed for winter driving.
ASTM F-1805 Driving Traction Test and Three-Peak Mountain Snowflake (3PMS) Symbol
Canadian Government recognizes tires carrying 3PMS symbol as winter tires that meet the safety standards for winter driving. Canadian federal regulation under Transport Canada mandates all tires manufactured and marketed to perform in winter conditions must pass the ASTM F-1805 Driving Traction Test and carry the 3PMS symbol.
Winter tire testing is innovative, reliable, and sophisticated, and ASTM F-1805 Driving Traction Test is a performance-based standard. Only tires with advanced tire designs, treads and rubber compounds designed for winter conditions are capable to meet and exceed this standard. Only tires that pass this test may display the 3PMS symbol on their sidewall in Canada.