How well will a set of tires brake at a slippery intersection, corner in a snowstorm, manoeuvre through puddles or push through slush?
Now Canadians will know. Kal Tire is the first tire retailer to independently test tires in Canada and in the same rugged conditions drivers face in the winter.
“We wanted to give drivers greater and more relevant information about how tires really perform in everyday winter conditions in Canada, and we also wanted to be able to show people how three-season (all-season), all-weather and winter tires compare in their performance,” said Carey Hull, director retail products for Kal Tire.
“Black ice, slush on the highway, slick intersections — these are the kinds of situations where drivers get into trouble. It was important we had the tires tested on surfaces in Canada that consumers face in real, everyday winter driving conditions.”
In the first phase of Kal’s Tire testing, 12 passenger and seven light truck tires from the company’s core line-up of three-season, all-weather, and winter tire categories were subjected to 10 tests, including braking and cornering in dry, wet and ice conditions as well as hydroplaning, slush straight line stability, slush cornering and road noise.
Key findings:
Winter tires, on average, stopped 14.68 metres sooner on ice compared to 3-seasons:
Winter tires stopped in 30.1 metres
All-weather tires stopped in 35.5 metres
Three-season tires stopped in 44.8 metres
All-weather tires, on average, stop 77 centimetres sooner on wet pavement (from 70 kilometres an hour) and 33 centimetres sooner on dry pavement (from 90 kilometres an hour) compared to three-season tires.
Winter tires are nearly three times better at holding corners on ice than three-seasons.
Studless winter tires aren’t noisy! On average, all-weather and three-season tires emitted the same amount of road noise, and winter tires were 1.6 per cent quieter than all-weather and three-season tires, contrary to popular belief.
“We deliberately chose to execute the tire tests in real Canadian road conditions, rather than a test track, in order to reflect realistic Canadian driving conditions our customers encounter,” said Hull.
“Much work was done to ensure that the testing provided objective and comprehensive results based on measurable, scientific data.”
