German winter tyres

Hi! Germany here ;-)

As said in the other threads already, winter tires are made of a softer rubber compound and has a different tread than regular tires. the aim is to prevent the tires from hardening at low temperatures which degrades grip and to provide a tread that "bites" into snow better than the tread blocks of summer tires. All-ice surface still is slippery, though some manufacturers claim their treads to provide sort of a "suction effect" that makes the car stick to the road. Last but not least the tires tend to have their tread optimized for wet roads.

Backside to it is that the tires wear faster, especially if used in warm temps, economy goes down, noise goes up, and due to the overall softness of the rubber performance in dry and warm conditions is rather poor.

Use of winter tires is not compulsory here, but since last year there is a law punishing the use of "tires unfit for the weather". That means running on summer rubber in february is not illegal, but if you get stuck in the snow because you didnt change tires you can get fined and if you crash because of summer tires on ice insurance will definitely make a fuss.

Winter tires are used for ages here because our climate is a lot different from the UK where the sea provides relatively warm weather all year round. I live in the west close to the netherlands, and we have that sort of weather as well, and little use for winter tires, but go in-country for a 100 miles and you will get freezing temperatures and snow quite frequently.

HTH Micha

Thanks Micha :-)

Yes i know Aachen, quite simular to use with weather, where as down in DD, Leipzig etc, often very cold with snow, although i belive this year, not much snow!