During winter weather and cold temperatures, it is important to use a winter tyre if you want to maximize grip and ensure you stay safe in your MINI. If you are driving at temperatures below 7°C or on snow and ice you will get better cornering ability and braking performance than a standard summer tyre.
BENEFITS OF A WINTER TYRE
The main benefit of winter tyres is that you get better stopping distances, stability when cornering and enhanced grip when going up or down steep gradients, something summer tyres could not cope with.
Winter tyres achieve this through complex tread patterns and depths. These patterns allow water and slush to escape from under the tyre, helping to eliminate aqua planning. Most winter tyres will also have a large number of sipes (small grooves) that grip snow and ice on the road.
Another way winter tyres offer better performance in the cold weather over summer tyres is down to their compound. Winter tyre compounds contain more natural rubber than a summer tyre allowing the compound to remain supple even at lower temperatures. This helps the tyre to conform to road irregularities thus improving tyre contact with the road and increasing grip compared with a summer tyre that would be very stiff at 0°C or below.
NEGATIVES OF A WINTER TYRE
When using winter tyres there will be drawbacks to be aware of. First of all, due to the more complex tread patterns; winter tyres normally create more noise pollution than standard road tyres.
Second, if you don’t remove your winter tyres and use them in summer weather in temperatures above 20°C they can have a negative impact on your stopping ability and suffer from an increase in tread wear. This is because, at these temperatures, the tyre compound becomes too soft and cannot perform as originally designed.
LOHEN RECOMMENDS
This winter, Lohen recommends the Kumho Wintercraft WP51 winter tyre for all MINI models. This tyre comes in many sizes to suit all generations of MINI helping avoid changes in speedometer readouts when swapping tyres only for winter months.
The Kumho Wintercraft WP51 has great traction in the snow and ice due to its latest sipe technology and thanks to its deep directional tread pattern has excellent resistance to aquaplaning. With a C rating in the wet, it is suitable for most UK wet weather conditions.
Best of all, this tyre has very good dry performance so even if it doesn’t rain or snow, this tyre will be safe on the road throughout the winter months.
