Winter Tire Evaluations In Cooperation With The Car Guide
Article produced by the PMCtire.com team
The PMCtire.com team is delighted to undertake its very first cooperative venture with the Car Guide.
In our first posting, we plan to offer Internet users some guidance in their search for the winter tires best suited to their requirements by sharing our winter tire evaluations.
Bill 42
Under Bill 42, the Ministère des Transports du Québec requires all passenger vehicles on Quebec roads between December 15 and March 15 to be fitted with tires certified for winter use. To satisfy the regulations, winter tires must be marked with a pictogram consisting of a snowflake-and-mountain symbol, or fitted with studs.
How do I choose the right winter tire?
In addition to meeting the requirements of Bill 42, it is important to find the kind of tire best suited to your vehicle, and the kind of driving you do in winter.
To help you make a choice, the PMCtire.com team has assessed almost all the winter tires commercially available in Canada against 10 specific criteria. A total of over 150 models of winter tire were divided among the following five categories for evaluation purposes:
- Best winter tires for cars
- Best high-performance winter tires for cars
- Best winter tires for SUVs and light trucks
- Best high-performance winter tires for SUVs and light trucks
- Best winter tires for commercial vehicles
Such criteria as durability, grip on ice, traction on ice, cost and ability to provide a comfortable ride in the most extreme road conditions were our main concerns in preparing our evaluations of winter tires.
In devising our categories and preparing our evaluations, we analysed data from many sources, particularly road tests, auto journalists’ reports, customer comments and numerous consumer evaluations gleaned from North American automobile websites and other Canadian forums. The perception of tire performance characteristics can obviously vary from driver to driver, depending on their experience and expectations, and the kind of driving they do. You will also note that the results are fairly similar from tire to tire. The main reason for this is that the technologies tire manufacturers use in designing their products are often similar.
