How to Choose Winter Tires

Start with the sidewall, then narrow by how and where you actually drive.

The only symbol that means anything

Look for the three peak mountain snowflake. A tire carrying it passed a standardised snow traction test.

M+S means mud and snow, and it is a description of the tread pattern. No test, no performance requirement. Many all season tires carry it. It is not a winter rating and should not be treated as one.

If a tire does not have the snowflake, it is not a winter tire regardless of what it is called on the shelf.

The three categories

Studless winter

The mainstream choice. A soft compound that stays flexible below seven degrees, deep tread blocks and heavy siping to bite into snow.

Good at: snow, slush, cold dry pavement, cold wet pavement. Less good at: glare ice, where studs still have an edge. Trade off: none really, beyond faster wear if you leave them on into warm weather.

This is the right answer for most drivers in and around Fredericton, where streets are plowed and salted regularly.

Studded winter

The same kind of compound with metal studs set into the tread.

Good at: ice and hard packed snow. Nothing else comes close on a sheet of ice. Less good at: bare pavement, where they are noisy and have slightly less grip than studless, and they wear the road surface. Legal note in New Brunswick: studded tires are restricted to a defined window of the year. Check the current dates before fitting or removing them, because the dates are set in provincial legislation and are worth confirming rather than assuming.

Worth it if you are on rural roads, a long unplowed driveway, hills, or you are regularly out before the plow.

All weather

A genuinely different category from all season. All weather tires carry the mountain snowflake and are designed to be left on year round.

Good at: being a reasonable compromise in a climate with mild winters, and never having to swap. Less good at: deep snow and hard ice, where a dedicated winter tire is clearly better. They also wear faster than an all season in summer.

For a New Brunswick winter, a dedicated winter tire is better. All weather makes sense if you cannot store or swap a second set and your driving is almost entirely in town.

Narrowing it down

Mostly city, plowed streets, moderate distance: studless winter.

Rural roads, hills, early starts, long driveway: studded winter, inside the legal window.

Low distance, city only, no room for a second set: all weather is a defensible compromise.

You tow, or you drive a heavy truck or SUV: check the load index, which is covered below. This matters more than the brand.

The numbers that have to match

Size. On the sidewall, something like 225/60R17. Stick with what the vehicle was built for unless you know exactly why you are deviating. The door jamb sticker has the original spec.

Load index. The number after the size. It must meet or exceed the original. Fitting a tire with too low a load rating on a truck or a heavy SUV is a real safety problem, not a technicality.

Speed rating. The letter after the load index. Winter tires often carry a lower speed rating than the summer tire they replace, which is normal and accepted, but it should still suit how the vehicle is driven.

Two things worth paying for

All four. Not two. Two winter tires on the drive axle and all seasons on the other end gives you a car where one end grips and the other does not. That is harder to control than four matched tires of any type.

A second set of rims. If you plan to run winters for several seasons, mounting them on their own rims means the changeover is a wheel swap rather than mounting and dismounting tires twice a year. It is faster, it is easier on the tire beads, and over a few seasons it costs about the same. If your car has direct TPMS you will want sensors in the second set.

What we can tell you that a spec sheet cannot

We see which tires come back with complaints and which ones do not, across a lot of New Brunswick winters. If you tell us what you drive, where you drive it and how far, we will give you a straight recommendation rather than a list.

We carry over 25,000 tires we can get, with everything in store available same day. Walk in or book ahead, seven days a week.