Seasonal vs all-season tyres: which is best for your fleet?
Written by: Simon Pavey, Last updated:3rd November 2023
The choice to fit your fleet’s vehicles with either seasonal or all-season tyres can be a tough one. All-season tyres provide many practical benefits, whilst their seasonal counterparts offer improved safety and performance when used correctly.
Which set of tyres are likely to be best for your fleet? Read on, and we’ll help you make the decision.
Advantages of seasonal tyres
Winter tyres
As the name suggests, seasonal tyres need to be used during different weather conditions. During the winter months when temperatures fall below 7°C, you should fit your vehicles with winter tyres. These improve the performance of your vehicle in snowy and icy conditions, and excel at clearing away snow and slush to increase your grip with the road.
Additionally, the material used to make winter tyres stays soft during colder temperatures, whilst all-season tyres might tense up and be less flexible.
Summer tyres
Once seasonal temperatures exceed 7°C, your vehicles should be fitted with summer tyres. They are designed to get more mileage out of your vehicle in warmer temperatures, and they excel on dry roads. Their tread patterns and compounds mean they are perfectly soft and grip the dry roads well, making handling even more efficient.
What are the disadvantages of seasonal tyres?
Whilst both winter and summer tyres provide the best performance, they come with certain practical disadvantages.
Of course, the main con being the fact that you’ll need to regularly change the tyres on all your vehicles. This can come with extra costs if they are fitted by professionals, and there is the matter of storing the tyres you’re not using.
Furthermore, it isn’t something you can avoid. Using summer tyres during winter for example could actually put drivers in danger. According to Kwik Fit, a vehicle fitted with summer tyres will take almost twice as long to come to a stop from 40km/h when driving in snow compared to a vehicle fitted with winter tyres.
Advantages of all-season tyres
Alternatively, you might decide to fit your vehicles with all-season tyres. This means you can keep your tyres on your vehicles whatever the weather! Of course, you’ll have to change them when they are no longer suitable; maintaining regular safety checks on your tyres is important regardless of type, and they must be changed when you find your tyres have been worn away.
Where all-season tyres excel is their ability to offer a safe, stable drive regardless of the weather. They combine elements of summer and winter tyres to create an all-rounder. Of course, this comes with a slight compromise on performance. Summer tyres are best for summer, winter tyres are best for winter, but all-season tyres perform more than adequately in either scenario.
Which tyres are best for your UK fleet?
It can be difficult to decide which set of tyres would be ideal for a fleet, and this is especially true for UK fleets.
Fleet managers might want to consider that UK weather never tends to get too extreme. Whilst it is certainly unpredictable at times, we don’t often find our roads entrenched in snow, or experience abundant heatwaves. Therefore, you might want to opt for all-season tyres, given that the benefits gained from winter tyres may not be as noticeable here as if you were driving in a colder country. After all, using seasonal tyres is actually a legal requirement in some territories!
On the other hand, the forward thinking fleet manager might want to consider the effects that global warming is likely to have in coming years. UK weather is likely to reach further extremes such as more storms, more snow, and an increase in scorching heatwaves. Seasonal tyres would be able to give your vehicles a needed performance boost in such adverse weather. If you are operating in the northern regions of the UK, winter tyres might already be an obvious choice for you.
How can Fuel Card Services help?
Changing tyres and other maintenance tasks can be an expensive and often time consuming job. With a service plan like MyService.Expert, you can schedule your maintenance at thousands of main dealers and independent garages with pre-negotiated rates. Maintaining your vehicles has never been easier!
Get in touch with our experts today and see how we could keep your fleet running smoothly, whatever the weather!
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