Technical regulations prohibit the operation of cars without winter tires. Will violators be fined 2,000 rubles, says Alexey Rumyantsev, a member of the Russian Lawyers Association, deputy chairman of the Society for the Protection of Motorists' Rights.
On November 11, 2020, changes to the technical regulations of the Customs Union TR CU 018/2011 “On the safety of wheeled vehicles” come into force. The requirements for equipping vehicles with winter tires have been clarified. They are required for categories M1 and N1. And these are vehicles used to transport passengers and having, in addition to the driver’s seat, no more than eight seats. These include passenger cars. In addition to them, categories M1 and N1 include buses, specialized passenger vehicles, as well as trucks with a permissible maximum weight of no more than 3.5 tons.
Question and Answer Is it possible to use a summer spare tire in winter?
For vehicle categories other than G, snow chains on the drive axle are required in winter if there are no winter tires and the vehicle design allows it.
All-season: for or against?
Each driver has the right to independently choose which tires to install on his car. However, to prevent the unpleasant consequences of incorrectly selected tires, it is necessary to install for each season those options that are not prohibited by law. Many car enthusiasts prefer to save on tires and purchase all-season varieties.
All-season tires, it would seem, should have the qualities of both summer and winter varieties. However, not everything is so simple, because a tire cannot be both soft and hard at the same time.
All-season options have a specific tread pattern, which consists of a summer and winter version. At the same time, it is worth mentioning the insufficient size of the blocks, which will not give confidence when getting out of a skid.
At the same time, the value is too large to perform functions in the summer. The indefinite depth of the grooves will also not allow maneuvers on an icy surface or slippery snow surface. With such tires, sudden braking is not recommended.
Features of using all-season tires in summer and winter:
- Universal rubber has great hardness, so at low temperatures (below 20º C) it “hardens”. At such moments, driving becomes very difficult, and this directly threatens the safety of the driver and passengers.
- In summer, on the contrary, well-heated asphalt can almost melt all-season tires - sometimes black rubber strips form on the surface of the surface from the slopes, so these varieties are also not intended for hot climates, as they wear out quickly.
The best option for all-season use is a region in which the climate is so mild that there are no noticeable transitions between seasons, and their temperatures practically do not differ.
In the conditions of Russian roads, this type of tire is not recommended - in addition to rapid wear, it can also lead to emergency situations on the road - in such cases, the driver will lose more from its use than he will gain.
Experts answered which tires are better: “winter” or “all-season”
Experts answered the question in a debate about which tires are more practical at this time of year: winter or all-season? First of all, you need to understand that the so-called “all-season” is a tire that has only satisfactory characteristics for summer and winter use.
Experts also recommend that you learn information about what basic criteria and parameters characterize a car tire. First of all, this is the rubber composition, then the tread height and tread pattern.
Summer tires have low tread. This type of tire must provide reliable traction between the wheels and the asphalt surface, which is ensured by a special pattern that is applied during manufacturing. The tread of summer tires differs from winter tires in the depth and width of the grooves, which are relatively small for summer tires. Summer tires are made from harder materials in order to provide the required coefficient of adhesion to hot asphalt.
All-season tires are a compromise between summer and winter tires. In a nutshell: in winter they are better than in summer, but much worse than in winter and vice versa. This is a tire well suited for winter and summer. The tread of all-season tires is lower than that of winter tires, but the tread blocks are cut into sipes and separated from each other, like on winter tires.
Winter tires have a high tread, which provides better wheel traction with the road surface, they crush snow better and have a better result in self-cleaning the tread from snow. The tread consists of lamella blocks, which are divided into even smaller lamellas. The main advantage of winter tires is their elasticity, which is maintained at low temperatures due to the special rubber composition.
As a result, the advantages of all-season tires:
— tires are cheaper than winter and summer tires combined;
— savings on the need to “change shoes” twice a year;
— if the winter turns out to be warm, “all-season” tires will be enough, and besides, they are not as noisy while driving as the vast majority of winter tires.
Disadvantages of all-season tires:
— on ice and compacted snow, all-season tires are inferior to winter tires;
— all-season tires wear out twice as quickly due to the fact that they are used all year round;
— the elasticity of all-season tires is much lower compared to winter tires, so in frost below -10C degrees they can become stiff, and the car will slide at the slightest skid. And if it gets too hot in the summer, being too soft will cause your tires to lose traction.
Photo: from open sources
Legal aspects of using all-season tires in winter
- Appendix 8 and its paragraph 5.5 of the Customs Regulations limit the use of winter tires in the summer from June to August.
- In addition, clause 5.6.3 prohibits operating a vehicle that is not equipped with winter tires in winter (from December to February).
Accordingly, in summer it is not allowed to use studded treads, and in winter it is forbidden to drive on summer tires. If the climate of a particular region requires long winters, then the local municipality has the right to make its own amendments and increase the duration of the entire winter period.
In addition, special standards were added to the sections of the traffic rules, classifying tires into three types:
- Summer varieties;
- Tires intended for winter;
- All-season tires.
However, there is still confusion when classifying all-season options, since, according to experts, there are only two options that are truly suitable for Russian roads - summer and winter.
At the same time, experts note that all-season vehicles, as a rule, do not have sufficient characteristics to operate them in Russian realities, both in winter and summer.
In addition, outside the Russian Federation, such tires are not at all accepted by police, so it is better to travel to other countries with either summer or winter versions.
The law, however, allows the use of all-season tires in the Russian Federation all year round, but only in cases where it is marked MS and has a corresponding graphic image. In the absence of a sign, such varieties can only be used from March to November.
Best Off-Road Tire Manufacturers
Experienced car enthusiasts who have been using mud wheels for a long time know almost all of their manufacturers, given that there are not many of them. Those car enthusiasts who are just about to install such tires for the first time should know that in addition to the quality and nature of their use, it is extremely important to choose a brand that would suit them also in terms of price.
Mud tires for SUVs, for example on a Niva, can cost 4-5 thousand rubles. per wheel when choosing Chinese brands, and 15-20 thousand rubles if the driver chose a more well-known and expensive brand.
Below is a rating of the most popular companies among Russian car enthusiasts that produce mud tires for most vehicles:
- Over the past years, the BFGoodrich Mud Terrain brand has been unconditionally recognized as the best manufacturer, as it turns any SUV into a real all-terrain vehicle. Deep treads are designed in such a way that they rake up any, even the most liquid, dirt, allowing the car to overcome difficult areas. The directional design of the mud lugs allows the driver to guide the wheels and keep them on the road stable.
You may be interested in this About tire inflation pumps
The positive qualities of rubber also include the fact that, thanks to the special composition of the rubber mixture, it can easily be used both in summer and winter. In terms of cost, the brand's products fall into the middle price category. An original brand tire, depending on the size, can cost from 8.5 to 16 thousand rubles. Mud tires for the Oka will cost only 8 thousand rubles, for the Niva you will have to pay 11 thousand rubles.
BFGoodrich Mud Tires
- Another well-known manufacturer in a narrow circle of extreme drivers is Cooper Discoverer, whose assembly line produces only all-terrain tires that have a number of advantages over competitors. Among the numerous tire models of this brand, there are unique armored tires designed for driving on rocky surfaces. The company guarantees that they cannot be damaged even by the sharpest stone protrusions.
On a note!
As for operation in mud, the company's engineers have developed their own tread design, which not only effectively clings to the ground, but also quickly clears dirt after overcoming off-road conditions. In terms of pricing, the wheels belong to the same segment as the model described above. The product costs around 10-12 thousand rubles. per wheel.
- Korean tire manufacturer Kumho also introduced a line of mud tires for 4x4 SUVs called Road Venture. The company has huge production capacity, a high level of marketing and sells millions of units annually. The average price of one tire ranges from 5.5 to 6.5 thousand rubles. However, the cost did not in any way affect the quality of the brand, and the tires have excellent driving performance and a high level of reliability.
- One of the largest companies in the world, the Japanese concern Bridgestone, also could not stand aside. Its mud tires, produced under the Dueler D673 brand, have won the trust of hundreds of thousands of consumers around the world. Consistent quality of the brand, thoughtful deep tread, ideal grip on soft clay and fine sand, as well as a stylish appearance with contrasting modification markings on the profile, combined with a cost of about 7 thousand rubles. per wheel, deserves increased attention from car enthusiasts.
You might be interested in this About tires on the UAZ Patriot
Bridgestone Dueler Off-Road Tires
- As for popularity, Yokohama has held the first place for many years with its Geolandar series of mud tires. It is this tire that is used by almost all teams when conducting off-road rallies. The products have a high level of road grip, help the car overcome various ground conditions, are easy to clean from dirt, and can also serve the owner for many years. The cost of tires starts from 7 thousand rubles. and can reach up to 15 thousand rubles. per wheel with dimensions for a full-size 4x4 vehicle.
Despite the high quality, almost all of the brands listed above set a high price for many owners of domestic cars. Therefore, drivers often purchase products from Russian tire factories, which are not inferior in reliability and performance properties to most Western analogues.
The most famous and in demand domestically produced mud tires have always been the products of the Yaroslavl Tire Plant. This effect was achieved thanks to numerous contracts for the supply of products for the needs of the army. These tires perform ideally on any type of soil; most UAZ vehicles are equipped with them. The cost of Ya-192 tires does not exceed 4.5-5 thousand rubles. per wheel.
Mud tires Yaroslavsky, in the production of his famous SUVs VAZ-2121 and Chevrolet Niva, uses Nizhnekamskshina rubber on them, which behaves well on hard surfaces and moderate off-road conditions, but is not suitable for severe tests, since it does not have the proper all-terrain qualities. The price of the company's products is also around 5 thousand rubles. per wheel.
Important!
Regardless of the type of tire and the brand chosen by the driver, tires require special care and surface quality control before each serious trip. Difficult road conditions reduce the guarantee of complete driving safety to almost zero, since sharp obstacles combined with double overloads at a certain point in time can lead to a puncture and wheel breakage.
Penalty for using all-season tires in winter
So, is it possible to drive in winter on all-season tires? In October last year, a draft law was considered that would add a new paragraph to Chapter 12 of the Code of Administrative Offences. It will establish the amount of the fine for violations of the operation of vehicle tires, which will be 2,000 rubles. However, at the moment there is no penalty yet.
It turns out that, despite clause of Customs Regulation No. 5.6.3, a fine for using summer tires in winter has not yet been imposed, so formally you can drive. However, do not forget that such tires will not last long and will not be highly efficient.
How to distinguish winter tires from all-season tires
Whatever the conditions of air temperature or the presence of precipitation on the road, the car must in any case clearly maintain contact with the road in winter, summer, and during transition seasons. This is extremely important in order to achieve a normal level of security. The limit of 7°C, which all drivers are guided by when “changing shoes” of a car, can protect themselves from most road troubles associated with the change of seasons. But here one important additional point should be noted: among the tires for some time, summer, winter and all-season tires were distinguished. Today, the Regulations of the Customs Union, which also apply in Russia, no longer recognize such a thing as “all-season tires”. In Europe, to which Ukraine and the Baltic countries are actively reorienting, there is also no such concept. By and large, practical analysis shows that the features of tires that are presented as “all-season” are simply a reduced version of either summer or, more often, winter ones. Thus, the task comes down to understanding very clearly the difference between these basic types, then even on an off-season tire it will be possible to distinguish which type it actually gravitates towards.
Winter tires are softer - just touch them; their rubber content is much higher. When it’s frosty outside, winter tires retain their temperature from friction on the road, as a result of which they become more elastic, resulting in an order of magnitude denser and better grip on the road. But if you use it in the summer, it simply melts, quickly wears off, and even spoils the road surface.
Stiffer summer tires, on the contrary, cool down when driving on hot asphalt and retain the shape and degree of rigidity required for the road. But in the cold, such rubber becomes hard to the point of brittleness, its contact area with the road decreases, the stability of the car also decreases, and the risk of an accident increases if control is lost. A distinctive feature for a winter tire may be the presence of studs on the tread. By definition, there can no longer be any doubt about the seasonality of the tire. But if the winter tire is friction, there are no studs on it. However, the patterns on the tread can tell you here.
Summer tires have a deeper tread pattern. Whereas a similar pattern for the winter version has a characteristic diagonally oriented structure, on which there is a very developed network of channels through which water is drained from the tread. In general, this pattern strongly resembles a herringbone (this is a European type of tire). Or there are many diamond-type figures on the tread, which are placed at a noticeable distance from each other (this is the so-called Scandinavian type).
If there are problems with the constant velocity joint, it does not always require replacement. Quite often a repair kit is sufficient. At the link https://www.trialli.ru/catalogue/transmissiya/remontnye-komplekty-shrusa/ you can find CV joint repair kits for VAZ cars of different models.
You might be interested in:
Bridgestone has developed new fuel-efficient winter tires for buses
The issue of developing new tires for all types of vehicles, which have characteristics such as low rolling resistance and reduced fuel consumption, has recently...
BFGoodrich g-Force Winter tire
The BFGoodrich g-Force Winter tire is a studless winter tire with a directional tread pattern. Designed for use in passenger cars at all winter temperatures from +7 to -40 degrees...
Pirelli Winter Ice Zero tire
Description of the Pirelli Winter Ice Zero tire The Pirelli Winter Ice Zero tire is a new generation winter studded tire with a directional tread pattern, which was developed by...
Tire tread pattern
Tire tread pattern. There are three types of tire tread patterns: symmetrical, asymmetrical and directional. The symmetrical tire tread pattern is a pattern that can be installed in any…
