Here in Santa Fe, weโve had some warm weather teasers recently, and also several sudden winter storms with icy roads. Thatโs nothing surprising for Santa Feโs enchanting weather patterns! Winter is not yet over here in Northern New Mexico.
Surely, you already took care of the essential winterizing needs of your import automobile. But, have you considered if you have the proper tires for your high performance luxury vehicle to perform at its optimum during cold weather?
Our Santa Fe auto repair and service shop offers the best parts and service at fair prices for European import performance autos. We offer, install, and service a wide variety of tires meant specifically for your luxury sports car.ย
Winter Tires for Cold Weather Performance
Tires are one of the most crucial features for safety and performance on the road. Even if your tires are in excellent shape, are you using all-season tires instead of winter tires? If so, you should definitely switch out to winter tires until warm weather solidly returns. Winter tires provide safer cold weather road traction.
Our Santa Fe auto repair shop reminds you it is absolutely necessary to switch out your European high performance or all-season tires with exclusive, winter tires. This ensures your sports carโs sensitivity and response in snow and ice on Santa Fe highways, winding mountain roads, and steep driveways.
While drivers of some vehicles can continue to use all-season tires in winter, it isn’t a good idea for your fine-tuned performance sports car! Car enthusiasts understand that winter rubber on a uniform set of four tires is essential for foreign luxury sports cars.
Switching out all four tires ensures the balance necessary for safe acceleration so both the front and back ends of your vehicle are stable during stopping and cornering.
Hereโs everything you need to know about why to switch to dedicated winter wheels instead of all-season tires until spring rolls in.
Winter Tires Versus All-Season Tires
Winter tires use rubber compounds engineered to maintain flexibility when temperatures dip below 45 degrees Fahrenheit. Temperatures such as these are common in the winter season of Santa Fe, even without snow and ice on the roads.
Another contributing factor to the performance of your tires is their aspect ratio. All-season tires may have a low, or โstiff,โ sidewall which allows the tire to keep as much tread as possible in contact with the road when braking and cornering. However, stiff sidewalls donโt do your performance car justice during cold weather or snow.
Winter tires should have a higher aspect ratio to provide more cushioning for obstacles such as debris or potholes that may be difficult to see in the snow and earlier dark evenings of winter. Low sidewall tires cannot bite well into deep snow or even water running across a road.
Our technicians at Executive Automotive use brand specific wheel fitment charts to determine the optimal tire and wheel size combinations specific to your foreign luxury sports car.
Unlike all-season tires, winter tires maximize the performance and safety of your foreign luxury sports car because they feature deep tread for enhanced traction to help grip in snow and ice. Cold temperatures cause contraction in the materials that compose tires.
Therefore, winter tires are designed and manufactured with softer compounds. These different rubber compositions make winter tires more pliable on road surfaces, allowing them to perform better in low temperatures even on dry roads. The pliability of winter tires is obviously important in snow, ice, and water, but also in just plain cold temperatures.
Your European import luxury car should carry you down the road with nothing less than perfectly performing tires. Call us today at Executive Automotive, the highly rated Santa Fe auto repair shop for foreign luxury sports cars. Or schedule an appointment online. We will switch out your all-season tires for winter tires so your high end vehicle shows you top-of-class peak performance through the end of the cold months.