WINTER can often prove a tough time for motorists, with conditions set on making it difficult to get anywhere.

Fortunately, there are ways to prepare your car, one of which is installing winter tyres.

Winter tyres are definitely something to consider during the cold winter months, but are they worth it?

With busy lives, many of us rely heavily on our cars to get us from A to B. So, as the weather gets colder, it may be time to keep mobile by considering the use of winter tyres.

Even though winter tyres can reduce stopping distances on ice and snow by up to half, their use is still relatively uncommon in the UK.

In many areas of Europe, such as Finland and Sweden, it is a legal requirement to fit them on vehicles for the duration of the coldest season.

In others, such as Germany and Spain, suitable tyres or chains must be fitted whenever road signs instruct. In the UK, however, we have no such laws, leaving many people to pose the question, "Are winter tyres worth it?"

The lack of legislation might be why the whole UK grinds to a halt at the mere mention of snow. Schools shut and supermarket shelves empty for fear that we will be housebound for days on end.

And while we'd never recommend venturing out in dangerous weather conditions, at Swansway Group, we do understand that the use of winter tyres can make your journey much safer when you do have to hit wintery roads.

What's Special About Winter Tyres?

The main difference between winter tyres and normal ones is simply tread depth. On standard tyres, it starts at between seven and eight millimetres, whereas winter tyres increase that to between eight and nine. The grooves within the tyre are both wider and deeper as well. While all-season tyrescan perform reasonably well in most weather conditions, they don't do well in extremes of hot or cold. It's not just a money-making ploy by the tyre manufacturers! Remember, swapping your tyres can mean that each set will last longer. The real benefit comes from ensuring better safety for you and your passengers when the temperature drops, and ice and snow become less of a winter wonderland and more of a driving challenge. A test, carried out by Tyresafe, looked at the stopping distances of cars fitted with summer and winter tyres, while travelling at 62 mph at 5C. Scarily, the car wearing summer tyres took almost 5m further to come to a halt than the winter tyre-clad car. Throw in some ice and snow, and a car using summer tyres can take twice as far to stop. Structurally speaking, summer tyres will stiffen up as soon as the temperature starts to get lower. This significantly hurts performance. Winter tyres, on the other hand, rely on a rubber that has a high amount of silica, allowing them to remain soft. You want your tyres to stay soft enough so that they can provide grip - they must be able to adjust to the road. The tread pattern of winter tyres is also different, allowing them to remain flexible even in lower temperatures. In wet and icy conditions, winter tyres are able to provide better grip and stop quicker. This, in turn, aids road safety and gives drivers that additional peace of mind when driving in rough weather. Marked by either a snow-topped mountain or snowflake, it's easy to spot a winter tyre and they should cost pretty much the same as a summer tyre. When the temperature is above 7C, summer tyres are the best way to ensure high grip on both dry and wet roads. Winter tyres, on the other hand, grip much better in temperatures below 7C. Since it is not practical to change between summer and winter tyres every time the weather changes, a simple rule of thumb is to use summer tyres from April to October (when, according to the Met Office, minimum temperatures fall below 7C in the North West and many other parts of the UK) and winter tyres the rest of the year. Contact your local Swansway Group dealership to find out more about winter tyres and to make the switch.