All vehicles need winter tires, so that means if you plan to drive your pick-up in winter conditions, then your all-season tires won’t provide sufficient grip when you have snow, ice and slush on the roads. For this you will need to have tires that are approved for winter use and have the severe service emblem indicating that they have passed the performance tests in winter conditions. It isn’t enough to just have the M+S marking, as that only means that the tread design is made to handle mud and snow but says nothing about its performance and safety.
The rubber in all-season tires becomes hard, as the rubber compound is not designed for cold temperatures. Some of the tires grip comes from the ability to conform to the road surface and interlock with the surface in the way that the rubber is pushed into micro-cavities in the surface. When the tire is hard this will not happen to the same extent.
Winter/snow tires are designed for cold weather and for having good grip on snow and ice. They also have a rubber compound that keeps them soft and agile even at very low temperatures. Their tread pattern is specially designed to handle the snow and create the grip on ice. When you have studded tires, they will use metal studs protruding from the tread and these are used as a way to create superior grip on ice. The metal studs really dig into the ice surface and create the grip and traction.
When you have non-studded tires, they will use grip particles and innovative design in the tread to generate the grip on ice. When you try to drive with summer tires, you have nothing that will generate the extra grip needed, the tread pattern and the rubber compound is different than you need in wintertime. This is what you need when you drive your pick-up truck on the roads or off-road in rugged terrain.
For more information regarding SUV winter tires, visit: nokiantires.com