A winter tire is built for one job: grip in the cold. The rubber compound stays flexible below about 7 °C, which is where an all-season starts to harden. The tread is cut with deep grooves and a lot of thin slits, called sipes, that bite into snow and give the tire edges to hold on ice.
In Toronto that matters more than the snowfall totals suggest. A lot of winter days here sit near freezing: slush in the morning, black ice at night, salt brine on everything. Those are the conditions where a winter tire stops and turns noticeably better than an all-season.
We order winter tires to your exact size from most major brands, mount and balance them, and can store your other set until spring. If your winters are on their own wheels, each changeover is a quick swap instead of a remount.
What they do well
Cold-weather compound
The rubber is mixed to stay soft below about 7 °C. A soft tire keeps conforming to the road surface, where an all-season compound starts to stiffen and slide.
Siping and biting edges
Thin slits across each tread block open up as the tire rolls and flexes. That gives it many small edges to grab packed snow and ice.
Snow-holding tread
Deep, open grooves pack with snow on purpose, because snow grips snow better than rubber does. The same grooves push slush out from under the tire so the rubber stays on the road.
Three-peak mountain snowflake
Proper winter tires carry this symbol on the sidewall. It means the tire passed a standardized traction test on packed snow. An M+S mark on its own doesn't mean that.
Best for
- Anyone driving daily from November to April, especially early mornings and late nights
- Cars parked on the street that leave before the plows come through
- Hills, unplowed side streets and trips north of the city
- AWD and 4x4 owners. All-wheel drive helps you get moving. It doesn't help you stop or turn.
Trade-offs
- Don't run them in summer. On hot pavement the soft rubber wears fast, and the car brakes and corners worse than it would on all-seasons.
- Steering feels softer and a bit vague compared with all-seasons, even on dry winter roads. Most people stop noticing after a few days.
- Expect some extra road noise on dry, bare pavement.
- You're running two sets of tires, which means storage and two changeovers a year. That's the main reason some drivers go with all-weathers instead.
The Ontario insurance discount
Ontario requires auto insurers to offer a discount to drivers who put winter tires on their car. How much you save, and what you need to show to qualify, varies from one insurer to the next. Call yours before the season and ask. Keep your invoice; it shows the date, the tires and the vehicle they went on.
