It is not only the weather that you need to follow when deciding when to change from winter to summer tyres. There are also often legal restrictions that you need to obey. First of all, you need to have winter tyres mounted on your vehicle as long as you have snow or a specific date. So you can’t change before that even if the weather would look ok for summer tyres. If you then have studded tires, you can’t have them on after a specific announced date, so that leaves you often with only a few weeks where you need to change not to break the law and risk getting fined if you are stopped.
As safety should be prioritized and it is unsafe to drive with summer tyres if there are winter conditions, you should probably wait, if possible, to ensure that winter will not return for another spell. The more dependent you are on your car, the longer you should wait to change. Driving with winter tyres during warm weather increases the tyre wear, so it is not advisable to do it too long, but long enough to ensure your safety. If you need your car daily, it makes sense to wait until you can be almost sure that the winter weather will not return. At the same time, if you are ok to skip using the car for a few days if there would be some winter weather turning up, you can change a bit earlier.
Ensure that the summer tyres you will mount have more than 4 mm remaining tread depth and the tyres must be in good condition without any cuts or other visible damages to them. If the tread depth is exactly 4mm, you might as well buy a new set of tyres right away. The safety is greatly impacted once you go below 4mm. You are more likely to have aquaplaning when, which is loss of control over your vehicle, which can be very dangerous. Your braking distance is increased, making accidents more likely and you can easier skid when you take turns, as the grip is not as good.
None of us wants to break the law, so it is important to obey the regulations. Also, if you are in an accident and have summer tyres when you need to have winter tyres, you might have some problems with your insurance.
You also have all-season tyres that are a combination of summer and winter tyres, and they can therefore be used during the whole year as long as they are approved for winter use. If they are approved for winter use, they will have the 3PMSF-symbol on the sidewall of the tyres. If the tyres have this symbol, it means that they have passed the performance requirements for safe driving in winter conditions. The use of only one set of tyres, will of course wear out the tyres faster and you need to make sure that you rotate the tyres during the year.
For more information regarding legal requirements and change of tyres, visit: https://www.nokiantyres.com/
