Those of us lucky enough to not witness heavy winters on an annual basis can often fool ourselves into thinking we don’t need to take precautions for winter driving beyond a thicker coat. However, Continental tire’s new campaign aims to show we’re all at risk once the temperature drops below 45˚.
When the thermometer drops below this frigid temperature, Continental encourages us to “Make The Shift” to winter tires.

And they’re also educating us about winter tires, identified by a snowflake symbol on the sidewall. More commonly called “snow tires” Conti is trying to prevent the misconception that we only need these tires when there’s snow on the ground. Our recent testing proved that clearly wasn’t the case.
At temperatures below 45˚, the rubber compound in your “summer tires” starts to harden. While malleable and able to conform to the road surface at higher temperatures, these summer tires become rigid and deadly in cold weather.
One solution is to switch to “all season” tires, identified by an “M+S” logo on the sidewall. And such tires are better able to cope with rain and colder temperatures. Yet they don’t offer the best solution when the roads are icy or snow-covered. And that’s where winter tires excel.
In fact, in our tests at Continental’s recent Extreme winter tire appraisal, we were able to see just how deadly an all season can be in snow and ice. Compared to the new Conti Extreme Winter tires, the all season’s offered considerably less grip to move off from a standstill, corner and stop. And since getting to your destination safely is the only goal, we saw how using winter tires increases the level of safety considerably.

Of course, this isn’t news to everybody. In Germany it’s now a requirement to use winter tires in the winter. Furthermore, 34% of Canadians buy winter tires to cope with the harsh conditions, while less than 3% of US drivers do the same.
If you live in the northern US states (what Conti refers to as the “Winter Tire Belt”) and don’t switch to winter tires, you have no idea what you’re missing. Even vehicles equipped with four-wheel drive need the extra grip a winter tire affords them to stop on ice or snow. Some people acknowledge the problem but aren’t prepared to dip into their pocket very far, so Conti gave us the chance to drive a car fitted with all season tires on the front and winter tires on the rear. While this cheapskate option was able to pull away on snow more easily than a car on all seasons, it proved lethal when trying to change direction. The important steered wheels had no grip and simply caused the car to plow forward rather than turn.
We believe there are two types of people: those who learn the lessons of others, and those who have to learn their own, hard lessons. Few of us get the opportunity to test winter tires against all season tires in the harshest conditions, so learn from our experience and don’t take the chance of fitting the wrong tires. The alternative is to learn for yourself the dangers of driving on the wrong tires, but that could be a very expensive in terms of personal safety, medical bills and insurance premiums.
The new Continental Extreme Winter tires represent the pinnacle of the company’s 135-year development. These high-performance winter tires use an asymmetric tread pattern to maximize different tread zones for use on different surfaces. However, it’s the tread blocks and the individual sipes (tiny cuts in the blocks) that create the ability to work in winter. The larger channels in the tread actually hold snow and give the tire the ability to grip against the frozen surface, while the tiny sipes create hundreds of edges to cut into ice and snow to find grip. Furthermore, the tread remains flexible enough in the coldest conditions to confirm to the road surface and provide the maximum footprint to ensure safe braking. With 52 sizes from 13-17” diameter, the Extreme range also includes light truck tires for the first time.
We will look at the new Conti Extreme Winter tires in greater depth in a later issue of eurotuner magazine. However, we thought we’d run this blog for anybody who’s still facing many weeks of snow and ice-covered roads and who has decided to finally use the right equipment for the conditions.
We’ve also included a few photos from our frozen expedition to Yellowstone National Park. Closed to regular vehicles during winter on the grounds of safety, we had total access with our snowmobiles to the park’s wildlife and natural geothermal phenomenon. It was the opportunity of a lifetime and one we’d recommend to anybody wanting to explore North America’s incredible natural beauty.