Any all-wheel drive system equipped with wrong tires can be very ineffective and not perform at its designed potential. Modern AWD systems are extremely efficient and provide intelligent power distribution in just fractions of a second for maximum traction in any road conditions. But many drivers disregard the importance of riding on winter tires even when their car features a quattro or xDrive system.
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The technology works at its full potential where there is full patch contact with the road and appropriate tires can provide these benefits.
To illustrate the difference between winter and summer tires on an xDrive equipped vehicle, BMW created a video showcasing the new X3 going through different road scenarios with both type of tires.
The result can be seen below….
[Source: BMW via BimmerToday ]
It was strange on the brake test that the wheels of the “summer car” kept rolling and didnt stop at all untill the very end… ?!
Why is that ? It looks unnatural ?
That’s called ABS. Your car has it too (if it’s not 20 years old).
The summer tires have no grip so the ABS keeps kicking in and removes a lot of braking force from the wheels.
Is is cheaper to have two sets of wheels with summer and winter tires mounted or to change tires twice a year on one set of wheels?
Horatiu, I’ve just come back from event, so will publish a review tomorrow and tell you a little more about this winter vs summer tyre test on the X3
Steve, as always, looking forward to it. :)
thats true only an idiot will try climb on dirty hill using slicks as well as will try to drive safely and climb uphills when using summer tires :) even range rover or land cruiser wont be able to perform on slicks
ABS keeps the wheels turning when stopping, as it is designed to.
One set of tires for winter and summer is a must for us that live in Norway. I ca see that the rubber on the wintertires are uch harder then the ones we use!! chech out Nokian Hakkapellita.http://www.nokiantyres.no/dekk?source=adwords&gclid=CJPa-qq7yaUCFQaIDgodsyQeYg
does it matter whether I use winter tyres in summer too?. I live in England.