The Government of Quebec has yet to implement the recently-announced legislation that will make winter tires mandatory, but warnings keep flying. The latest was sent by the folks at Transport Canada and Bridgestone Canada: winter tires are not all born equal and they don't have the same properties.

Let's slide!
Tire manufacturer Bridgestone-Firestone teammed up with the federal government to demonstrate how winter tires can be life-saving, as a growing number of drivers are aware of. They also wanted to focus on specific models that are identified as winter tires but fail to meet expectations.


To illustrate their point, journalists were invited to try out two Toyota Camrys, one featuring standard Bridgestone all-season tires and the other equipped with Blizzak Ws60 winter tires.

The challenge was pretty simple: to gently accelerate up to 20 kph on the newly-resurfaced ice of a Montreal arena and then hammer the brakes. Measuring the stopping distances would be convincing enough.

With all-season tires, the Camry took at least 15.5 meters to come to a full stop, whereas the winter tire-equipped Camry only required 11.3 meters. That's a 4.2-meter difference -- almost the entire length of the car itself. And we were driving at low speed!

"As your speed increases, stopping distances stretch exponentially. Basically, if you double your speed, the required distance will be quadrupled. And there's the increased risk factor," explains Philippe Giroux, spokesman for Bridgestone Canada.

What about winter tires?
The fact that winter tires will become mandatory starting next November (in Quebec) will shift the debate to the quality of the various models. Sure, you have winter tires, but are they safe and reliable?

Many still believe that the little mountain snowflake symbol on a tire's sidewalls is a token of its quality. "Not really, warns Philippe Giroux. Some manufacturers use it even though their tires barely meet the required standards. The thing you have to understand is that it (using the snowflake logo) isn't an actual regulation but rather a recommendation by the industry.''