It's common knowledge for most that all season and all weather tires are better in winter conditions than the regular tires most people use during the warmer months, but as you might expect, the weather southeast Saskatchewan has recieved has been far too much for all seasons to handle.

"The cold weather will cause your tire pressure monitor system to read your tire pressure as low, but as soon as you start to drive your tires will start to warm up and it should go back to normal so you may not actually have a flat tire," says Dallas Work, Manager and Mechanic at Kal-Tire. "Tire pressures fluxuate about one psi for every ten degrees Celsius the temperature drops.

Because of the constant warming and cooling of tires on your vehicle, you may be noticing some flat spots on your tires as they settle once your vehicle is parked, and then as the tires and vehicle start to cool down, they freeze up in place against the pavement and leave that flat spot.

"The best way to avoid that though is to have winter tires. They don't freeze and harden like all season tires do. So what happens when it gets under minus ten, your tires actually become ridgid and when they dry you can end up with a flat spot where your tire was sitting on the ground, and then your tire has to warm up enough for the rubber to unfreeze."

Winter tires not only have a tread that tends to hug the road better, but are typically made of a much denser rubber than other tires, and much more of it, allowing them to maintain their shape when resting against the ground. The flat spots you may find on all seasons not only make the drive a little rougher, but also don't allow the tire to grip the road the same as well.

"Most winter tires are rated to -50, that's -50 ambient temperature, not with the wind chill."

In the cold temperatures like we have now, the simple things you can do to keep your vehicle running smooth is check tire pressures and battery posts, and plug your car in over night.