this post was submitted on 21 Apr 2026
8 points (100.0% liked)
Ask Canada
119 readers
1 users here now
🇨🇦 Welcome to Ask Canada
A place to ask real questions about Canadian culture, politics, history, geography, daily life, and everything in between.
If you’re curious about how this country works or want a Canadian perspective, you’re in the right place.
🎤 What You Can Post
- Questions about Canada or Canadians
- “How does this work?” and “Why is this a thing?”
- Personal experiences, regional differences, and local knowledge
- Serious questions, practical questions, weird questions
- Light debate and thoughtful discussion
If you want Canadians to explain something ask it here.
🧭 Community Values
Discussion > Upvotes
We care about real conversation, not empty karma.
Respectful disagreement
Argue ideas, not people.
No partisan flamewars
Analysis, not tribalism.
Curiosity first
If someone asks a “basic” question, help them.
🛑 Not Allowed
- Hate, harassment, racism
- Spam
- Low-effort troll questions
- Nationalist / culture-war bait
- Off-topic politics not tied to Canada
founded 6 months ago
MODERATORS
you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
view the rest of the comments
My uncle who worked with tires all his life used to say that there is no such thing as an all season tire, regardless of what the markings say.
All seasons are horrible in the winter. It's impossible to create a rubber that has the right stiffness in both freezing temperatures and the summer heat. If you live in a place that gets sub freezing temperatures, you need tires that don't get rock hard in the cold. Where I live, everyone keeps two sets of wheels and switches them with the seasons.
Clarification: Winter rated tires.
There are all-seasons (the Nokian Haakapalitta tires I've mentioned) that are incredible in the winter (actually best tire I've ever driven in bad conditions, deep snow and winter-long ice).
But to your point, while you can run them in dry conditions, they will wear much faster than typical all-season tires due to the softer compound.
There's no other all-season tire I've used that actually works in snow or ice, let alone as well as Haakapaliitas.
But if you have a long winter, I'd get a set of their dedicated winter tires and switch seasonally as you said.
What would you recommend? In milder areas of Canada I’ve been to, all season M+S or 3PMS are considered winter tires.
(Is it legal to run studs in ON?)
Tires with the Alpine Symbol, 3PMSF, are the only tires that are allowed in Sweden on winter roads.
I don't know enough to recommend tires to someone else.