Editor @ TNT Magazine
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We’re tackling a potentially dull subject, that I’m sure many drivers will already be ambivalent about. I mean most people just rock up to the tyre fitters and either buy a budget or premium tyre or go with more of what is already on the wheel.
In most cases, UK drivers are running summer tyres all year round. That would make sense if we had summers. I’m not sure we need this validation as you can mostly look out of the window, but Met Office data tells us a different story. Even in a mild winter, UK temperatures drop below 7°C during commuting hours on 147 separate days. London managed 80. Newcastle hit 129. Below that threshold, summer tyre compounds stiffen and grip fades. For nearly half the year, you’re driving on rubber that isn’t doing its best work.
So, what’s the alternative? All-season tyres have traditionally been sold as a compromise. Not as sharp as summer rubber in the heat, not as capable as winter tyres in deep snow. But the gap has closed. What Car? tested summer and all-season tyres back to back on identical cars at 11°C. Wet braking distances were the same. On a wet circle, the all-season held traction at 25mph while the summer tyre broke away at 23. At that point you’re not splitting hairs. The all-season is the better tyre for the conditions most of us actually drive in.
Bridgestone invited me to try this for myself. We kicked off in some pretty uninspiring typical hatchbacks, one on their Turanza all-season, one on summer rubber. Same circuit featuring hills, tight corners and obstacles to avoid. Then swap cars and form an opinion. I should say upfront, you don’t want to spend long in a Peugeot automatic. They are profoundly dull to drive, and when your test is supposed to reveal subtle differences in tyre feel, the car doing its best to remove you from the experience doesn’t help. But I guess this is the reality of most drives, it’s a tool to get from A to B so I should probably get over myself and focus on the tyres.
On dry tarmac, I couldn’t detect a massive difference between the two. Push the all-season into a hard corner and it gave up grip a touch sooner, but at normal speeds, on normal roads, in normal conditions, you’d never know which compound was underneath you. It was quiet too, which was not what I expected.
Then they threw us onto loose gravel in a Ford Ranger booted up with the same all-season rubber. Not off-road tyres, just the same compound that had been circling the handling course ten minutes earlier. Where a summer tyre would have given up and slid back down the hill, the all-season dug in and got on with it. I was really impressed with the capability of this setup. Perfect for field workers who spend most of their time on tarmac, but might need to get down a track or over a field from time to time.
The timed agility course at the end should have been the decider. One lap on each tyre, same car. If the all-season costs you real time, the pitch falls apart. The Peugeot’s gearbox was a bigger limiting factor than anything the tyres were doing. I’m competitive at the best of times, but put me in a car with a stopwatch and I’m channelling my inner Nigel Mansell (yeah I’m that old), and trying my hardest to detach the tyres from the rims on the corners. It’s not a trait I’m particularly proud of, but it is a lot of fun dicking around in someone else’s car, trying to inflict pain on the clutch. I thought I’d done pretty well when the official refused to share my time as he didn’t want me to gloat to the other journalists, and I didn’t ever find out the final standings, but in my head I smashed it and in the absence of any evidence to the contrary I’ve awarded myself the top spot.
They also let us loose in a BMW M3 Competition fitted with Bridgestone’s Potenza Sport Evo, their high-performance tyre, which was a lot of fun, but hard to tell if the 4wd system and diff wizardry was doing the work for the tyres or vice versa. I suspect that car would have behaved pretty well on budget tyres for the first lap at least! We finished off with a fast lap in a Caterham to put any remaining doubts about grip to bed. Mostly because you’re too busy trying to keep your lunch down to form a measured opinion about compound characteristics.
I went into this event with a pretty unenthusiastic opinion of Bridgestone tyres in general. It was a full set of run flat tyres of theirs that I removed with most of the tread intact on my current rear wheel drive hooligan of a car, but having been out in all sorts of cars on different compounds, I have to say I’m converted. If I ever become a reformed petrolhead or succumb to the economics of a sensible daily driver, then I will most certainly be loading it with the all-season tyre and I’d be a fool not to.
While I wasn’t wowed by the all-season, I was surprised, and that matters more. Bridgestone aren’t overselling it. The all-season is not as sharp as a good summer tyre when you lean on it hard. But for the vast majority of UK driving, the difference is academic. For the five months of the year when temperatures sit below 7°C, the all-season is the better tool for the job and for the rest of the time, unless you are driving like a bellend, you’d never know the difference.
The EV boom is making this more relevant, too. There are now a mind-boggling variety of tyre options (EV specific, brand specific). Nearly a quarter of new cars sold in the UK last year were fully electric. EVs are 20 to 30 per cent heavier than their petrol equivalents, deliver instant torque that chews through tread, and depend on low rolling resistance to protect range. The wrong tyres can cost 20 to 30 miles per charge.
Bridgestone’s response is to build EV readiness into the standard lineup rather than adding more options to the pile. Their ENLITEN technology (lower rolling resistance, reinforced sidewalls, noise reduction) is baked into products like the Potenza Sport Evo, which won both the evo 2025 and sport auto 2026 independent tyre tests. It covers 139 sizes across 92 per cent of the performance market. One tyre, rated for EVs and combustion cars alike.
If you commute, do motorway miles, and take the odd long trip, an all-season tyre means one set, fitted once, good for the year. You lose a sliver of dry-weather precision on the twelve warm days the UK actually gets. You gain proper grip through five months of cold, damp mornings.
If you drive something fast and care about feel, a dedicated performance tyre still makes sense. And if you drive an EV, check your replacements carry the right load index for the extra weight, but don’t assume you need a separate EV product line.
When to change your tyres
and how to tell if they’re already illegal
Tyres are the only part of your car that touches the road, but most drivers don’t think about them until something goes wrong. Performance doesn’t disappear overnight. It fades. As tread wears down, the grooves that clear water and hold grip get shallower. Handling suffers, and the risk of aquaplaning in the wet goes up. On motorways in heavy rain, that’s where it gets dangerous. The tyre can lose contact with the road surface entirely.
The legal minimum tread depth in the UK is 1.6mm across the central three-quarters of the tyre, around the entire circumference. Drop below that and you’re looking at a £2,500 fine and three penalty points per tyre. Visible damage counts too: cuts, bulges, exposed cords, or sidewall damage can all make a tyre unroadworthy. So can mixing incompatible types on the same axle, or running uneven wear that takes any section below the limit. A lot of drivers only check the centre of the tread, but wear on the inner or outer shoulders is just as likely to land you a fine. The quick test is a 20p coin. Push it into the main groove. If you can see the outer rim of the coin, you’re close to or below the legal limit.
Beyond legality, tyre choice matters more than most people realise. Summer tyres give you the best grip and braking in warm, dry conditions but their compound stiffens below 7°C and performance drops off. Winter tyres stay soft and grippy in the cold but wear faster and lose their edge in warm weather. All-season tyres sit between the two. They’re not as sharp as either in their ideal conditions, but for a climate like the UK’s where you get a bit of everything and a lot of drizzle, they cover the full year without a seasonal swap.
The basics of tyre care are simple enough. Check your pressure every couple of weeks, because under or over-inflated tyres affect handling, fuel economy, and wear. Run the 20p test on your tread regularly. Look for cracks, bulges, cuts, or uneven wear. And if you’re running winter tyres, swap them out when the weather warms up.
Bridgestone has carried out more than 5,000 free tyre inspections across the UK over the past 18 months through its Road Safety Hero campaign. More information on tyre care and safety is at promotion.bridgestone.co.uk/bridgestone-tyre-care-guide.
Useful Information
The Bridgestone Tyre Range
Turanza All Season 6 – https://www.bridgestone.co.uk/car-tyres/summer-tyres-turanza/turanza-all-season-6
Turanza 6 (summer tyre) – https://www.bridgestone.co.uk/car-tyres/summer-tyres-turanza/turanza6
Potenza Sport Evo – https://www.bridgestone.co.uk/car-tyres/summer-tyres-potenza/sport-evo
Duravis All Season Evo – https://www.bridgestone.co.uk/car-tyres/summer-tyres-duravis/all-season-evo
https://www.bridgestone.co.uk/
Image credits: Ed Bagnall – https://www.edbagnallphoto.co.uk
