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"  Whoever coined the term &amp;quot;all-season tire&amp;quot; in the late 1970s probably wasn&amp;#039;t trying to mislead tire buyers. Instead, they were trying to play catch-up with Goodyear&amp;#039;s hugely successful Tiempo, a tire that was wonderful &amp;quot;for all seasons, for all year,&amp;quot; according to its TV jingle.  Still, near-universal confusion sprung from the name all-season. Most people have the mistaken belief that all-season tires are better in spring showers and fall rains than regular tires. (Regular tires have become known as summer or, more accurately, three-season tires.) I&amp;#039;ve found many tire-company employees, automaker engineers, and car writers who don&amp;#039;t know the correct answer, either.  Here&amp;#039;s the truth: &amp;quot;All-season&amp;quot; doesn&amp;#039;t mean the tire has great performance in all seasons. It means that the tire is a compromise\u2014the designer traded wet grip to gain some mobility in snow, give drivers tires that could provide adequate year-round performance, and save them the trouble of changing their tires before and after the winter.  But &amp;quot;some mobility in snow&amp;quot; is not the same thing as &amp;quot;good grip in snow.&amp;quot; The snow traction of all-season tires varies from great to almost none. And an all-season tire has less damp-road grip than an otherwise equal summer tire from the same manufacturer. So winter is the only season when an all-season tire offers more traction than a summer tire. If you live where it never snows, the three-season regular tire always holds the traction advantage.  Rain and Snow Another bit that adds to the confusion: A tire&amp;#039;s ability to disperse deep water is independent of its all- or three-season designation. Stay with me: On damp or lightly wet roads, it&amp;#039;s your tread rubber, often called the compound, that&amp;#039;s the main factor in determining traction. Stickier and softer compound is better for both dry and damp pavement.  But in deep water and at high speeds, a tire&amp;#039;s ability to stay in contact with the pavement (tire engineers call it hydroplaning resistance) depends more on the tread pattern: the lateral and longitudinal grooves. Tread patterns that are excellent at dispersing water can be found on both all-season and summer tires. Not-so-good tread patterns are found on both too. Lastly, wear matters a lot. If underinflated or half-worn, a tire with a wonderful compound and a great tread pattern may not match a mediocre tire that&amp;#039;s brand-new and inflated to the vehicle manufacturer&amp;#039;s specifications. Summer (or regular or three-season) tires have inadequate snow traction for the same reason they provide great damp-road traction: their soft, grippy tread compound. That compound starts to harden at subfreezing temperatures. An all-season tire trades the summer tire&amp;#039;s damp-road grip for the ability to remain flexible at well-below-zero temperatures.  What to Buy If you&amp;#039;re seeking replacement tires that will increase traction on wet and damp roads, switch from your original-equipment all-season tires to summer tires. The opposite is true, too. If your performance car, all-wheel drive or not, is terrible in the snow, the fault can almost certainly traced to its summer tires.  When looking for summer tires to replace not-so-grippy all-season tires, see if the maker of your original tires offers a summer tire with the same model name, but without the A/S (all-season) suffix. That&amp;#039;s your best bet. If your car came with summer tires and you fear getting caught in a snow shower, you&amp;#039;re in luck if the maker of your original equipment tires produces an all-season version of that model. (Read more about buying replacement tires here.) If those choices aren&amp;#039;t available, check for new options at online tire stores. There is no tire industry standard or government specification for all-season, summer, or three-season tires. Tire companies make their own assessments, and those assessments are far from uniform among manufacturers. So read the reviews online. Ignore the outliers and look for a general agreement.  While it may or may not be true that clothes make the person, the right tires can make a mediocre car excel, and the wrong tires can turn a beauty into a beast. "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
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