Image: BC Ministry of Transportation and Infrastrucutre winter tire regulations

By Dave Barry

Snow Tires

Winter tire changeover season arrives in Kamloops

Oct 6, 2023 | 4:05 PM

KAMLOOPS — Nights are getting longer and cooler in the Kamloops region as the return of winter draws closer with every passing week. It means the end of the summer tires for drivers.

Tire experts suggest now is the time to change over your rubber. Michael Donaldson of Integra Tires says the excuse of waiting so you don’t burn off your winter tread, is no longer valid.

”Originally when ice tires first came out 15-to-18 years ago, if you put them on a month early, you might wear quite a bit of it (tread) off. Or if you wore it through the summer, you’d wear the whole tread off,” said Donaldson. “Now there is different technology so you can actually put them on a little bit earlier and save yourself from the big rush.”

Highway drivers in the Kamloops area should have equipped their vehicles with their winter tires by the start of October. A winter tire will have either the “M+S” marking or the mountain and snowflake image on the sidewall.

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“Everybody thinks you can drive your car up the hill because of the winter tire,” said Donaldson. “But really you need winter tires on the other side when you’re coming down the hill. You want to be able to stop before you slide into oncoming traffic.”

Image: BC Ministry of Transportaion / Winter highways map

Several tire shops around the city are booking winter tire changeovers a week-and-a-half-to-two-weeks out now. It’s the busiest time of the year for the shops. Donaldson says 40 per cent of his yearly business is done around the six weeks of tire changeovers.

“On an average day we might put through 15 to 20 cars in our tire department,” said Donaldson. “In the winter, we can do 65 cars a day in each of our stores.

While there is no snow forecast over the Thanksgiving holiday weekend, leaving a changeover too late could lead you to being forced to ditch your highway travel plans.