
Although my friend is an expert on cars, I seldom take his opinions on the matter very seriously. You see, he is more of a hobbyist than a practical commuter. We both see cars as serving a very different purpose. For me they are just a way to get from here to there, but for him they are practically his whole life. They are a hobby that consumes almost every weekend that he has.
So when my friends told me that I should get high-performance tires, I rejected the idea instantly without even thinking about it. I had no need for high performance all season tires. I did not race, I did not offroad, and I did not enter my car in shows like he did. High performance tires are not for people like me who drive old Hondas and go the speed limit. High-performance tires are for people who fantasize about being pulled over and out running the cops. A high performance tire seemed like an unnecessary and pointless extravagance for a workaday commuter like myself.
Then, winter hit. It was an unusually bad winter and I was slipping and sliding all over the road just like everyone else was. One day, however, I had a near catastrophe. I slid literally right off the road into a ditch. If it had happened a moment later, I would have been hit by a big rig. Needless to say, I would have been killed instantly.
When my friend heard about the accident, he again admonished me to get all season high performance tires. He told me that high performance tires were not just for people who like to go fast, or peal around curves. High performance all terrain tires were good because they had an improved ability to grip the road. If you live in a place like Michigan – which is where I live – you need the best high performance tires just stay on the road in winter.
I was pretty shaken up by the accident, so I took his advice. I went out straightaways and bought a set of BF Goodrich all season radials. The difference was amazing. Even if the road was icy, my car would still hold on to it reasonably well. Once I put on the high performance tires, I completely stopped slipping off the road like I used to. Needless to say, I am going to stick with these tires from now on.
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