When you plan to drive on vacation during the spring, you need to do undertake some planning. You need to make sure what of weather conditions that you will face during your vacation so that you can prepare for it. There might also be some local rules and regulations that you need to comply to. If you haven’t checked these in advance you might be in for a big surprise and it can add substantial cost to your trip.
If you plan to drive across state borders or provinces, you will need to first check your insurance to ensure that you are covered in case of accidents or emergencies. Then check the weather and if there will be winter conditions, then you need to make sure that you have proper, tires. If you plan to visit areas that have winter conditions then you will need to have tires that have been approved for winter conditions. If you have winter tires with studs, so called studded tires mounted on your car, then you need to check if this is allowed in all the places where you plan to drive.
You can be liable for penalties if police stop you in areas where they are not allowed, like Alabama, Hawaii, Illinois, Florida, Louisiana, Maryland (exception five mountain counties), Minnesota, Mississippi, Texas, and Wisconsin. They might even atop you from continue driving with studded tires and force you to change them on the spot or have the vehicle towed to a place for a change. This can be quite costly and time consuming, so definitely something you want to avoid and can do so by proper planning.
You might even be required to have a set of snow chains in the car when driving through some regions, where the snow chains should be mounted under certain weather conditions. Snow chains can in these regions be purchased at a gasoline station and they are not so expensive. There tends to be big signs informing you that snow chains are mandatory in that area. It is often going up to mountainous areas and passes, as they want to make sure that the cars can move even if there is heavy snowfall.
Before leaving on the trip, it is also worth checking the tire pressure, as you will at this point have the car loaded with luggage for the vacation. Check the pressure when the car is loaded and have all the passengers in the car. Low tire pressure can make your vacation more expensive as your vehicle will consume more gasoline when you drive. The tire wear will also increase, so they might wear out during your trip. Check the tread depth before leaving so that you have well above 5/32 inches if you will make a long trip. Unplanned tire problems can be quite cumbersome and make your vacation less successful.
You can also use all-weather tires that are winter approved and can be used in every state and province or then if you will not face any winter conditions then you can of course use all-season tires. Just make sure that the tires are in good condition.
For more information regarding tires that can be used during the spring, visit: www.nokiantires.com