Premium tyre manufacturer Pirelli is so confident that it’s going to be a cold winter that it is offering its cold weather tyre customers a 50 per cent refund if temperatures don’t drop below seven degrees for 30 days or more throughout January and February.

The promotion is part of the company’s cold weather tyres campaign, which highlights the need for specialised cold weather tyres on cars in the UK. Road tests have proven that, when temperatures drop below seven degrees centigrade, cold weather tyres can offer more grip, better handling and reduced stopping distances when compared to standard summer tyres.

However, some people still question if cold weather tyres are really needed here in the UK. So Pirelli has announced that if the UK daily temperature between 1st January 2012 and 29th February 2012 is higher than seven degrees centigrade for 30 days or more, customers who have bought four Pirelli cold weather tyres will be reimbursed 50 per cent of the purchase price.

Pirelli urges motorists to start winter with a pit stop

In addition to this fantastic money back campaign, Pirelli is also giving customers a chance to win a thousand pounds in cash. All they have to do is predict when the two coldest days in January and February 2012 will be. Anyone predicting them both correctly wins the money.

Wayne Nickless, marketing director at Pirelli UK, comments:

“All tyre manufacturers will tell you that you will need cold weather tyres this winter, but we’re putting our money where our mouth is. If it’s not cold enough to warrant cold weather tyres – in other words, if temperatures don’t drop below seven degrees centigrade – we’ll refund half the purchase price.”

Pirelli has chosen to use seven degrees centigrade as a marker as this is when cold weather tyres have been scientifically proven to have an advantage over standard summer tyres.

Pirelli UK Managing Director Dominic Sandivasci explains:

“Cold weather tyres offer drivers extra grip in winter conditions thanks to their unique tread pattern design and the ability of the compound to remain flexible at temperatures below seven degrees centigrade.

“When winter weather embraces the UK, we are often left wondering why everything comes to a standstill, but it’s mainly down to a lack of preparation. If we all changed our tyres to cold weather tyres during the colder months, it’s fair to say that we may not find driving in the snow quite so daunting.”

In many countries across Europe, drivers routinely change their standard summer tyres for cold weather tyres in October and then back again in April. In other countries, such as Germany, cold weather tyres are even a legal requirement and, although there are no such plans for the UK, there is a growing trend towards fitting cold weather tyres as drivers realise the benefits.

“In recent years, as UK winters have become colder, we have seen a significant rise in the number of cold weather tyres sold. More and more tyre dealerships will now remove your summer tyres and keep them in storage during the winter”, continues Sandivasci. “Providing they are stored correctly, and the tread depth remains legal, the same tyre will be refitted to the car once spring arrives. The cold weather tyres can then be stored for safe winter motoring the following year.”