Rain and Snow

How Groundspeed Tires Keep You Safe in Rain and Snow

Groundspeed Tires offers an array of passenger and light truck tire options developed and manufactured with the same meticulous standards adopted for aircraft tire manufacturing. You can feel confident that the tires you’re driving on are engineered with durability and safety in mind, and with features designed to maximize traction and control in challenging weather conditions like rain and snow.

What is covered in this blog:

Groundspeed's tire features for safe rain and snow driving
What is the difference between tires with a 3-Peak Mountain Snowflake Rating and a Mud+Snow Rating
Groundspeed's tire lineup
Groundspeed Passenger tires for rain and snow
Groundspeed Light Truck/CUV/SUV tires that are ideal for rain and snow

Groundspeed’s Tire Features for Safe Rain and Snow Driving

3-Peak Mountain Snowflake/Severe Snow Rating. The 3-Peak Mountain Snowflake Rating (3PMSF or Severe Snow Rating) indicates that a tire has been tested for traction in packed mud and snow, and that it maintains tread flexibility in low temperatures and traction in wet and snowy conditions.
Mud+Snow Rating. The Mud+Snow Rating requires a tire to have a tread pattern with at least a 25% void-to-tread ratio, which allows it to clear mud and snow from the tread grooves and provide good traction in mild to moderate wet and snowy conditions.
Wet-Traction Grooves. Wide vertical grooves are engineered to quickly evacuate water from the tire tread, improving handling and cornering in wet conditions, enhancing traction, and helping to prevent hydroplaning.
GX Silica Compound. Groundspeed’s GX Silica Compound reinforces the tire with nano-grade silica, enabling performance in low temperatures, and maximizing snow traction, as well as increasing fuel-economy and ride comfort.
All-Weather Engineering. Continuous Zig-Zag grooves on the tire shoulder connect with x-shaped grooves in the tire's center, improving the tire’s evacuation of mud, rain, and snow from the tread and enhancing handling in all weather conditions.
Wide Arc Grooves. The tread is designed with continuous, wide-angle arc grooves to improve grip in snowy conditions.
Asymmetric Tread Pattern. The asymmetrical tread pattern combines dry grip and rapid water dispersal technology, with large tread blocks to improve cornering stability in wet and dry conditions, and multiple sipes and lateral grooves to ensure consistent wear.
Multiple Tread Pattern Optimizations for Rain, Snow and Mud. Groundspeed’s tires are designed with multiple tread features for performance and traction in rain and snow, including All-Season Performance features, Wetland-Optimized Grooves, Large Pattern Blocks, Mud Grooves, Tread Block Sipes, and Grip-Optimized Tread.

What is the difference between tires with 3-Peak Mountain Snowflake Rating and Mud+Snow Rating?

The 3-Peak Mountain Snowflake Rating and Mud+Snow Ratings both show that tires have met certain standards for traction, however they have different qualification requirements. The Mud+Snow Rating is based on the tire’s tread pattern. A tire must have a certain ratio of groove space to tread to effectively clear snow and mud from the tread to be Mud+Snow rated. The 3-Peak Mountain Snowflake rating requires a tire’s traction to be physically tested to determine good performance in rain, mud and snow, and to prove its ability to maintain tread rubber flexibility in low temperatures. The Mud+Snow Rating is recommended for mild to moderate wet or winter weather conditions, but for more challenging weather and lower temperatures, a 3-Peak Mountain Snowflake/Severe Snow-rated tire would be a better option.

Since there are many tire options available, choosing the best Groundspeed tire depends on the driver's needs, the vehicle, and the weather conditions they typically encounter. Here are some of Groundspeed’s options for rain and snow driving.

Groundspeed Tire Lineup

Voyager AT All-Terrain
Voyager MT Mud-Terrain
Voyager XT Crossover-Terrain
Voyager HT Highway-Terrain
Voyager GT
Voyager SV
Voyager HP
Voyager GT-AS

Groundspeed’s Passenger Tires with Rain and Snow Features

Voyager GT

Groundspeed’s Voyager GT is an all-season tire for the touring driver who wants excellent wet-road grip, and a comfortable ride. This tire’s tread compound is formulated for maximum traction, long tread life, and fuel efficiency, while design features such as the asymmetrical tread pattern, wide vertical grooves, and wide arc grooves enhance traction and combat hydroplaning, rapidly disperse water from the tread, and improve grip in snowy conditions. Along with the Mud+Snow Rating, these purposefully designed traction features make the Voyager GT one of Groundspeed’s top year-round touring tires.

Voyager SV

The Voyager SV is a Premium highway tire for SUV and CUV vehicles, designed and engineered for all-season traction in both wet and dry conditions. Wet-traction grooves quickly evacuate water and improve handling and cornering. An asymmetrical tread pattern with lateral grooves provides wet-skid resistance and all-weather performance, and a grip-optimized tread pattern delivers extra grip and control and enhances braking performance. With these all-season features, and the Mud+Snow rating, the Voyager SV is a smart choice for an all-season highway tire.

Voyager HP

The Voyager HP is an Ultra-High Performance tire equipped with GX Silica Compound for maximum traction and enhanced handling, water-evacuation circumferential tread grooves which improve performance in wet conditions and combat hydroplaning. The asymmetrical tread pattern resists skidding on wet surfaces and improves all-weather performance, and wide arc grooves improve grip in snowy conditions. This HP is also Mud+Snow Rated and optimized for performance.

Voyager GT-AS

The Voyager GT-AS was purposefully designed for the year-round touring driver, with multiple all-season features to provide traction in dry, wet, and winter conditions. This tire’s tread design features an asymmetrical tread pattern and wide circumferential grooves that rapidly and effectively evacuate water, improving wet traction and combating hydroplaning. The Voyager GS-AS’s All-Season Performance tread includes lateral grooves and siping, which improve traction in winter conditions, along with enhanced handling, braking and acceleration during snow driving.

Groundspeed’s Light Truck Tires with Rain and Snow Features

Voyager AT

The Voyager AT is an All-Terrain tire designed to give exceptional traction for light truck and SUV vehicles in dirt, mud and snow. The Voyager AT is 3-Peak Mountain Snowflake Rated and Mud+Snow Rated for driving confidence through challenging winter weather conditions. Traction features such as the Zig-Zag tread design, Pattern Block design, and All-Terrain sipes help to expel water quickly and provide traction force for better grip and drainage. Optimized tread blocks and a stabilized shoulder improve driving stability in both wet and dry conditions.

The Voyager MT is a Mud-Terrain tire made from the toughest materials for traction and aggressive performance. Wetland Optimized Grooves deliver quick drainage and improve braking and handling on wet or soggy terrain, and a uniquely designed optimized tread pattern enhances grip in off-road conditions and on-road performance. Mud Grooves and tread block siping were designed specifically for rough rain, mud and snowy conditions, and work to drain rain and snow to increase traction and grip, and provide better braking performance. The Voyager MT is Mud+Snow Rated and 3-Peak Mountain Snowflake/Severe Snow Rated for driving confidence both on and off-road.

Voyager XT

The Voyager XT is a hybrid Crossover-Terrain tire for overlanding CUV/SUV and light truck vehicles with more extreme XT features, and the reliability and durability that meets the needs of OHV and overland drivers. The Voyager XT has an aggressive tread design that gives good performance for both dry and wet conditions, and All-Weather Engineering, improving the tire’s ability to evacuate rain, mud and snow and improving handling ability in all weather conditions. A Three-Step tread block edge design combined with a serrated shoulder block enhances snow and off-road traction, and Groundspeed’s GX Silica Compound improves snow traction by maintaining traction performance in low temperatures. The Voyager XT is Mud+Snow Rated.

Voyager HT

The Voyager HT is a Premium Highway-Terrain tire built for improved driving stability and a quiet, comfortable ride for SUVs and light trucks. Water-evacuating circumferential grooves evacuate water to improve performance in wet conditions and combat hydroplaning. The tread’s optimal middle pattern, the circumferential grooves, and a continuous center rib work together to deliver excellent stability and braking performance. 3D Snow sipes maximize snow traction and braking performance, while still maintaining stability at high speeds, and the Mud+Snow Rating rounds out the rain and snow performance features of the Voyager HT.

Choosing the Best Groundspeed Tire for Rain and Snow

Whether on long highway commutes or off-roading on trails, Groundspeed’s passenger, light truck and SUV/CUV tires are designed and engineered to give you more confidence on the road in both the rain and the snow.

Read more on related topics in our past blogs:
XT Tires vs All-Terrain Tires
Are Groundspeed Tires Good?