Winter tyres aren't big knobbly things, you know! They are just like summer tyres except with a different rubber compound and modified tread that stays soft and grippy at low temperatures.

This year has seen unprecedented levels of winter tyre marketing, most of which has been aimed at car drivers. Despite this, winter tyres are just as relevant for vans and most of the main tyre companies offer winter versions of their van tyres.

Examples include Continental’s VancoWinter 2, the Goodyear Cargo UltraGrip 2 and the Michelin Agilis Alpin.

Mercedes-Benz is now offering a main dealer winter tyre / wheel service for Mercedes vans. It isn’t the cheapest way to get winter tyres on your van but it should be hassle free, especially if your vans are serviced at a Merc dealer.

Remember, winter tyres outperform summer tyres when the ground temperature falls below 7 degrees C – and ground temperature is usually lower in winter than air temperature, which is what the weather forecasts talk about.

I recently attended a winter tyre demonstration by Goodyear and got to drive with winter tyres on an ice simulation surface. The difference between summer and winter tyres was massive. Trying to stop on ice with the summer tyres was scary – the ABS didn’t work and I was just a passenger as the car slid endlessly along. With winter tyres, I stopped in about half the distance and had much more steering control during braking. Although the differences are less pronounced on dry and wet surfaces when the temperature is above freezing, the difference on snow and ice is awesome.

In case you are not convinced, here is some footage from a winter tyre demo Goodyear put on at the Tamworth Snowdome earlier this year. Two cars try to drive up the ski slope, one with summer tyres and one with winter tyres: