Winter tires, Road safety | Tracks winter tire crisis to winter: – It’s first come, first serve

– We have already received a number of orders for winter tires. There is no doubt that there will be a shortage of tires in the autumn, says Geir Yngve Lyrstad, general manager of DekkTeam Årnes to Nettavisen.

The tire center is located in Nes municipality in Akershus. They are now experiencing a sudden increase in the number of studded tire orders – despite the fact that we are at the end of July. Now the dealers sound the winter tire alarm.

Lyrstad explains that the shortage is due to the invasion of Ukraine.

Almost a third of the tires we buy in Norway are produced in Russia. As part of a series of sanctions against the country, Norway has stopped producing its tires there. This applies to tires with and without studs.

– Before, the customer could pick and choose between different tire types, but now it is first come, first served to secure winter tires at all. You can’t sit on the fence. Then you risk having to leave the car in the garage over the winter.

– Can’t get a single tire out

Paul Oord is managing director of Starco Norge, one of the country’s largest tire suppliers. Oord says that we are facing an uncertain winter. There is no doubt that the market is facing a tire shortage the likes of which we have rarely seen.

– Russia has long been a major producer of winter tires for the countries in the north. The reason for that is that Russia is a huge market, with huge demand and enormous resources. But they had an import duty that was not affordable for Norwegian suppliers. Then the same suppliers found out that they could set up factories over there, and thus make it cheaper to import to the Nordics.

Oord explains that the suppliers are now fighting to get tires from Asian countries – in an attempt to avoid a tire crisis here in Norway.

– We don’t get a single tire from Russia anymore. We are now in the process of moving the factories out of the country, but it will take time. In the meantime, we will hopefully bring in a good assortment from China, Korea and Japan, among others. But the retailers also face enormous capacity problems. Every tire factory struggles to meet demand. In all tires that are produced, there is a special type of steel that is imported from Ukraine. There has also been a shortage of that.

He advises people to order winter tires now.

– My advice is to talk to the tire hotel and find out how your tires are doing. I had stopped by today.

How to check the “expiration date” on the tyres

The war in Ukraine has many consequences here at home for motorists who face both higher fuel prices and now a possible shortage of tyres.

– Our advice is to bite the bullet and buy new tires early this season if you know you have to change. Don’t take the chance that the old tires will last another season, it could be gambling with traffic safety, says press manager Ingunn Handagard of the Norwegian Automobile Association (NAF).

Handagard explains that the tires usually last three to four seasons. So if it’s been a few years since you changed, you should check the tires in good time before you think about replacing them.