Choosing the right set of tires can have a dramatic impact on how your car performs, yet so many people neglect the tires on their vehicle or simply purchase the wrong kind. A nice set of snow tires can trump having all-wheel-drive and even if your car does have AWD, they can drastically improve how the car handles with snow on the ground. BMW wanted to show customers why choosing the right type of tire is so important, so it created a helpful video showing how greatly each type of tire impacts performance.

The video beings with three identical examples (except for the paint) of the BMW M4, each wearing a different set of rubber: winter tires, summer tires, and semi-slicks. You can probably see where this is going.

The three cars are first pitted in a drag race, where the tremendous grip of the semi-slicks leads to an easy victory with the summer tires placing second and the winter tires coming in dead last. In the slalom test, we see a similar result with the semi-slicks and summer tires proving plenty of grip and finishing first and second, while the car with winter tires can barely keep any traction in the rear. The third test involves braking at 150 kph and as you'd expect, the car with semi-slicks is easily able to out-stop the summer tire and winter tire cars.

BMW then flips the script entirely by bringing all three cars to a snow driving course. The summer and winter tires tag along but BMW swapped out the semi-slicks for a set of studded tires. All of the tests remain the same - a straight-line race, slalom, and braking - and as you'd expect, the studded tires easily outmatch the winter tires and the winter rubber mops the floor with the summer tires, which can barely compete in this environment. As BMW demonstrates here, choosing the right tire for the right season is an important decision.