Winter tyres in Romania: when to fit them and what the law says

What the law says about winter tyres#

The Romanian road traffic code (OUG 195/2002) penalises driving a motor vehicle on public roads covered with snow, ice or glaze ice without winter tyres. The obligation depends on the state of the road, not the calendar: there is no fixed date by which you must have them and no temperature at which they become compulsory. Drive up to the mountains in October, meet snow, and the rule applies then too.

For cars, the law does not offer chains as an alternative to winter tyres: that option exists only for the heavy vehicles in the table. Chains are still useful on a mountain road, on top of winter tyres, but they don't replace them.

Which marking the tyre needs: M+S and the snowflake#

The road traffic code defines winter tyres as tyres approved under the European rules for tyres. In practice, according to the Ministry of Internal Affairs, a tyre is a winter tyre if its sidewall carries one of the markings M+S, M.S., MS or M&S (for "mud and snow").

• All-season: the trade name is not enough. An all-season tyre is accepted as a winter tyre only if it also carries the M+S marking. Without it, it does not count.
• The snowflake on a three-peak mountain (3PMSF): found on many winter tyres, it shows the tyre has passed a grip test on snow. For the Romanian rule, still check that the M+S marking is there as well.

What you risk driving without winter tyres#

• A class IV fine: 9 to 20 fine units (puncte-amendă), not points on your licence. One fine unit is a share of the national gross minimum wage, so the amount in lei changes whenever the minimum wage does.
• Your registration certificate is taken. The police give you a temporary replacement document with no right to drive, so you can't carry on with the car until the problem is fixed.

Minimum tread depth and other signs of wear#

The road traffic code also lets the police take the registration certificate when tyres are worn beyond the legal limit, have cuts or broken cords, or are a different size from the one in the vehicle identity card (CIV, cartea de identitate a vehiculului). In that case you get a replacement document that lets you drive for 15 days, so you can sort it out.

The wear limit is set in the regulations for roadside technical checks (RNTR 11): a tyre counts as worn when the tread wear indicator is showing or when the main tread (the central three-quarters of the tread width) is less than 1.6 mm deep.

• Tread wear indicators: small rubber bars in the grooves. When the tread is level with them, the tyre needs replacing.
• Uneven wear: a tyre worn more on one edge can point to a wheel alignment or suspension problem.
• Age: tyres age even while they sit unused. The manufacturing date is in the DOT code on the sidewall: the last four digits are the week and the year.

1.6 mm is the legal minimum, not a safety threshold on snow. As the tread wears, a winter tyre grips less and less, so ask the tyre fitter's opinion before the season.

When to change over#

As the law sets no date, the timing is yours, based on where and how you drive. A few practical rules:

• Book early. With the first snow, a lot of people want their tyres changed in the same week. The car calendar shows the right months for each change.
• Think about your routes, not just your city. A drive to the mountains or a night journey can bring glaze ice even when town is clear.
• In spring, once the cold is properly over, go back to summer tyres: winter tyres aren't made for warm tarmac.

At the fitting: balancing, pressure and wheel bolts#

1. Ask for the wheels to be balanced at every fitting. An unbalanced wheel shows up as vibration in the steering wheel at speed and wears the tyre.
2. Fit winter tyres on all four wheels, the same model and with similar wear, so the car behaves the same on both axles.
3. Inflate the tyres to the pressure set by the car's manufacturer, from the label in the car or the handbook, and check it regularly, when the tyres are cold.
4. Ask whether the wheel bolts should be re-torqued after the first few kilometres, especially with alloy wheels.

If the car pulls to one side after the change, or the steering wheel isn't straight, ask for an alignment check.

Where to keep the off-season set#

The set you're not using needs somewhere cool, dry and out of the sun. If you have nowhere to keep it, some tyre shops and garages run a tyre hotel that stores your set until the next change. What to ask before you leave it there is in our tyre hotel guide.

How CariX helps with the tyre change#

In the free driver account you add your car and get seasonal tyre reminders, so you don't have to remember.

• An email reminder on 15 October for winter tyres and on 15 March for summer tyres. These are dates CariX picked to warn you in good time, not legal deadlines.
• "Book" in the reminder takes you to the garage that set the reminder, or to the tyre shop search with your car already selected.
• "Is the price fair?" shows an indicative price range for a tyre change in your city, based on the prices businesses show in CariX; the real price depends on the car, the wheels and what you need.

See the other wheel and tyre services too: alignment, tyre storage and tyre fitting.