Summer performance tires in the winter

[86Zed]

Originally Posted by 3798j

So, to recap — don't drive summer tires in the cold! Save yourself the headache of an accident or damaged tires, and transition to All-Season or dedicated Winter tires in the Fall - before cold weather hits."

Ask a Tire Manufacturer, Distributor, or Engineer and get a safe conservative "design to operate in XYZ" business answer. Bottom line is many folks on this very vehicle and forum have used summer tires in temperatures near or outside the nominal operating range. It is ideal, no. Is your car going to spontaneously crash, no.

The reality is "all-seasons" are not even a solid catch all, especially this time of year where local temperatures fall well below 0F and precipitation and ice occur weekly. Statistics vary, but sources show <16% of drivers in snow belt states run winter tires. Even the bonehead ex-Goodyear tire engineer seated next to me runs all-seasons.

[3798j]

From Continental's website...https://www.continental-tires.com/ca...%20may%20crack.

"The rubber compound on summer tires is designed for warm weather. As the temperature drops, the rubber stiffens. Even if there is no snow or ice, the tire loses traction."
"In addition to reducing traction, this poses a risk to the tire itself.The tire loses its elasticity and may crack."

[grannyknot]

I suspect those disclaimers are written mostly by the tires companies lawyers to limit exposure to litigation and so they should.
I'm not talking about driving in sub zero, icy, snowy conditions, just those few mild days that occasionally happen during the winter.
But considering the way this winter is shaping up, I'm kind of doubting I will get the car out until April.
Thanks for all the comments.

[Rafichicago]

Can you use them of course. Are they any good than ? No. Summer tires are horrible in the winter. Period. This debate shouldn’t even exist between car enthusiasts. I’d rather use a good set of all seasons than summers all year round. In any weather under 50F it’s easy to tell that grip suffers a lot. I have second set of winter tires for our daily and keep my cars on summers in garage. If room for storage is a problem just use hood set of all seasons. Not greatest in the winter but still much better.

[maupineda]

^^^ you missed the point entirely. The main question from the OP was if he could drive the car occasionally on those days that are dry, not too cold, so he shake down the car after a rebuild. No one has said or debated if winter tires are better than summer tires during winter season. So for the odd drive when not freezing cold and dry they will be fine. OP never said he planned to do B road blasts during winter with his summer tires.

[Rafichicago]

I am happy that they work for you. Here in Chicago everyone wants all wheel drive because we get 5-10 days of bad weather per winter season which is ridiculous. Appropriate set of tires is more than sufficient on flatland here. I have an F90 M5 and E63 in our garage, and I can easily tell that grip degrades a lot under 50 degrees. It doesn’t mean it’s life threatening but it’s easily noticeable. To me at least. We had 2016 CLS with awd and summer performance Pirellis for three years. Our M5 has them as well. They harden under 50 that’s the fact. AMG on Michelins AS4 is much better than. Z4 has brand new set of Nokian Z-line. Difference is noticeable when temps are lower. Can summer tires be used and driven? Of course. But the fact is that in comparison to proper winter tires or hood all seasons they suck. And that’s a fact. Not more not less.

[Rafichicago]

English is my second language so sorry for any and all mistakes I have made. Merry Christmas to all.

[Rafichicago]

They are hard as a rock when 20. They’re much harder inside the garage where current temp I have is 40. Like I said. IMO they suck. They might be good for you. 11000 miles is not a whole lot. I need 10 to figure out what the tire is like. Tire like that CAN be used. It is much worse then other two. And that’s as fact. I don’t understand what are you trying to defend here other than your own opinion. I agree that it can me sufficient and satisfactory for YOU. For ME it sucks. There was a discussion on I believe M5 forum here about that. One of users claimed that winter tire is not needed or necessary and that you don’t carry a set of tires in the car and change it on the road once temps drop. And that’s true. However. There is much higher chance for you to loose control over the vehicle in wintry conditions on summer tires,than during the summer on sunny day. Chances for going too fast for condition are much higher during the winter time than in June. I am not trying to convince you. Tires performance and the way it’s working on the limit changes drastically once temps drop. This is a fact. Not an opinion and has nothing to do with what it feels to You.

[Huz-Z]

Bearing in mind that local conditions vary from place to place it seems that folks are relating their findings in their locality.

However also bear in mind that if you do wind up in an accident, liability and insurance coverages won’t be decided by anyone here. So perhaps erring on the side of caution ain’t a bad thing.

[Rafichicago]

Originally Posted by Huz-Z

Bearing in mind that local conditions vary from place to place it seems that folks are relating their findings in their locality.

However also bear in mind that if you do wind up in an accident, liability and insurance coverages won’t be decided by anyone here. So perhaps erring on the side of caution ain’t a bad thing.

Exactly what I am thinking but I thought that it’s pretty obvious. Especially OP didn’t say that he lives in Florida I understand that we also take our personal driving skills but… Senna was a good driver too…

[Huz-Z]

Back when I first got my car it was delivered in October so the weather here was definitely on the cool side. A few weeks later my seven year old wanted some McDonalds so we piled aboard the Z and drove to the nearest one. Leaving the place requires a left turn across four lanes of busy traffic so I nailed the gas and drifted the back out across the 4 lanes - much to my son’s delight and my utter shock at the time.

I’d probably have no issues with summer tire in winter in a place like Florida or similar, but up here in Canada owing to all the other crap that comes with it, it’s winters or nothing.

Which reminds me. Seasons Greetings!!

[Rafichicago]

Some people don’t understand that there are better options that the ones they’ve chosen. At no post I have claimed that tires will fall apart yada yada yada. To me they can drive without tires if they choose to. I couldn’t care less. Seems like some will do just about anything to save a buck. Their car their decision. Because of what I do I have seen many “ Oh My GOD YOU BROKE MY CAR “ situations on the roads. Especially in the winter time.
Happy new year everyone.

[Rafichicago]

[QUOTE=Efthreeoh;29686286]
People with multiple vehicles will not even start such a conversation and claim that summers are suitable for the conditions mentioned by you my friend.

[Rafichicago]

Want a medal for that ? Jeez. I am out. Happy new year.

[Huz-Z]

To be fair, I don’t think anyone is saying that a summer tire will result in disaster for a short spin on a summer like winter day. And I think it’s not unreasonable that the scope of a thread may expand somewhat from what is in the original post. I think Rafi makes good points re that expanded scope.

Happy new year!!

[wdb]

People. /thread already.