I have recently noticed that I have started spinning the rears much more than before when pulling away. I checked the wear on them, but they seem fine and I am only talking about in the dry, (I know it is easy to spin them in the wet). Temperatures here are dropping, but I got quite a big wheelspin this morning 8 degrees at the time, and 10 minutes after I left the house, so the tires should have warmed up a bit.

Is this likely to be because I have just got used to the performance and have started pushing the car harder, or is there another possibility why the wheels would start spinning more on pull aways??

Any ideas?

 

I've noticed this also as the weather is getting colder around here. It's most likely due to the tires not being warmed up(sticky) enough. Even after 10 mins, it's a possibility that they would not be at ideal temps.

btw - You meant 8 deg Celsius right? didn't expect us yanks to convert that did ya?

PWA!!

 

Cheers Andy .... yes I did mean Celcius, being a Brit I am able to work using both scales, but knew that you wouldn't be able to cope if I used Fahrenheit

Do you really think it is down to just the temperature? I am surprised that the tires are THAT sensitive to temperature differences .....


P.S. the PW's were asking about you today ....

 

Cheers.

Yeah and I'm sure that the colder road surfaces have something to do with it, especially if you weren't driving hard.

Tell them I said and that no one ever came to the rescue and I became an evil with icidal tendencies.

 

the OEM S02's become a harder tread as they wear down.

they are also temperature-sensitive, so this could have a lot to do with it too.

 

All tires will get harder with every heat cycle.

Your tires are the very best the first time out and gradually get harder as you drive on them. A friend recently went 150K on his original VW beetle tires. They still had tread left but had almost no traction. In the rain they were very dangerous.

On my bike I change the tires at about 4000 miles because the grip just goes away, even though there is lots of tread left.

George

 

Also consider this:
At 8*C, you may have been at or close to the "dew point", so the road surface might have had a different moisture content even though it may have looked and "felt" dry. Check to see if you can find out what your dew point has been lately.

 

Cheers guys ...... I seem to remember reading on these pages somewhere that the SO2's have two compounds, a softer one and then a harder one when the tread wears down, is there any truth in this, or is it just a consequence of the heat cycling ??

Anyone know for sure ?

I guess I should be thinking about new tyres then, even though there appears to be plenty of tread left on these, they have done nearly 12,000 miles .....

 

I just past 9k Miles on my '01 S2000. I've noticed a HUGE
difference in grip since cold weather has set in here in MD.

My tires have two track days on them so the could be harder
due to the heat cycling.

 

james - yes, this is true, but its not necessarily two different compounds. with the S02's, there is a compound and then a different compound underneath it which becomes harder as the tread on top wears off/wears down/heats up the rubber underneath. I've had discussions about this personally with bridgestone about a year and a half ago.

the s03's have an inhibitor in the rubber to prevent... or rather try to in the best possible way - hardening of the rubber underneath.