Question for you tire gurus:

I won't be driving my S2000 this winter, but of course I'd like to drive it as long as I can before it snows! Will my Z rated summer tires wear faster by driving around town when the air temp is 25 to 35 degrees F? (no wheelspin or sliding around corners).

I know I won't have any grip, but like I said...I'm not trying to set any records on the way to work. I'm just worried about my new V12 Evo's wearing out prematurely.

Thanks.

 

From the Tire Rack website
"The Ventus V12 evo K110 is Hankook's Max Performance Summer tire developed for the drivers of sports cars, sporty coupes and high-performance sedans. The Ventus V12 evo is designed to combine comfort and control in dry and wet road conditions. However like all summer tires, the Ventus V12 evo is not intended to be driven in near-freezing temperatures, through snow or on ice."

The problem is that on tires of this type the tire rubber compound gets very hard at low temps and traction goes way down. Personally I wouldn't drive them under 40-45 deg F particularly if there is any moisture around. The second point is that the tread pattern is not designed for snow so thats a definite no at any temp.

 

Honestly, I doubt they will wear faster, but as noted, traction goes WAY down on these tires when they get very cold.

 

They wear slower, if any difference. Don't worry about damaging the tires, worry about damaging you or your car.

I've driven summer tires through winters on FWD cars (back in my youth 4-6 yrs ago.) They didn't seem to wear at all.

 

I've repeatedly read that high performance tires start really losing grip at about 50F; the good news is that the S2000 has that readout on the dash and I do check it -- no agressive cornering below that mark.

Now that I finally have winter tires/wheels, there's really only a narrow window after "too cold" and before "winter tires on".

 

I always wonder how people plan on stopping quickly if their tires are losing grip, even on dry clean roads.

 

These are all hypotheticals that you'll are talking about. I've driven the v12's down into the teens F. Because of me being weary, I did some testing of my own. I did both hard acceleration and braking at the beginning of the drive and after attempting to warm the tires after about 15 min of driving. I highly suggest warming the tires, race car style(back and forth) to the best of your ability and be extremely cautious for the first 15 to 20 min/ 20 miles dependent on speed, I.E. freeway vs. City. Your hard breaking ability is what changes most noticeably as the tires warm. Even totally cold tires and a 60 to 0mph stop, the tires and brakes performed well above my expectations and that was in the mid/ low 20's F.Once the tires are warm you'll be fine. Just remember it is cold so don't push it hard as you might if it were warm.
My set up is 225/45/17 and 255/40/17.

 

That musing has a corollary--

I wonder if there's meaningful testing to determine if cold summer tires brake worse than winter tires with their -- ahem -- rubbery tread blocks.

 

The rule of thumb is the tires will loose 30% of their traction at 45 degrees. Then even more as the temps go down. The problem is that you can not control what other people do on the road. Sometimes you don't get that time to warm up the tires. Somebody pulls out of a driveway in the neighborhood and instead of braking you slam into them.

 

I'm not surprised. Now the question is, do winter tires have more than 30% less grip than summer tires do before the temps drop, meaning which tire sticks better under identical conditions.

Maybe more importantly, do you still have more grip than the Aerostar than stopped short in front of you for no apparent reason?

Anyway, be careful out there; I take it really easy under cold conditions, regardless.