What's the tyre truth?

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Kritter
Posts: 7
Joined: Thu Jan 02, 2014 7:48 pm

What's the tyre truth?

Post by Kritter »

Yeah I know that summer/extreme perf tyres don't work in the cold.
(I've got Bridgestone Potenza S-04 POLE POSITION 's on my M5.)
But....
Tire Rack says they'll crack and fail at below 42 degrees F
and Bridgestone says they'll crack and fail at 32 or below.
not that I intend to use them in the cold but I don't want to get caught out by a big drop in temp if I'm on the road.
any thoughts/experience with this?

victory1auto
Posts: 643
Joined: Wed Nov 10, 2004 1:37 pm

Post by victory1auto »

Can't speak to your specific tires, but I can tell you that for the last 2 winters I have left the Yokohama S-Drives on our E30 325e. They exhibit no ill effects from operation in cold weather, albeit not for a lot of miles.

RonG
Posts: 215
Joined: Thu May 20, 2010 7:27 pm

Re: What's the tyre truth?

Post by RonG »

Kritter wrote:Tire Rack says they'll crack and fail at below 42 degrees F
and Bridgestone says they'll crack and fail at 32 or below.
It sounds like TR are covering themselves with a blanket statement and Bridgestone are giving you the minimum safe temperature for their tire. I'd only worry about the latter.

You already know about the traction concerns. The tire will be more susceptible to pothole damage when very cold because the materials will be more brittle. I lost a summer tire to a pothole just two days before the winters went on. While I can't be sure, I suspect it might have survived the impact, or sustained less-severe damage, had it been 20 degrees warmer. This is likely the "crack and fail" scenario they're warning about.
2011 Azurite Black/Oyster Individual 335xi
2003 Black Sapphire/Natural Brown 330Ci
2022 San Remo Green/Oyster 430i

afadeev
Posts: 288
Joined: Mon Sep 28, 2009 9:02 pm

Re: What's the tyre truth?

Post by afadeev »

Kritter wrote:Yeah I know that summer/extreme perf tyres don't work in the cold.
(I've got Bridgestone Potenza S-04 POLE POSITION 's on my M5.)
But....
Tire Rack says they'll crack and fail at below 42 degrees F
and Bridgestone says they'll crack and fail at 32 or below.
not that I intend to use them in the cold but I don't want to get caught out by a big drop in temp if I'm on the road.
any thoughts/experience with this?
FWIW #1: I have a set of old 17" wheels with S03 PP tires sitting outside right now (don't ask why). Just looked - they didn't crack of fail at whatever below we've had recently.
FWIW #2: I drove on full thread Toyo RA1 tires all year long when I lived in TX. One winter temps briefly dropped below freezing. Traction went down with the temps as I could not get any heat into the tires, but they neither cracked nor failed.

I don't think any tire will crack or fail, nor have I previously heard of such a use case. On the other hand, tire companies do have lawyers, and they do need to do something to stay employed ....

a

dbcafy
Posts: 175
Joined: Tue Jan 24, 2006 12:26 am

Post by dbcafy »

Here are mine experiences:
- summer tire does not like cold weather. You need to be really careful when stepping on that gas pedal when the tire are cold.

- summer tires are DANGEROUS in the snow. Living in the NY/NJ area, you don't want to get surprised by snow. You can't believe how many many BMW, MB, Audi on the side of the road with their Summer Tire.

BTW! An Audi with 4wd and Summer tires still don't have any traction in the snow.

Dave
2011 M3 sedan, ZCP, DCT, Dinan Exhaust, aFe Intake
2003 540i, M-Sports Pkg (retired)

Mmadness
Posts: 26
Joined: Sun Nov 04, 2012 6:43 am

Post by Mmadness »

In my experience I've found that during nirmal driving on dry roads, tires will run 40 degrees above the ambient temperature so if it is 30 degrees out, the tires will run a 70 degrees. Imagine driving in your tires cold on a 60 degree day and that is about how much grip you will have. However in the cold, the rain will cool the tire and driving in the rain just above freezing can be a harrowing experience on some summer tires. In short, (most) summer tires are fine in the dry for the temperatures we experience here in NJ once they are warmed up with the notable exception of extreme performance summer tires that come with a warning against shattering at low temperatures (even during storage). Until the tires are warmed up, they are not grippy. Problem is, under steering into a corner on cold summer tires will warm up the fronts but leave the rears cold and leads to severe snap oversteer, so severe the stability control will not be able to compensate. If you keep your car in the garage, you won't have a problem with this but if you park outside, be sure to drive with caution until the tires are warmed up.

Where did you hear that these tires crack at low temperatures? Usually this only applies to r-compound tires (extreme performance summer and slicks).

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