MUST I get rid of summer tires?

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97tbird

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Provided that I won't drive in snow, MUST I change my summer tires for driving during the winter, just due to the low temperatures?

(I do have another vehicle that I will be using in snowy conditions, but would like to drive the BMW (with summer tires) when there's no snow/ice at least a few times during the winter...)

...or can I get by with them, as they still have quite a bit of miles left on them, and just change to All-seasons in spring/winter of 2011?
 
The key word here is snow. If you are not going to drive it in the snow or on snow covered roads, I see absolutely no reason to change the tires you have on it now.
 
What is the traction rating on the summer tires? In any case, go try some emergency manuevers practice on a wet road at 34F. If the lack of traction seems dangerous to you, you need different tires, if traction seems reasonable to you, you don't need all season tires.
I imagine if you keep all your electronic nannies on, and drive normally you'll never have an "Oh krhap" moment.
If you ever get caught on some snow though, you will be SOL.
 
Summer tires compound gets hard under 50F. The colder it gets the harder the compound gets. You will have less traction than people with all season and winter tires, plus you will wear your tires very fast.

It is not safe for you and the other people on the road to have summer tires on in the winter. I don't want to be on the road with someone who does not have good traction in the winter.
 
Originally Posted By: Johnny
The key word here is snow. If you are not going to drive it in the snow or on snow covered roads, I see absolutely no reason to change the tires you have on it now.

+1 Fine as long as there in no snow or ice,if they are dedicated summer tires not true all season they may ride a little rough when cold out until you drive a few miles and get a little heat in them and the rubber compound softens a bit.
 
If you drive the BMW in a "spirited" manner you will find that the car slides a lot more. That's low tire grip as a result of low temperature.

It's difficult to keep adequate heat in a summer tire during winter! (I've tried...
crazy.gif
) So, BE CAREFUL.
 
I called Firestone and asked this question re: The Wide Oval Run Flats on my Corvette. Their response: Don't use 'em in snow but in my application and latitude (Memphis, TN) they would be fine. They said they would probably perform like an A rated tire as opposed to AA. This will be my 3rd winter on those tires and I've had no problems whatsoever. Unless you are in the NC mountains I wouldn;t sweat it.
 
Originally Posted By: J_Sap
I don't want to be on the road with someone who does not have good traction in the winter.


Here, that would include most of the population!

I'd be willing to give summer tires a try for occasional use in cool weather. I'd really like to see some data on summer tire performance in dry/wet cool weather compared to a typical OE all-season.
 
I bought my STI woth stock summer's on 12/11 and drove on them for two weeks before changing out for all-seasons for a road trip I was taking. The tires weren't excessively noisy, but the traction was sub-par, especially if only driving around town. On the highway (dry roads) the tires warmed up and traction wasn't exceeded during moderately spirited driving.

I don't have enough experience to compare hard summer tire hydroplaning to dedicated soft winter tires, nor even normal traction. All I can say is that I didn't exceed the limits of traction for the few hundred miles I put on summer tires in low-teens temps.
 
Originally Posted By: 4ever4d
Originally Posted By: Johnny
The key word here is snow. If you are not going to drive it in the snow or on snow covered roads, I see absolutely no reason to change the tires you have on it now.

+1 Fine as long as there in no snow or ice,if they are dedicated summer tires not true all season they may ride a little rough when cold out until you drive a few miles and get a little heat in them and the rubber compound softens a bit.


Have you ever run summer tires in sub-freezing temperatures? I have and they lose a lot of grip, so much grip that they are downright dangerous. It doesn't matter what electronics driving aids you have in a car, if the tires don't have grip you can't do anything.

I was driving on summer tires a couple days back in 48-52F weather and could feel how much less traction I had compared to a week ago with the temp at 60F. My car is going into storage this weekend on what should be the last good day until next spring. It's just not safe for you or other people on the road to have summer tires on a car in the winter. It is far cheaper to put a set of all seasons or winters on the car than to repair a car after an accident. Plus you are not wearing your summer tires down prematurely.

http://www.nc-climate.ncsu.edu/climate/ncclimate.html

I was looking at average temps in NC and it looks too cold for summer tires no matter where you live.
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Sorry if I come off rather strong about this but I feel proper tires on car are an important for safety. I have been rear ended twice before and was a combination of bad/wrong tires on car and a distracted driver. When you put those things together you get trouble and can ruin a strangers day/week.
 
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the compound will change and handling and grip will get substantially different. A guy on the 1 series forum mistook his handling with summer tires in cold weather, going around an offramp.
 
Originally Posted By: 3putter
I called Firestone and asked this question re: The Wide Oval Run Flats on my Corvette. Their response: Don't use 'em in snow but in my application and latitude (Memphis, TN) they would be fine. They said they would probably perform like an A rated tire as opposed to AA. This will be my 3rd winter on those tires and I've had no problems whatsoever. Unless you are in the NC mountains I wouldn;t sweat it.


AA and A are braking traction ratings. There is a LOT more to grip than that. I would not accept that advise as truth unless a real expert like CapriRacer verified it.
 
Originally Posted By: J_Sap
Originally Posted By: 4ever4d
Originally Posted By: Johnny
The key word here is snow. If you are not going to drive it in the snow or on snow covered roads, I see absolutely no reason to change the tires you have on it now.

+1 Fine as long as there in no snow or ice,if they are dedicated summer tires not true all season they may ride a little rough when cold out until you drive a few miles and get a little heat in them and the rubber compound softens a bit.

Have you ever run summer tires in sub-freezing temperatures? I have and they lose a lot of grip, so much grip that they are downright dangerous. It doesn't matter what electronics driving aids you have in a car, if the tires don't have grip you can't do anything.

I was driving on summer tires a couple days back in 48-52F weather and could feel how much less traction I had compared to a week ago with the temp at 60F. My car is going into storage this weekend on what should be the last good day until next spring. It's just not safe for you or other people on the road to have summer tires on a car in the winter. It is far cheaper to put a set of all seasons or winters on the car than to repair a car after an accident. Plus you are not wearing your summer tires down prematurely.

http://www.nc-climate.ncsu.edu/climate/ncclimate.html

I was looking at average temps in NC and it looks too cold for summer tires no matter where you live.
jan_mean_c.gif


jan_min_c.gif



Sorry if I come off rather strong about this but I feel proper tires on car are an important for safety. I have been rear ended twice before and was a combination of bad/wrong tires on car and a distracted driver. When you put those things together you get trouble and can ruin a strangers day/week.
I'm sure you have a valid point but i'm thinking so long as it's dry it would be ok,but i'm no expert.
cheers3.gif
 
I think some of these posts are over-reactions.

the OP has a winter car. This would be for occasional nice day during winter use.. I certainly wouldnt go out and buy a set of tires just for that.

that being said I have a set of winter tires and I would never run summer tires in an ohio winter ....
 
Originally Posted By: Rand
I think some of these posts are over-reactions.


I agree. I used to have a 1999.5 F-150 Lightning with the factory summer tires. It saw hardly any winter use, except to move it around as needed. The tires were useless in snow; they were so wide it was like snow shoes - you wouldn't sink enough to get any traction.

On ice, believe it or not, they were phenomenal. No weird sliding or skidding, and no difficulty accelerating with all that rear wheel horsepower. It was better in those conditions than other vehicles I've had with good "all seasons" all around, but certainly not as good as winter tires.

Had it been a daily driver in the winter, different tires would have been in order. However, had there been no snow here and only cold temperatures and occasional ice, it would have been my daily driver in the winter.

The bottom line is that every vehicle is different. Every set of tires is different. Winter is different depending upon where one is.
 
If you drive reasonably, and avoid snow, I don't think you'll have any problems.
Even on fairly hard rubber, the BMW will still out-corner and out-brake most other cars on most other tires.
I just switched back to my '99 Accord for the winter, and it is so much like an appliance as compared to my old e36.
A fast, hard cornering and alert appliance, but still an appliance.
 
On dry pavement I think they will work okay but not optimal.

On cold wet pavement it is risky and likely combination given your locale.

Hit just a little bit of slush or ice and treacherous comes to mind.
 
Originally Posted By: 97tbird
Provided that I won't drive in snow, MUST I change my summer tires for driving during the winter, just due to the low temperatures?

As long as it's dry and you take it easy, you'll be fine.
 
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