Summer tires in the winter
 

I live on Long Island and have the Summer tires on my 370Z. I was wondering if any of you have experienced "strange" feelings:confused: eminating from the tires while turning the wheel. This is especially true when the car has been sitting in the cold for a while. I would describe it almost like the tire(s) are flat. Tire pressure is correct and the the symptoms disappear as the tires warm. I am guessing it is due to the tire's softer composition, any thoughts?

yes, if your turning the wheel almost all the way, you will hear something, almost like a slight grind. if u do a search (i gotta leave for work otherwise id link) u'll find a few posts referencing this.

Summer tires don't like winter. They turn into hockey pucks below 40 degrees and shouldn't technically be driven at all below 32 degrees.

This has been covered so many times!

BTW, the tires on the 350 & 370s are Summer tires, like most sport cars if I'm not mistaken.

:iagree:

I actually got out of my car yesterday so upset since I just got it, to find out that I don't have a flat lol

My friend just saw a MB 370Z stuck on the side of the highway with snow up to the doorhandles this morning :(
SUMMER tires + WINTER weather = fail

just a shot of the ice here[ATTACH]Attachment 9120[/ATTACH]

You might be noticing flat spots on the tires that work themselves out after a few miles of driving. If you store your car for an extended time, you should put it on jack stands.

Yea, I got that noise too with my Z. But it doesnt only do it when it's cold. It's when I make a very sharp right turn only. It's more like a thump thump thump and I can feel it on the steering wheel. Maybe my tires are fcuked up?!

is winter new to you guys....LOL **cough**cough**-22 degrees F here**cough**cough**

it's just snow, get the winter tires and be done with it.....

Memphis rarely gets snow so when it does its all the talk round here

my summer tires got packed with snow and pretty much turned into skies last night. car wouldnt stop for ****

i drove mine wasnt to bad no snow just ice long as i did not gun it i was ok

My tires are doing the same thing. The rubber in the summer tires get a flat spot in them from sitting on the pavement, and the very cold temps kind of harden the tires, and make the flat spot on the tires very stiff and they thump real hard when you make your first few turns, until the flat spots go away, usually in a few minutes of driving.

Thanks guys for your feedback, at least I know that it's not just me. I have no choice about driving the Zcar unless the Missus lends me her Maxima lol

BTW a set of all season tires runs well in excess of $1200 so just replacing them is a costly option when you have sport package. Mother Nature bring us some warmth soon PLEASE!!! LOL

I've been driving mine in the ice and snow with the stock tires and I'm driving about 110 miles a day with no problems but I'm not racing it.

^^^ u are asking for trouble dude..

Always :tup:

WOW, you are crazy my friend! :shakes head:

Aint no worries for the south. Its gonna start warming up soon. Spring is right around the corner. Now instead of ice and snow and the cold, we gotta start worrying about the pollen. I am madly allergic to pollen, so i cant wait till spring time.

This is the second winter I've driven with summer tires. I've driven down into the mid 20's (-4c) and haven't had any problems. If there is deep snow or gravel all over I will not drive it though.

I've been driving in my sports package potenza's for a while now...
And man does it suck lol!
There was like Less than 2 inches and I couldn't even perform a k-turn...
And about a month ago I was making a right turn going down onto a hill in third gear.
I downshifted to 2nd and made the turn and my car went sideways and I barely missed another car. Very dangerous...
Still riding in the potenza's though!
[:

For $ 1200 you can get a set of wheels AND winter tires, not a bad investment to drive around in winter safely... Check out AK's winter tire thread: http://www.the370z.com/wheels-tires/...cs-ak370z.html

I tried the summer tires in winter weather, not a good idea. I'm happy I have winter tires now, so much safer.

I haven't tried driving in the snow (thankfully) but I've driven in as cold as 19F here in LI as well. You can definitely feel that the tires were not meant for this but if you drive carefully AND MAKE SURE YOU KEEP THE VDC ON you will be fine.

Pollen is a real bear for me as well. I think I'll try the mod to add the Maxima filter that I just saw:

http://www.the370z.com/diy-section-d...lter-370z.html

As for driving the Z with summer tires. I've only driven it when there is nothing on the pavemnet (dry) and not expecting any precipitation. If snow or worse is expected I drive an old Dodge pickup, but I heard what you described and had to pull over to verify that I didn't have a flat tire as well. I guess the tire compound really doesn't like the cold and hardens up.

Ditto. I've driven fairly aggressive with my summer tires on cold nights below 32F without even tripping the VDC, but it all depends on the road conditions of course. If I even smell snow I head home or take out a family car. You could probably survive an inch of snow on summer tires, but even that's pushing it IMO - especially if the snow is still falling!!

hee hee, I remember one time coming home in snow in my 350Z I would stop under overpasses to burn rubber on the dry patches to clear out my tread. Dunno if it actually worked but made me feel better :P

Your awesome.
LOL! :tup:

I experienced this this morning and yesterday when I was leaving work. Could cold tires produce this sound? It sounded + felt like the tire was flat and rubbing against the inside of the wheel well. I actually got out and turned the wheels and felt all around... it looked ok so I kept driving. Same deal with the right-hand turn...
:confused:

edit: it's not when I'm moving fast, it's when I am slowly turning right after leaving a parking spot...

It's the compound in summer tires, doesn't react as it should in colder weather.

Yes. Summer tires turn into hockey pucks when cold. They skip over the surface of the road when you are trying to make tight turns, like pulling in/out of a parking space or driveway.

Just expierenced the strange rub sound this morning :P Temperature was below 32F and yup crazy flat tire sound when turning hard left.......O well, went away once tires warmed up.......glad to see I wasn't the only one effected.....

- Z is garaged kept

Hopefully you don't plan on driving on those tires in the snow. If you are just driving on them in the colder days you will have noises like this as the inside tire skips across the pavement on a tight turning radius. I think it was about 10F this morning and the rubber on your tires had the consistency of plastic.

In the winter it takes roughly 15 minutes of regular driving to get your summer tires up to temperature. During that time avoid at all costs: acceleration, deceleration, and turning. :icon17:

They are very dangerous until you get them warmed up. And like Chris said, don't even think about driving them in snow. Not even the least bit of snow.

hahaha^


Thanks for the advice, all. I have been reading about how bad these tires are in the cold/snow/cold,wet roads. My boss thinks I'm being overly cautious for not wanting to drive when it's cold out. It's not the same as the stock tires on his FWD Mazda 6!

And for anyone else reading - if you think you are going to be OK in the snow, even a little, think of the snow getting packed into the already thin treads in your tire. Now you have slicks. Ice slicks. Hockey puck ice slicks. You get it..

I see myself covering the car up once we actually get some snow on the ground here in my area. It was definitely 16F when I left this morning. Single digits tomorrow I hear..

So just to confirm - the thumping I'm hearing is the cold tire on the pavement, not some rubbing in my wheel well, right?

Right. Its the tire skipping over the pavement.

can he use one of these?

http://www.autoracing1.com/Images/20...reWarmers1.jpg

Haha, that would be awesome!