We had an autocross in MA yesterday. It took forever for the tires to heat up, and they never really did. I was wondering if anyone had found a different tire to use on the colder days. It wasn't all that cold, in the '50's, but dang if they were not slippery most of the day. We have a few events left here in New England and I wondered if there might be something for the "colder" days. There were people doing what they could to keep the tires warmed and insulated between runs. I am using the new Nexen tires, first time on them. It could just be this brand. They were the only thing I could get late in the season. I don't remember this problem with my Hankooks. But then again, my memory isn't the greatest....
Thanks
Nexen SUR4G? Interested because I've been thinking about these for my Corolla. Although the closest thing to a "cold day" it might ever see is low-20s celsius on a damp night 
I do not know about on track, but summer tyres get interesting in freezing temps
I've been wondering this same thing, I switched to Hankook RS4's this summer and daily drove them. I won't run them if we get snow but we can go an entire winter without precipitation and I've done track days in January where it stayed between 40 and 50 the whole day. From Thanksgiving until February will likely spend a lot of time below freezing.
Had the same issue with Kumho XS a few years ago. Below 50 forget about it. They were almost dangerous on a NA Miata. I ended up just using tire blankets and keeping the car in the garage when it got that low.
Different tires work better in colder temps than others, I don't know about the Nexens. I know that for Gridlife we've used re71's during sessions where the track still had snow/ice on the edges and they were pretty fast after a lap or so.
Conversely it was about 80 or so degrees at LS fest this weekend and the car I drove had 335/30/18 Rival S on it and with an hour between runs they never felt like they got up to temp and worked well aside from the re-run I got immediately following an earlier run.
OK, I will just use these tires and see. I have had a lot of questions on these tires. They were cheaper, but not a steal. I have not had a good chance to test them I have only had one dry hot day, the others were wet and now cold. I thought they were pretty good on the one hot day. Tire rack said to cool them down between runs, which I did on the hot day.
I can't yet give an honest opinion on the SUR4G at this point. I thought I was pretty happy with the hankooks. I need another set of rims to pick up the rivals. It must be a bear to do a real tire test, and even then they leave wiggle room on their opinions.
84FSP
SuperDork
9/10/18 5:25 p.m.
I typically drive summer street comps and bring in Hoo Hoo’s. Under 65F the Hoo Hoo’s stay in the lot.
This is my fist time on summer tires on my FiST. Curious is anyone has driven on them below the dreaded 40*F.
Just curious as I will be getting my Blizzaks ready
iceracer said:
This is my fist time on summer tires on my FiST. Curious is anyone has driven on them below the dreaded 40*F.
Just curious as I will be getting my Blizzaks ready
I don't know if you intentionally misspelled fist time but I'm going with "yes I did" and light applause for doing so.
In reply to iceracer :
I generally leave the summers (240 treadwear) on the Jeep until it starts dipping below freezing overnight. At 30*, they're a bit sketchy hard starting out in the morning, but they usually warm up enough to at least be fine on the street within a few minutes. Cold and wet can be a bit sketchy, but it really depends on the tires. The Eagle F1 Asymmetrics (240tw) I ran for a while started to feel the cold under 45 - 50*. The current Toyo T1 Sports (240tw) are pretty good down to 35* or so. The General Grabber UHPs (360tw) I ran at one point didn't start to get noticeably hard / non-grippy until it was down around 25*.
This reminds me.... I noticed this little note on TR's website regarding my tires:
"Note:: Tires exposed to temperatures of 20 degrees F (-7 degrees C) or lower must be permitted to gradually return to temperatures of at least 40 degrees F (5 degrees C) for at least 24 hours before they are flexed in any manner, such as by adjusting inflation pressures, mounting them on wheels or using them to support, roll or drive a vehicle.
Flexing of the specialized rubber compounds used in Max Performance Summer tires during cold-weather use can result in irreversible compound cracking. Compound cracking is not a warrantable condition because it occurs as the result of improper use or storage, tires exhibiting compound cracking must be replaced."
I usually just leave summer tires on year round and swap to snows in the event of a snowstorm. Does that mean I can't drive on them in 30 deg weather? Its a bit unclear.
You definitely shouldn't be driving on summer tires anywhere near freezing. If you don't want them to be damaged you should swap them for something else at around 10C.
What does the damage look like? I've driven on a number of summer tires in ~30 degree weather before, even autocrossed on them in that weather and never really had an issue besides the obvious reduced grip.
GameboyRMH said:
You definitely shouldn't be driving on summer tires anywhere near freezing. If you don't want them to be damaged you should swap them for something else at around 10C.
Some of the super aggressive summers and R-comps can be damaged at or above freezing. Most reasonably streetable summer tires will be noticeably hard / short on grip well before you hurt them and won't be damaged until you're in the mid-20s (F) or colder.
Woah, those look rough. -20 is nuts though. 30F is the average low here in January. So there are going to be some days where 20 is possible. I may just switch out tires for Jan+feb or something.
But my other concern is how much of a blanket statement that warning is. I don't have 200TW ST tires. I have Continental Extreme Contact tires. So while they still fall under 'max' performance, they are 340TW
