i just got some Eagle F1 and its coming into the winter season.
so are summer tires really that bad in winter? the tread seems really good for channeling water but maybe it wont bite in snow.
i believe this is the tire
Goodyear Eagle F1 GS-D3

 

It's not just the tread that makes summer tires bad in the winter, but also the compound of the rubber. Snow tires are made to grip better in cold weather.

 

super duper bad idea.

1. If it gets cold enough, the tread compound will freeze and shatter
2. that tread pattern has virtually no transverse grooves and no sipes which are what gives you snow traction from a pattern standpoint
3. If it doesnt get cold enough to shatter, it'll get cold enough to make it turn super hard and it'll wear away super fast.

I am a tire engineer. I've driven in snow on summer only tires before. Please trust my opinion that this is a bad idea.

 

hmmm man that sucks because i don't have any more rims.
they could really shatter? at what temperature?
maybe i should have gotten the eagle gt's

 

yes, they can really shatter.

wikipedia - transition glass temperature. Tg

You can definitely shatter a summer compound in January/February in Ohio.

 

Haha, go ask my old SS/SC that question

 

i have never really had winter tires. however i have never had a car like this though either

 

I had those exact same tires on my previous car (02 Neon). They are classified as ultra performance summer tires. You made a very good choice, these tires offer INCREDIBLE grip on dry surfaces and also in the rain they are awesome.

Snow is an entirely different story. Forget about the rubber shattering. This is about YOUR safety. Like someone mentioned before, the rubber compound gets very inflexible when it gets cold. The grooves quickly fill with packed snow and you basically have a sled.

I found this out the hard way myself when I thought I would be fine driving in 2 inches of snow in a freak late spring storm right after I had these tires put on. First, I could barely get out of my neighborhood. My street slopes up gently and I simply could not get up that small incline, no grip at all (FWD). I had to take another route, and was nearing an intersection on a gently down sloping road. I was going no more than 35-40 when the light turned orange and red. I still had plenty of room to stop (I thought) but when I stepped on the brake NOTHING happened. As I was honking my horn to warn other cars of my predicament, an oblivious lady in an Explorer pulled out right into my path. I still don't know how I did it but somehow I managed to swerve and miss the Explorer by about 6 inches, then swerve the other way to miss a light post and very high curb (RIMS!) This is when 30 years of driving experience comes in damn handy.

The moral of this story: performance summer tires are worth for **** in the snow. Seriously, you might as well be running slicks. Invest in some steelies and get snow tires, even some cheap ones. I did the next weekend and OMG what a difference. That Neon cornered in the snow as if on rails. I could out-manouever 4WD SUV's with all seasons. Most people don't realize what a difference snow tires make from all seasons, It is literally night and day!


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http://www.cardomain.com/ride/3835837

 

The Contis that come stock on the car are Summer tires BTW not and all season.
So Id say if you can stand the stock tires in winter you would be fine with another summer tire as well. If your cautious you should be fine BUT there is a difference IMO from all season and Summer tires in road feeling for sure. When I had my modded GTP summer tires were not fun in the snow AT ALL. Torque+summer tires+ snow = lots of stops closer than you would like.

 

dont take offense to the following comment.

Commen sense says they offer lets say 3 different types of tires. SUMMER. ALL SEASON. WINTER.

U live in an area that see's ALL SEASONS and u drive ur car in all season weather. what tire should I buy....? the summers and just drive them in the winter anyway. they should perform fine right? no. all seasons can perform good in summer AND in winter. And theres some great all season tires out there. instead of buying new RIMS and tires, just get the proper tires for ur area

 

Living in Alberta (We see the worst of the two extremes ). All seasons are nothing to a winter tire. The only proper set-up is to have dedicated summer/winters or a 4x4.

That being said, you can get away with an all season (lot's of people do). But they are starting to implement mandatory winter tires as law in Canada in some areas.

Joel

 

My Star Specs lose all tractions when it gets to 50 degrees. Can I buy cheap parts from you after you wrap your car around a tree?

 

"so are summertires really that bad in winter?"

I think you kind of answered your own question there.

 

they are terrible, when we had that lil snow storm in april i was driving my tc and coundnt get traction what so ever. took me like 30 mins for a 10 min drive haha

 

you think those are bad.. try the old rt615s lol they were great when warm but if it was cold out .. holy fak it took a while to warm them up lol

 

thanks guys. so does anyone have a cheap pair of steelies i can buy?

 

well ur in freakin canada u should only be driving snowplows

 

when i had my mustang i assumed my nitto drag radials would kinda work in the snow since they worked great in the rain... i manged to get out of the driveway and attempt to leave my culdesac... i gave up, dumped it in 2nd and just whipped it around and pulled back into the driveway... slowly i might add..

 

I got caught in light snow driving home from work on summer tires, that will never happen again!!

 

Walk or take the bus because i doubt you will be even able to leave your driveway if there's any snow on it. I ended up just putting blizzaks on my stock rims and getting a deal on MSR wheels from jasonaudio to put my stock tires back on in the spring... I would just have gotten stealies if i didn't have the brembos however.

 

they make brembo steelies...

 

Brembo steelies without spacers? linky.

 

I dont have a link.

I've phsyically seen them on vehicle before.

 

ya my general exclaims under 70 degrees suck nuts. I spin in 3rd no problem. Hell in 5th on the hwy I spin them. Although they are...worn...pretty darn good.

 

You can make steelies work with brembos but i was under the impression you needed to run spacers. I was willing to spend the money to avoid using spacers.