Cooler weather tire grip

50 F is too cold for that sort of tyres. Better warm them up before hitting the throttle...

 

BB737 is right. You are at the low end limit for any performance summer tyre. 50 is pretty much spot on where summer tyres stop and winter tyres begin. Winter tyres are not only about temps below 33, snow, ice and wet weather. It's about the tyre being able to function in cold dry and wet weather at temps below 50 or so. Go easy on it until you get some heat into the tyres. Keep an eye on your tyre pressure to make sure it is not too low.

 

When it is 50F outside, it is difficult to get the tires fully warmed up to optimum traction temperature. And, yes, it is easy to break the rear tires loose (even with traction control on) when they are cold.

Try this -- set the manettino to Race and display the VDA pictogram in the left digital display. See if you can get the tires (particularly the rears) to move from blue to green. It is tough to do when it is cold outside.

 

Huge difference. Also the roads lose temp pretty quickly and also make sure to check your tire pressures. They will need adjustment for the cooler temps.

 

The coefficient of friction of the tread compound falls off rapidly with temperature. It provides great grip at elevated temps but not at 50 F or below.

 

Pilot Sport Cups are even worse. I think they poop out at 60 deg F.

 

My 2015 should be arriving in Feb. I live in maryland and winter temps go 0-32 degrees easy. Obviously I won't drive it in the snow, but will definitely drive it. Should i get winter tires also? I may buy another set of wheels for the summer ( speciale wheels). Maybe get the painted forged wheel option for the order ( painted grigio ghisa).

 

I have found myself in the run off before due to cold weather and summer tires not performing as I was used to. I totally forgot how cold it was out there. Nowadays, I will swap to the Pirelli Sotto for fall/winter/and early spring.

 

PZeroes and Pilot Super Sports will not perform properly and should not be used at those lower temps.

 

Get some tyres for the conditions if you want to use the car all year, despite it being dry. Besides, just because it's dry, does not mean that there can't be black ice or you won't get caught in a sudden change in weather. At the end of the day, you are just taking a risk simply not worth taking.

 

Summer tires can get very greasy with low temps. I drove with supersports in 10c(50f) and their was very little grip.

 

Agreed. For winter driving its just snow you are dealing with- its the lower temps. These high performance tires are really good for their specific operating environment (~50F+) but not so good out of it. If you really will drive the car in the winter time, Id say its worth it. If you are not sure or are likely to maybe just do some maintenance driving during the winter, I'd save the money and just make sure to drive it gently in the winter.

 

Looks like i need to buy another set of wheels and tires. In the winter we definitely go below freezing a lot. Do anyone have any experience in buying wheels through exoticarcar.com or scuderia systems ( they have nice speciale wheels/suppose to be from factory/reseller).

 

I got some from exoticar. Came out fine!

SV

 

When we speak of getting heat in tires, are we driving side to side like F1 drivers or are we just cruising along slowly until the heat gets in? If cruising, how long are we talking ?


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They (Bridgestones) will still be ok but you can't drive a Ferrari like a Ferrari at those temps. Applies to any 500+ hp car in cold temps.

 

Took the 458 Spider out yesterday. Temp was in the 50sF and the sun was shining. It took a while but my front tires were 110F and rears were 90sF. Mich Pilot SS (summer tires). What fun. The car drove great.

Of course the top was down.

Really like the Ferrari TPMS as you can make sure your tires are warm enough for spirited driving.

Best.

 

Very informative thread. I would have guessed loss in traction closer to 0 deg C. In terms of 10 deg C being a magic number for performance summer tires: are we talking noticeable loss of grip for spirited driving on the highways? for track performance? general driving about town? All of the above? Thanks, in advance...T

 

You can gradually get heat into the tire just by driving it, however the cold temps (and cold pavement) will suck heat right back out.

The best way to put heat into the tires is to get the sidewall to flex - and the best way to do that is hard acceleration, and hard braking. Alternatively, you can weave left/right, but you need to be much more aggressive than most people realize.

HOWEVER - realize what I just said can be unsafe on the street, and you are doing some maneuvers on COLD tires that have LOW GRIP - so "if" you are going to do this, I'd gently cycle acceleration and braking up and down. I've lost count of people who spin on the formation lap of races....including me once (still thankful and astonished it never made YouTube). You can monitor tire temps and pressures on the VDA.

Also please note tire performance has a number of factors beyond temperature; pressures are just as important, and other variables (eg. type of tire compound, age of tire, tread depth, actual road friction available) also have a huge hand. If you follow racing, you'll hear people comment on the "track has come in, or slowed down, or, etc" - the road conditions have huge effect.

Either way - be sure to enjoy driving the car as often as you!
We put Sottozeroes on the FF in winter, and the difference is noticeable. On our 458, we kept the Pzeros but drove carefully....if it was very cold, we left it in Wet mode but remember, wet mode won't save you from bad driving or the laws of physics. With the Speciale now, the tires are going to be even worse in low temps, so going to be "extra careful".