cold air and rubber questions

**third_shift|studios** · 01-25-2007, 08:14 AM

So, i got to thinkin...

you know you normally don't start romping on the engine until it gets upto normal temperature? Well, are tires the same way? Is there a certain amount of time you should wait before you can trust them to hold you to the road?

i ask b/c the other day i took out the batmobile on a clear 40-50 degree day and I was skeptical to really get on it b/c i was afraid my tires would be too cold to grip.

Am I just over thinking shit or can somebody validate these thoughts?

**Orcus79** · 01-25-2007, 11:03 AM

Nope, most average street tires, your all season types don't need a warm up, infact they work better cool.

Peformance tires works better warm as they get softer, but under normal driving condtions don't reach this temp, and are more sensitve to outside surface temps. I would say that 40-50 would be just getting the low end of the safe operating air temp, still drivable but let them get some heat in them.

The tires on my WS6 are some no name dealer installed ones that suck in the rain and damp are ok in the dry and are not to bad in cold and snow(only once as a last resort) but you have to be very carefull.

The higher the peformance of a tire the more finite of a temperature range it has.

**third_shift|studios** · 01-25-2007, 11:31 AM

thanks, do you know this from experience or what?

also, i'm thinkin' Nittos [streets] for the car, wondering if they will be ok in all temperatures as NHRAformula told me that below 70 they aren't any good

**Wesman** · 01-25-2007, 01:12 PM

Originally Posted by third_shift|studios

thanks, do you know this from experience or what?

also, i'm thinkin' Nittos [streets] for the car, wondering if they will be ok in all temperatures as NHRAformula told me that below 70 they aren't any good

I have Eagle F1 GS tires on my car, and I'll tell you from personal experience that they suck in the cold. They have incredible warm weather traction (they won't even spin on a hard launch in 70+ degree weather) but in the cold, seems that all they do is spin. Its especially bad below about 50 degrees. I guess its the tradeoff for the awesome traction when they are warm.

If you're going to be driving the car in the winter, invest in some cheap snow tires and wheels, thats what I'm trying to do now.

**Orcus79** · 01-25-2007, 01:37 PM

A little experiance and lot of observation and research.

The compounds in tires are based on the type of usage they are intended for. High end performanve tires have soft compound for max traction, problem is that the make up of that copmound get harder as it gets colder. An all season/touring tire has a medium compund designed to stay fllexible and gove decient traction under average driving condtions, but "melt" under hard driving, did a brrak stand in my mom 86 Grand prix w/305 open rear, took about 5 min to get traction back.

Winter tires are super soft and built to stay flexible in the coldest of teperatures as well as grab max traction from what little grip is available.

Its all in the compounds and polymers. If you want a good visual take a classic orange/yellow/blue extenion cord and lok at the labeling mostly the lettering ST.... then get a black rubber one letters should say SJ..... stick both in the freezer for a few hours. Pull them both out and see what more flexible. Thats whats happening to performance tires in the cold.