Summer tires in the winter....?

[Kazi]

Looking at tires and some that I like are just available in Summer types. Now I don't drive in the snow, but with the cold weather are there any performance short comings with summer tires in the winter? I've read some pros and cons, but they're not Jersey Drivers....
I don't put much miles on in the winter anyway, but when I do, I do tend to push it a bit, if you will. My main concerns are with wet weather performance. The BFG G Force T/A that are on the car suck and I'm looking for better.


Tires I'm looking at are:
Summer:
Nitto NT555 and Hankook Ventus V12

A/S:
Pirelli P Zero Nero and Continental Extreme Contac DWS

Sizes are 255/45/18 and 285/40/18 (275 will suffice)

Any advice is welcomed and I'm thankful for it.
Bob

[1 Alibi]

This is a quote from the GT 500 " supplement " book..
.
" Ford does not recommend using the origional equipment tires when temperatures drop to approximately 40 deg.F ( 5 deg.C ) or below ( depending on tire wear and environmental conditions ) or in ice/snow conditions."
.
Have had my Shelby out in below 40 deg. temps & I can feel the difference in tire grip, it is vastly reduced. The stock tires are 220 compound & the grip wasn't great in warm weather......any tire described as summer won't be great in the cold weather.
.
Standard tires are:
Goodyear Eagle F1 supercar P255/40ZR-19 front / P285/35ZR-19 rear x 9.5"
......Hope this helped.

[Hotshot]

stay away from the Nittos when its cold out, they are hard as heck to begin with let alone when they are cold IMO

[Kazi]

Originally Posted by 1 Alibi

This is a quote from the GT 500 " supplement " book..
.
" Ford does not recommend using the origional equipment tires when temperatures drop to approximately 40 deg.F ( 5 deg.C ) or below ( depending on tire wear and environmental conditions ) or in ice/snow conditions."
.
Have had my Shelby out in below 40 deg. temps & I can feel the difference in tire grip, it is vastly reduced. The stock tires are 220 compound & the grip wasn't great in warm weather......any tire described as summer won't be great in the cold weather.
.
Standard tires are:
Goodyear Eagle F1 supercar P255/40ZR-19 front / P285/35ZR-19 rear x 9.5"
......Hope this helped.

Well, that seems pretty flat out informative.
Guess summers are out.

I was also thinking of that same tire size combo, but the ratios seemed a little off with the rears being 35's on the same size rims "19's" as the front. Is that what came stock on your car?

[1 Alibi]

Those are the stock tires that came on it from Ford.
As far as wear & traction, a 220 compound is about all they could get away with. With a 100 or 0 compound, your wear factor would drop to maybe 3000 miles. Traction is another matter, if I do anything to the motor at all, I'll be forced to go to at least a 100 compound tire. The 220 barely gets the job done now & that's in warm weather !

[Stangman Jonathan]

You can always get a set of Blizzaks for ultimate winter performance

or even some BFGoodrich Super Sport A/S (which I have on my summer wheels but handle great in the rain and are All Season.

Definitely stay away from Nittos

[Trq232]

I agree, i have nitto555s and from my experience they are strictly summer dry weather tires, even on warm wet weather days they are tricky, i wouldnt drive those in the winter.

[gtncpa]

Originally Posted by Stangman Jonathan

You can always get a set of Blizzaks for ultimate winter performance

or even some BFGoodrich Super Sport A/S (which I have on my summer wheels but handle great in the rain and are All Season.

Definitely stay away from Nittos

Blizzaks are the ultimate! Do like I do .. I have 4 sets of mounted tires. 18" Summers on Roush Rims, 18" all season on GT Rims, 17" track tires on rims like the ones 8 Ball won, and 17" snow tires on rims. Why the hell do I have 16 tires and rims .. I think I am stupid! LOL.

Once I buy a DD I hope to get down to two sets. Roush with Summer and I would love to get a set of Roush with track tires. My ultimate goal is two have the Stop Tech (Roush Trak Pak) 6 pistons up front. They don't work well with many rims.

But back on point. Once it gets less than 45 degrees summer tires get two hard and the skid very easy.

Well here is 3 out of 4



I have no pictures of my snow tires

And I wonder why my wife harts my car

[Kazi]

Thanks. It seems the P Zeros are the product of choice on the newer Mustangs. They seem to get the high reviews in most any write up too. More food for thought though guys, Thanks again....Bob

[infamousjim]

I've got pzeros now and I hate them... mediocre grip in the summer, and not good grip now, and quite expensive.... I'm going to wait until the spring and buy a new set of summers (not sure which yet).

I ran Toyo proxy 4's all winter last year and they weren't very bad in the cold... They built up a manageable amount of heat relatively quickly even on cold roads. I was even able to get home in the snow once with them (with monster 295's in the rear too) But I was in college and usually didn't drive when the snow was down.