Skidooer

I was told that the car will give me a message that says something like: "tires frozen" when it gets really cold outside and that cracking damage would occur to the Summer only tires on the Z51. I have looked all through the owner’s manual and on the Michelin website to find out at what outside temp this tire damage would occur, with no luck.

Does anyone know what this temp is?

george vee

Summer tires will not perform well when it cold, usually below 40*. That said it doesn't mean you can't drive with them, you must use caution. The tires get harder the colder it gets so they will not perform like hot tires. Keep the rpms around 3500 when shifting and No hard starts and No high G's, the car will be good to go.
I drove last night at 26* temps and had no issues with tires.

Got this information on net

Also known as "max performance summer" tires or, more accurately, "three-season" tires, they come standard on every Porsche (except the Cayenne), all Corvettes, the Viper, all Ferraris and more. The reason: Summer tires offer more grip—on both wet and dry roads—than all-season tires, much less winter (aka "snow") tires. The only exception: When the thermometer drops below freezing or snow covers the pavement.

Tire Differences
A main difference among winter tires, all-season-tires and summer tires is the pliability and durability of their rubber at different temperatures. Tire engineers call it "glass transition temperature:" Get them cold enough and every tire will have the grip of a Formica kitchen counter. For a race tire, it might be 40° Fahrenheit. For a winter tire it could be 60° below zero. Summer tire tread starts becoming Formica-like somewhere just below freezing. Most all-season tires are still pliable below zero, but some "ultra-high-performance all-season" tires start losing grip well before that.

Grip and Sipes
Tire grip in the cold is much like oil viscosity, largely because tires contain many petroleum-based products. A 50-weight racing oil will protect an engine at temperatures approaching 260°, but at 70° it's almost as thick as Jell-o. Today, most racing oils are "multi-grade": A 20W-50 racing oil remains liquid enough to adequately lubricate the engine while it warms up but still protects at prodigious temperatures. Tires haven't advanced that far.

There are many other things that give tires grip in the snow. "Sipes"—small slices in the tread—are among the top features. But you can't put enough sipes in a summer tire to give it useful mobility in the snow.

Carnut12

Be very careful, they will lose traction very easy, but I never heard of them cracking.

Harry2

Great info, thanks for sharing this!

Patman

I wouldn't recommend it, but when I was younger I drove a few cars in the winters here with summer only tires on them. I had four different cars that had Goodyear Gatorbacks on them (remember those??) and drove in temps below 0F without any cracking issues. And tire technology was not as good as it is today, so I highly doubt any modern summer only tire would run into an issue where it actually cracked, unless it was exposed to -50 degrees or something crazy like that.

JoesC5

Some one told you a bunch of BS about tires freezing when cold. The rubber compound used in a summer tire does loose some of it's grip in colder weather. The Goodyear Supercars on my Z06 were like driving on ice when the temp fell below 40. I went with Bridgestone's and noticed an improvement. Others that switched over to Michelins also noticed an improvement.

Experiment with your car and get a feel for it's cold weather grip. If you feel it's too dangerous to drive safely, then get a set of A/S tires or winter tires. Or, like many of us do, don't drive your car during the colder months.

-CM-

My dealer mentioned this warning to me, also, and if I recall correctly, the tires would have to be in temps in the 20's for an extended period for the cracking to occur. He said the damage would be cosmetic only.

I do know first hand how the tires perform in temperatures down to about 30. See this thread.

Skidooer

Loss of traction at colder temps makes perfect sense to me. I was told the tires would have cosmetic physical damage to them if driven on when they reach a given “frozen temp”. I was trying to confirm this and find out what temp that would be. Maybe it’s not the case though.

Balthazar_B

Of course, you may not believe Tire Rack: http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tirete...jsp?techid=220

JerriVette

I drive summer radials that come with the c6 z51 package for years without incident.

Honestly the concern with regard to tires is being blown out of proportion.

I live in the ny metro area and in the winter months it's clearly below 40 degrees.

Yes the car has less traction yet it's clear driving with common sense makes year round use without swapping wheels and tires not necessary.

If you have the room in the garage or basement....or have a tire shop that will safely store your wheels and tires.....then just buy another set along ( with sensors.

As with any car.....I don't go out when the roads haven't been plowed....I wait for the snow plows to do their job....and if I'm out and it starts snowing? I head home before it gets too much snow.

I would do that with any car.....

I drive 11k miles a year in my corvette and it looks beautiful.

irok

I had 2 sets of Goodyear F1's crack in the cold.still got a little over 30,000 miles on each set though.

KayJay

My C6 has wintered outdoors, under an all weather cover, since 2010 and my OEM tires have never cracked. The temps in my area can easily go to 10F or lower; so, although I don't dispute TireRacks info, I've yet to see this phenomena occur. Plus, the 2 sets of Bridgestones on my Mazdaspeed6 have survived the same weather since 2007, although I do put snow tires on it late in December.

fdxpilot

Just my $.02 worth, but i think dealers are taking a warning that Chevy sent out for ZL1 Camaros, which talked about tire damage below 30F both on the car, and during storage, and extrapolating the same to the Stingray. As mentioned above, the Owner's Manual does warn about poor performance below 40F and in ice or snow. It also recommends winter tires for extended driving in such situations. However, nowhere does it mention tire damage.
As someone who has driven a C5 in snow on both Goodyear OE tire and Michelin A/S tires, as well as two C6s in very cold temps, I would have to agree with GM. The goodyears that came on my C5 and the Pilot Sports on my 427 Convertible get very squirrelly when the temperature drops near 40. The Michelin A/S pilots were much better.

RLCullum

Any recommendation on a good winter tire for a Z51?

dcbingaman

Drove the Stingray to work in 38 degree dry conditions last week, and I did notice the rear end feeling a little looser than normal. I think if you keep the car in Weather mode you'll be OK running in the cold, but I'd really suggest you drive like there is an egg between your foot and the gas pedal. The electronic nannies can only save your a$$ to a limit.

CO Lightfoot

Summer tires in winter:

Bill Dearborn

Wide tires will do that as there tread pattern has a wide contact patch that is not very long. Taller tire structures like the ones used in winter tires have a narrow contact patch with that is longer along the center axis of the car. This gives the outside edges of the tires more surfaces to grip on and give enough traction to move the car.

In the video you can see the results of Traction Control and a limited slip rear end. TC is limiting how much the tires can spin while the posi unit has essentially locked the diff so both axles are driving the car. The swinging back and forth is essentially the same thing that happens to some cars on the drag strip. Just have to learn how to drive sideways. I doubt all season tires would have helped on that slush as it is more like hydroplaning than getting a grip on a cold road surface.

When it is slippery like that it sometimes helps to start in a higher gear that doesn't produce as much torque. That way the tires have a chance to grip the slush and move the car.

There are certain competition tires that will crack when operated in low temps. They are the Nitto and Toyo tires. There are warnings on their web pages.

GM isn't going to produce a car that has tires that can crack while running in cold weather. There would probably be serious issues with NHTSA and crazies claiming the cold made them have an accident. Why invite idiot arm waving when you don't have to.

Bill

AORoads

True, it was about the ZL1 Camaro. See attached thread and pics of the tires which are not on the Stingray. But maybe it's a headsup warning to be aware of what's in the owner's manual and be careful and vigilant.

http://forums.corvetteforum.com/c6-c...ather-use.html

gthal

Although I agree with you, the tire compound has as much to do with what you see in that video as the tread design or width. There is only a dusting of snow. Summer tire compounds become hard as a rock in these conditions and it is as much about being hockey pucks as anything else.

OP... cracking? No. Possible accident? Maybe.

PaulB

Just this week I was at/in my Chevy dealer. This dealership is the 2nd biggest in the area. A long time salesman and long time member of the local Corvette Club has just recently returned from a Driving School sponsored by Chevrolet. He said the C7 tires are not meant to be driven in temps colder than 40 degrees. Michelin is working on winter type tires but not available as of yet.