Chappie

My wife and I are considering either a 2018 2SS Camaro or a C7 Stingray coupe. The car will be her daily driver, but she is retired so "daily" is a relative term. IF the weather is crappy she doesn't have to go anywhere.

We live in the Mid-Atlantic and have an Avalanche for driving in snow, but I'm curious as to how these "Summer Only" tires perform in the rain.

Chappie

cam30era

Various new Corvettes with summer tires have been my daily driver for the past 6 years. Same circumstances as your wife. What I would caution you about is traction drops off dramatically at temperatures below 40 degrees Fahrenheit. And driving in rain below 40 degrees demands extreme caution. I'm located in central Indiana, FWIW.

vbdenny

Use the Weather mode and shouldn't have any problem. Besides, the Mid-Atlantic gets very little if any snow each year. Car was designed for summer performance tires. Tough choice on vette or Camaro so leave that part up to you.

767guy

I am taking my new 2018 in this morning and replacing the OEM run flats with Michelin AS 3+ non run flats. I'm in the North until heading for Florida in November. So for me here are the advantages;
No cold weather operating restrictions ( November here can be 20 degrees some days)
No tire scrubbing/ wheel hop in slow speed wheel lock turns
Smoother ride on rough roads in our area and quieter on the 24 hour drive to Florida
AS 3+ do not throw gravel on the car for the 3 mile drive I do every day to get to the main highway
I don't track the car or get into high spirited driving so I don' need the summer tires.
I have 4 years of GM roadside assistance and carry a compressor/ slime kit in the rear cubby

Go to the forum search box and you will find all kinds of info on tires.
Our Vette is daily drive for me up North and for both my wife and I in Florida.

Happy hunting.

JerryU

Depends on the temps the OP's wife needs to drive. Have used my 5 Vette's as DD's since my '88. However even in Eastern SC when below ~45F I put in in weather mode and am carful to use modest throttle until I have driven ~5 miles and the tires warm up. I don't have to drive when it's below 35F, although know some do.

The tires are wide, especially my new Grand Sport where the fronts are the same size as the base/Z51 rears. They are fine above 45 F and on a wet road. I avoid the Interstate when it's raining more that slightly. Get caught in a mid day downpour and good chance of hydroplaning. If a chance of heavy rain I take the wife's SUV into town!

thill444

The stock tires are very good in the rain. Just throw it in weather mode and watch the throttle. Unless she is doing lots of driving under 50 degrees or so the stock tires work great. I drove many times in the 40's even and never lost traction.

Definitely would not want to drive in the snow though.

boxster99t

That right there is the key to any car with summer tires--the grip starts to degrade as you get to cooler temperatures and 50 degrees is a good benchmark. I live in Dallas and had an A6 Quattro with S Line package that had summer tires, as did any of the 6 different Porsches I've owned. And we get snow, sleet and freezing rain in the winter occasionally.

The summer tires on the A6 more or less negated the Quattro, particularly on snow, ice or sleet. But the car was still driveable--you have to be extra careful. Easy on the throttle, careful going into corners (slow it down, when the temperatures are in the low 50's or colder). That kind of stuff.

For the most part, the folks I know who live in the Northeast and want to drive Porsches and the like in the winter when the roads are clear of ice and salt, have a set of winter tires and switch them out. FWIW. Often times you can negotiate a life of the tires contract to swap the tires back and forth once in the fall, and back in the spring, for a one time fee which is cheaper than having two sets of wheels. Consider looking into that.

VENOM ACR

I have a 2008 Pontiac G8. Summer only tires since day 1. I had the car in NJ for 4 years and drove it daily, including single digit mornings. Not once did I have an issue. Yes, summer only tires are not great in the winter, BUT, if you go slow, don't be an idiot, you are fine. I have lived in NC for 6 years and now have a house so the car doesnt go out in rain or from Nov - March. But before it was a garage queen, rain never was an issue. If you are smart and just drive easy you'll have no problem with summer tires in rain.

tbasco 6

[QUOTE=767guy;1595041675]I have 4 years of GM roadside assistance and carry a compressor/ slime kit in the rear cubby


I vaguely remember something about flat-fix (slime) not being compatible with the original pressure sensors. Has new technology in either the sensors or the slime eliminated any problems?

wbrands

I DD my 19 month old C7 on OEM tires here in Virginia. I don't drive in snow/ice of course but don't pay any attention to the temperature "restrictions". The only concession I make is I don't park outside overnight when temps are at or below freezing if at all possible. If you take it easy you shouldn't notice much degradation in grip, and weather mode is a good suggestion to help with that. The tires will go from "cold" to "warm" in just a few miles of driving. I haven't noticed any problems with wet weather and have rarely used the weather mode myself. Like your wife, I am retired and can choose when to go out and have other AWD vehicles to choose if the conditions warrant it.

That said, I currently have 14,000 miles on the set and when they eventually wear out (probably at least another 14k+ in them) I will go with the A/S 3+ ZP as I don't drive that aggressively, don't track the car and really don't need the added performance of the summer only tires.

Woodson

19 and 20 inch? Want to sell them?

Foosh

Rain is fine, cooler/cold temps are not on summer tires. By definition, summer ultra high performance tires only have great grip when they are very hot.

At temps below 50 degrees, traction is noticeably compromised on the OEM PSS, and as the temp declines from there it gets really bad. You will never get enough heat in the tires in cold street use for them to perform even close to the amount of grip they produce in the warm summer months. You can baby the throttle and drive the car very carefully, but keep in mind your stopping distances will be compromised as well. You can't drive the car as you normally would in the summer without possible negative consequences.

I live 30 miles from Washington, DC, which is about as mid-Atlantic as it gets. I have a second set of wheels w/ OEM-sized, Michelin PS AS3+ (ultra high performance all season) tires, which I switch to in October. In May, I switch back to the OEM PSS. Thus, I have excellent traction all year round, and I can enjoy the car the way it was intended to be driven.

I have done two back to back tests now, and the PS AS3+ is VASTLY superior, grip-wise to the OEM PSS at any temp below 50 degrees. Moreover, the grip levels in the summer also remain impressive, so they are a good choice as a year-round tire.

thill444

I am in New England and drove probably 10-12 times when temps were in the 35-45 range and, in all honesty was pretty impressed with the traction on the stock tires (I never drove on snow or icy roads). I was expecting it to be much worse than it was, but I plan on doing what you did (seperate set of all seasons) because I bought this car to drive and and not be a garage queen.

Tires can make or break a car. I may even go the dedicated winter tire route for the C7. I have been using high performance summer and dedicated snow on all my cars for the last 8 years or so and it is the best combo. But I spent the last 6 winters in Minnesota where it was much colder than New England. But probably less snow.

Foosh

Thrill, all I can tell you is if you thought the OEMs were OK at temps between 35-45, you probably weren't using much throttle, and if you were, getting a lot of wheel spin. If you then did the same thing on a set of AS3+, you'd no longer be impressed with the PSS. They will blow the PSS away at those temps.

As I originally said, yes you can drive the car OK on the PSS, but you can't drive it in a spirited fashion without consequences. On the AS3+ or any other suitable ultra high performance all season like the Conti counterpart, and you can drive it pretty much the same way you drove it in the summer on dry pavement.

1SG_Ret

Unless you are a street racer, race tracker, AutoX'er, spirited winding road driver or someone that likes to use a lot of throttle all the time, put a good set of all season's on the car and have a save driving car all year long.

Or get a second set of wheels and tires for the winter.

Consciously running summer tires in snow or in temps below the recommended can risk an damaged or wrecked car or worse. It's just not worth the risk IMO. GM issues the warning for a reason. Dismiss it and you'll only have yourself to blame for whatever happens or doesn't happen.

papillion

My wife's daily driver is a C7 convertible Blade Silver/Adrenaline Red/Black. HRE's 19x20 with Michelin PS 4S. Her prior DD was a Monterey Red/Cashmere/Black C6. She put 65K miles on it. Me? Maybe 2-3K. She drives them everyday rain or shine. Though I confess to living in S AZ where it is shine or shine. Tell her to go for it.

thill444

Oh I was in weather mode and being careful for sure but it still had decent traction on dry pavement. I had no issues with accelerating from a roll (not going WOT).

I may go the all season route, but dedicated snow tires and dedicated summer tires are always the best best on my past experience. We get enough snow here to warrant it, especially when the weather folks predict no snow and then suddenly you have 6" on the ground out of nowhere but you are already at work....

Foosh

True, in weather mode, TC is in aggressive intervention mode, and throttle progression is retarded. That will go a long way toward hiding lack of traction. But, the lack of traction in an emergency braking situation is still with you.

Absolutely on snow and frozen precip, dedicated winter tires are the only way to go. My remarks are aimed exclusively at being able to enjoy the car normally in dry, cold winter conditions, without having to resort to weather mode. In fact, I was able to drive aggressively all winter in all modes on the AS3+. They are also better than the PSS in the rain, which has a cooling effect on summer tire rubber compounds making them less pliant, hence less grippy.

1SG,

Good comments. However, believe it or not, on the AS3+, you can use a lot of throttle and do spirited twisty road driving on cold pavement, and they retain very impressive grip. I kept pushing them harder and harder in Sport mode throughout the winter down to 15 degrees, and they stayed very grippy.

Tire technology has progressed to the point where the grip differences between ultra high performance (UHP) summer vs. UHP all seasons have gotten pretty minimal. The AS3+ is a new tire and compound and represents the state-of-the-art in UHP all-seasons.

Jeffer

just bought the same ties and now need a set of new rims, these new tires are better for those who do not drive their corvettes on a track Jefferson

Jeffer

great comments but why no think about selling the new tires and buying the as3+runflats like I did and be a little safer

they cost less than the factory tires so your out of pocket costs are minimal

Jefferson