Kringle

Hey guys, does anyone notice that the Conti's are very (cold) temp sensitive? Temps are dropping to between 10-15 degrees Celsius (50- 59F) and I find that as I do a 90 deg turn and add power (at a good clip) I just get one of the front tires sliding making a "grinding/rubbing" noise but not the usual tire squeal. This is a a lower speed than I would expect. Not slow, but not super aggressive either. The slide is very minimal and very progressive, but a little unexpected. They are usually quite cold at this point as my daily drive totals about 6 mi.
I found the tires had great grip this past Aug during a track day where I managed over 1.0 lateral G in some turns. Tire temps (meas. with a pyrometer) were 130 -150F so they were considerably hotter. Maybe the high heat changed the rubber and it is less sticky when cold now? Just don't know but seems odd. Do others find this as well? It it the quattro system binding some way? I've had other summer tires (Dunlop Direzza Star Spec) that were not nearly as sensitive so I don't know what to think.
Any input would be great.

spagolli94

I believe they are a summer tire, so yes, they are going to suck at cool temps and only get worse as temps get even colder. I once had an RSX-S with summer tires and didn't bother take them off during the winter. That little engine could spin the tires all the way through 2nd gear - not because of the power, but because the tires had hardened into petrified plastic. No squeal, just spin.

When my Rosso's wear out, I have my eye on the the Conti ExtremeContact DW, sometime next summer.

But in the meantime, I'm getting ready to purchase some winter tires so I can enjoy the car when it's cold outside. I guess you could always try some performance A/S tires. They won't work well in snow, but you'll be fine in the cold. They perform pretty well on the street, but I woudn't dare take them to the track - you can kiss your 1 G cornering goodbye.

Most guys on here would tell you it's worth it to do the summer/winter swap. I did however, run A/S tires on my old 330i - they gave me all the grip I ever needed on the street, even in cold. Never really tried them in snow. I had to back the car up to shovel my driveway once. The car was basically immobile.

Kringle

I have a brand new set of winter tires waiting for me in the garage. Can you believe that I bought them last year and never put them on!! Winter was so mild that I never bothered. There were a few days where the summers felt iffy but I got through without a change. I hated the cheap winter tires I had for my WRX so I resisted as long as I could. Winter just kind of fizzled out. I don't think I understood what a high performance winter tire was. Knowing more about the cold temp effect with with summer tires this year I will not wait. I bought a set of high perf. winters last year which I think are really optimized for cold weather so I am curious how they will handle. I owe a few thank you's to some of the guys on here for motivating me not wait too long as I now realize there is less to be had from the summer tire as the temps go down.
I think the the Dunlop Dirrza star spec summer tires I had on the WRX were far less sensitive though. They are a combination street / autocross tire and designed to be sticky even without any warm up time as would be the case on an autoX run. They didn't suffer as noticible a traction drop in these mid teen temps.