cerfsud

Last winter I put brand new Dunlop SP Winter Sport 3Ds on my and the wife's cars. They were great.

I've just recently put them back on for this winter, and traction (at the limit) and comfort seems to be worse. We received our first big snowfall in Wisconsin recently, and the ability of our cars to go through turns or straight-through big piles of soft snow without noticeable "grabbing"/yawing off course seems to have diminished. Also, it was fairly warm during the most recent snowfall, so the roads are covered in washboard-textured ice and compacted snow, and both of our cars experience extreme vibration when going over these - I'm worried I'm going to shake my door panels off! My windshield will make loud cracking noises at times. The tires are otherwise perfectly fine on clearer or smoother roads, even up to high speeds. Other cars - with FWD and I presume run-of-the-mill all seasons - often times go faster than us on the washboarded roads, and their wheels/suspension don't appear to jostle as much as I imagine ours are. Maybe they're just more tolerant of the vibration? I haven't had a chance to sit in a car without these tires.

So, my question is: is it possible for tires to "harden" or age in some other way over the period of just a summer that would degrade their performance like this? Or are the Winter Sport 3Ds a structurally hard tire? Or am I perhaps remembering their abilities from last winter too fondly/nostalgicly? They were stored bagged in a storage unit in an underground garage over the summer.

Thanks much!

kleinbus

How worn out tires are? 3/4 left or half way or below half ?

I have no experience from Dunlop winter tires as my past is with Nokian - Michelin -Bridgestone studded and unstudded real winter tires.

All of those feels harder when worn out to haldway of below simply because the new tire feels softer thanks to sipes that are pretty much gone or most gone when worn out halfway and below.

Also another winter tire character is that each sipes wears out a bit edgy and makes tire noisier. That is the reason why I turn them to rotate wrong direction for about a week when season ends so there is no slush nor snow where I want it to rotate right direction. This "wrong direction" procedure wears them back to normal shape and makes ready for next winter.

cerfsud

There's only a few thousand miles on both sets, and negligable wear - aside from dirt, they look fairly new.

equ

Storage causing this sounds unlikely... Mud/ice stuck on wheels causing balance vibrations? Pressures? They might have some "scalloping", i.e. angled wear on the blocks that could be cured by kleinbus' procedure. Or simply a "fond" memory.

kleinbus

Relatively new tires...

I have seen tire rubber harden and crack but those excavator tires were under sunlight all summer so if your tires would turn suddenly harder then the sidewalls would have cracks too as sidewalls are the ones that bend most.

I pretty fanatic about clicks and rattle in the car, once even told my wife to hold my soda bottle and that stopped weird rattle I head once a while (the little locking ring that stays on neck once cap unscrewed) so yes I'm a bit nuts...

Anyways, back to topic...
If not tires then is it you? I first wrote is it car but you said both of your cars does same thing so maybe summer and sleepy road hummm made you too comfy and now winter washboard knocks your teeths off

I would understand one car makes it and another doesn't, or at least one feels different than another.

Though I noticed hardere ride when I changed tire pressure few psi higher.