Stock tires cold weather
 

Living in NE, there are many days that start or end pretty cold this time of year. I know the owners manual says not to drive on stock tires under 40F degrees, how legit is this number? I'm not worried about traction because I know to take it easy at lower temps. What I am worried about is damaging the tires IE cracking and peeling. Any thoughts on what's a truly unsafe temp to drive them at. Also, I am storing my car in a un-heated garage for the winter, is there anything special I need to do for the tires if I don't move the car in the extreme temps? Once the snow flies I'll put fuel stabilizer in and a battery tender on. But this time of year, there is no snow and some days are still warm enough to have some driving fun.

Prevent flat spots on tires during storage!

If you store your vehicle for any period of time, you need Flatstoppers! Simply park on the Flatstoppers Tire Supports and they will cradle the natural curve of the tires to prevent flat spots. Flatstoppers Tire Supports are easy to use, they do not slide, and they are safe on the garage floor and the tires.

My G2’s on my 2012 sucked below 60 degrees. I have to say that the G3’s on my 2017 have been great down into the 30’s. Just don’t get aggressive with the gas pedal. That have decent bite in the corners, and I have had no crack or flat-spotting. My only issue is that I have to replace them at 10k miles.�� New Nitto 555 G2 tires sitting next to the car, waiting to be mounted.

I was thinking about those Nitto's but worried about the W rating...:(

Just follow GM and Goodyear's guidelines and you'll be fine. Just use caution below 40 and park it when temps reach 20 or below.

I've driven on the stock tires in the low 30s without any damage to the tires. I'm a little more conservative than the guideline and park my ZL1 at 30 or below.

As far as the unheated garage goes, the tires will be fine as long as you don't move the car in temps below 20. They won't crack just sitting in extremely cold temps. I have an unheated two-car attached garage and temps at the back of the garage tend to run anywhere from 10 to 15 degrees warmer than the outside temp. I've experienced no tire damage to my current ZL1 or the '13 ZL1 I owned prior parking them in an unheated garage during the winter.

Link?

I bought Pirelli SottoZero 3 winter tires. They are great on the car and they come in original sizes for the car.

I think you are on the right path with winter tires. Stock summer tires really get hard and not very good below 40 degrees. I can really feel them scrubbing in slow speed turns. You can still drive them but you need to be a bit more cautious. You also lose stopping power. No issues if you don't have to turn or stop.

When it gets really cold below freezing, you have to put them or the car away. I got winter tires and wheels for the cold in NE. I bought the Michelin Alpin. They are on now. Quiet. Not bad dry traction. It lets me drive the car longer, without the hassle of having tires remounted and balanced. I can change all 4 in 30 or 40 minutes.

Just wanted an opinion from some of you all on this. Trying to decide if I need winter tires or not. And hopefully it can help others in same position. Live in DC metro area. During winters, temperatures can vary between 30s to 50s during the day. My car is a weekend car and would only drive when there is NO salt on the road and temperatures are above 45 degrees during the day. And of course, no night driving when temps can plummet. Do I really need winter tires? My thinking is that as long as I choose my days wisely with temps atleast 45 degrees, that I should be ok with summer tires. However, want to hear opinions from you all who have experience doing something similar.

Based on your scenario, you'll be fine with the summer tires. I followed basically the same scenario last winter (I did drive a few time when temps were in the 30s) and had no issues with the summer tires.

I do have a set of Sottozeros I will be putting them on my ZL1 in the next week or so. They're wrapped around a set of Factory Replica 5th gen ZL1 wheels. The only reason I didn't put them on last winter is I wanted to show everyone my ZL1 with the stock wheels. Now that most everyone has seen the car, I don't feel the need to keep them on this winter.

I took a similar approach with my GT3 one year before I gave up and started putting it in storage for the winter. (In the NE, we just don't have that many warm days in winter). You should have no problem with Summer tires in that scenario. No cracks. No accidents.

However, as it gets dark and cools down, you will absolutely feel the difference in traction. You will not be impressing your friends with quick take offs. It feels like socks on a shiny wood floor.

You will also have to give a bit more room for stopping. Tailgating would be a problem when all of a sudden, you have less stopping power than everything around you, where in summer, the opposite is true.

Drive mine year round, and it gets pretty cold here. I'm trying out the Sottozero tires this year, since they fit the stock wheel size. Got them put on today, it is a noticeable increase in traction over the summer tires even on a cool (~35f) day.

https://i.imgur.com/IcrJuSp.jpg

Thank you all for your wonderful advice. I will take it into consideration. I also hope it helps others that are in the same situation that might be reading this.

I think that winter tires are overkill for my situation. However, all seasons might be better choice for the months between November to March with temps bouncing between 30s to 50s. So, for 285/30/20 have plenty of options. However, the 305/30/20 only have Sottozero 3 winter tire option. I see that 295/30/20 has some all season options. Has anybody tried to fit a 295/30/20 tire onto a 11" stock rear rim? Just wanted to know if there is any issue in doing this.

I would totally agree, if 30 is the worst low, I would just go with some good all seasons. Not sure about the rears though.. might be worth hitting up TireRack or someone to see if they can suggest something.