So, as I indicated in "Silly Question #1", we had snow last night. Just a dusting of a couple inches. I live on one mountain at 2,000 ft and had lunch on an adjacent mountain at 2,000 ft. Down one mountain, up another and back because of good road maintenance...no problem UNTIL, I hit my street and driveway (which I foolishly didn't shovel immediately) after both had gone through a quick Freeze/Thaw/Refreeze cycle. It was quite a sight...but I got in and learned the idiosyncrasies of using the traction control to my advantage.


But, getting to my question:
I don't live in an area that gets much snow and (with the exception of this weekend), I generally have other cars to drive. I see very clearly that the PZeros SUCK on snow and ice...not an understatement and not unexpected. But, do the PZeros also perform poorly on cold/dry pavement compared to warm/dry pavement after the tires have warmed up?

 

In my opinion.... YES. Of course I don't know what Max Summer Performance tire is going to work well on a cold day.

Here in Dallas I have yet to see snow since I've acquired the F-Type, although I do have over 13,000 miles in less than a year, I drive it a LOT. I get it out in the cold and I can tell you that even with AWD, the R at least will break the tires loose, AND if you take a corner too fast the fronts will loose traction causing HUGE amounts of understeer even while the AWD is trying to make a correction. I am ALWAYS careful in the COLD, but especially so in the COLD and WET.

 

I agree...it feels different...and after parking outside on a sub-20 night, it's a mile before I stop feeling that my tires are square!

But, is the cold weather performance a function of chemical composition,tread profile, or both?

 

The rubber compound actually becomes more rigid. In some colder climates it can actually cause tire damage...

Beware that some performance summer tires can crack in winter - Consumer Reports

 

+1.

 

well, ain't that specialllll!

 

From the TireRack site: "Pirelli's warranty does not cover tires that develop compound cracking due to use in ambient temperatures below 45° Fahrenheit (7° Celsius), so the P Zero, like all summer tires, is not intended to be driven in near-freezing temperatures, through snow or on ice."