i have read some posts on here about how bad the s2000 is in the snow. i thought most of it was exaggerated because the people were just driving too fast or they were used to their civic or something...well i was wrong. this is the worst car i've ever driven in the snow by far. this is my fifth rear wheel drive car and it is so much harder to move in the snow (only 2" mind you) that i couldn't believe it. my miata was like a f250 4x4 compared to this thing.
is it the tires or what? i have the potenzas on the car from when i bought it just nine months ago.
be careful out there fellow s2k owners!

 

Yes, it's the tires.
They are summer rated only. They should not be used below 40F. The rubber compound is not meant for cold temps.

Quote from TireRack:
"The Potenza RE050 was developed to provide good traction along with responsive and predictable dry and wet road handling. It is not intended to be driven in the snow. "

 

One minute spent searching would have told you that you need snow tires.

 

Sure. It's the tires of course. Your RE050s are Summer High Performance Tires.

Two things are working against you. The tread pattern and the rubber compound.

In order to get traction, the rubber needs to meet the road. With rain, the liquid gets squeezed into the spaces between the rubber and ejected. The rubber then has a chance to rub against the pavement (even though there is still a thin film of water) and you get traction (although reduced by the thin film).

Snow does not act like this. Snow packs together and does not flow like water. Even the slushy stuff really does not have enough space to get into between the blocks of rubber. Look at your tire treads. Big blocks of rubber with smallish areas between them.

Now look at someone's snow tires. Lots of space for the snow and water to squeeze into and be ejected from the tire. Also, lots of edges to bite into the snow. That is why in addition to all the small edges you have on a standard snow tire, you have micro edges and pores in the rubber on high end snow tires like the Blizzaks as an example. These edges give you better bite on the ice.

Then of course there is the rubber. All season tires and even more so, snow tires have a rubber compound that stays soft in cold weather. A down side of this compound is that the tire is less sticky in the warm weather. Summer tires have a rubber compound that is ideally sticky when warm. The warmer - the stickier. The converse is also true. The colder it is, the harder the rubber compound becomes. That is why you have lousy traction on Summer tires even in dry cold weather.

 

Thanks for the explanation...not to the search nazis

 

You definitely gotta have snow tires on this car if you want to drive it in any real amount of snow. A light dusting of snow on the road is not much to worry about, but get much more than that and you'll have problems. I dont have snow tires so I normally dont drive it when it snows here. But I have tried a few times and it's scary as hell every time, even on all weathers. That's why you gotta have snow tires. Last time we had a bunch of snowfall I decided to take it around the block just to see how it would do and it was horrible, I was all over the road even when going straight and got the car almost completely sideways twice just over the course of going around the block, and I was being very careful with the throttle. By the time I got back home I was so rattled my hands were shaking hehe.

 

By the way, the car is quite nice in the snow if you get a full set of four of the new silica compound snow tires. I pass SUVs all the time in the snow.

There's a guy from The Tire Rack who hangs out in the Wheels/Tires forum that can help you with details.

 

I keep summer tires on my S2000 all year long but I live in an environment where it probably snows once every two years or so; when it's really cold outside I just don't push itl...simple as that.

 

Put my Blizzak WS-50's on with 16" rims purchased from TireRack in December. I have fared much better so far in the ice and snow than my wife and son in their 4wd Subys with all season tires. Of course it could be the driver

Tim

 

I've asked this before and never received an answer - search hasn't turned up much either -

does keeping the re050's on in winter and using them at all in very cold (below 32) temperatures damage the tires at all?

I understand that the compound does not perform well but is using them in the cold actually bad for the rubber?


I ask because I don't need to use my S in the snow (and don't really want to- more because of salt exposure than anything else) - but would like to keep taking it out in the winter on its set of re050's - I just don't see th eimmediate need to invest in snowtire/wheel set for such limited winter use.