Yesterday morning I saw a nice blue Boxster facing the wrong way in the ditch on a local highway. Looks like a case of getting on the throttle too hard on the onramp before the tires are warm, plus frost on the ground.

With the SmarTire system I now have installed, I can report that it takes at least five miles for the SO-2s to get up to reasonable temperature (i.e. 65 F) in 35 F weather.

Ted

 

OEM

I see hundreds -- no thousands -- of S2000s,
Morning exhausts billowing like cold, damp breath,
As they weave back and forth to warm tires,
As if they were racers under yellow.

 

Around here I've noticed several SUVs, and a couple trucks spun off into the ditches, and there was a van that lost control on a straight section of 55MPH road, crossed into incoming traffic and killed two people in an older firebird.

Maybe all that extra time of warm weather this year was enough to make many drivers forget needed cold weather driving habits. I know it did me...luckily I was reminded very quickly by my S2000

 

Such an easy thing to do in any car.

 

True, too many ignore the impact of cold tires. I got a new pyrometer for Xmas and checked it out briefly the other morning.. 53F ambient was not that cold and 5 miles of driving had the tires no warmer than 78F. Since they are most sticky > 150F you can be sure it was not time for aggressive cornering.