I'm up in the Pacific Northwest, where it's fairly mild all year. I just bought some Dunlop Winter Sport M3s, mostly for cold and wet traction, and I'm wondering how long I can leave them on. Sometime it's hard to tell when winter ends and spring begins around here. Is the softer rubber going to get all tore up if I drive on them when it's 60 degrees out? 70? 80? It's not unheard of to go from a low of 35 degrees one day to a high of 70 a few days later.

There's a picture of the aftermath of driving winter tires on a clear 77 degree day here:

http://www.caranddriver.com/features/11899...ll-seasons.html

I'd rather not have my tires get tore up and look like that, but I don't particularly want to be driving on summer tires when it's 35 degrees out either.

 

I pretty much used them till I was sure I wasnt gonna be driving in snow. It probably hit 65 or so here a couple times.

 

Hi Sev. I've run 'em for a couple'a years now n' I'm a believer (Dallas at the 'Rack turned me on to 'em).
To worry about havin' 'em on when the weather's gonna be bouncin' back n' forth isn't worth the effort. If there's a chance that you're gonna be spendin' time on slick, possibly snowy r' icy pavement then they belong on the car.
They're tires, n' like the clutch, n' the brake material, they're a means to an end: an expendable tool to get a job done.
You run 'em until you feel fairly certain that it's time to switch to the stickies. They're tires. You make the best decisions you can n' you don't lose sleep over it.
Be well.
Java

 

I think it has less to do with temperature and more to do with snow. You use snow tires when there is snow on the ground. It you leave them on too long, you will end up wearing them out. I don't think they will last as long as performance tires if you use them when it isn't snowy.
*edit* That is an interesting article. But still, I know of people who ran winter tires into spring and they wore out very quickly. Lol, the snow tire outperformed the all season. One should note the irregular H speed rating on that snow tire, however.

 

Around here we don't get much snow, so I decided to get a set of M3s for cold weather traction. My understanding is that summer tires can't get up to operating temps around 50 degrees. So my thoughts are to leave the M3s on till it is generally above 50 degrees, but to put the summer tires on if I plan on spirited driving (let them warm up first though). Once it stays above 50 degrees to put the summer tires on.

Below 50: M3s
50ish: M3s for daily driving, summer for spirited
Above 50: summer

Just my 2 cents, any other ideas?

 

If I remember 'im right, TireRack Jim had said that even the all-seasons lose 30% of their grip when the temps drop below 45 degrees F.
Dunno 'bou'choo guys, but I flip-flop between the sticky summer rubber n' my winter Dunlops. So I (personal guesstimate) imagine that the stock 'Stones are probably even less capable than the all-seasons when the temp drops.
But, ya godda admit . . it's a real temptation to not jump into yer summer hoops sooner'n ya should.
Like an old friend used'ta say: "yo' puts down yo' money, yo' takes yo' chances."
Be well.
Java

 

i know several ppl who drive on the M3s year-round. dont be misled by the pic of torn up M3 in that link, those guys drive their cars HARD = they trash the cars. as long as you drive like a normal sane person, the M3s will be fine

remember M3s are VR rated and often handles better than many allseason tires

 

Snow tire treads remain pliable at low temps. All season and higher performance tires get very hard a low temps. and lose traction ability due to this (on pavement). Snow tire tread patterns are, also, optimized for running in/on snow cover roads, and less so for warm dry roads. When the temps. go up the snow tire tread compounds get very soft and can wear out very quickly, similar to some very sticky high performance tires. So, why can't you run snows as a high performance tire choice??? Because a narrower tire is preferable in snowy conditions, giving maximum bite through the snow (and less "float"), also the snows have "softer" sidewalls-many do not have the speed/temperature ratings for high performance driving as well. What can you do to minimize tread loss on snows when it gets warm??...well, for starters don't drive them like performance tires...that's really not what they're for, no matter what the advertising says...and slowing down helps too.

Hope this helps

 

So when do summer tires become a good idea? 60 degrees? Higher?

 

When theres no snow