Re: Tire Question for any members in Charlotte

I'm going to be moving from San Jose to the Charlotte area (Cornelius) during the summer and would like opinions on whether "summer" tires are really appropriate for year round use, or if a performance level all-weather tire is a better choice. Dedicated snows are an option, but appear to be overkill from what I can determine from historical snow levels.

Any and all comments are appreciated.

Thanks

Tom

I don't live in Charlotte but visit there fairly often and live in the region (Atlanta and Cashiers, NC). My view is that you don't need all-weathers. I run summer tires (PS-2s) and do fine most of the time. It is true there will be a few occasions each year when you will need a second car to negotiate snow or, worse, ice, but that is not very often.

Hope to see you in the mountians - if you get to Casheirs, we can go for a run together. You might want to try to get to BRBS this year to get a feel fro the great driving in the area.

mike

Summers are fine...I run PS2's as well, and have on my previous Porsche, and we make Mountain runs, etc....no issues. I don't take it out in the ice, but otherwise you will be fine.

Email me when you get here.

eric@bumperplugs.com

Will connect you with the folks you need to know for car stuff....and eats, of course.

Thanks for your comments...time to call Tire Rack. Hope to meet you when I do move...too late for BRBS tho

... click on the link above to place your order, that way the board gets a small commission.
Happy Boxstering,
Pedro

Pedro Bonilla
1998 Boxster 986 - 311,000+ miles: [www.PedrosGarage.com]
PCA National Club Racing Scrutineer - PCA National HPDE Instructor - PCA Technical Committee (Boxster/Cayman)

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Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/31/2011 11:02AM by Lawdevil. (view changes)

First off - Welcome to the Carolina's Tom !! You're going to love the area. Mountains an hour away in one direction and the beach just a few more in the opposite direction. The Carolina's Region PCA is very active and I hope you'll join and get to know our members.

Now to tires. I'm down in Spartanburg - about an hour south of Charlotte. The Boxster is one of my 2 daily drivers - the other is my truck (a true Southerner - just misplaced up North at birth!!)

I run Michelin Pilot Sport AS Plus on the Boxster. for my daily all season driving. I'm off to work early each morning and despite what many will say - it's oftentimes cold and well below freezing - and we will occasionally even get snow and that dreaded freezing rain. I just feel safer with these tires on for the 4 months they may be needed. I admit I probably give up some driving performance during the warmer months. But overall, I find them quite acceptable for reasonably spirited driving. No - they don't stick like the Dunlop Star Specs I use at the track, but I'm not driving "Flat Out" on the streets either.

If you don't mind storing an extra set of tires, a good choice may be summer tires for 8 months and then the AS's for the other 4. The snow tires would definitely be an overkill for around here.

Best of luck with your move.

See my other pastime at www.gothamcityracing.net

at the answers you are receiving. I live in the same sort of climate as Charlotte but to the east in Sanford NC.

When I consult the historical weather for Charlotte at http://www.usatoday.com/weather/climate/usa/nc/wcharlot.htm I see 3 months in which the average low temperature is well below what is thought to be a safe driving temperature for Ultra High Performance Summer tires (UHPS).

So ask yourself...

Are you in a situation where you will have easy access to another car with at least all season tires on it? Or are you in a situation where you can wait for the road surface (not the air temp) to warm up to 40F? Are you in a situation where you can just postpone a trip for a few days until it warms?

The weather in NC has been very variable this year...in the last 2 weeks over 80 and under 30 ... with the winter having stretches of below freezing for weeks at a time. I think we had maybe 4 snows of which at least 2 were of the variety/quantity where we had to sand sections of road. I've lived here 4 years and seen 5 inches of snow once and snow last on the roads several days several times. NC doesn't have the snow plow capabilities of more northern states so much of the snow treatment is wait for a melt.

I'm more sensitive to the issue of tire type and temperature than most because failure to pay attention to it largely contributed to the totaling of a perfect Boxster I owned about 5 years ago....I went to stop from 35 MPH and the car just slid across the road surface because the UHPS tires weren't warm enough to deform into the small irregularities in the road surface that actually give you traction...I had driven about 3 miles that morning and the air temp was 35 though the temp just an hour before was below freezing. Dry too.

There is a reason UHPS tire ads carry temperature warnings. TireRack has a good writeup in the summer tires cold temperature phenomenon.

Mike, while the average low may be below 40, that low temperature usually occurs in the middle of the night. The average high every month is well in the safe range. Also, I find that on major highways, the temperature is usually several degrees warmer than the average for the area. I won't drive my Boxster in the snow or ice or extremely cold temperatures, but generally that has not been a huge problem in Atlanta (Cashiers is another question). If the air temp is 35+ and the highways are clear, particularly on sunny days, I don't hesitate to take the Boxster with no adverse problems. Of course, I have two 4wd SUVs in the case of inclement weather. I guess if I absolutely had to be at work by a certain time and had no other transportation, I might go with all-season. Otherwise, I'd stick to the summer tires.

BTW, I checked and was surprised that Charlotte is typically a couple of degrees colder than Atlanta in the winter.

Reminds me of thinking of moving from the DC area to the sandhills of NC. I was surprised too that the average temperature difference is only 5 degrees. Now that I'm here I appreciate that that is only average and there have been Xmas days where I was out on the golf course or with the top down. And then stretches where it hardly got above 15 for days.

My surprise was because people were responding as if temperatures didn't matter. That is sorta what I thought too until I one day absolutely needed to stop and didn't...couldn't turn either.

And because we don't know the OP's situation. I run UHPS tires because I am retired, don't have to be anywhere so I can wait weather out, and have a SUV I can use if I do need to go (actually, as the roads guy for my development, I'm out at first light playing in the snow to see if we need to do any maintenance). Not everyone has those luxuries so I'm always hesitant about projecting my situation onto someone else. And if it had to be a daily driver and I was only going to have one set of tires, I'd probably think differently.

Actually, I got that backwards. Atlanta is a couple of degrees colder than Charlotte on average during the winter.

and stumbled into the coldest winter on record. But it wasn't too bad and didn't see snow though on return to Sanford there was 5" on the ground for a whole day!

I've raised what would be my concerns, it is up to the OP to consider. Only he can make the decision he'll feel comfortable with.

I'm with John on this one. I live in Winston-Salem, about 80 miles NE of Charlotte. The past couple of winters have provided lots of opportunities [both here and in Charlotte] for top-down driving in sub-freezing temperatures, which I love doing. Last fall I put a set of Conti DWS's on my 03, and they were great all winter, both on dry roads and the occasional excursions on the wet and white stuff. We also had a warm spell about a month ago, and I got to do a couple of weekend beach and mountain runs in 70-80 degree weather as well - no complaints there either.
The bottom line for me was this - I don't push my car hard enough on dry public roads to appreciate the difference between the all-season Conti's and the PS's that they replaced, but I like the advantage they provide in the cold and wet stuff, and I like the money I saved as well. If you regularly drive your box around here in the winter, you should probably have something other than PS2s on it.
Welcome to NC!
ST