Winter tyres not gripping

[jel2284]

Hi all,

I recently purchased a pristine set of used 18inch Cayman alloys fitted with N rated Dunlop Sp Sport Winter 3D tyres. The tyres have got 8mm of tread and are lightly used. Tyres were manufactured 2012 but tyre dealer inspected them and said they are fine. I was obviously expecting them to be better in cold and greasy weather but so far my experience is anything but. Traction control is kicking in a lot under light acceleration and abs under light braking. Summer tyres seemed better ironically!

I mounted the tyres myself and am pretty certain they are fitted correctly, but am open to the possibility I did something wrong! Have mounted many wheels before with no problem. At a bit of a loss to know what the problem is. I haven’t driven a sports car on winter tyres before but the last car I drove on such tyres was fine.

Wondering what some of your collective experiences are with Cayman’s on winter tyres and if you’ve got any thoughts about what I should do? Are the tyres too old perhaps? Is this how winter tyres behave (I very much doubt it)! If I change the tyres are the N rated Pirelli tyres better than the Dunlop’s? Any other recommendations?

Appreciate any thoughts!

Thank you!

John.

 

[Brian_Innes]

Michelin Alpin & Pirelli Sotozeros are my recommendation with winter tyres on a Cayman. I live in the Highlands of Scotland so know about snowy driving in a Cayman.

If the Dunlop winter-grips are anything like their Maxx Sport Race track day tyres, they are definitely pants.

Brian

 

[ralphmusic]

The site tyretest.com is a source of user feedback on various tyres.

See https://www.tyretest.com/web/pages/winter-tyres/dunlop/sp-winter-sport-3d-1

The tyres are 5 years old and how might they have been stored in the interim?

 

[Geoff_Fields]

I have been using Dunlop D3's on my Mondeo for 4 years, which included skiing hols up to high mountain villages and found them to give excellent grip. Not needed to put snow chains on once. The rubber can harden if stored incorrectly, which is why mine are kept in the dark at the back of my garage. I'm using Zotto Zero,s on the GT3 and find them fine for winter use but not ventured out on snow with them. You could try lower tyre pressures to see if that gives any improvement.

 

[jel2284]

Beginning to think it’s the age of the tyres. They got loads of tread but I didn’t realise that tyres could ‘expire’. Reading online it seems like 5 years is at the latter end of a tyres service life, and that one of the signs is that the tyre becomes slippery. Guess I am learning. Looks like I might need to replace them...

 

[Dylan1]

Had been th michelin and Pirelli sotto zeros on the cayman then a boxster and both were excellent even in snow

 

[MrDemon]

Hi all,

I mounted the tyres myself and am pretty certain they are fitted correctly, but am open to the possibility I did something wrong!

How did you manage to mount the tyres yourself ?

ps dunlops are poor tyres imo.

 

[jel2284]

Sorry wasn’t clear - tyres were already mounted to the wheels. What I meant was i swapped my Summer wheel and tyre set for the winter set.

Googling around I think these tyres may be past their best. Perhaps switch for a set of Sottozeros.