How cold is too cold to drive the Ferrari

So I haven't driven my 430 in a few weeks, but its not snowing, it rained a bunch of times this past week to wash all the road salt away....

But it's COOOOOLLLLLDDDDD outside. About 15 degrees F (-9.5 C for our European and Canadian friends).

Now I used to drive my GT3 when it was new all the time in the cold, but I had winter tires on it and it was new so unless there was snow on the ground it was my daily for the first couple of years.

The 430 is about 13 years old now, well maintained, but has a lot more exterior carbon and has P4S tires.

I need to go visit a Comic-book/Hobby store I'm part owner of this weekend to drop off something off and it's about a 25 mile drive on a highway. Would it be bad for the car to drive in the 430? I would obviously drive pretty cautiously until the tires warm up, so for the 1st maybe 5 miles on the highway, so I'm not worried about the safety aspect. I'm more worried about how bad the hot/cold cycle is for the car. I guess I keep thinking about the idea that "German cars can handle the cold because if your car breaks down in Germany in the middle of winter in the middle of nowhere you could die, in Italy if your car breaks down in the middle of winter in the middle of nowhere, you are just inconvenienced."

 

You will be fine.

The alps are in italy as well kind sir.

Just don't drive with too much ghusto'.

 

Corey

I would only worry about the sumner tires
Also living here in Monmouth county..the roads by me still have plenty of salt .. I know how meticulous you are and I would hate for you to run into the roads that have salt

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Please read the warning from Michelin that diving or moving the vehicle with PS4 tires below 20 degrees may cause irreversible cracking of the tires.

 

The real question is "how cold is too cold for summer tires". It has nothing to do with the car.

Anything less than 50 degrees is a crapshoot. You're probably OK above 40 degrees with some caution. You're probably not OK below 30 degrees even with caution.

/

 

I've been itching to get out too. I'm pretty close to you Corey. Obviously tires and freezing are something to consider. My main concern was gearbox oil temp and shifting, figured it would take a while to get things to where they need to be there.

In the end, I'm not too concerned about the cold. I did however take a trip yesterday, was looking closely at the roads, while my road was clear, I noticed the majority of them still had some-heavy salt. Not sure what their pattern is to how they lay it down. So while you may have some clear roads, there are lots of main roads that are still heavily salted.

If your trip is mostly non-main roads, may be ok. just my 2cents.

 

What he said......

 

I've driven my 355, 458 and GT3 in cold temps with no issues- Obviously once the salt and mag is off the roads and obviously at reasonable speeds since the pavement is cold and tires can't heat up and obviously drive mellow until things warm up = common sense.

The 355 has Bridgestones and both the 458 and GT3 have Mich PSC2s (only until I replace them) and never had any problems. I plan to replace them with Mich 4S's but given the earlier post (thanks btw) I may rethink that if (typical) Mich has some insipid warning like that- I mean how silly- the major reason people go to 4S's is to allow for a wider scope of conditions- If they "crack" when the car is moved in cool temperatures (typical Michelin melodrama) then what's the purpose?

Anyway- From my experience living in Colorado modern cars with decent tires work fine in reasonably cold temperatures with proper common sense.

As an earlier post said- It snows in the Alps and I doubt everyone has Sottozeros or Vredesteins (sp?). Heck I had cheap Sumitomos on my 911 C4s and drove in snow and very cold temps and they lasted 5x longer than the crap "Michelins" that were on it when I bought it that wore out when you breathed on them- Pathetic.

IMHO Drive it- Enjoy- Be smart - Cheers

 

They probably won't last long enough to notice the cracking- Like all Michelins

 

FWIW there were ~100 cars- mix of exotics/sports/luxury (i.e. Ferraris (Including 2 Pistas and an SF90)/McLarens/Lambos/Porsches/Bentleys etc.)- on the XMas Toy Run to Children's Hospital in December- Ambient temperature was 20 degrees F- Colder in morning and "warmed up" to around 25 later in the morning- No breakdowns/no tire failures/no issues- and I can guarantee you nobody changed tires for the event.

Just sayin- Cheers

 

IMHO that warning is targeted for the same consumers who put a metal soup can in the microwave or coat a tortilla with butter and put it directly on the stove burner- And then sue the microwave and stove manufacturers when their house burns down

There are no doubt some idiots out there who buy Sport 4S's and put them on and then go pretend to be Sebastian Loeb in single-digit or sub zero temps and sue Michelin when they wad it.

Like I posted- easily 80-100 cars on the Toy Run in 20ish degree F temps and I would estimate the large percentage were running MSC2s simply because that was OEM and a lot of the cars only came out for the event- No tire issues and IF there was some sort of "cracking" it was microscopic and the tires will wear out and be replaced long before any issues would develop under normal driving- Track use is a different thing.

I suspect this is just Michelin covering themselves legally from overly- litigious idiots who don't use common sense and then blame the manufacturer.

Cheers

 

15 F is nothing. I drive in 15F weather all the time, like right now.

 

That 20 F warning is probably applicable to the tires being left in the cold at 20 F, not being driven out of a warm garage at 20 F. As long as it is dry, no problem with decreased cornering power and longer stopping distances after the tires warm. If wet anywhere near freezing, all bets are off since the tires may never warm and traction will be very limited.

 

Don't shoot the messenger. Just making the OP aware of the information. It is your car and your money. Do what you want.
If you track your car, I personally would not want to question the integrity of my tires. Since the Ferrari is not the primary mode of transport for most of us, why take a chance? From what I gather, this may be more than just a cosmetic issue.

 

Tazandjan is correct in his statement.

 

Whenever I move my cars around in my driveway in sub 30 degree temps my Michelins (ps4s, pss, ps2)all skip and hop a lot, u can tell they lose all their flex. Since all my tires time out rather than wear out, I avoid driving them in those temps. I put winters on my Porsche and that’s fun enough until spring arrives

 

On summers, for extended distances, I wouldn't go below mid - upper 40s F, assuming it's sunny and roads are dry. As noted by others, drive conservatively...T

 

I worked in North Dakota and guys were driving summer tires to location in -30 f… these were on SUV’s. Nothing exploded or cracked.

 

I lived in Fargo and 9 months of winter makes people do crazy things! [emoji2]

T

 

Well I wound up needing RO water for my fish tank so I took my Cayenne. I guess I’ll just wait for it to be a little warmer like 40 F outside.


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Tomc- saw a roughneck drive a ninja 250to a drill location in winter. My hero.

 

if you have the spare change, a second set of wheels with Continental DWS06 makes a spectacular cold-weather combo. Obviously they won't have nearly the capabilities of a PS4 in summer, but they'll be a damn sight better than same in the winter.


ETA: Scratch that, they changed the DWS06 a little and don't offer it in OEM sizing for an f430 anymore. Sorry about that!!

 

Like I said, 9 months of winter makes people do crazy s**t!! [emoji2]

Great people. Loved living there. But, the ND winters are no joke. Take care.

T

 

Well I didn't take my 430 out this weekend, but while I was running an errand yesterday I did see someone on RT34 in Aberdeen NJ driving what looked like a Pista in 34F weather.

 

By all means take it out to get it warmed through and the fluids circulating but it won't be much fun. Without wanting to sound patronising, there's surprisingly little grip in low temperatures on summer tyres so be careful.

I used to use my 355 throughout the year but in winter it was very much just an hour of gentle pootling about to get everything warm before parking it up for another couple of weeks.