11 year old winters or 11 year old summers?

This is more of a hypothetical question, but I'd love your opinions.

I have a new (for me) car. 2012 Ferrari FF. 27,000 miles. It came with 2 sets of wheels and tyres, Potenza winters with 6mm and Michelin Super sport Summers with 3.5mm. Both sets are dated 2012. typical situation with many Ferrari tyres becoming out of date before becoming worn.

I've ordered new Michelin summers but they have been delayed. In the meantime, while I wait for them to arrive, would I be better off fitting the winter set of summer set to the car, bearing in mind that they are both 11 years old? I wondered if tyres harden over time, whether the softer compound winters would be better than the summers?

I'm not going to be doing many miles, but it'll be a week or so until the new tyres can be fitted. Clearly I shouldn't be using old tyres ideally, but which set would you fit for the interim? I'm in the UK and the average daily temp right now is 50 degrees F.

 

I like your logic of fitting the winters for a few days of pootling around - also when wet a few extra mm might help since the promised dry spell seems to be disappearing

 

Ditch the very old rubber when you can. They will lose their effectiveness after about 4 years I was told, so 11 years means they could be a hazard. Just wear them out and toss them asap

 

i wld think the winters shld have a longer shelf life since theyre a softer compound to begin with but who the hell knows

 

I recently bought a used Panamera. The tyres were 5 years old and the Pirelli summers were cracked and worn to about 2mm so I ditched them before taking delivery of the car (the were poor on the test drive).

The Conti winter set still had 6mm of tread left so they were hardly used (winters start with 7mm compared to the 8mm of summers) and as I bought the car in winter, I asked for them to be put on the car. They were great and would still be in use if my wife hadn’t clipped a kerb and pinch flatted one of them. So now I have to change the whole set this coming winter. I think that the pinch flat was probably a symptom of age as well because the sidewall cracked but in summary, the winters were a much better ‘old’ tyre than the summers.

 

I also agree with greyboxer’s comment - the extra tread depth will come in handy.

 

Thanks everyone. I have now fitted the winters and will report back.

 

I would inspect the sidewalls very carefully, particularly right around the rim. Then use whichever set looks best. If they all have cracking, wait for the new tires to arrive, it's only a week.

 

The Winters have 7mm of tread left, so hardly used. Zero cracking and very compliant rubber. I guess they've been in a suitable storage environment since bought.

The Summers do have light cracking along the edges.

 

FWIW winters really come into their own under 7 degrees celcius (from memory). I used to have winters and summer for my Audi S6 Avant. Above 10 degrees their effectiveness drops off so much it was quite shocking. Effectively as uselss as a bald summer tyre.

I remember watching one of the tyre review videos on You Tube (extremely informative) and was genuinely shocked how bad full winters were outside of their operating window.

My FF came on 7 year old P Zeros, it was a complete liability and I waited till they were changed before I drove it. I would probably have ended up in a hedge otherwise, most likely due to lack of talent as much as poor tyres!

 

I absolutely would not drive with tires that old beyond taking it to my tire shop or dealer and getting new rubber. PS4S for the summers and since we have reasonably mild winters in nyc now PS All Seasons for the winter time.

 

The amount of tread left is of no consequence since you are driving on them for a week or so. Since the summers have cracking, I would not use them. Drive carefully with the winters until you could get them replaced with proper tires.

 

And BTW, just google Paul Walker crash to see the consequences of driving on old tires, and his weren't as old as yours.

 

I'm betting there were more significant factors involved in that crash than just old tires.

 

Yes, excessive speed didn't help. Maybe the tire/s would not have failed at lower speed, but even if it/they did the consequences likely would not have been as deadly.

 

I just rented an Audi Q5S and it had Winter tires on it.

For the warmer days when pushed in the corners the tires became very squiggy and it reminded me of track days on road rubber when the tires would overheat and effectively go off.

Having stated all of this. The tires you have will be totally OK providing that you are responsible and don't push on hard. No one is going to be doing a Paul Walker when they know that the tires are beyond their expiration date.

 

You mentioned that average temps are 50F. What are the lowest and highest temps when you would be driving? Besides the cracking of the summer tires, I would stick with winters if you’ll be driving when it’s below 50F


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Did the previous owner store those winters in sealed bags when not used? Tires last much longer when stored that way.