I have a question about the safety of winter tires in the summer months. I use Continental Extreme Winter Contact on my Ridgeline. They hit 50% wear at the end of the previous winter. I left them on and figured I would run them for the summer as well since they are still holding up. I am going to do a 1000 km road trip at the end of this month and was curious if there is any danger to running these during the summer. Has anyone ran winter tires all summer and did anything happen to them?

 

Winter tires are a softer compound and not designed for warmer climates/operating temperatures. Running them in the Summer will cause them to wear out prematurely, and could cause serious handling/braking issues.

 

I ran winter tires longer than I was supposed to once, on really hot days the tires felt like they turned to goo. Grip was greatly reduced and the tires were shot by mid August and I only got them the November before. Firestone Winterforces, great in the snow, terrible in anything above 50-60 degrees.

 

At your wear level, you still may feel a little tread "squirm" (a result of the soft rubber compound and more agressive tread pattern) at high speed which can be unsettling.

You may want to take a quick 30 minute highway trip to see how the tires feel (especially on clover leaf and offramp turns). In wet conditions, you will experience even more squirm so you'll need to drive with a great deal of caution.....

 

Thanks for the replies every body. We had a really hot day and the tires felt really sluggish. Needless to say I am just going to order my new set now instead of taking my chances.