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Pirelli states the PZero's are not to be driven below 45 degrees F.
While I have no intention of driving them in snow, ice or rain in cold weather, I am curious just how bad they are at say 30 degrees F.
Do they handle really poorly on cold dry tarmac? Do the side walls crack? Any other issues?
Part of the reason for the question is that my annual service at the Jag dealer must be done by March 3rd latest (within 30 days of 12 month date) to protect warranty etc.
March 3 is usually pretty cold here in New England.
I'm in a similar situation. I just got my '17 R, wearing brand new Pirelli P Zeros, that the seller had installed just prior to sale. She has been sitting in the garage since the trailer dropped her off two weeks ago. Weather here has been awful.
I have a service appointment on March 2nd. Forecast calls for mid 40's by then so I think I'll be fine if I drive sensible. Fortunately, my Jag dealer is close and won't require a long high way commute. As luck would have it, I'll be receiving my Winter wheels and All Season tires a few days after that. At least I'll be ready for next Winter!
It may not help you folks with brand new sets of Pirellis, but the P4Ss I just put on have actually seemed pretty composed in the 40-49 and wettish weather that we normally have in the winter in the Pacific Northwest. Obviously I'm not flinging the car around corners, but driven with a little sense, it has worked well. I've not taken it out in weather in the 30's however.
0 degrees C (32 F) last week in the UK, and it was fine on my P Zero’s. Sure there’s less traction, so it needs a bit more care and finesse, but they’re not going to throw you in a hedge with only a small adjustment to your driving style.
You are going to get many different answers from very far ends of the spectrum. The tires are fine as long as you don't do dumb things. The main thing to avoid is the car being out in the cold and sitting for long periods of time with any summer tire.
0 degrees C (32 F) last week in the UK, and it was fine on my P Zero’s. Sure there’s less traction, so it needs a bit more care and finesse, but they’re not going to throw you in a hedge with only a small adjustment to your driving style.
^This! The first time I had my V6S out in a blinding blizzard—somewhat unexpectedly—traction certainly was an issue but I adopted a less aggressive driving style (from my usual style) and it wasn’t nearly as bad as one might think.
Originally Posted by Mahjik
You are going to get many different answers from very far ends of the spectrum. The tires are fine as long as you don't do dumb things. The main thing to avoid is the car being out in the cold and sitting for long periods of time with any summer tire.
^This too. As always Kyle (hi Kyle) is the voice of reason. I decided, after that first winter storm I encountered, to put Continental ExtremeContact DWS (and then the 06’s) and have never looked back since. Literally and figuratively.
I bought my [new] 2020 F-Type in December. I had preciously owned a 2014 "S" and a 2016 "R AWD" and had put P4S's on both. However, the dealer had installed four new P-Zeros on the 2020 with only 7000 miles on the clock. I'm too frugal to throw away a $1200 to $1400 set of tires so I'll have to live with them for a while. If the original tires were gone in one year and 7000 miles, I suppose it won't be too long.
They're not ideal, but they aren't nearly as bad as people seem to say in my opinion.
I have a RWD R with P Zeros and have never felt like it was dangerous to take the car out. Where I live in the UK it doesn't get much below 0C. The only situation where I think they are dangerous is when it comes to standing water at motorway speeds.
Just drove from Delaware to Minnesota with brand new, Jaguar fitted, P Zeros in 30f to -24f weather including roads with ice.
No cracks notable on the tires but I only overtook 1 car in 1180 miles.
Nearly lost it twice (once was slow enough I just waited for control to come back, the other was fighting all the way) and could feel the car drift slightly in the underpass areas (under bridges) where the surface was icy. Concrete roads with the parallel running grooves in them were the worst.
How Jaguar can require these on a CPO car with a snow setting is beyond understanding in my book.
Roads with any amount of snow were beyond scary and the drive home was one of those nightmare situations where you’ve got so far, you had to finish. We (as I was stupid enough to bring my 11 yr old along, having no idea how dangerous it was going to be) saw 20-30 crashes and could only drive in daylight, so I could try and drive around slippery areas.
Coming around past Chicago, we got caught in a blizzard, but mercifully it brought the traffic to a halt.
Didn’t stop the windshield washer from freezing up as some cheap @$$ had filled it with water.
To top it off, I saw a new Ford Bronco on the way back and thought, damn, that looks like so much more fun.
My answer is, JUST SAY NO!!!
Glad you made it safe. Here in the bay area (CA) we rarely get temps below 40, but even so the P-Zero's leave something to be desired in spirited driving. In daily driving, however, they're totally fine.
Although I cannot comment on if they would crack or not, I have found the P Zero's to be scary when cold. Except for possibly cracking, I suppose you could really baby it like you were driving on ice to get the car to the dealer for service. I had to use my F Type as a (winter) commuter for a while due to delayed parts for my daily driver and I ended up putting Michelin Pilot Sport AS 3+ tires on it. Those did quite well in snow/cold and did OK when 'playing hooligan' as these cars sometimes force us to do.
So I had a set of sticky summer P Zero's on Challenger 392 with a 6 speed manual. Was taking in N to WA from AZ in late spring. Started snowing on me and it got deep I kept going as hook up wasn't bad. Was in a big valley and was pretty flat and I could still do 50. Ruts got deeper. If I pulled off now I would never get going again. Push on. Now the front splitter is shaving snow off the berm and it coming over the hood. Semi now comes up on me. I pull into the on coming late and let the pass and follow the trail he is blazing. I stop for gas. Snow has filled the radiator and front with 3 or 400 hundred pounds of ice. It took 2 days to melt out in my heated garage in WA but I wasn't don yet. Next batch of snow was coming up the east side of Mt Hood. As we approached the summit traffic letting out from the resort had things all messed up. I was forced to stop on a
pretty good hill and no trouble. Couldn't get her going forward after a couple of attempts. I rolled back a bit and did the 4K clutch dump. That got every ones attention, lol. Who the idiot with the racing slicks. But she was moving and I stayed on the throttle. Was doing about 4 with the speedo doing 80. Traffic coming to a stop again on steeper section of the hill. Homey don't play that. Stay on the throttle and jump into the oncoming lane to keep moving. Oncoming traffic see's my dilemma and move over to give me room. Her comes the summit should I pull over for the night. Hell no. It's all down hill from here. To be honest I was very impressed and not sure all season would have been much more help. Don't be scared. Ok I had white knuckle's a few times and tested the limits of traction but she did pretty well. Use to race snowmobiles all over the west and drag trailers. I have a bit of snow driving experience but that trip tested all my skills, lol.
Sounds a bit like my experience back in the day just driving home 30 miles north after a night out in Boston.
The snow came out of nowhere!!
The Supra had wide tires (probably Summer, but not sure now).
I never thought the hills out of Boston amounted to anything until that night.
The car went sideways up every incline but we eventually made it home.
The Mother-in-Law must have had several heart attacks judging from the back-seat screams!!
My car still had the original P-Zero's on it when I picked it up in late February 2019.
Coming from an ND MX5 with Firestone Firehawk Indy 500's that I had installed, those old P-Zero's felt much more like plastic than rubber in those temperatures (around -2 C).
^^^
Wow, that was me (as James May) except there were a lot more expletives in the cockpit of the Jag!
I should check to see if my P Zeros have those fitted and the dealer just forgot to take them off!