Just got brand new tires on, Cooper Zeon ZRS, seem to feel a slight difference in the curves on the plus side but today I took off from a stop sign, nothing dramatic but the rear end slide a bit and again on a green light in the turning lane came up when it turned green, punched it a little and it slid out again. never happened before and it was a dry road. Doesn't make sense that the tires would cause this to me. Better traction rating then the oems and built for speed. Any ideas?

 

You dont have traction control?

 

Yes, I do have it. Have never lost the back end even a little and I didn't get on it hard at all. I can't figure it out. Another thing I am wondering about is how can I determine if they screwed up the TPMS during install besides letting the air out. I am going to test it again tomorrow. Maybe the new tread is still a bit slick.

 

temperature? colder tires grip less?

 

Stop sign and red light………think about the surface area at these locations and you may find your culprit. Both locations are considered “lower traction zones” due to the amount of vehicle fluids (oil, grease, radiator fluid, etc) that build up there from stopped and idling vehicles. If that does not completely answer the question then figure in the environmental conditions of road surface area and tire temperature…then there is tire pressure (do not simply rely on TPMS, check your tire pressure!) ……add it all up and you are spinning at the stop sign.

 

When I still had my summer tires/wheels on I would slip quite often from a dead stop and shifing into 2nd and even 3rd gear when the temp outside was under 40deg F. Once I put my snow tires on, no more slipping in the same conditions . I would suspect that the temp has something to do with it.

 

My vote is: Those tires just aren't very grippy. One positive, though: You'll prolly get 30K miles out of them.

 

Several factors at work here:
- #1 - Cooper tires are crap. You couldn't pay me to use them. Sorry if that's harsh, but they're definitely inferior tires to your OEM tires. They're cheap - with tires, generally you get what you pay for.
- #2 - Mold release compound. All tires have a slippery compound on the surfaces to ease releasing the tire from the mold when it's manufactured. That mold release compound makes the new tire very slippery for the first 100 or so miles of driving. You actually have to "break-in" new tires - primarily, wear off the mold release compound, before you will see their maximum grip and traction.
- #3 - temperature. Performance summer tires will have less grip as temperatures get close to or below freezing. Many describe it as driving on ice - tires that normally have great grip will have much less at freezing temps, even on bare dry pavement.

Regards,
Gordon

 

thanks Gordon I did not know about the mold release compound, explains a few things I've experienced in other cars though

as for temperature, I can attest that even when temps drop below 45 degrees F in high performance summer tires you will start having traction problems...under 40 and you can get the rear end out with little effort on dry pavement, below freezing, well then it gets interesting

and on a day like today where the temp is -10F if you drove with summer tires on I'm guessing they would just crack apart into little pieces like Wesley Snipes head as he played Phoenix in DEMOLITION MAN :p

 

Thanks for the inputs, even the negatives I suspected new tires with a stickiness to them. These Coopers are more grippy then the OEMs and are a new brand that is getting pretty good reviews. I can't speak for past Coopers but the new Zeon line seems to have more positive remarks then negative from the research I did.

 

Oops, Cooper Zeon 2XS not zrs.