Track days on winter tyres

[IanOE]

I've recently bought a Ford Puma as a budget track car. The car came with a set of winter tyres on it that have a lot of tread left.

Are winter tyres any good for track days at this time of year when the tracks are cold and potentially slippery?

Ideally I'll use these tyres until they're worn down and then get a set of more track focused tyres later in the year. But if the winter tyres will be rubbish on track then I'll get some track focused tyres as soon as possible, bearing in mind I have a track day booked this weekend.

I don't have room to store a spare set of wheels and tyres, so that's not an option.

[mpit]

I think if it was very wet and cold, you might have some good results on them.

But my experience of winter tyres is that they are very "wobbly" which can upset the car quite easily if you're on the edge, I'd imagine. Either way, you'll be wearing them very quickly once you've got heat in them, I think.

It'll be an interesting experiment, if nothing else.

[CABC]

wet would help a lot to cool them, otherwise they might still get very hot with track use even in January.
you'll feel them giving way, they won't just collapse (well decent ones won't) so go for it. Modern winters don't 'melt' like ones in the past, but they're still squidgy when warm.
let us know...

[IanOE]

Thank you both for the feedback, I'll give the winter tyres a go in the interests of research.

Even if they're awful then I'm sure it will still be fun and I can get another set of tyres for the next track day.

[checkmate91]

I've recently fitted a set of winters to my Focus, Conti TS850s so a "quality" winter tyre and the usual Michelin PSS tyres have been consigned to the garage. I was expecting the squidgy sensation because of the thread pattern but I could not believe the difference in ride quality, the Contis are much nicer than the Michelins. My H&R spring setup was rather crashy on the Michelins on the road but much more bearable on the Contis, these are 235/35/19s btw. Would I want to track it on the Contis, in the wet and/or freezing, yes probably. In the dry probably not, the michelins are, for me, fine in the dry once warmed irrespective of ambient temperature. The winters are great at what they do although the car does have enough power to overwhelm them but on a Puma you'd likely have some great fun at this time of year, especially if slippery or wet.

[IanOE]

Here's a follow up, in case anyone is interested.

I did the track day and it was fine with the winter tyres. I tried to keep to ten or fifteen minute sessions to not overheat the tyres. I've not driven the car on any other tyres, so I can't compare, but I'll leave the winter tyres on for at least the next track day before spending money on track tyres.

[Helical]

I'm a bit surprised they were rewarding on track!

I've currently got a set of winters on my S2000, and whilst under normal/relaxed driving they offer adequate grip, it is still really easy to overwhelm that grip, particularly at the rear.

I think pressing on around a circuit I'd be slipping about all over the shop.

Maybe my winters are getting a bit long in the tooth now....

[avenger286]

Winter tyres work quite well on a puma especially if that are more than half worn but if you update your brakes they are poor and dangerous under braking .

[CABC]

Nice thing about trying them is that you'll feel the difference when you change tyres. I've found that 'education' in trying different things part of the fun in a track car.

[IanOE]

I did another track day on the winter tyres on Sunday. Again it seemed to perform pretty well on the winter tyres. They're quite worn down now so I'm going to get some decent non winter tyres for it before it next goes on track. It's very much a budget track car so the way that I look at it is that I've saved myself a bit of money by using the tyres that were already on the car when I bought it and it hasn't felt dangerous.

The car has V6 Mondeo front brakes and it felt fine under heavy braking.

I'm curious to see how different the car is on normal tyres.

[CedricN]

First time at the nordschleife we had winters on the rental audi a3, was enough to get me to 9:52 . But the car moved around alot! (it was 30degC outside) overheated after a couple of corners, but it was very educational. You will certainly notice that high speed stability and turn in response will be on a different planet if you to rcomps instead..