My uncle runs nitto 555's on his Lincoln Mark VIII. He lives in WI and doesn't have any problems. I wouldn't worry about it.

The only thing I could think of is maybe because they do a nitrogen tire fill but I dunno.

 

those are regular summer tires, not drag radials. the OP is talking about 555R's, which are a different compound.

i would take the word of the disclaimer and the manufacturers recommendations, NOT what people on a forum say for advice. its your life, car, and tires, so i would do what the precaution says and not run them in below freezing temperatures.. have you had a tire blow out at a high speed? not fun, the tire cracking and getting ruined would be the last of my worries if that were to happen. just my .02!

 

haha, I drove on mine in the Winter. Only thing catostrophic is getting squirley in the Snow and potentially losing control with the DRs. The disclaimer is a recommendation from NITTO.

 

With a mustang any and every tire should have that. I think they a just protecting their ass.

 

Whew! Thanks for the quick reply's everyone.

 

the pdf file shows that they can crack under cold conditions idk how common it is though?

 

So far I haven't found anyone that has had a problem with them in cold weather. I guess i'll be the dummy to find out. So far so good though.

 

thats also the drag radial you have listed..... those are not the greatest on anything other than dry roads....

 

Yes I do run those tire's. I'm running 315/35-17's though. I've driven with them in the rain and they provide adequate traction on wet roads but not as great as an all season tire. I plan to keep running these tire's since I like them. I just don't wanna have them blowing apart while driving down the highway.

 

its not just american muscle.

if you buy the tires new, they will have a disclaimer sticker on the tire...and nitto has it on their website as well...and it says below 15 degrees which is pretty darn cold (never gets that cold here)

 

Keep away from freezing temps with an "R" rated tire. They WILL crack if driven on in very cold conditions and can fail.

Get yourself a set of A/S on stockers for the Winter and re-install the Nitto's for Summer use only.

Jazzer

those are regular summer tires, not drag radials. the OP is talking about 555R's, which are a different compound.

i would take the word of the disclaimer and the manufacturers recommendations, NOT what people on a forum say for advice. its your life, car, and tires, so i would do what the precaution says and not run them in below freezing temperatures.. have you had a tire blow out at a high speed? not fun, the tire cracking and getting ruined would be the last of my worries if that were to happen. just my .02!

Thanks for the advice everyone! The temps around here hardly ever get down close to the 15 degree mark but it is possible so I will try to find another set of SVT wheels like these and put a set of winter tires on them. If I do that then i'll just put a set of slicks on these wheels when the Nitto's wear out. My car isn't producing a whole lot of power right now but atleast traction problems would be the least of my worries when I get to take my car to the drag strip this spring.

 

Keep away from freezing temps with an "R" rated tire. They WILL crack if driven on in very cold conditions and can fail.

Get yourself a set of A/S on stockers for the Winter and re-install the Nitto's for Summer use only.

Jazzer

 

I have ran performance summer tires at -40 here when I had nothing else to drive with no issues. Tires clearly said don't use below freezing heh

 

My nitto drag radials, were cracked all along the sidewalls and tread. Just use your head and dont run them in -degree weather...

 

my nittos cracked just sitting in my building in the winter not even on the car. lol. Listen to jazzer on this one.

 

Drag radials= no fun in winter

 

i ran those tires for almost two years! never had any issues with the cold weather! to this day they are still on the rims!!

 

Because their drag radialis man. There ment for the strip. You can use the NT555's in the winter (wouldnt do that it though) but I would never use drag radials in the winter.

My tires are summer tires, and when its cold its like plastic. I hit it in 1st, and I wheel hop like no tomorrow.

 

wheel hop? i don't have that issue

 

Yea, only when its really cold out. Then the tires are like plastic. Maybe I need bushings or my control arms are shot. Who knows

 

The way I look at it: no sense in wrecking my car in the winter because I tried to save a little money running summer tires in the winter. I just picked up some winter tires for my car. The cold weather/snow/ice will crack the summer tires in short order.

 

The first winter I had my Mustang it had ultra high performance summer tires on it. I almost got stuck on a half inch of packed snow in a parking lot. Very little traction both starting and stopping. I now run ultra high performance all-season tires in the winter. A world of difference. Mustangs do not handle that poorly in the snow if you're running the right tires.

That was a general statement. OP, how cold can it get in Louisana? I wouldn't run DRs in the winter down there but you might get by with summer tires if you're very careful.

 

Wow...I'm a little worried now- I don't plan on getting a new pair of rears for my car, and it's been pretty cold here in FL (for FL, at least). I didn't know about the cracking problem. The DRs are my DDs, still no problems with them so far.

 

uh you live in florida...i wouldn't worry about cracking. nitto says 15 degrees on their site...

 

Yeah, I know...but it's been ****in stupid temperatures here lately, I'm not worried any more

 

Here where I live the temps rarely get below the 30 degree mark and when it does it only lasts about a week. We only get snow maybe once every four years and it's never enough to affect driving conditions. I could see having problems with these tires if I lived somewhere like some of you guy's that get a crapload of snow. I've been driving around for the past few weeks without any problems. Even with the roads around here being cold these tire's still hook up better than a set of cheaper tire's. I found a set of 17" gunmetal grey cobra wheels on craigslist for $500 so I guess i'll buy them and put a set of winter tire's on those. Thanks everyone!

 

Did not know this.
I have all season tires on my bullits(which dont hook for ****) so I put the stockers on the rear because they have 55r's on them. Maybe i will put the bullits back on tomorrow.

 

You people actually use a Max Performance Summer Tire in the winter? Yikes, lol. Even if it doesn't see snow, temperature alone is going to be a problem. Winter tires are usually rated for 7Celcius (44.6F) and below.

Summer tires are made from rubber compounds that are soft at hot temps, however at cold temperatures they become pretty hard and can crack. The other problem is you're putting the tire through daily heat cycles that it just wasn't designed to endure. The tire will likely be a lot less sticky in the spring than you remember from the fall.

You'll end up saving more money with a cheap set of rims and winter tires (if you see snow), or all seasons with a high treadwear rating.

 

i ran nitto 555r's (315/35/17) on my car for years, the only problem i had was them wearing out after 12 months, but that was mostly due to lighting them up around every corner, other than that they were good, grip nice to the road also.