Went on a vacation and had my RC F with summer rubber exposed to low temps for a few days. Car was parked in the cold, not driving in cold. After I did a visual inspection of all 4 tires, only one front summer tire shows having an adverse effect due to the cold.

It appears the tire partially deformed. Is this patchable or is this irreversible rubber deformation and I need a new tire pronto?

 

You need a new tire. But, you should replace both tires on that axle.

 

Agreed. Since it is on the sidewalls, you will have to replace the tire.

 

Damn, didn’t want to replace the tires so soon, but if it has to be done it has to be done. Here is the other front for reference. Thanks to both





Hearing what I didn’t want to hear…“He ain’t gonna like that (Beaumont)”.

 

Have a tire shop look at it. They might warranty it if it's a defect (just don't mention the cold weather part). The tire shop can tell if it's from hitting a pot hole (road hazard) or a defective tire. They can explain what they're looking for.

But in general, tire rack states to not drive on summer tires below freezing, and not even move them until it's warmed up above 40 for 24 hours. They can get damaged otherwise.

 

That looks like either pot hole damage or someone tried slashing your tire. I highly doubt that has anything to do with cold temps.

 

@LoSt180 Good cold weather rubber info . I skipped mentioning the cold weather part to the tire shop but to no avail. They said it was what @brendanf suspected.

I ended up getting Michelin Pilot Sport All Season 4 all around, 96Y XL in the front, 100Y XL in the rear. The car feels lighter on its feet with the all season XLs, but the stickier tire feeling is gone. As this is my only and DD, I can’t be immobile just because of cold temps. It’s a compromise I can live with for now. I would be open to a winter/summer setup in the future but I just don’t have the storage right now

 

You might have less ultimate grip with the AS/3 tires, but I guess you will have more drivability in colder weathers. Glad you were able to see what I have been preaching for 7+ years that the 92Y and 96Y load rating is criminally low for the RCF and its weight. I read that situation as soon as I bought my RCF that the sidewalls were inadequate and too soft and deformed easily. I wrote about it in my tires thread. Once I got AMG-Spec Michelin Pilot Sport 4S in 96Y and 100Y load rating with reinforced sidewalls, the car all of a sudden felt like it lost 200 lbs especially at slow speeds because of the sidewalls resisting the energy being transferred from the suspension down to the pavement. Many people focus on suspension, but tires act like springs that get all of the energy transferred to them under compression. The downside is a slightly stiffer ride, but I am perfectly OK with it since I have two other Lexus to do the daily driving. I also measured my PS4S tires were half an inch wider than my OEM PSS tires despite being the same 275 mm width. Go figure LOL

This is the thread I started in 2019 since initially I was going to go with Cup 2 tires since it is only my hobby car that gets driven in good weather. However, ultimately decided to go with PS4S XL tires.

Discussion: Michelin Pilot Sport Cup 2 vs XL-Version Pilot Sport 4S - ClubLexus - Lexus Forum Discussion

 

@05RollaXRS Good points and good old tire thread discussion.

Another plus at least for my circumstance is that PS4S have 30K miles Michelin warranty and the A/S 4 have 45K warranty.

 

Yeah, that is good to know. All-season tires have longer tread like for sure as compared to summer high performance tires.

 

You made a very good decision. I just can't do it, so instead, I waste around $1500.00 paying for climate controlled storage and putting my RCF up on jack stands for 6 months here in F R I G I D minus 20' F freaking 🥶🥶 Minnesota 🥶🥶. I could purchase a set of tires for what I'm paying for one winter. On the plus side, it did motivate me to finally install the PPE Equal Length Headers I purchased, almost a year ago, but no one wanted to install. Did it myself. Not really a bad job at all, but was very time consuming. DEFINITELY alot longer then the "8 hour professional installation time" PPE states. Then again, I'm not a "professional", I'm a "perfectionist", and I wasted hours, no days, just bending the oil dipstick and torqueing everything to spec. So in my head, I figure I saved the $1500.00 I was planning on paying a shop to install the header's, and that pays for the climate controlled storage this year.
When I purchased my RCF here in Minnesota, while none of the tires had a crack nearly as large as yours, every tire had small cracks throughout both the tread and sidewalls. If you run "summer only" tires, I definitely wouldn't run them, or even allow my tires to sit on the ground, load bearing, below 40 degrees, and definitely not below freezing. You very well may ruin four good tires in a single night if you do. Obviously the colder the temps, the quicker and worse the tires will crack with that summer compound. You made the right decision. If you have to drive at temps below 40 degrees, your life is wayyyyyy more important then any "additional grip" the PS4's would offer. Good for you for making a tough, but proper decision !!!