Tires in cold weather

[Bootsie]

Does the extreme cold ruin tires?  I know the cold can impact the air pressure in tires.  But, is there an impact beyond that?  We experienced the days of below freezing weather, with temperatures dropping into the negatives.  We were home, not out trying to drive in the stuff.  After we thawed out, I noticed DS's car had a flat, we have nto rushed to see about it becaue of a ton of other things going on this week.  He needed to go somewhere this evening and tooks DH's truck.  He called and has a flat tire in the turck--we noticed that our neighbors across the street had to get a new tire this week, also.  Is there something weird going on in our neighborhood?  The cold weather?  

The next street down is torn up--the city had started replacing all of the water pipes before the frigid air hit, now it is a mess, but not with nails and such. 

[gardenmom5]

cold itself - no

cold temperatures do affect air pressure and you can end up with under-inflated tires.  driving on under inflated tires does harm them.

 

eta: if the air pressure in the tire drops enough - it will go flat.  Not because there is damage to the tire, but because there isn't enough pressure to keep it on the rim.

Edited February 26, 2021 by gardenmom5

[wathe]

I agree that driving on underinflated tires can be an issue in cold weather.

It's also true that very cold weather makes the rubber compound stiffer and more brittle, therefore more prone to cracking/chipping - especially an issue if you are on oldish tires to start with. 

[Bootsie]

Well we weren't driving when it was really cold and then noticed one car had a flat before we drove it.  The vehicle that has a flat this evening has a dashboard guage for tire pressure and it wasn't reading low. 

[Bambam]

I'm in TX too. One thing I noticed immediately after the roads started to get clear is the amazing number of potholes that showed up. Add in the fact it will rain for the next 7 days and cars will continue to hit them, and those potholes are going to be of good size before they can be patched.  So, it is possible someone hit one or some of those potholes and caused the damage? I know I hit one - just on the side and sliced my sidewall - but that was in summer. Totally ruined that tire too. 

[skimomma]

I think it is a coincidence.  We have very cold temps and big temp changes frequently and have never even heard of flat tires being more common.  We also have a LOT of potholes but any flat we have ever had came from under inflation or obvious punctures.

[Bootsie]

We have another neighbor with a flat tire this morning.  So, that is at least four vehicles our our block in a week with a flat tire...  We are watching closely to see what is happening.