Quick question about winter tires. The 8 being the first car I have had snow tires put on, I was wondering how long do they usually last?? 2-3 winters (6 month winter)?? I still have mine on, and am hoping to take them off next weekend. Do you guys mark which tires were on the front/rear when you take them off?

It's like 15 degrees and higher in Calgary now, and I still see other 8s with their winters on, so I know I'm not the most busy or lazy person here. I have to take it to the dealer to rotate them with the summers because I don't have the tools or a garage to work in.

 

I put my summers back on three weeks ago in a friend's garage, using only the stock jack and tire iron. That took me about an hour, including the time needed to haul the tires from her basement to the garage.

Yep, I mark the tire's position when I take them off.

You probably don't have a second set of wheels, necessitating a trip to the dealer to switch tires.

This was the second winter season for my winter tires, and I expect to get at least one more winter out of them. They have lots of tread left, in spite of my weekly trips to the mountains to go skiing.

 

Oh, I do have a second set of winter wheels, but I just can't find a place where I can work on it myself at the moment (plus I'm lazy, just finished exams...need to catch up on my sleep!!). That will change when I move to my new place though that has a garage...

That's good to hear that the tread is lasting you so long, as I have the same tires. I will keep in mind to mark off the front/rear tires when I get the dealer to change them off. It's quite sad that I have only driven the 8 mostly with the winters on, I only have about 1500km on the summers.

Thanks for the input!

 

After the dealer does it, check the tires. My dealer didn't see the arrow indicating the direction of rotation, and put all four of my tires on backward. I was not amused.

 

HAHA, that happened to me when I got mine winters put on by KALTIRE. I was wondering why I kept fishtailing even though I was going super slow in turns. I didn't even know it was backwards, until I brought the 8 to my dealer (Sunridge) for a quick oil change before winter and they told me the tires were backwards.

 

Heh ... LittleRX8, your blue 8's winters look just like mine ... spooky. I'm going to take my winters off this weekend. Usually I find that winters last 3-4 years ... depending on how much you abuse them (ie using them in the summers ... ack!)

 

haha... I know they look very similar, but mine are white. I almost see your car everyday, I'm a stalker haha...

Oh, when/where did you get your lip spoiler? How much was it? Is that the Euro one?

 

Ruh roh ... I do have a stalker!! What brand are your winter rims ... mine are some Canada brand ... CoreRacing.

I got my lip spoiler around January from Evo R Inc ... it's a replica of the R-Magic lip spoiler. I spent about 250 bones on it (I'm including the painting that I got done here). EvoR Inc is a vendor here on the forum ... just look in the vendor thread for it.

 

I've been using my Yokohama winters on my '90 Talon (now relegated to winter beater status) for 5 winters now and they still have LOTS of tread left.

Chris...

 

Cool, mine are Motegi RT-5 in White...

Your lip spoiler is awesome, I wanted to get the Euro one, but it doesn't seem like Mazda can order them for here. Kramer said they could fabricate me the Euro one for 600 bucks!

 

If you want a Euro spoiler, try UK Ebay ... I almost won one from there for 60 pounds but couldn't get to a computer terminal in time to outbid the other guy.

You can also try some of the US vendors (Rosenthal??) ... I remember seeing them there. And it probably won't cost you 600!

 

FYI - Use Auctionsniper.com - I use it primarily for times when I know I'm not going to be by a computer to bid, especially late at night or early in the morning.

 

Winter tires tend to wear quickly in warm weather, especially if they have special compounds on the first 1/2 of the tread life; the rest of the tread is usually an all-weather compound, and the tread pattern changes. Some tires, however, have a single compound, and in general, wear about as well as all-season tires, but depending on use they can wear a little quicker.

I wouldn't go around in 20 C weather with snow tires still on, mind you. You're missing the performance of the summer tires, and the noise is atrocious.

The tires should be marked on where they were taken off from, so that the next mounting will have the tires being rotated. Directional tires can only be exchanged front to back; non-directional tires it really doesn't matter, but you should try and keep them on the same side. Messing up the mounting of directional tires, however, requires that you have a stern talking-to of the dealership that put them on. It's a safety issue, namely yours, and it's a stupid mistake.